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Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Epiosde 71: Skyline To Success with Wayne Clark
Wayne Clark, a northern business legend, shares his extraordinary journey from a fur trapper to a successful entrepreneur dominating the aviation and hospitality sectors in Ontario. Discover how Wayne's passion for the outdoors and his relentless drive for diversification propelled his businesses, including Clark's Baits and Clark's Resorts and Outposts, to new heights. You'll learn about the pivotal moments, like purchasing his first aircraft, which significantly influenced his business trajectory and the foundational belief that standing still in business means moving backward.
Explore Wayne's insights into the necessity of diversification, especially in regions reliant on natural resources, and how it has been a critical factor in sustaining his operations. Wayne recounts the trials and triumphs of managing a multifaceted business, from ice fishing tours to retail stores, emphasizing the value of adapting to change and maintaining a proactive stance. His stories paint a vivid picture of the challenges and rewards of running a successful family business in the north, highlighting the importance of teamwork and sustainable practices.
Join us as Wayne delves into the nuances of conservation efforts and their significance in the fishing industry. Learn how his strategic decisions, like implementing no-take policies and acquiring lodges for sustainable management, have ensured a balance between business growth and ecological preservation. This episode promises an inspiring and informative narrative, offering valuable lessons on entrepreneurship, family-run business success, and the stewardship of natural resources in one of Canada's most beautiful regions.
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service.
Speaker 2:In business, you cannot ever be afraid of failing in one area. You always have to be able to laugh at your mistakes and learn from those mistakes and move on right away. And don't look back. You just look forward. Keep it rolling. Keep it rolling, you know, and keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on in your area and the world and be ready to make a change before it's too late. And that's the whole key to operating in the north here.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner, stories of the North. Will and I are extremely excited to have this northern business icon mentor to Will, and now me on the show. He started his young life as part of a fur trapper's family, living deep in the northern Ontario wilderness, where he developed an outstanding relationship with the natural world as a youngster. Then, coupled with the work ethic that was needed to survive, he began building, over a number of decades, several businesses working in harmony with the outdoors. We explore his amazing network of businesses, which include Fur Trapping, the largest live bait company in the province, an airbase with 12 planes servicing over 30 outposts, four fishing lodges and five retail fishing and sports stores Wow. So, without any further ado, it is our pleasure to introduce to all of you Wayne Clark On this show.
Speaker 1:Wayne talks about what growing up in the bush was like, tells us stories of his first plane, why he bought it and how it impacted his business and how it impacted the lake from a 200-foot vertical fall. We find out how each business led into the next and get an inside look at what drives him to continue to grow. Folks his words of wisdom regarding business and life in general are amazing. His stories are outstanding and we all need to listen to this one, and don't forget forward it to your family and friends, because this show is awesome. Here's our conversation with Wayne Clark.
Speaker 3:Folks, I just want to introduce everybody to Mr Wayne Clark. He is the owner of Clark's Baits and Clark's Resorts and Outposts in northwestern Ontario around the Vermilion Bay, dryden, kenora area. Wayne is a lifelong bait and outpost man and he has the biggest business up here that I know of when it comes to that industry that we're about to hear about, and we've been really excited to get you on, wayne, as being the kingpin in our area for what you do. So welcome to the show today and Stevie, take her back.
Speaker 1:Welcome, thank you. So, wayne, you've got your outpost camps, your outpost camps, and I'd like to get to know who you are and what you're doing right now. So tell us a little bit about your business.
Speaker 2:Well, it's been a real long. It's been a long road. I started in my early 20s. My wife and I, carla and I'm now 66 years old, so I'm now a senior citizen. I haven't slowed down any, don't plan on retiring ever. We really enjoy what we do. So, yeah, we just keep on rolling. So we started out in the early 80s uh, I'm, uh, I'm I'm 110 self self-made. Uh, we started out fur trapping in early 80s and, uh, we had absolutely nothing. I lived in a small cabin in the bush on our trap line where we had a snowmobile in. Uh, about 15 miles wayne.
Speaker 3:So where is so wayne? Where is that? Uh, so just to just to stop you there, because I, because we know each other very well through business in the last two and a half years, but that's it. I don't know you besides that. So where where did you and carla meet and grow up and start the traffic like, where did this all start in in the area you are now, or can you? Can you tell me that?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, I uh, I was in the bait uh business before, uh in a small way, before I met carla, and uh, one of my first customers was her dad, who owned keystone lodge on cedar lake, and uh, that's how I got to meet carla, uh, while I was delivering bait to Keystone Lodge.
Speaker 1:That's handy to try and find a girl in the industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really, really, really handy, and I asked her, you know, right off the bat, if she can carry two five-gallon buckets of water, because that's what we haul our bait around in, and she had no problem with that. So after that everything worked out very well. Yeah, and at that time, just past Keystone Lodge up towards Ord Lake is where my fur trap line was and that's where my cabin was and that's where I used to live right there in the bush. And so the first few years when we met we stayed up there in that trapper's cabin and harvested fur, and in the early 80s the fur prices were very high. It was a real big deal in the world wild fur and so that's actually how we got. Our start was right there in that fur trapping business up by Ord Lake.
Speaker 3:I had no idea that trapping business up by Ord Lake, I had no idea that. So, folks, just so you know where Wayne is, the geological area where he's talking to you in reference is he is about. So Wayne is at the opposite end of our system. I'm at the northwest end where Nordic Point Lodge is and Wayne is his base and flyout camp and his head facility that he operates is at the bottom end of Cedar Lake. So to the east, right in between us, is the Ord system and Ord Lake where you're talking about. So, like you're right in the same wheelhouse where you are now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was born just a few miles away and uh yeah, so I haven't moved too far.
Speaker 2:Uh born in a gunny sack on the trap line exactly, yeah, and we still, we still fur trap to this day. You know, as a matter of fact, after I'm done here today, we're heading out on the trap line here today to, uh, to check our traps. So we still do that today. So, yeah, so we started out in the fur trapping business and bait fish business and then we started expanding on our bait fish business. So we had a small operation at that time and we bought out a guy in Vermilion Bay at Bobby's Corner, and that's where we really got our foothold in business right there. We developed that store right there and expanded our bait and then after that, shortly after that, we bought an airplane.
Speaker 2:We first started out doing all the work on the land, like carrying the bait, you know, in five-gallon buckets, you know, by hand, like my dad did all his life, and using ATVs, and so it was a lot of work and we you couldn't really move around really fast. You just it was a tough deal to really expand in any way because you're always limited with your travel time and such. So so we got into the and I started off with an ultralight, which was a disaster, and I remember that ultralight cost $12,000 at that time and that was a big expenditure, no doubt. Yeah, on floats, and you actually sat outside, you know there was no cab on it.
Speaker 1:No, oh yeah, really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I survived.
Speaker 1:Hold on, Wayne.
Speaker 2:I've been sitting here.
Speaker 1:You've had me totally, totally immersed in this conversation.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's almost too. I've been awestruck and quiet because so I just want to get this straight you started with absolutely nothing like really, you were going into a cabin, a log cabin, and doing your bait business, where you and you built that up to the point now where you're buying a plane. And how long was that stretch of time? And although, yes, it's a plane and it was $12,000, but if that's in the 80s, that's a good chunk of money, number one and you put yourself in a position where you're being forward thinking enough to buy a plane to expand a business that never has been cracked. So how long did it take you to get from like nothing and I shouldn't say nothing because we've got to talk about the trapping part of this, your experience too, because that is awesome but how long did it take you to get from point A, with you know, driving into a wee cabin, to buying a plane?
Speaker 2:It took about three, four years. Good for you, yeah, yeah. So we knew what we had to do. So well, it was a bad decision in hindsight, but we bought that ultralight and you know they weren't the safest airplane.
Speaker 1:So that's why it was a bad decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a bad decision in that way.
Speaker 1:And you were just again. This is so you're riding in this plane and you don't have a cab over you.
Speaker 2:No, you're sitting out front, the motor's in the back, and you went about 50, 55 miles an hour and so. But in hindsight it was a really good decision because of what I learned about that episode. So what happened was, you know, I did make it work. I mean, I did make it work, I did harvest bait with it, but unfortunately I crashed it a couple times, and the second time was a pretty good crash, and my wife at that time would not let me rebuild it again. She would. She said she put her foot down and she said you're not, you're not fixing a piece of junk because you're gonna kill yourself eventually. But you know, on the track I'm on, so, uh, I.
Speaker 1:so we scrapped that I so hold on, hold on, let's not. I don't want to go any further yet. Okay, wayne, tell me what it's like and how high did you say the ultralight was going?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you the quick story, because it's kind of interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got to hear about what it's like to actually crash, because I've not crashed.
Speaker 3:Crash and plane is pretty wild.
Speaker 1:You've done it twice.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've got more crashes than that. I'll tell you about later. Oh, I've got more crashes than that.
Speaker 4:I'll tell you about later, oh nice.
Speaker 2:But to start with, I was coming home with that ultralight and you had to wear a helmet and I wore rubber boots because I was working off the airplane there and that. So it was two days after the ice went out and I was coming over Horseshoe Lake, which is about 10 miles west of here, and I'm coming back. I had a bunch of traps tied on the outside of the airplane, on the cables. There was no outside, it was just cables going up to the wings. That's how I transport them. I had a bucket of minnows next to me and so I'm traveling along and my engine quit and I thought, oh shit.
Speaker 2:But I thought, well, I can glide to this horseshoe lake, which wasn't too far ahead of me, but with all that junk I had tied on and everything, it didn't glide very well. So I had to put the nose down and keep my speed up. So I'm trying to make this lake and it's all burnt country there after the forest fire and I'm coming up on this big ridge before the lake and I had to get over that ridge to make the water. So I was right on the stall speed, about 25 miles an hour. So I had to lift one wake to miss some big pines.
Speaker 2:And after I did that, I did get over the ridge, but I stalled. So I went straight down, about 200 feet straight down into the lake and luckily the airplane well, the so-called airplane I had absorbed the impact, I mean, there wasn't much left of it. It looked like a dead bat on the water, and so I thought, well, at first, I'm okay, I'm sitting on the airplane, it's all smashed up on the water floating. But a few minutes later it started sinking and so the whole thing. What time?
Speaker 1:of year was this Wayne.
Speaker 2:It was two days after the ice went out in May.
Speaker 2:So, the water was ice cold. So that's the last thing I wanted to do was jump in the water. So, anyways, I had no choice. I kicked off my rubber boots and took my helmet off and I jumped in and I was about 300 feet from shore. So I started swimming to shore there and at first I thought no big deal, 300 feet. But the water was so cold that, uh, I got within about 50 feet of shore and hypothermia set in pretty good. And uh, if, if, I was ever gonna die, I think that'd be the best way to go, because I had no pain and no feelings whatsoever.
Speaker 2:Uh, so at the very last bit there, I was just kind of doing a dog paddle and I thought I was just about ready to roll over and my knee hit the sand. Awesome, I couldn't believe it. So here I am, only in about two and a half feet of water, and so I hit the sand there and all of a sudden I just got a little bit of a second wind there. I was so numb and I crawled up on the shoreline and laid there for a bit and let the sun warm me up, and then I started my hike out to the bush, which was all burnt and it was really hard on the bare feet because it was all burnt.
Speaker 1:Bush- oh, that's right, because you kicked your boots off. It was all burnt burnt bush.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right, because you kicked your boots off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I kicked my boots off. Wow, that probably saved your life. That move right there, oh I had to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were new boots. I had them for like four days. I didn't really want to kick them off, but they're gone. So I had to hike my way out to the road there where my dad eventually picked me up there.
Speaker 1:But anyways, yeah, my way out to the road there where my, where my dad eventually picked me up there.
Speaker 2:So uh, but anyways, yeah. So how old were you at that point? I was in my uh later 20s. You know, yeah, 20 maybe around there and I was full of piss and vinegar then you know. So nothing and I was ready to talk with just about anything in those days. But uh, that's just about a 200 foot fall.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about that. In that moment, when you realize that you hit stall speed and you're not moving forward anymore, you're moving straight down. What did that feel like in that moment? I?
Speaker 2:usually get angry because it just ruins my day and I know this is all going to end up very bad. It's going to be a setback, you know, and my wife is waiting at home and she needs the meadows, you know.
Speaker 3:So she needs the meadows. Carl needs the meadows, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So it was that. Just those feelings go through your head real quick. You know this is all bad. I you was that. Just those feelings go through your head real quick. You know this is all bad, you know it just. Yeah, it was a bad day.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, we got all that settled and talked things over. Actually, there wasn't much talking. My wife just told me what was going to happen there now after that. So she said no more flying that plane, no more repairing it. That's done. You're going to go get your regular pilot's license now and get a regular plane if you want to continue this. So myself and my father-in-law Carla's dad there we went to Winnipeg and we spent a month there and we got our regular pilot's license and then I came back and we bought a J-3. So we had an actual airplane, a small airplane and that was been flying for many years and was a little safer. So so that was our real beginning, when we got that first, that first airplane. And. But we had, yeah, then we had to buy a place on the lake, we had to have a base for it, and then we ended up buying a camp on Indian Lake Chain here, a halls camp. So we had a place to park the airplane, a small camp or just like, got four cabins, and so we got.
Speaker 1:That's a great way to get into the lodge business. Just buy one to park the planes at.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Then from then on we've never been satisfied with having you know a few cabins. We've always got to develop everything we touch. So we ended up building you know six more cabins there and ended up with 10 cabins there over the years. And then we built up Bobby's Sport Shop in Virmillion Bay there. We had that place there. We put the gas pumps in there and built a store and everything and uh, and got that all set up. I think we kept that.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that that was you that did that. I didn't realize that. I thought that had been done for years.
Speaker 2:Nope, nope, nope Okay.
Speaker 3:We did all that, yep.
Speaker 1:I'm, I'm so impressed, Like I mean, you're building. You're building an uh, uh, uh, a hugely diverse business in an area where business is tough and you're hitting everyone right on the nail. So at this point, right now we're talking about you've got a lodge bot and you're managing the lodge and that's where you keep your planes. And you're also working on the outside or away from the water with a tackle shop, gas station and starting to look towards maybe making a chain of stores up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe making a chain of stores up there? Yeah, so it's all you know. Once you start this, it's like a, it's a vicious circle. I mean, once you start in business, the way we did here, lay all the groundwork out, get the employees. Well, people always say, well, why are you doing this, why are you doing that? Why are you expanding? Well, you pretty well have to In business. You really can't stand still. As far as I'm concerned, if you're standing still, you're going backwards. Same thing. So you have to move forward.
Speaker 2:And what's important nowadays is and we learned that more and more through COVID experience, which everybody knows, and now you know it's so important you have to diversify, you have to be so diversified. Business in the north here, when you're working off the natural resources, is one of the toughest businesses there is to survive in, and you have to be diversified, otherwise you are just not going to be around here very long. The season is very short to make your money and the expenses have gone crazy now with the way the world has gone. So you have to diversify and so you can be ready for whatever and make sure that you got enough business, you know, for the wintertime and carry you through till next summer, and you have to keep your employees employed, a lot of your pilots and that, so you can keep for the next year, otherwise you just can't find new ones. So it's very important that you create this, this, uh, this an operation like this here, just to keep everything together in the end.
Speaker 3:I agree 100 with that way and that's, that's something that, uh, that we had, that we figured out.
Speaker 3:Uh, our first, when we got into Lake of the Woods Fishing Adventures, me and Krista, and kind of grew when we watched growing into the lodge and into the sunset limo thing that Krista does, you know, we were like we had to have those legs, because if one area goes down, you know there's nothing to stand on if you can't hold yourself up, right. So you know, and I actually, to be honest, wayne, when we, when I met you, I was like man, this guy is into everything, but he's into everything in the right direction and I really respected that from you. Wayne, you know I have a saying I've taught Steve it since I met him is you know, I don't have a ceiling. You know I don't believe in that shit, right, like, if you're going to go at it, you go at it, and you know some things you fail at and some things you don't, but you can always grow and get better and I think it's so awesome how diverse you are in your business and you said it exactly how you said it. It was perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you never in business. In business, you cannot ever be afraid of failing in one area. You can never, you know. You always have to be able to laugh at your mistakes and learn from those mistakes and move on right away. And don't look back, you just look forward. Keep it rolling. Keep it rolling and keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on in your area and the world and be ready to make a change before it's too late. And that's the whole key to operating in the North here.
Speaker 1:It's so, like I think that's the key to operating anywhere. That's that what you've just gone through and and spoke to is how to be successful. Like that, that advice and and that part of of our discussion is, um, an amazing recipe on how you become successful. And you said, you said one thing that really, um, um, got me thinking, um, as a former lodge owner, I um, I own the Chaudiere Lodge down on the upper French River and in my tenure, the one thing that I always struggled with being seasonal and with what you were doing in kind of the same areas that you did so much better than I could do was you mentioned your employees.
Speaker 1:You got to keep your staff hired because you can't just replace a pilot for next year, because there's a ton of training and everything else. Now I didn't have pilots, but I did, and this comparison doesn't compare to how hard it is to get pilots, but I did, and and the, the, and this comparison doesn't compare to to how hard it is to get pilots. But I needed staff and there was training involved with that staff, and if I the more staff that I could keep um coming back, but I couldn't pay them year round because I just didn't have the revenue streams in other areas right, but the fact that you learned how to keep a great staff year round, I think is amazing and key, and could you just talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you know in business, you know we've had a lot of people work for us over the years and you know when you're in small business like we are, unfortunately the really, really good people a lot of times you simply cannot afford to hang on to them. That's the bottom line. Sometimes, you know you just can't, especially when you're a smaller operator, when you're starting out, and staff, of course, is very hard to find. Now, everybody knows that. So what we've done now is with the stores. Like we have five retail stores now, wow, two in Red Lake, one in Vermilion Bay and one in Dryden, and we just opened one in Sulacote. So what that does is it does a lot of things. So it gives us the opportunity to give our staff a good wage and keep them throughout the winter. These stores here, they have several purposes.
Speaker 2:People say why do you want to get into the retail? Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to do that? Well, they do a lot. They help give us visibility in the north here as far as our outposts go and our bait business, as we supply bait and sell bait to all these stores here. It gives us major visibility and it helps us promote our other businesses because they're all interconnected, they're all well, I wouldn't say all tourism, but the stores give us that little bit of versatility there to have some local business which we need in the wintertime, which we can keep through the summertime. So you have to think about we can't just operate on tourism. You know, for what I'm doing we have to have the local support also which is very, very important to our operation. And so it helps to do that. And then we do the you know, the ice fishing. In the wintertime we do run a great ice fishing operation.
Speaker 3:Where is that again, Wayne? Just mention it to the folks out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pump those tires a bit, because that place is awesome. You got there. I took Johnson out there last year, steve.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And fuck. It's amazing his setup. Go ahead and talk about that one, wayne.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we have two different programs. We have at Casey's Landing Resort or our other resort on the Indian Lake Chain we have a couple of those. They're like an ice castle, they're sitting out in front here which you can sleep in them and fish right there. Or you can stay on a cabin on the shoreline which is only 300 feet away. So we have good walleye fishing right here at the camp here.
Speaker 2:And then, if somebody wants to fish lake trout, we have Anishinaabe lodge, which is a 40 mile snowmobile ride into it, and, uh, you stay on our island where we have four cabins on there and it's all guided. We have shacks on that lake and everything, so it's very secluded. It's a nice destination for a snowmobile ride and you get to stay right on that beautiful island and, uh, fish lake trout there. So, uh, we have two great options, because ice fishing has been a tough call for this area here to ever get anything moving here at all over the years and you have to have the right setup. You have to have one place for a destination where people can go on a nice snowmobile ride, or the novice that just wants to come up here with no major pain and just stay on the shoreline here in a nice cabin and fish in front. So we have both of those options available.
Speaker 1:So for the snowmobile run, do you rent snowmobiles or is that something that people truck up their snowmobiles or, like, can I, from Southern Ontario, just jump in a plane, fly up and you've got a snowmobile for me?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I would say 75% of our clientele bring snowmobiles, 25% don't. So we can fully outfit you also with your fishing rod snowmobile and the whole deal.
Speaker 1:So we, we do it either way that, that that trip, um, what you've done with it? Um, as a as a person who's been in the business, uh, I love it because it's a higher end experience. It's not now you're starting to build experience around the fishing with the 40 mile snowmobile drive, because down here in Southern Ontario I grew up, my dad had a snowmobile a little bit here or there, but I didn't get into it in my teens because I couldn't afford one. And by the time I could afford one, to be very honest, we don't have enough snow down here to justify buying one right. So for me, the thought of being able to go up number one, fish unbelievable lake trout. Number two get on a sled like I used to do when I was a kid, and be in the cold and snow and go for a 40-mile cruise, that is very cool. How long does it take you to travel those 40 miles?
Speaker 2:It depends on my client.
Speaker 1:On your crew sure but on average.
Speaker 2:On average it takes about an hour and a half yeah.
Speaker 1:That's not bad. That's not bad at all, no, and then do you provide any kind of and it's all guided. So do you do the shore lunch meals with your guests after they catch fish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when they come back to the main lodge there in the evening, that's all that runs it for me there. Yeah, so we cook the fish. We cook fish for them one night and, yeah, everybody gets together in the evening. Yeah, that runs it for me there. Yeah, so we cooked fish for them one night and, yeah, everybody gets together in the lodge there and it's just a great trip. The feedback I get on it is generally people say it's better than any summertime trip, just because of the experience of going into the Canadian wilderness and getting into a remote place, staying in a log cabin, you know, with a wood fire, and it's just a really, really cool trip.
Speaker 1:Wow and trip is a good word. Experience, exactly, is what it's about. And just thinking about it and thinking about that feedback because that's feedback that you wouldn't think you would get when you're at least, if I was starting the ice fishing thing, I wouldn't think that I would get people saying this is a better experience than summertime fishing, but something that they don't even know is out there, steve, you know, that's the big key.
Speaker 1:Of course, um, but something that they don't even know is out there, steve, you know, that's the big key, of course. Having said that, the experience of being in the canadian north in the winter, um is is, uh, is great, like I mean, um, you'll see the aurora borealis up there every once in a while? Uh, I would, I would assume. And um, um, as, as long as you're dressed properly, the ice fishing is very cool. The fact that you can do that snowmobile trip is amazing. And then you've got your main lodge there and there's nothing. I don't know, I'm just speaking for myself and I have wood fire here at my house and we always would run the fireplace right around Thanksgiving when I shut down at the lodge. And there's nothing like being in the north in the winter with a warm fire in the building, whether it's your main lodge, when you're all getting together for the fish fry and maybe a little jam session and party, or whether it's in your own cottage. The thought of that.
Speaker 1:Up until this moment, wayne, I'm going to be honest with you I never even considered going ice fishing again, because it's down south here on Simcoe Barely we get ice, and the only one I liked was on Nipissing years and years ago, where we did the bungalow which it sounds like your castle is the same kind of idea, the bungalow we stayed in and lived there, but it's not really the Nipissing experience, wasn't really an experience like that. I you've you've ignited a fire in me, wayne. I think I'm going to maybe come and see you for an ice fish.
Speaker 2:Well, great, I mean. Well, yeah, when you go to a place like that, we also have shacks right out on Anishinaabe Lake there. So you know, you go out there, you light the propane stove in there and there really is no pain and suffering. Uh, you know to speak, no. And uh, the trout average about eight pounds a piece. Uh, we have great. Uh. We started up uh the last couple winters uh, fishing uh ling cod. I don't know if you know what a ling cod is uh, good eating.
Speaker 1:I've never eaten one, though all I hear is it's good eating yeah, yeah, that's good eating.
Speaker 2:I've eaten quite often, uh, but after dark, uh, they started biting and you can catch like 30 of them in a in an hour, and they run anywhere from 26 to 32 inches like big, big ones so it's really just work.
Speaker 3:That's no way. Describe this fish to us for him, just because a lot of people might not know what that is.
Speaker 2:That's right, yeah, it's a freshwater cod, you know it's, it's. It doesn't have a bone structure in it, so it's just meat and uh uh, you know they're, they're, you know, so you get them out of the hole they're. They might freak some people out because they're kind of wiggle around like a snake, does they?
Speaker 2:look like a snake in an eel, kind of right, yeah, and they're called a burbot as well, right, bur Bourbon eel pouts yeah, they got all kinds of names. They call them lawyers Eel pouts. Yeah, yeah, they got all different names, but they're just a real white meat and they're kind of like a. Yeah, they're kind of like eating. They call them poor man's lobster. You know, you can boil them and dip them in garlic butter or you can bake them or fry them whatever you want. Bake them or fry them whatever you want, you know they're. Yeah, you know they're good eating and there's I don't think there's any limit on them. You can take a whack them if you want, and there's tons of them out there, so they're just fun to catch.
Speaker 3:I know that Anishinaabe Lake that you're on. It's incredible that I can personally speak for myself. We went out there for my bachelor party, to Wayne's place out there and to Wayne's place out there, and he was nice enough to let us use his place and the fishing was insane. Like we went out for three hours and I think we caught 20 trout and it was time to go back and eat. But yeah, no, it's an experience up there like none other. It's beautiful that setup you have there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean when you go to a lake where you can see down 40 feet in the water. It's all clear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it I mean when you go to a lake where you can see down 40 feet in the water it's so clear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty cool, yep, yep 40 feet.
Speaker 1:Wow, that clarity is unbelievable. Oh yeah, yep, yep, I would. I would. I know, on Simcoe the clarity is good. It's not like that, not even close. But when you're in water that clear and you're driving in a boat and you come into 10 feet of water, wayne, and look over the side of the boat, does it not make you feel queasy? Oh yeah, I mean, I've experienced clear water like that and driving in safe water, but it looked like it is not safe at all. Like, is there a lot of places on your lake that are like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a very safe lake. It's a big lake but it's very deep. It's a big lake but it's very deep. It's up to 300 feet deep. But that clear water is kind of cool and it's got great bass fishing also and northern pike. So yes, it's kind of cool. You're casting for bass and you'll see one that's too small way up there trying to grab your lure.
Speaker 1:So you can jerk it out of the way if you don't want that guy. So you could kind of that's awesome, so you're sight fishing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can pick your fish, yeah.
Speaker 1:That is a. So this is very cool because I'm a bass fisherman, I love bass fishing and so what you're saying is the water is so clear that you can see 20 feet down, and if a small smallie is coming after your bait, you can pull it away and then pitch it out and drop it to one that you can see that's bigger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, yeah, it's great oh my God, it's like the natural life scope, but you got to pull it, but you got to be very quick because the bass are pretty quick too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. I'm assuming it's only smallmouth, though, yeah, smallmouth.
Speaker 2:No doubt I'm assuming it's only smallmouth, though, right yeah, smallmouth yeah.
Speaker 1:What's the average size and how big do they get there?
Speaker 2:It's a very, very good smallmouth lake. Yeah, so we get lots of big smallmouth in there, Anywhere from three to four pounds, no problem, oh nice, yeah, big smallmouth. But you know bass fishing we're just trying to promote that. It's not a real big deal, but bass fishing is so much fun. I mean, they jump out of the water, they fight, it's great.
Speaker 1:It's a great fishery. It helped me when I owned Chaudiere on the Upper French, because for years Lake Nipissing and the Upper French River was known for walleye. Walleye is the bread and butter. When I bought the place it was depressed as far as goodwill and I was told that walleye is the bread and butter, which I believe it is. But we were going through a time when the walleye fishing was not good at all and the ministry was trying to protect a population of smaller fish. So they changed the slot sizes so that it was very difficult to get any kind of keeping fish at all, and the ones that we did catch in the slot we used for our shore lunches every day. So I was extremely worried that people who were fishing walleye at the time wouldn't come because they couldn't keep any and the sizes are all different and small, and we started pushing with the Fish.
Speaker 1:In Canada television show the bass fishery, because there not only do we have a great smallmouth fishery, the largemouth fishery is pretty good too and you would be surprised pleasantly to know how many people started coming and didn't even worry about walleye. The only time they were walleye fishing was when they took their guide the guide day because everybody wants to eat walleye and a lot of them would go out on their guide fish walleye in the morning, have their shore lunch and then go bass fishing for the afternoon. Lie in the morning, have their shore lunch and then go bass fishing for the afternoon. So that bass fishery is, I believe it's a valuable commodity. When you're talking about the lodging business, it helped me, it saved my business.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's virtually untouched up here and the thing is people want to catch fish, Bass. You know, you got good action and you can still eat bass. There's nothing wrong with eating bass. I mean, they have a little bit bigger rib cage in them to clean them, and that it's not that big a deal. And our bass, our smallmouth, are good eating. So, yeah, it's one of those things that we just got to build on some more and promote, you know, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, like I mean Obabaca, they've built their business on bass smallmouth bass and that's just north of it's, about five hours north of Toronto, and they do well with bass is a great resource, for sure.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:In every angler's heart lives a fishing paradise with stunning scenery and wildlife on a trophy, multi-species fishery, having outstanding accommodation and a food experience to die for. They treat you like royalty, tailor making a package that works for you. Nestled in northwestern Ontario, nordic Point Lodge is that paradise, and Will and his team can't wait to show you a luxury outdoor experience and five-star service. So follow your heart. Book now.
Speaker 4:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Gerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 4:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show's about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. And help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:So I've made a note. To go back to the trapping business in the early days you said you still trap to this day. Said you still trap to this day? Just to give us an idea how big of a part of your business is the trapping side today? Or is it part of the business or is it just more of a hobby?
Speaker 2:Well, it's part of our heritage and how it's how we got started. It's all my family started.
Speaker 1:it's all my family yes, all my family, uh, my parents brought up us is on fur trapping and okay, so Wayne start. Uh, I'd love to hear in detail, um, or in more detail, your, your childhood, when you were brought up in a trapping family living in the in the bush in northern Ontario yeah.
Speaker 2:So, uh, getting, yeah, I'd like to talk about that. And and you know I always say that uh, uh you can never really move forward in life unless you understand and never forget where you come from. And I, my upbringing was, was, was fantastic. My parents, uh, we lived in the bush, and my dad was just a I wouldn't say just, he was a fur trapper and he did some baitfish all his life. So he really never worked for anybody since he was in his early 20s. He just worked the bush all his life, did a little bit of logging by hand and that. So we lived in our house. I can remember our first TV. I can remember our first toilet. We never had a toilet for halfway through school, we never had a flush toilet in our house or a TV, and so we started off right from scratch.
Speaker 2:Your playground was the bush as a child, yeah it was the bush, it was all about the bush. And I got to watch my dad you know all his life and I used to think when I was in my teens God damn, I never want to work, I don't want that goddamn job, I'm never going to do that shit. I'm never doing that shit. No, no.
Speaker 3:Little, did you know you'd become the king of it? Yeah see, he worked so damn hard at it.
Speaker 2:You know it was so much. You know the trouble you run into. You know, you know it's like when growing up and when we were starting out. You know you never have. You know nothing ever goes the way you'd like it to go. You never have enough money to buy the right equipment. You're always struggling with stuff that's breaking down all the time. And you know life is a real struggle, you know, but at the same time it's such a learning curve. That's how you learn, that's how you learn to appreciate. You know what's going on and moving forward. You know so it's, yeah, yeah, so it's, uh, yeah, yeah, so it's, uh, it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 2:It's been very interesting and and and my dad never took a day off. I don't think he took a day off in his life. He still works Uh, he's 93 now and uh, he's, he's still. He's still fur trapping right now and woodworking, uh, and so you know, you know it's not all about the money, it's about the quality of life. And when you look back, I look back at my dad's life and you know he's so healthy yet today, at 93. So you see the value in that lifestyle. That is the true value. You know the manual labor living in the bush all your life, you know, breathing that fresh air outside every day. So you know, you see, the true value of that fur trapping. Although there was very good money in it in those days, it's still, you know. It keeps him going today. So in those days, like we like to the.
Speaker 2:I'll just give you a couple quick examples here the Pine Martin, which are called Sable, the coats were called, you know, they averaged $165 a piece. They're a little bit bigger than a bink, and we, I think I caught 160 of them in a month and a half. So, and then the links they averaged $800 a piece Per pelt. Average Fisher, $600 average. And so give the example to what those animals are today.
Speaker 2:The pine, you know, so many years later the pine martin is worth about $50. The lynx is worth about $80. Wow, yeah. So what we do with the furs nowadays is we take those there and we tan some of them ourselves. We send some away to the tannery in Winnipeg there and we make crafts. Or we sell the tanned hides in our stores, where we can get a little bit more for them, rather than some on the market for that low price, or I just hang them in my cabins at my outpost for nice decorations, put beavers on hoops and wolf pelts and so on and just decorate our own cabins with them. So there's still some pretty good value if you think out of the box and do some different stuff with them. So that's the way it is today. That's just a.
Speaker 1:So how many years ago was the height? Was it in the 80s? Was it in the 70s, Like when we're talking about an $800 lynx pelt? What time period is that?
Speaker 2:It was in the 80s and early 90s. And then that's when, you know, russia and China were huge buyers of wild fur and the US was a huge buyer of wild fur. Yeah, I mean you went everywhere. You know it was a very big deal if somebody had a Lynx coat. You know they went from anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 a coat. You know it was a huge deal those days. So those were three big buyers. And then the world changed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, the world changed a lot. Yeah, no, that is amazing, and you know what? The one thing in that that really hit home with me and I'm so happy that you're still that you're still doing it today was when you said never forget where you come from. And um, uh, that, uh, that right, there is. It rings true and and strikes a chord right to my heart, because I believe it is so important to never forget where you come from. And thank you, thank you for that.
Speaker 1:Now, wayne, I would be remiss if Will and I didn't ask you about what it's like to manage. I'm not even sure how many planes you have, the pilots today, the regulations that you're bound to now with all of the planes, and I don't even know what they are. To be honest with you, I'm sure that some are good for safety reasons and everything else, but I can just imagine that it's got to be a logistical night Well, I shouldn't say nightmare, but it's got to be a lot of logistical work to to do that. So can you talk a little bit about that part of what you do?
Speaker 2:yeah. So I'll just give you a. It's a quick rundown. So we have 30, 30 outposts on 30 different lakes scattered throughout the north, and then we have a uh, anish Lodge which has five cabins total. Then we have Latriel Lake Lodge, which is a fly-in American plan, where we hold 24 people, where we feed you there and got a big lodge there you stay in. And then we have our two drive-in resorts and our five stores and the largest bait business in the province.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we have a lot of things going on. So I mean our lives, my wife and I, my daughter and her husband, who is our chief pilot, so we have an inner crew here which we handle most of the day-to-day issues. And then we have a large air service where we have 12 airplanes. So we have 12 airplanes sitting at our dock that we own. So you know, yeah, any one of those sectors is a huge deal. I mean for anybody, for anybody, any one of those sectors. So the airplanes are a huge deal. I mean the maintenance on those and the operations and keeping the pilots.
Speaker 2:And then you know, when it comes to pilots, to run a really good operation you have to really know people, especially when you're dealing with safety issues, so I mean it's not for everybody. You have to be that kind of person that reads that group of people every single day. You know they might not understand what I'm doing. I'm a joker. I joke around all the time with everybody. We try to get together every evening. We all stay on the same site at Cedar Lake. I got a bunch of trailers there and so my whole crew stays there for the summer and so we usually get together in the evenings and so I talk to each person. Look at each one of them pilots every day, along with my regular staff that take care of our support, and I want to know what everybody's thinking. I want to know what everybody's mood is so I can fix it with any issues of any kind before it leads to any problems, you know, with my crew or any safety things. So there's a lot to it.
Speaker 2:The airline business is very, very serious business. You know. I got to know, know my pilots, every one of them, and what they're thinking and and if I don't like it, then they, they have to move on and I have to replace them, uh, and then our support crew that take care of our guests. Like I'm not there all the time, I'm out working all the time trapping minnows and that. So I want to make sure our guests are treated properly, uh, with the same way that my wife and I would, and my daughter and that. So I got to know. So yeah, managing the whole thing is quite a deal and you have to keep a very good sense of humor, otherwise you're done.
Speaker 1:I can imagine the stress some days. Well, you're done. I can imagine the stress some days.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, yeah, stress, I don't know. I fly every day myself and I have for 35 years. So my biggest stress reliever I guess if there is a stress reliever is flying and that. And I have a rum at five o'clock every day and uh, to keep me sane. So, uh, yeah, I saw, so the you know those things there.
Speaker 2:Uh, but I don't get too excited about anything. I mean, we've had, uh, you know, airplane issues. Major stuff happened in our operation. As long as nobody gets hurt, uh know, I don't get, I don't get too excited. I mean I can, yeah, fix just about anything else. It's just as long as nobody gets hurt, everybody's safe, uh, I'm fine. I mean, if something happens on an airplane, well then I, you know, I can take care of that. Uh, you know, material stuff, no big deal, uh, so, but it's a lot to keep. Uh, you have a lot to keep a handle on. And then our stores, you know we have all those people that run our stores and uh, and all our people, they're got to be treated properly. So, uh, how many staff you got, you know, I don't, maybe 50s in the 50s, I don't even know, I don't even know a lot about it here.
Speaker 3:So we got 50 staff, 30 outposts, 12 planes, four lodges, five stores and a partridge in a pear tree. Like this is a ridiculous operation.
Speaker 2:It's ridiculous. It's so awesome.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, Wayne. It's what you and Carla have done and accomplished. It's truly remarkable.
Speaker 1:Well, and I just want to jump in here and say, uh, something very quick, um, because I, with everything going on, um, I gotta tell you I, I without, without a support system, like Carla in the background there, um, I'm like I, I just in the background there, I'm like I, just my wife stayed at home when I had the lodge and I couldn't to do what you did. There is no way that I would be able to do it without a partner and a wife and somebody that supports it. And just talk a little bit about your wonderful wife, because I'm, I can imagine that she is the. I know that you're the pilot and you've got the lodges and everything else. She must be the one looking at all of the numbers and watching the business in the back, or, and that I'm. Her part in this is huge.
Speaker 2:Is what I'm trying to say oh, huge, yeah, yeah, it's more than a full-time job, more than a full-time. I don't think she ever catches up. Yeah, so you have to have a partner, like I do in Carla, so you have to have I feel we have like I do the maintenance out there, the building, talk to a lot of the people out there, keep an eye on a lot of the staff. My wife does all the background stuff there, my daughter helps take care of the ongoings of the business and she's younger, younger, so she's got that young mind to keep us, you know, in the loop.
Speaker 3:As far as the social media and the marketing and then driving forward, yeah, driving forward the new idea. Yeah, megan is awesome at that, yeah, new ideas.
Speaker 2:You know the new ideas that I might not come up with anymore now because these are different times altogether. I know the basic stuff, but sometimes that's just not enough. I mean anymore now to survive. So you have to have those, yeah, those components in your operation. Now, you know, to be successful and to just to survive.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations, because there are few people out there that have businesses like this and are operating it with their family. And if there is a regret for me selling Chaudiere, that one regret would be if one of my kids wanted to take it over or, you know, get them involved in that business. That would have been great. But congratulations on that part of the of the business that is amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, it sounds like you've already got it right into the next phase too, for your, for your amazing family creation over these years. And this, this statement you've made, is like because, megan and Zach I know Zach is, uh, zach comes to our, to Nordic Point weekly. Uh, I think we did, you know, close to 30 flights with you out to your back lakes, and I just want to talk about that quick here. So we, zach is, uh, he is a phenomenal pilot. Uh, jeremy, your whole crew that comes to Nordic Point and picks up our guests on a daily basis to take them out to your back lake. Experience is amazing. Everyone knows Nordic Point offers all of those packages.
Speaker 3:Well, wayne is the backbone behind that. It's his structure that keeps that float for us. Wayne is the backbone behind that. It's his structure that keeps that float for us. We have a lake that we send our people out to and Zazania Lake is the name of it that Wayne operates, and anybody listening that is up in this area that wants to go to a back lake just a single day flying that wants to go to a back lake just a single day flying you can drive to Wayne's Place and hop in the plane from there and fly back there. You could be staying at Nordic with us and he'll pick you up at the dock. But it is ridiculous, like the place is no bigger than it can't be a mile and a half wide by a mile and a half long, and we had one day this summer where we had 700 fish come out on clickers 700. It's all catch and release, but it was unbelievable. Like the fisheries as well that are attached to these places is phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, zazania is a very unusual lake. It's got that strain of nice-sized walleyes in it there and nice-sized northerns in it. But, like you say, it's not a very big lake, so it's one that you have to take very, very good care of. Sometimes people say, well, how come we can't take fish out? Well, you don't understand that. The lake is not that big.
Speaker 2:Understand, like that, the lake is not that big and so what we want to do is maintain those six, seven hundred fish a day and and and be able to provide the experience for everyone to catch that many fish and have that kind of action, you know, and a chance to get a 40 inch pike plus in in that same day. So, uh, you know that that's what it's all about, is it's it's a good lake and, uh, and it's something that you have to uh, that that you have to take care of. And, as a matter of fact, when we were purchasing, looking at an Ishinobi Lake lodge on Ishinobi Lake, there, we got the boat cash, the permit for Zazania with that lodge, and that was one of our main reasons for buying that lodge was to obtain that permit for Zazania Lake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 2:Good business call.
Speaker 2:Yeah because, we knew about that. You know, growing up here I knew about that lake forever. But yeah, it's pretty nice and you know even the outpost lakes. You know they're all the same. You know the fish. The numbers are phenomenal in the size and the outpost lakes there, you know you get to fly into an outpost and you're the only cabin on that whole lake. So you get to have that whole lake for your group for the three to seven days, whatever you pick, and the lake could be anywhere from four miles to 15 miles long and the only cabin on the lake nobody else there except you. So it's a pretty neat experience.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing experience and I just love to talk a little bit about the conservation of the asset we'll call it the fish, because I dreamed of having that kind of situation being on Lake Nipissing and having issues with the fishery itself and wondering if there were going to be walleye left and are the people going to come back and to have full and just. So I'm correct, you have full control of who goes and fishes in that lake, so you're the steward of that fishery and it must be awesome to be able to have an asset like that and know that, as long as you manage it right, you'll always have it. Because, on the other hand, when, when other people are have access, then there's no control. So, um, talk just a little bit about that and the conservation practices.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, even at our outpost lakes there. So we're pretty much unlike a lot of our competitors at the business. So our policy is it's our policy we do not allow any fish out of our outpost lakes. Now, people at first they say how can you? What do you mean? No fish out? You know there's only one cabin on that lake and it might be 10 miles long. Well, when you go 120 miles to 140 miles north of here, everything is a little bit different Darker water, the fish do not grow as fast. So to be able to provide the quality of fishing and the numbers, we have established that policy early on. Good for you.
Speaker 2:I love the policy and so we're selling the experience. So I can go to the trade show and I can brag about. You know, your group of four is going to catch 2,000 to 3,000 walleyes in a week. I've had seven or eight guys catch up to 7,500 walleyes in a week at some of the lakes. So I can brag about those numbers, whether they believe me or not. I can brag about it because that's the real deal, because we take care of our lakes and anymore. Now, that is my best selling point is that. That's our selling point, you know, and that's why, you know, we are busy, thankfully, and I think it's because of just simply taking care of the fishery.
Speaker 2:Now, if it was 40 years ago, you'd have a tough time, because 40 years ago, you know people, it was all about taking. You'd have a tough time, uh, because, uh, 40 years ago, uh, you know people, it was all about taking fish home. You know, bring, you know every, every species. You brought your limit of fish home. You got, you got dry ice in your cooler. We used to sell dry ice and we had bobbies there and everybody would take their fish home. You know, and uh, but that, luckily, that mindset has changed now over the years and the new generation that we're dealing with now are quite comfortable with eating fish while they're there and uh and uh, and not taking fish back because you can't take many. You can't take many fish back anyway. You know, it's really a waste of time and money to get the fish home.
Speaker 3:You know, and and the other camp owners too. Is is awesome now too, wayne, I feel that the lodge owners and the camp owners all over Northwestern and Ontario in general are doing a great job of starting to realize that. You know, like I know, on our system, wayne, I looked up to you and Carla on that. Me and Krista did, and and we, we went a hundred% conservation at our place, uh, last year, you know, and there was a lot of flex back on it. But it is what it is.
Speaker 1:In the long run, the fishery has to sustain and the dollar value doesn't mean nothing if there's nothing there and it doesn't mean that you can't go to uh to to experience these trips and not eat fish while you're there.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:Right, you can go into one of these flyout outpost camps or wherever and you can eat fish every night if you want. It's just a matter of and that, like I mean that small usage of the resource is nothing as far as the population goes. So go eat and eat and eat while you're there and then you leave the rest and you come home because it's just not worth it and it makes such a huge difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, take the pictures and you got the memories to share with your family for years. And your friends and I mean me and Carlo talk about it quite often there. I talk about it with other people. I say one thing about Will. I mean he took that upon himself to go to that conservation and I give him a lot of credit. I mean that's something that everybody has got to be looking at. I mean sure you've got your bumps when you first start and you've got to change some clientele around and whatever, but that is the right direction and definitely the new way to look at everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's amazing, that is outstanding. Will any last thoughts?
Speaker 3:You know, yeah, like we're an hour and two minutes into this thing and like, Wayne, we could talk it out. We could do an episode with you on trapping. We could do an episode with you on we haven't even talked about any other flying stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know what we have.
Speaker 3:So much that we could get into. And I know I want you to come back on the show and I definitely know that I, but I think I I want to take a minute and just thank you and carla, I think I don't think I ever have we've. I've always said thank you for the business we do with you, but the uh, the appreciation. I'll tell you how I met wayne wayne. Uh, wayne was the first local and he drove into my property at Nordic and got out of his truck and I was like that's this guy's awesome. He came to visit me and he wanted to introduce himself and and he's the big dog up here.
Speaker 3:And and Wayne actually didn't do business with the old owner at my place, he was just coming to welcome us to the area and when he got out of the truck I was like man, this guy is, like he reminds me of what I want to be when I'm older, cause I I was that young guy trying to have that drive and and when I met Carla and meet me, me and Krista really looked up to you guys in your situation and and, whether you know that or not, I want you to know that now that we took a lot of responsibility into looking up to you, and we appreciate that because you've been so kind to us and you're a great businessman, you know, and we learn a lot just from watching you, wayne, so thank you very much for that.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it very much. Appreciate the business and looking forward to many years of it. So it's going to be great.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know, I think I wanted to ask you more about your piloting career, but we will have you back on as long as you're good with it and we'll talk about it then. Thank you so much, wayne. I really, really appreciate this. And Will said that you know he really looks up to you. Well, hey, you've built another fan because I love what you have done so far and the simple fact that you're not done yet and the whole thing keeps on growing, and your advice in business. It's been wonderful for myself, I know it has for the Diaries, family and Will and listen on behalf of us all. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed it. Quite welcome. I'm looking forward to coming back.
Speaker 1:Awesome, that's great, and thus folks. Well, you know what? I probably shouldn't close it off until I remind you all about the fishincanadacom and all of our giveaways going on over at Fish in Canada and, if any, and first of all, thank all of you for getting to this point, listening, and if you have any questions, you know how to get Will and myself it's will at nordicpointlodgecom and steven at fishincanadacom and you can get a hold of us there and anybody out there looking to partner up. We've got a wonderful, wonderful rate card that we can send out to you. Just reach out to Will for that and now I can Will and I can close this off and thus folks brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 3:Stories of the North Never meaning no harm.
Speaker 1:I'll be all you ever saw Been reeling in the hog Since the day I was born.
Speaker 3:Bending my rock, stretching my line. Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way, the only way I know how. Working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy.
Speaker 5:I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems yeah back in 2016, frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you. Thus the ugly pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North.
Speaker 6:America. Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the ugly pike podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 5:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 6:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 5:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right Every.
Speaker 2:Thursday, ang and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 1:Hmm, Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 2:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 6:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch. Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors From athletes.
Speaker 2:All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.
Speaker 5:To scientists, but now that we're reforesting and letting things freeze, it's the perfect transmission environment for lime juice.
Speaker 6:To chefs if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it and whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 2:Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.