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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 78: Year in Review Continued
This episode reflects on a year of challenges and triumphs as two lodge owners share stories of their adventures, staffing dilemmas, and memorable events. They emphasize the importance of community within the lodge and the beauty of experiencing nature together.
• Recap of the launch of the new season of The Fish and Canada Show
• Reflections on past fishing adventures
• Insights from the Eastern Swing fishing tour
• Discussion on lodge management and renovations
• Challenges faced with staffing during peak season
• Highlights of memorable guest experiences and celebrations
• Looking forward to the opportunities and challenges in 2025
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:You know me and you, starting in the summer, kind of the podcasting started rolling and everybody you know did an episode. You did an episode with the boys there, the Johns and Chef, and it was just something that me and you loved doing and I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, stephen, that being part of the Diaries of a Lodge Owner family and being part of this show now with you is probably as big of a highlight as me fishing and meeting my idol. You know I really enjoy doing this with you weekly.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. Well, folks, it was an impossible task for Willie and I to fit a year in review in just over an hour last week. Go figure, on this show we continue with the 2024 year in review. So, without further ado, let's see what the rest of 2024 has in store. Welcome, folks, to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. And last week, willie and I, we got into the year in review and we didn't realize how big an animal it was. So this is our year in review continuation and, I think, Willie. Well, first of all, willie, welcome to the show and welcome to all of you. Diaries of a lodge owner our family out there listening. It's a wonderful. This is actually the second show of the year because we had the pleasure of dropping on new year's day and now this is. This is the uh. Another week. Uh after that, and willie, um, something really special happened saturday morning yes at 8, am you want?
Speaker 2:to talk about that quick. Yes, it did. The first episode of the Fish and Canada show dropped and if anybody hasn't seen it on Global at 8 in the mornings, you know, all across Canada you can watch it. I believe Dino said it was dropping on YouTube as well shortly after, but it was the first episode of the year at Nordic Point Lodge on the Fish and Canada show, so we were super jacked up for that man. Everybody get out there and check that episode out and give Pete and Andrew feedback. Dean, let us know what you guys thought about everything there. It was a really unique episode. So, as you're going to see, we'll get later into this podcast. We'll tell some stories going through there 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think I left off talking about the the Chaudière episode that that I shot with Peter this year, a drum incident where Peter somehow decided or he had this drum shit everywhere and used it like a fire hose and painted the whole freaking boat.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. And then I had a fish spraying white stuff all over my boat and yep, that's where we left off. That was our last story Yep, yep. Well, yep, that's where we left off.
Speaker 1:That was our last story, yep, yep. Well, that Chaudière shoot. It was a largemouth episode. And, wow, it turned into a largemouth episode. And again, the largemouth on the Upper French bailed us out. Man, they are, the largemouth fishing up there is really, really good, and on Lake Nipissing the fishing is excellent. So that largemouth fishery bailed us out. And the muskie fishery there is outstanding as well. And the muskie fishery there is outstanding as well. Walleye you know we couldn't do a walleye show on the French because, man, we put together some great walleye shows leading into that. So you know, it was the largemouth that shone again. And what a great shoot and an experience for me being the former owner of Chaudiere and then going back as a co-host for the Fish and Canada show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would have been interesting, hey, like.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Going back to your old place, but in the same format, with Pete right, Like that would have been. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, it was very cool seeing all of the staff that still remain there. You know, Cole Beeden he's still the operation. He's still the operation Well, I guess he's more the office manager and takes all the bookings and sales manager. And Pete Bowles he was a dock hand for me. He started years ago. Actually, it's funny Pete's name just come up because this year marks a fairly significant year for me and Peter, Because this is the year that Peter has now outlived me at Chaudiere Lodge, and what I mean by that is he has now spent more time at chaudiere than I did as an owner yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, which uh, interesting yeah, it's crazy to think about.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you had a lot of like. I was saying, was it weird? But I guess no, it seems like it was just like a. It's like second nature when you go back there, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, and, and I and I do have, I have the cottage there, so, or camp, as a lot of people refer to them, on the Upper French, very close to Chaudière. So I'm up there constantly, but not much. I don't go over to Chaudière all that much. Some I do sometimes. Uh, it's a different feel. I have all kinds of guests that stop in at the island when I'm, when they see my boat there, which is great. But, um, yeah, so it was. It was a wonderful episode to go back and um and and see all of the old staff Chef Dave and Cassandra, his girlfriend, and there's a few mainstays at Chaudière and when you can find great staff that continue to come back year in and year out. And actually I will mention that Pete is not a dockhand anymore. He worked through the ranks and is now one of Chaudiere's guides.
Speaker 2:Good, for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and that's a great way, and we've said it before and I'll say it again that's a great way for all of you guys and girls out there who are aspiring to be a guide. One of the best ways to do it is to start as a dog hand, because you learn so much there and you interact with all of the guides coming in and out, and it's a great way to start that.
Speaker 2:And you know, the biggest thing I think just let me throw this in here, steve is that, like when and it always happens Every year it happens where you're like at some point there's extra guests or there's a guest wants to bring up a last minute couple with them, or you know, you can't find. You got 15 guides on staff right now, um, whether some of them are contract or staff, and you can't find anybody that doc hands going out. I know I did it with dennis this year. I needed dennis dennis.
Speaker 2:Dennis is the least social guy in the world, but he, but he is. He is the most proper man. He will do everything to a tee. He's super polite, he's attentive, he knows boats, so I needed him on a fly out, right, they weren't doing shore lunch, it was just sandwiches, um. So I threw dennis out. You know so. But that could be you on that dock, that young person, right, wanting that one chance, right just to you know, just like getting your shot to play for the big leagues, right, that's yeah, and you know, and you're not gonna know what the heck you're doing. But you Just like getting your shot to play for the big leagues, right, yeah, and you're not going to know what the heck you're doing, but you just learn from what you pick up from the guys that are coming in off the dock as you work in dockhand and ask questions. That's huge 100%.
Speaker 1:So no, that's a great thing and you know, it kind of hit me a little bit being away and that marks. This marks six years, six years since I sold. So it's time is flying.
Speaker 1:Wow, stephen, yes, and speaking of, time is flying, maybe we'll move on throughout the summer and talk about one of the biggest things for me this year in the Fish in Canada world, and that was being able to take part in one of the well, not one of the the longest Fish in Canada shoot ever, and that shoot we ended up doing an Eastern swing.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, your New Brunswick, Nova Scotia deal.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, the.
Speaker 1:Eastern swing OSHA deal. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. The Eastern Swing. And that saw us on the road for 21 days. And then smart guy me piggybacked our vanity cup week right after. So I got home from the shoot, I had one sleep in my own bed and then jumped on a plane and headed to flew to Winnipeg, and then we drove to.
Speaker 2:Northern Saskatchewan. Yeah, to finish that, derby, yeah.
Speaker 1:But that, that Eastern shoot, I love the East Coast. That Eastern shoot, I love the East Coast. I've had the pleasure of shooting in New Brunswick a few times with Fish in Canada. Ange and I did a muskie show out there on the St John River back when I owned the lodge.
Speaker 2:So that was like 2018, 2017, 2018. And St John is like southwestern part of the province, right like it's like right before.
Speaker 1:it's like the closest area to Maine you can get correct yeah, it's like it's relatively quite that far south, um, it's, uh, it's um south of Edmondson, and we weren't at the mouth. We were above the Mack to quack dam.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so you weren't down where all the bass stuff is.
Speaker 1:That was going on this year, no we were above the Mack to quack dam fishing for the muskies, but that was a great episode. The musky fishing there is is like skyrocketing. It's taking off. It's awesome.
Speaker 2:So yeah, like it's so funny you say this. So me and Krista and I just want to throw this in there because I've been waiting to talk to you about this topic, because New Brunswick is such a unique place, and the whole East Coast.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I've been out there because I drilled out there. I drilled out at Sable Island, I drilled in New Brunswick. Um, I've been out there cause I drilled out there. I drilled out at Sable Island, I drilled in New Brunswick. Uh, there was a.
Speaker 2:There was a salt mine that, uh, that had a cavern, uh, basically a crevice that opened up and it was filling, filling the salt mine with water. Well, that's like it was. It was devastating, right, cause as soon as the water, the water, hit the salt, it just disintegrates, right, so it was destroying their mind. So, basically, what we went in there to do was to punch into the side of the mine and cement it, so, like we came in from underneath on an angle, drilled into this, into this open water cavern, would drain it and then pump, like we would pump like in obscene amounts of cement, like hundreds of cubic tons down there, like truck after truck after truck, until it would dead end and we'd be able to get pressure back and then cement it off and then we'd move over to another one.
Speaker 2:But when I was out there, I didn't really pay attention to like I toured it, but I was young, I just remember it was beautiful and the people were awesome and, as I hear you talk about this before me, and Krista are looking for our, for our retirement future, right, like we're obviously going to be here with the lodge, but in the off season, right like maybe we want to have a place out west. Right, we've looked at like a soy use area. I know, I know Ange did some shows out there like bass fishing, and so it was like the columbia river out in bc. Yeah, the walleye limited date is 16 walleyes wow it's insane.
Speaker 2:It's one of the biggest walleye fisheries right now in north america and no one talks about it. Um, like christina lake is, so use lake. Like I said, you guys shot shows out there. Man, they're putting like eight pound largies. It's the warmest place in canada, right. So when I was on my honeymoon we went and checked it out, and then I've always had an attraction to the east, and so has Krista to the east coast, but we've never really don't know anything about it. So when you and you guys talk about it, we're like, oh, it's so beautiful. And the more I watch these shows that have been done down there and the more I look into the area like it's super cheap. Hey, steve, like to buy property down there? It's cheap, is not?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's, it's, it's that well, like, I mean it's like everything else. Yeah, um, in our, in our economy and and for for those of you out there listening who may not be from Canada um, since COVID, all of the prices prices for places to live and homes and everything has skyrocketed. And for here, like in Ontario, southern Ontario in particular, our prices have tripled and so have the prices out East tripled, but the thing is they're both relative and, um, ontario prices are ridiculously high at this point. You know, an average home is a million bucks and, and you can go out east and and and you can go out east right now and you can buy prop beautiful properties for you know, three to five300,000 to $500,000.
Speaker 2:I was saying that I found one that was, you know, in that range you're talking about, and it was like a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home.
Speaker 1:Well, and that home before COVID was $120,000.
Speaker 2:Still crazy. Still half the price of my home too. In.
Speaker 1:Ontario, southern Ontario, that's a million. It was, you know, five, 500,000. So it's, it's relative. And the answer to that question is if you're from Ontario and you own a home, yeah, yeah, you can. You can parlay that into into a very nice chunk of cash and then and then live very comfortably on the East Coast. And a shit ton of Ontarians have done that and I can tell you, the people out there are awesome.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah. So this road trip that we started started in New Brunswick. We started started in new brunswick. We, um, we went right to um, um, uh, right to uh actually it was the saint john river again uh, and we were. We stayed in fredericton, um, fredericton, and, and fredericton is a an awesome little city, um, it's the, the capital, and uh, they, they, it's just, you know, it's like I don't even know how to describe it it's like a small town feel in a city, but I don't think there's all that many people. I think there's probably I should Google this but I think there's about 20,000,. You know, hold on, you know what? Let's just, let's just so. I'm not.
Speaker 2:Pull out that Google machine folks, I'm not crazy.
Speaker 1:Let's just ask Siri here. You know, siri, hey Siri, how many people live in New Brunswick? Or sorry? Oh wow, we've got 831,000 people in New Brunswick. Nice, that's their population. So let's find out about Fredericton. Hey, siri, how many people live in Fredericton? Oh, it's 63,000. Thank you, siri. I really appreciate that, because I would have looked like a knucklehead.
Speaker 2:What a world we live in. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1:I know, I know it's crazy.
Speaker 2:Any information right at your fingertips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'll tell you what for 63,000 people in the city it's got a hometown country feel.
Speaker 2:Well, that's even better, right, Like the population's that high and it still has that feeling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that shoot. We ended up doing a multi-species shoot. There was we fished smallmouth, we fished sturgeon and we fished muskies, although we didn't boat a muskie, we only devoted. It wasn't, it was a day and you can't devote. You know, we were hoping that's a lot of species change in one day?
Speaker 1:yeah, we were hoping right, but yeah, we didn't get lucky on that. For muskies you need a freaking week, like I mean. It's not an easy, it's a tall, it's, it's tough fishing um to make musky shows, for sure, for sure, um so and uh did you do any salt water, or was it all inland?
Speaker 1:uh, it was brackish, it was the river. So, um, um, the, there there is salt water, but um, uh, obviously for the muskies it's fresh water. So you get fresh water coming down from the river towards the ocean, and where we were was fresh water, and then a little bit brackish right as the closer to the ocean you get, because we also did, on that, that multi-species shoot. Um, we did a stripe bath as well and, um, you, you get a little bit closer to the ocean. Obviously, the, the water mixes up a little bit, and then there were the stripers down there too. So, um, it was a wonderful shoot, great, uh, it's always fun out with the boys. And then we packed up.
Speaker 2:Is there walleye fishing out there?
Speaker 1:Walleye no.
Speaker 2:Like that's not bad? Or like can you go snag you know a shore lunch if you wanted to somewhere around there? Or is there no walleyes in that area?
Speaker 1:Well, you know what I would go back to, siri, but we've never fished walleye out there. I'm sure there's inland lakes that hold walleye, but we've never done a show. And I'll tell you what you want to do a shore lunch out there. And you know, I never thought I'd say this, but there is a better fish than walleye, and that's striped bass, man, that's striped bass.
Speaker 2:Has it really that good? Oh, dude Markterling says that too from the lodge, because he fishes them in texas lots.
Speaker 1:he swears by them yeah, well, I don't know if they're, well, they must be the same striped bass in texas too. They gotta be coming in from the ocean down there, you know. But the striped bass that that we're fishing on the East Coast, it is outstanding. Like I mean, the first striped bass that I ate would have been on our shoot maybe two years ago, wasn't the first one, the muskie shoot. We come and we shot a fall striper show and the striped bass, and we actually stayed in the same place. Um no, we stayed in the mirror, we stayed in Miramichi for that one and what's that which is to the north right?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah and um, we ended up, um, we ended up, um, um, taking the striped bass that we caught with Jeff Wilson, who's the owner and operator of the Striper Cup. He knew the chef at the hotel and he made a chowder that was to die for. It was just outstanding. And then we took a couple home and the buddy yeah, when you're out East you don't have to go any further than Stripe Bass, for for sure, lunch man, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I love the diversification, like how, the, like the, what you can do, like same thing out west, it's the same it really it. It's you can the fish that you can fish in the ocean or or the. The combination together and the inland stuff right is super cool yeah yeah, so we cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we did that. And then we packed up after a week in New Brunswick and drove to Nova Scotia Economy. Nova Scotia and economy is a tiny little. I'm going to call it a hamlet Because it's like in the area that I live. You know, we used to say we had little hamlets called the ones. Where I live is Bowling Green, and these places are just clusters of houses that if you're driving and you blink you miss them. There's no real like I mean in economy. They had a, a wonderful little restaurant. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and it was. It was one of the best shoots that I've been on Cool and it was solely focused on um, on striped bass and um, um, you guys gotta go out there bass barn charters. Oh it was, it was outstanding.
Speaker 2:I can't you had him on the show here, didn't you? That was the fella.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did yeah I did and, um, that whole, that whole episode and the whole thing, man, um, I can't wait for you all to see it, because the striped bass out there on the Bay of Fundy and the area is so beautiful and it's, it's, it's crazy, the, the land and the beauty and the phenomenon with the highest hides in the world, like I mean, when we were there it was 50, 54 feet or some freaking thing.
Speaker 2:That's insane man.
Speaker 1:It was ridiculous. It was so awesome. That is cool. Look up Bass Barn Charters, they will look after you. And Nova Scotia is just beautiful. It reminded me there were farms all along the coast of the Bay of Fundy and we were right on the Bay of Fundy and just you know country living and the people are ridiculously friendly. It was awesome, one of the best shoots that I've been on, you know, and it was really really cool. And I love striper fishing, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, man, it's a bucket list for me, you know oh yeah, it is, and you've not striper fished never man. I've never striper fished and I've never grayling fished. Those are really no I've. I've caught char when I was drilling up in the arctic. I've done. You know I did sturgeon here for my. You know the big one. I got that ate four or whatever on my honeymoon. I've done lots in the ocean. You know groupers, big marlins with Davey. But no, I've never and I would love to. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we got to plan a trip out there.
Speaker 2:You got to take me out and show me around.
Speaker 1:I certainly will, because it is so worth going. And again, nova Scotia those blue nosers out there, man, they are salt of the earth people. Um, really, really awesome and um highly recommend it. Uh, you gotta get out there and uh and do it. And then we ended up, uh uh, saddling up and um uh heading back, uh uh, heading back to um um Nova Scotia, where, for the first time, um, I didn't, we didn't fish for our shoot. Um, we did was we built um a fish in canada, episode, possibly two out of a very, very cool event, and that was um um the world bass uh tournament.
Speaker 2:Well, the pan-american games the pan-american yes, yes, I completely forgot that was going on out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we ended up getting to spend the week shooting the Pan American Games. Well, the Pan American Black Bass Tournament is what it is. Yep and hanging out with the best bass fishermen in the world, like I mean, there was Team USA and it was very cool, like they had probably about eight different teams and eight different countries taking part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like Australia was there too.
Speaker 1:I think no, I don't think Australia was there, no, no, we had. There was teams from, well, the US and Canada. Hold on, you know what I got to look up the teams that were there, because there was teams from Mexico.
Speaker 2:I know Canada was represented by Gussie.
Speaker 1:There was a team from Japan or China, sorry, and all of those people. It was very cool, although that team from China 90% of the guys were Chinese that live in Canada, but that still doesn't matter and the compete level was awesome. And again, it was on the saint john river, uh and the, the, the bass fishery there is is unbelievable, and to watch guys fish and be involved, um, in shooting and and boarding the boats of uh, of uh, guys like scott martin and all the US guys. And then you've got all the guys from Canada, you know. You got Gustafson and you know all the guys you know.
Speaker 2:Cooper, Collabt and Azumi, and yeah like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, captain Azumi, like I mean it was such a great experience to to go out and and hang around those guys and and and shoot with them and it was it was really really cool what an interesting thing having like just stopping to think about that for a minute, like like Bob right Izumi, like yeah like from way back when he started like the GM Bass Circuit kind of stuff with Big Jim and Ang and those guys like way back, you know.
Speaker 2:And now you look at a guy like Trey McKinney.
Speaker 1:Oh, Trey was the. Like Trey McKinney, he's one of the or who was the other guy, the barefoot kid yeah, he's one of the.
Speaker 2:he's like 19 or 20, I think, or some shit.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah and yeah, he's like 19 or 20,.
Speaker 2:I think, or some shit, oh yeah. And then there's another young one down there, a bigger guy, williamson Tyler. Williamson Tyler.
Speaker 1:He was the barefoot guy, not Trey. They fished together actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those two are like right now, some of the best in the world. And you look at the spectrum of like how they're doing it now and you look at how, like Bob and them at their age, we're doing it like four generations. Crazy, right, how how much fishing and tournament fishing has changed in 40 years, right Like yeah just think about that.
Speaker 2:Think about Bob, like Bob being there and going Holy shit, like back in 1982, you know, in 1982. I'm sure those moments come into their head where they're looking at these kids going holy fuck, this is like arcade fishing.
Speaker 1:Oh, it is, and it's funny. You say that there was an area that was very difficult to get to and Trey and the big guy, what his name, tyler williamson. Tyler williamson, yeah, um, both very young, um, but cool dudes. And anyway, we went back into this area that's difficult to get into and there were two boats back there. There was azumi and the young guys and it was funny.
Speaker 1:I was driving the FNC1 and I had Nick Ang's grandson on the boat with me and Nick was running one of the Osmo cameras and they're pretty cool little pieces of equipment. They're just like a, they're the size of a. Well, they're probably about I'm going to say five, six inches long and they're probably about I'm gonna say five, six inches long and they're like, uh, one inch square. And then they got this little gimbal camera on the top of it. So you just hold it and and it, the, the gimbal, always naturally stays horizontal so you can kind of be moving, but it, the frame of the picture, stays horizontal. So so they're wonderful pieces of equipment and we were boarding the boats and doing quick interviews and stuff. But it gets pretty dicey right when you're doing that kind of thing and it's a tournament and there was no money involved. But it's all national pride, right? Everybody wants to win this tournament.
Speaker 2:For their country. Yeah.
Speaker 1:For their country and we jumped on with the young fellas and I was watching and they were glued to that LiveScope man. They were glued to the uh, to that um, uh, live scope man they were. They were glued to it and you know, I didn't think that they were, that they were doing all that. Well, um, you know they were catching some small fish, but they, I didn't see them. You know, get into anything big Um and Azumi was in the back corner and um, um, ange and Pete ended up doing interviews and things with Izumi, but that Williams kid and and Trey McKinney, they, they knocked it out of the park. Man, I think they were the.
Speaker 2:I think that they were the best team in that tournament so so those two kids, when we just had brucey on here yeah brucey was, was one place behind them going into the for the elite, the whole, the whole season him. He beat them for about four or five tournaments and then they beat him for about four or five. It was. I'm just throwing that out there, that that's how good jamie is he.
Speaker 2:He, he fucking stood toe-to-toe with those kids and those kids are good, right like like I know that there's you know, and there's some, there's some speculation about some different things out there, but like those, they're good for good sticks, like anybody who's at that tournament. If you can swing with them, like that's saying a lot right yeah super cool, oh for sure, to be on the boat with them yeah, 100.
Speaker 1:So what an experience that was. Um uh, hey, you know it was. It was a really cool experience to do who won?
Speaker 2:team america won right what's that?
Speaker 1:team america won right oh yeah, they, they kicked ass, they were, it was, um, it was, it was, uh, it was an ass kicking and it was on our own turf. It, uh, I was.
Speaker 2:It was a little disappointing that way, like our world juniors the other night yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know about those boys, uh, but I gotta keep cheering. But you know, the us looks pretty strong yeah, that was a pretty horrifying.
Speaker 2:That first game that was that canada played was awesome. I thought they did great and then a few what I was like what is going on, boys?
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but that's okay, anyway there's, they're still in it yeah yeah well, that's cool, man, that's.
Speaker 2:That sounds like a great swing out to the east coast it was a.
Speaker 1:it was a wonderful experience and a long journey. We drove out, we pulled the boats and then, like I say, we did the. I got back, slept one night in my own bed and headed out for the Vanity Cup, the.
Speaker 3:Vanity Cup yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a month of travel and I really, for the first time, gained a different perspective and a ton of respect for people out there that travel for a living, you know, and obviously there's there's like, uh, musicians and people that go on these world tours and um see different cities like every two days and sleeping in hotels and you know, once it's awesome to to sleep in, sleep in wonderful hotels and like I mean we were in great accommodation the whole way and thank you to all of those places.
Speaker 2:But you know, but it's not your own bed, buddy. No.
Speaker 1:It doesn't matter how luxurious the place you're staying is, and this is what I realized when you wake up in the morning and sometimes you don't even know where you are. For that split second it's a tough deal. It starts to weigh on you and you're away from your family and it was a bit of a grind, um, towards the end, um, you know, being on the road that long, um, cool experience, but man, I, uh I gained a new appreciation for all you folks out there that travel and sleep in hotels and are eating in, you know, eating in restaurants and different things and fast food here and there, Life on the road, basically yeah.
Speaker 1:You know it's. And when you're out doing it and you're in restaurants and you're eating out and stuff like that, people you know some people think, wow, that is such a awesome thing and it is, don't get me wrong. But when you do it for a month, you're awful happy to be home, oh yeah, for sure, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure, for sure, yeah For sure, yeah For sure. So no, I that was.
Speaker 2:That was basically the fishing Canada year in a nutshell, and Well, that was your year really too, in the summer, or your summer right Between your holiday, and that was it.
Speaker 1:You were swamped. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent it was. It was wonderful and thanks to to Ange and Pete and the whole crew. I love you all and appreciate everything and enjoy being out with them. I wouldn't trade that for the world.
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 when you're in the wilds of northwestern Ontario. You need gear you can trust and a team that's got your back. That's Lakeside Marine in Red Lake, ontario Family owned since 1988. They're your go-to pro camp dealer, built for the north, from Yamaha boats and motors to everything in between. We don't just sell you gear, we stand behind it. Lakeside Marine, rugged, reliable, ready. So, willie, what's up on your end? Like I mean, this was a pretty exciting Nordic year.
Speaker 2:It was a wild year. It was exciting. There was lots of stress, there was excitement. No, it was good Like. I'll skip back, I'll kind of do a recap on Nordic's year here. So we did January We'd already started building.
Speaker 2:So we tore down cabin four, which was an older cabin that sat on the most beautiful spot on our property, and we did that late fall, kind of to have it ready for the winter, um, to build. But we, you know this, this place was like the building, that, the structure that was there, was like really old. It was like the kind of the if you put a marble on one end of the floor it would have rolled up and down about six hills. You know, before the other side of the cabin, two bedrooms horrible layout, you know, but it's, you know, and, and you've been to, you know, before I got to the other side of the cabin, two bedrooms, horrible layout, you know, but it's, you know, and, and you've been to, you know, our place stevens. You look at that place now where cabin the new cabin four stands and it's like, wow, what a view, right. So we wanted to, uh, we wanted to give give that sensation from the most beautiful spot on the property. So we tore that down, started building, you know. So, jan, january, february, we were like same as the year before. At the main lodge we were.
Speaker 2:I had eight, 10 guys living out there on and off, right, you know, helping out here and there. It's a big difference. Building Everyone, you know it's building in Keven and Kenora or where you are. You know, the gta is a big difference between doing it there and doing it in the middle of a remote place with five feet of snow and minus 30 for two months straight, right, like so, oh yeah, and logistically it's not, you know, like everything free. You know your compressors daily, you're know, everything at night has to be warm and charged. Well, we only had one cabin plus my house, the owner's house, right, so I'm up there with some guys and then I cabin 13. We had, we had guys down there sleeping, yeah, so we plucked away throughout the winter there.
Speaker 2:We did a bunch of that. Wasn't all we did. We ended up renovating probably like nine of the cabins in total. You know, we put new carpets in and tore out all the old, shitty bunk beds that were left in some of them and, you know, just did those final touches. There's still something we need to do, like you say we've talked about. We got to do some change some of the lights, the old illuminating lights and some minor things, but, like majority of the camp, got got built that cabin. We built on that point there the new number four. It's an eight bedroom, four bathroom so it sleeps. It sleeps. We've got it down to sleeping 12 people comfortably if you're on on a corporate package or an american plant package or with your family and but it really if you wanted to go in there with you know I had 16 people in there this year. You know how it was in there and I had 16 in there yeah, that's, I just took twin beds, you know how you were.
Speaker 2:You used to put your beds together with the buckles yep I ended up, um, what I did was I?
Speaker 2:I just we just bulldogged it, we just my, my crew would just in and out with the twin beds. It was a lot of fricking work and now I've learned from that, but that's what we did. You know, we put twin beds in the rooms with the doubles or the queens and make it work and then when those guests left, we'd switch it all out again and move on to the next. But yeah, so that cabin is like, it's gorgeous. The whole front of the cabin is glass and it looks out over the water and you're elevated close to like 18 feet over the rocks and the water. So there's a 90-foot wraparound deck, you know, so you can sit out there in the morning and have your coffee and watch the sunrise and listen to the loons. All the bedrooms have sliding glass doors that exit.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful cabin. You have to go online to orderpointlodgecom and take a look at it. It's amazing. But that was our big project throughout the winter. Like I say, we did a lot of little shit in between, but that was our big one. We extended our deck on the main lodge so we went out another 12 feet to go over the water.
Speaker 2:Pretty much to the water set, I guess, which was nice and cool because we were able to put some patio furniture down there. And you know you guys will see it in the Fishing Canada episodes coming up here and or online if you take a look, but that was really nice. You know a couple we redid the bar, you know everything. We kind of just touched up the year one. You know the craziness of like buying it in January, building a main lodge, making a stamp, creating new guests because we had none in that area, you know, taking it where I have. You know, by the end of the year I was on four TV shows and we're on podcasts and we're doing this and we're. You know it was a lot of work to have to do all that and to have that motion. So we went back and did some touch-ups. So like the bar, we added a keg, you know. So like we got a tap there now, um, which is pretty awesome, right like kingsville brewery yeah
Speaker 2:it's down in toronto, super cool. Um, we're actually trying to work with them right now to get them on here as a as to work with us in the podcast here. Um, great great company, marty turco. Um, old dallas stars goalie, there he's, uh, he's one of the head guys and not with davey and uh, great beer, amazing. But we have that on top. We extended the bar a bit, you know. We put up some some nice float planes and you know we just kind of jazzed it up a little bit. Steve, you know, there's we.
Speaker 2:I know May 1st came around. We had pretty much majority of the interior stuff done, so we hopped to the outside and I painted cabins. Well, holy fuck, I got a lot, just like you, with the traveling, I got a newfound respect for people that paint for a living, because we painted for nine days straight, like probably 16-hour days, and there was like eight to ten of us. By the time. You trim and you're cutting out and you're prepping and everything is off the ground, right Like. The cabins are built elevated so everything is scaffold or ladder, yeah, so I mean like, like I said, like there's a. You know you're hip high. You're three feet just to get up to the, to the level to paint, you know. And then the cabins are eight, ten feet right. So it's.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of work, right, and these cabins had been there for a while. We had to pressure wash them all down and strip back the old paint that was crusting off. We left the paint on there, that was good, and then painted over it with the primer. But sorry, we had paint with primer in it so we could paint over it. But anything that was chippy we had to scrape off with scrapers or blast off. I bought a pressure washer with 4,500 PSI.
Speaker 1:Oh no, it's fucking insane. Wow, that's a beast.
Speaker 2:So me and Chef here I'll just throw a little story in there. So we're getting this pressure washer going. So me and Jarrett, like there was Jarrett, rudy Jarrett's the chef, chef Machete, he was up there, and there was Dennis, there was Kyle, there was my young guys, jackson and Zach, there was Scott Cook the conch, there was all the guys that we used for the builds. So we're all kind of sitting there putting this thing together and we're having a smoke. I'm like boys, give me the red tip. I want to see the real pressure on this thing. The red tip, it comes with four tips black, white, yellow, red. Well, the red tip is red for a reason.
Speaker 3:Right, like don't use it unless you know what it is.
Speaker 2:So I put the tip on and do not ever, just so anyone knows, don't ever put a pressure washer to your hat, to your skin, like even if it's on, like the fan mode at the car wash. Like don't do that, like I've. I've seen guys do it, and on the drilling rig, and it'll fucking rip your skin right off to the bone, it'll peel back your muscle like nothing. So, anyways, this red cutter, I call it the cutter blade. Now we put it in the pressure washer. I went over to a tree and the tree was probably, I would say, two hockey sticks thick, so let's say, two inches around. Okay, this tree branch, and I stood back about four feet, steve, and I cut the tree branch off the tree.
Speaker 1:No way.
Speaker 2:No bullshit. I was like, oh, this is so. I took the. So all the boys were like, give me that, give me that. I'm like no, no, no, no. So I took the tip off and I taped it under my desk at the lodge so nobody would know where it was, because when they saw it I thought they were gonna all for sure, all gonna want to do do that, right.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah uh, boys with their toys right. So, yeah, pretty crazy anyway. So we, we got all the paint done, we got everything done. There come, I think. I think we actually had two cabins left, cabin one and cabin two. We left because they're more on the the side of the property that wasn't going to get filmed and we had. So we had walleye opener and that's our opening weekend.
Speaker 2:You know, we did a little bit of a walk through in the kitchen with some of the staff and then boom, right into the season. So our first group, first couple groups, were all pretty high-end American plan groups. So at that time it was kind of it was great. You know, the guests wouldn't have seen the chaos, but it was chaos for us because we just finished renovating, we just finished painting, we have new staff and old staff, we're trying to integrate together and we're only in going into year two. So we're still learning what we're doing in an operation this size. Right, like you know, we were very successful in the smaller operation, but like we're just this thing's 18 times the size of what we were, so like it was kind of chaos for a bit. We look, but we got through it and we learned, you know and you know, there was some staff staffing issues. For sure it was a you know I over.
Speaker 2:I staffed myself this year properly, I thought um, that's a tough, that's a tough, it's about learning that, steve right like yeah it, and and I'm just gonna throw this out there, and it's not a disrespect to society right now, but where I come from, you know, when you make a commitment to a job for a season or you make a commitment to something, you know what you're doing, right? Yeah, In the oil field, like you know, if you don't show up for a day of work, you owe the crew a case of beer and they take your pay and you work Right, because I understand that people might think that that's the same, but if you're making 600 bucks a day, that's your pay in the piper. If you're not showing up, right, so they keep your job. That's how she goes. So like and and kind of like.
Speaker 2:You know, working on a lodge in the north is just kind of similar to that on some aspects, but times have changed so. So, like I had some staff, I thought I quit myself, property and I did. Now they look back and I'm like I had the right numbers. I could have used one more girl. I could use one more of this. Uh, what you know? Probably two more guides because I was so busy, but that's a good problem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, but like I had a breakfast cook for for chef. So the first year chef machete would get up at 4 30 in the morning, do breakfast, catch it, you know, do his cisco and his ordering, catch a nap in the afternoon, come back and work all night again. You know, and, and to be honest, that's how a lot of places do up here. Mainer lake does that, uh, wiley Point does that, and these are high-end places up where I am, you know, they're my competitors, so it's not an abnormal. But at the same time I didn't like it. I knew we had to start like that. So we wanted a breakfast chef, right, so Jarrett could get some sleep and stuff and be human, not the side work, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't run it on one guy in the kitchen, it's just not. You can make do Well, you can.
Speaker 2:It's done lots and lots of places.
Speaker 1:You can you can't say you can't because they do it.
Speaker 3:But I don't think it's done properly, those places run into trouble guaranteed every time.
Speaker 2:Correct. I think that's right and we never ran into an issue, not yet, but that's right and I can see it coming. That's what I'm saying. So well, I saw it coming. Last year we already had a breakfast cook, right, yeah, so I hired a breakfast chef.
Speaker 2:He was from the East Coast. He wasn't one of the normal East Coasters. Apparently he was great. I interviewed him once, I interviewed him once, jared interviewed him once, and then we interviewed him together. Everything checked out, great. But he was just one of these guys.
Speaker 2:He always had a story why he wasn't coming and delaying, delaying, delaying. And then two weeks into the season we're like, okay, you're not coming. He said, no, I'm going to some other camp. It's been pretty much bullshit. You get that in this industry lots. But that was a tough one because we really, really thought we had the guy right. And now it's June 1st, you guys are showing up Fish and Canada is showing up to film and we're like, fuck, now I got to go breakfast cook, right, which was fine because I mean, we had to do what we had to do.
Speaker 2:But you know, luckily my brother-in-law, uh, sean, he's the head chef at the hospital here, so he comes out like whenever we had, like my investors groups out or we had, you know, the new bauer group, any of our big groups that we have, um, or if I knew it was going to be big. My brother-in-law doesn't work all summer. He takes the summer off so he just comes out right, so, which is nice, I can have him come out friday, saturday, sunday. He does breakfast and him and Jarrett have a relationship. They've worked on and off for, you know, a couple of years now, so that kind of helped us. But you know, that kind of threw a wrench into things. You know, my, we had a family member that we hired and her boyfriend. Well, that didn't. Couples, man couples are a pain in the ass. They are boyfriend.
Speaker 2:Well, that didn't. Couples, man, couples are a pain in the ass.
Speaker 1:They are and, uh, we lost them a family member that wasn't going to work out with us, um, like two days before you came staffing is always, yes, an issue yes yes, that's why great people like you you, um, you really work hard to find those great people that you can, you can integrate into the business and and keep them in place yeah, your jarets and your dennises and your hips, that's yeah, like I mean, every business has them um, and I would, I would always overstaff, like I mean I would, I would try and start my season with, you know, 18 people on staff, not including guides.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's tough to do when you're turning it over, though, right, it's not something. Originally it's the last thing on my mind. Getting going was that. And the other thing is you don't want to spend a shitload of money on staff standing around right while you're getting going, when you don't even know how your place flows yet, right, like yeah, so it's, uh, it's one of those things that I think I personally think you have to balance both.
Speaker 2:I think to be, you know, you, you have to, you have to do good on both ends of that sword and, uh, I think I, I, you know, I learned a lot this year on that end and I think this year we'll go in a little overstaffed for sure. We will be overstaffed for sure because we know we're going to lose a percentage. It's just.
Speaker 1:It's just something that happens. It's just people don't understand what it's like to be to work in a in, to work in a situation like that, like when you live with the people that you're working with in a remote area it's a whole different ballgame, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, for sure, it's definitely. You have to find those people that are.
Speaker 1:That's a whole nother episode Just talking about.
Speaker 2:We should do an episode just on this issue.
Speaker 1:Well, talking, about what it's like to be a staff member and work in a remote location.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is what we should, because that would be a great episode, but that's up for another discussion.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then we got the. We started off the season, you know, with some minor staffing ups and downs and then, but we got in the groove. You know everything was always good for the guests. The fishing was great, the dinners, the meals were amazing. You know, everything was always great. It's just in the background. You know everything was always great, um, it's just in the background, you know, getting everything set up, sure, and then, uh, and then fish in canada came and uh, yeah, man, it was when you guys came. It was like, I'm not gonna lie, I was sweating when ant came, oh for sure and pete, because I was like this is so.
Speaker 2:It was so ridiculously cool to see the fnc one parked at my dock.
Speaker 2:You know, steve, it was I know what the you I can show you here you must have been like man pinch me. Is this shit real right? Yeah, you know, and there was. And it was like like Vova, who is your video guy? Yeah, he is one of the most professional men I've ever met in my life. Like he would give me shit Like Willie, no, you got to do it this way. No, no, this, no, say that, no. And I remember him cutting you off about 20 times and he'd get mad at you, steven, no.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, but. I love, but he oh yeah, but I'm a bit of a freewheeler and vo he he likes to, he likes things a certain way and he's going to get it you know dean is.
Speaker 2:Dean is a unique individual. You know dean is, uh, he is a salt of the earth man. I really enjoy dean's time. Um, I really like talking with dean, you know, like I can. I like conversing with him about life and things like he's. He's hyper intelligent, yeah you know. And, and the guy is the future of the show, as far as I think you're looking out at it going like he's the guy right, like he's one of them.
Speaker 2:Anyway, you know he's starting to film and he's. He's great on the camera and he's super great with people and he knows his job and uh, but he taught me a lot just in this trip, like just in the, in the, how things work in these shoots. And then, uh, you know you, you know me, you ended up this time we'd already been friends for, you know, a year, but you know we're getting to know each other, I guess at that point. But, yeah, you know Peter, like I ran into Peter before on the Ganaraska River, like I said. But like Pete is like Pete to me is like one of the stud Peter, like I ran into Peter before on the Ganaraska River, like I said, but like Pete is like Pete to me is like one of the studs, right Like Pete's a stick.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And I don't know nothing compared to you do about him, but I do know that he's one of the best that will ever be in a boat, right? So you know it was really surreal. And then there was, you know, there was the shoot. The shoot went really good in different ways and there was some heartache and others. You know we beat up, we beat up and just blow. You know we, we destroyed some of his equipment. The water, the waves were like five, six footers for like half of the trip man, it was fucking horrible like you know we had.
Speaker 1:The wind was ridiculous yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:We never seen anything like that there. It was crazy Like yeah, but we still managed to like we got some wicked fish, you know, we got some 30 plus walleye, we got some big this and big that. I can't say anything too much, but the one, you know, the one when this podcast episode airs. There's already going to be that first episode out, I think the second episode. There's two episodes at Nordic Point Lodge. The first one airs on the 4th. They're on the next upcoming Saturday. The following one I think it's like episode 7 or episode 8 or something. It's later in the season, but the first one is when you guys I'm sure you haven't if you haven't seen it yet, you have to go see it because it's one of the most unique episodes. I think that they filmed in a long time, with the net incident and the Johnny episode and the big walleyes coming up there. I think it was a pretty unique one. So go check it out.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure, it was very unique yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know it was very unique. Yeah, Absolutely. We got to film and Ange is great in that.
Speaker 1:Ange is just great in in that episode too.
Speaker 2:He's super professional Wow.
Speaker 1:Ange is Ange. He is the OG man oh yeah, yeah. You know, and and it's just, yeah, and it's just, it is, it's for a lodge owner to have them come, Ange and Pete the first time. It is very surreal.
Speaker 2:Dude, like when you're having dinner and you're sitting and watching, you know, like you're just sitting there and you know people are playing the banjo and the guitar comes out and everyone's singing and it's, you know, getting into the evening and you know everyone goes to bed early really, because everyone's got long days. But you know it's super fun just to sit there and you know I got a little video I think I'll keep with me the rest of my life of just us hanging out. You know, little jam session and some singing. You know, and you know, and I was like this is the most amazing thing I've ever been part of, right. So, anyway, so we got, we had an amazing shoot. We got. There was the second show is, you know, we had the guys up that won the trip and from the Easter Seals, eric Lindros, easter Seals Charity Foundation gala, that they had the Silent Hour of the Auction. They ended up bidding on the trip and bought it. Scotty and his crew, amazing guys, amazing. They actually reached out to me again did they?
Speaker 2:yep, yep, awesome guys, man, awesome. And uh, dude, those guys brought me an eric lindros signed jersey, yeah, for the lodge, to put in the watch, like it's actually he's getting framed right now, like, and Lindros signed it. They were texting with him on the phone. He was actually going to come. He was supposed to come, was the was what they had said, yeah, and then, uh, he ended up having to go to Quebec for a family, for something that was going on with his cabin, with his family up there, um, but he, they went out of their way and he signed a jersey to me and it was, like he knows, I'm a big Oshawa Generals fan.
Speaker 2:You know that's where I grew up, now in Coburg, right. So since the Gens were our team, right, and yeah, like he's, like you know, hall of Fame, oshawa Generals, whatever, you know, pretty awesome that he signed that off to us, right, it was kind of just not just a signature, you know, but pretty awesome that he signed that off to us, right, it was kind of just not just a signature and you know it was kind of personal, so I really enjoyed that part of it. It was really nice those guys brought that up to the lodge it was. It was something that'll stay with me forever, yeah. So then then we moved on to a few weeks later actually about 10 days later, I think someone else came Fish TV came up and filmed.
Speaker 1:They filmed two shows um someone else came fish tv came up and filmed. They filmed two shows. Uh, that's great. That's more tv shows you got. The better, the better the advertising and and the television works man oh for sure.
Speaker 2:So we ended up getting um. Then we had jay, so jay siemens came up, did a small, small little I can't remember what it was, but yeah, he was up there. You know we've done lots with now. Then we hopped on the podcast. You know, me and you, starting in the summer kind of the podcast thing started rolling and everybody you know did an episode. You did an episode with the boys there, the Johns and Chef, and it was just something that me, you love doing and I can honestly say that from the bottom of my heart, Stephen, that being part of the Diaries of a Lodge Owner family and being part of this show now with you is probably as big of a highlight as me fishing and meeting my idol.
Speaker 2:You know I really enjoy doing this with you weekly well, thank you it's kind of a deep it's, it's a, it's a way just I like talking, so do you?
Speaker 2:we both never shut up we can tell right like we go, me and steve drove, we drove from winnipeg to nipple in saskatchewan, which is like nine hours, and we didn't turn the radio on once. Yeah, you know, and I just really love the fact that we can talk about real life stuff and that you made me part of this, you know, and I really want to say thank you for that. I really love being part of this Diaries family. You know, the addition of Stories of the North was huge, right, yeah, we kind of opened up to a whole different realm of people we can work with and to be partners with our show and ideas for our show, and you know it's super cool. You know this whole thing, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the summer progressed this whole thing, yeah, and then the summer progressed. You know, we had, you know, some business trending. You know ups and downs and some you know some personal tribulations. I had some family members get sick, and you know. And then, but in the same time, we were getting ready for our wedding and uh all the wedding.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's a big, monumental uh uh thing, that uh so we, yeah, so we got married at the lodge september 14th 2024,. I married the woman of my dreams and yeah, Steve wasn't there. Steve was supposed to be there, but he was too busy with the shoot.
Speaker 1:Still, yeah, that was the big September shoot, east Coast swing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he and Melissa would have been there if not. But yeah, it was a great wedding. You know I had people, all my buddies, up from Texas and out east and out west. You know my one groomsman was one of my oilman buddies. I've traveled to, you know, the Middle East with him, up to the Arctic, and you know Brad Nielsen, one of my best friends. Kyle McMahon was my best man and then my partner here, dave Johnson, one of my best friends and like my older brother, you know, in life, you know they stood beside me. My boys I got a boy who's turning 13 here January 11th, holton, turning into a teen, and my youngest boy, who's nine, turned 10, cohen. You know it was pretty emotional having my boys there.
Speaker 2:Me and Chris are a joint family. I was with somebody for many years before and so was she. Uh, we pretty much split at the same time and came together. We met years later and came together and so we're a, uh, integrated family and so it was pretty, pretty cool for the kids to like, you know, like they're now one, you know, officially, right, and it was pretty cool for them, right. So it was emotional and yeah, but the lodge was a beautiful place to have a wedding Like we're going to.
Speaker 2:We're going to actually put a wedding section on the website. You folks should go check it out. I should actually do a post coming in here in the new year to try and sell some wedding packages, but I should do a post to try and get that going. Yeah, because a blast on it, because it was beautiful, like our pavilion. It's like it's a big cedar pavilion, beautiful maroon steel roof and it's got draping white lights under it.
Speaker 2:And this is where we, when we do a fish fry for the camp or when we have an outdoor event, or if you just want to go and sit under the lights with your family and have your own fish fryer or whatever, have a, have a sandwich, you know, or a puff or a beer, you can go sit under there. You know so. But that's where we did our wedding and it was absolutely gorgeous. Um, we had a lady come in and set everything up for the flowers and the event. We had the main lodge for that. So Chef Machete did a prime rib and then I brought in my old chef from Lake of the Woods Fishing Adventures. He came in and did a pork like a spic, a pig, which was kind of cool, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pig roast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, then we had two buffet tables set out in the front decks. So you know, our head table was in the main lodge and we had a bar set up and we had a bartender come in and I think there was like 90, 70 to 90 people, or something like that.
Speaker 2:I think it was 90 for the wedding and then it ended up being 70 or 75 for dinner and the dance, so something like that. I think it was 90 for the wedding and then it ended up being 70 or 75 for dinner in the dance. So it was just the perfect size. It wasn't too big, it wasn't too small, it was great. It was everyone who's close to us. So we had a wonderful time. You know, by nine, 10 o'clock I was ready to go to bed. I'm an early, you know, early riser. So me and Krista called her. Yeah, it was a wonderful wedding, it was great, it was a time of my life, steve, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1:In a beautiful setting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the next day was my birthday. The 15th is my birthday. Well, that's partridge season, so we've shot a couple of partridge in the morning the day after my wedding. Nice Shot a couple partridge in the morning the day after my wedding Nice, yeah. And then had dinner that night with some folks and they started heading home and we went on our honeymoon for two weeks. You know we went out sturgeon fishing. You know I caught an 8.4 sturgeon over 400 pounds.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 2:Salmon fish. Yeah, it was badass. It was badass Me and Jeff. We just keep trying to get him on the show. Here he's. A couple times we've set it up and I had to bail and a couple times he had to bail, so we will get him on. But River Monsters out in Louette, bc, nice, jeff, and he is insane, like the fishing there is crazy, yeah. So when we kind of toured all over out west, krista's never seen the ocean, so she got to physically went. You know, we went out to uh, to bc and we came back through down through whistler and then hit the coast and when we hit the coast the first thing I did was take her to the ocean so she could dip her toe and uh, yeah, you know, we made our drowns. We got back to reality here and, you know, finished off the hunting season at the lodge, closed down the lodge.
Speaker 1:And it's been really nice to go home.
Speaker 2:You know I, just like you said, I the feeling of traveling is one thing but like, like, like you're talking about, for you did this past year like I would spend 200 to 250 days on the road. You know, for for 20 years I did that and I loved it, but now I hate it. You know I do like when I travel like I like going away for like five to 10 days two weeks for my anniversary was too much, like two weeks away from me now from home, I don't like it. Like week 10, my anniversary was too much, like two weeks away from me, now from home, I don't like it. Like week 10 days is max for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's just how it is right. I'm getting older and I like my. I like being comfortable in my own space and being around my kids and you know my. I spent half my life away from them, right? So I don't want to do that shit anymore, you know from them right.
Speaker 2:So I don't want to do that shit anymore. You know, I want to take every moment I can with them and my new beautiful wife and my lodge and my friends like my Stephen here and you know our Diaries family and I want to live it to the max. So Beautiful that's my 2024, and I hope everybody has an amazing 2025 and make it the year, make you know one day of living folks is better than a lifetime of existing, and that's my motto for 2025.
Speaker 1:There you go, nice Nicely done.
Speaker 2:That's it for me, Stephen.
Speaker 1:And you know what? The one fellow that I forgot to mention, who I met out east, who was a very cool dude, was Pat Roach. And for those of you who don't know the name, pat Roach, pat Roach is Randy from the Trailer Park Boys and he was out at the Pan Am Black Bass Tournament and he was a ho the Pan Am Black Bass Tournament and he was a hoot, that dude he is a beauty man.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'm so jealous. You got to hang with him, man, so jealous, oh for sure.
Speaker 1:And you know the facility that they had out there. The tournament was actually out of the town of Nacowick, on the St John River, and it was a beautiful facility. The weather was ridiculously nice in September. Um, and uh, you know, um, it was a it, that was a whole, that that whole thing was a wonderful experience. And, uh, it was a wonderful experience.
Speaker 1:I, uh, I got my, uh, my, my Googulator out and uh, uh, I should have remembered all of the countries, but yeah, yeah, um, uh, team Canada and U? S were there, obviously, um, uh, puerto Rico, puerto Rico, columbia, mexico, the Dominican Republic, and we had two First Nation teams there as well. We had Turtle Island and Wabanaki, and the diversity of the teams and the people that were there was awesome. And, like I say, team Canada did well. We ended up second behind the Americans and they did great. Like, I mean, jeff Gustafson was there, cooper Gallant, coach Izumi, you know, dave Chong, adam Foster, there were just a ton of of outstanding anglers and you know it was, it was, it was pretty close, but the Americans they did pull it off in the end and it was, it was, it was exciting, it really was exciting. So folks you know and they streamed it live on Facebook and did an absolutely wonderful job doing that so you can tune into that next year.
Speaker 1:And then I just want to again thank Bass Barn Charters and Greg Beliveau and his wife out there. They did such a fantastic job guiding. He's got a Coastal Vokey is the boat that he's got for out there. It's a new fee boat and it's built like a brick shithouse and he takes you out on the Bay of Fundy and you just catch stripers like catch stripers that's what he does and sharks and whatever else might be out there. So thanks to Greg and I'd love to wish everybody a happy new year and look forward to 2025. Let's knock this year out of the park.
Speaker 2:Let's do it baby.
Speaker 1:And again, thank you, folks for listening to this point, Really appreciate it and look forward to our next episode. Head on over to fishingcanadacom. Get into all those giveaways. All you got to do is put your name in the hat and it's all free, and uh, and you win. You know it's, it's as simple as that. Um, the more entries, the better your odds, and, uh, keep that rolling. And for anybody out there that's interested in partnering up, um, we've got a wonderful rate card. Just reach out, contact us. Everybody knows how to do that. Steve N at fishingcanadacom Will at nordicpointlodgecom, and thus folks, brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the.
Speaker 3:North Bending my rock.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 1:Working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Yeah, 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 1: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, All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.
Speaker 2:To scientists.
Speaker 3:But now that we're reforesting and letting things freeze.
Speaker 1:It's the perfect transmission environment for life to be.
Speaker 2:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly marinated you will taste it and whoever else will pick up the phone.
Speaker 3:Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on.
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Speaker 3: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. But they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry 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 3: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 is 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. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.