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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
Episode 79: Generations United by Angling and Altruism
Jerry Kruczek shares his journey as both an avid angler and a dedicated philanthropist, showcasing how fishing can inspire positive change in the community. Through his involvement with Fish Futures Inc., he emphasizes the importance of teaching youth about conservation and the joys of fishing while raising funds for essential environmental projects.
• Discussion on community involvement and philanthropy by Jerry
• Overview of Jerry's extensive fishing tournament experience
• Insights into the Fish Futures Inc. organization and its initiatives
• Details on the popular Fish Futures banquet and fundraising strategies
• Various projects focused on youth engagement and fisheries restoration
• Challenges faced in the fishing world today, including environmental impacts
• Jerry's personal anecdotes that highlight passion and camaraderie in fishing
• Reflections on the future of fishing and community united for a cause
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:Yeah, we try to give back as much as we can to the community when we can, and we've raised a lot of money. We've had a lot of fun, we met tons of people, and that's all. What the night is all about is to have fun and to raise money and not to have people sitting there getting bored.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. Well, folks, when you have the pleasure of fishing around the country, you never know just who you're going to meet. And this year, while Willie and I fished the Vanity Cup Tournament in northern Saskatchewan, willie introduced me to an outstanding gentleman who eats, sleeps and breathes fishing. But what is unique about this fine man is for years he has been heavily involved with an organization called Fish Futures Inc. And it's a beauty, and so is he. And it is a pleasure to welcome to the Diaries family Jerry Kruzak.
Speaker 1:On this show we talk tournament fishing and, along with that, tell some tall tales. We get to know Jerry and learn about the Fish Futures Inc organization. So if you love fish stories and learning about how people are helping to preserve and protect our resources, this is a great one. Here's our conversation with Jerry Kruzak. Welcome, folks, to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner, and it is my pleasure to obviously have Willie on here. And Willie, we have a very wonderful dude we met him up at well, I met him up at the Vanity Cup this year. Jerry Kruzak, welcome to the show, brother hey thanks, boys Welcome.
Speaker 1:Jerry Glad to be here, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, when we met at the tournament, willie said, hey, that guy is a, is an awesome guy and he does so much for the community and everything else. And and when Will said, hey, why don't, why don't we, we bring Jerry on, I thought, yeah, absolutely, and he's a fellow Polak, you know there's there's nothing wrong with. You know there's uh, there's nothing wrong with with, uh, with being polish. We were just in the pre-game show here in the warm-up. We were talking about a pair of boots. I bought after that, uh, the, uh, the, the vanity cup. I think we talked about, well, uh, about the vanity, and, and I think we did a whole episode on how to uh prepare and dress properly for the weather.
Speaker 3:How to not do it how we did it yeah.
Speaker 1:And I went out and I bought a pair of Nats. They're good to minus 70. They're light and they're made in Poland, so they fit the bill for me.
Speaker 3:Nice, nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:How's it going, gary? You look good, buddy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks. Welcome to the show man.
Speaker 2:We're uh, we're glad to have you yeah, I'm glad, uh glad for the invite, uh happy to be with you guys and do some chatting about uh, about fishing and other things nice, nice jerry's.
Speaker 3:Uh, jerry's the winnipeg boy folks. Uh, to all our diaries, family and uh and guests out there. He's a winnipeg boy folks, to all our Diaries, family and guests out there. He's a Winnipeg boy. Jerry, you own a printing slash graphics company. Correct by day and a fishing philanthropist by night.
Speaker 2:That kind of wraps it all up in a nice little present there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all of us want to be at least half of that.
Speaker 2:Well, exactly, at least the fishing part, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know what the printing business is a good business too. I got a lot of buddies in that business and that's a pretty good business, I think. Yeah, it's quite a challenging business and that's a pretty good business, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's quite a challenging business and changing, you know, over the years, trying to keep up with technologies and stuff, so it's always something new, something always going on that you haven't done before, you haven't seen before. Yeah, Chair.
Speaker 3:I was going to ask you, you know, like getting into your work, uh, topic here, what? What in detail do you do? Because I know it sounds crazy that we're that close now and you do all of nordic point lodge's printing. But I mean, jerry has done uh, he did a wrap for me on my boat which looks beautiful. He's done wraps for, uh, for jamie bruce when he was going down the bassmaster lease there. You you hooked him up last minute. I remember that and uh got him and brian going and then you know, you do business cards.
Speaker 3:You do a little bit of everything. Can you tell us a little bit more about your business?
Speaker 2:well, just, uh, we we kind of are like a broker. Uh, we've been in the business for 35 years and I've got a lot of contacts from companies and that do all kinds of things, from boat wraps, decals, to business cards, letterheads, envelopes, mailers, mailing all kinds of stuff. I mean, there probably isn't much that I haven't done or haven't gotten done for somebody in the past. So that's kind of it in a nutshell. One of those, one of those things that is just kind of become part of you, you know, after many years.
Speaker 1:It's just what you do. Yeah, it's just what we do. I've got an. I've got a question has has AI technology impacted your business yet at all. No, Do you use no AI tools or anything like that?
Speaker 2:No Other than in graphics and stuff, that people, what people are getting done graphically. But in my type you know where we actually just do more of the printing and that kind of stuff, and then you know decals and things, but in the graphics end it's made a big difference, it's changed that yeah yeah, I can imagine, I know, when we were working on the logo.
Speaker 1:Well, when I was working on the logo for Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I was on the Google machine and everything else and you know, people were going on to Discord and using Canva and and ChatGPT and all of these different tools to create and design these, these things and and it was, it was an eye-opening experience for me doing that, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely something that you've got to stay up with the technology and kind of make know you know. Teaching old dog new tricks is something that we've got to kind of do on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I know that feeling and when it comes to vehicles, I've actually decided that I'm going backwards. I'm trading my 2022 for 1992.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, 1992 F-250, and it's got the old 7.3 diesel and it's an indirect injection engine, it's a glorified tractor engine in the old girl. And I'm doing it because I don't want to rely on computers, I don't want to rely on anything other than you know, good old fashioned technology.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Nice yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyway, jerry, tell us a little bit about your passion, now that we know your work.
Speaker 2:Well, fishing it started quite a long time ago. We got into some, I guess, a couple of tournaments and it just kind of went from there, ended up fishing quite a few over the years and have been involved. I guess, how long have you been?
Speaker 3:fishing tournaments. Jerry, when did you start fishing?
Speaker 2:I would say about 30 plus years ago.
Speaker 3:Oh shit. So, you're a seasoned vet, buddy, back when I did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a disease. We got the disease and there's no cure for it, so we're just going to keep doing it until we can't do it anymore. Yeah, it just. You know it was great. It's just wonderful because you get to meet all these people and all these different guys and you know guys like you guys and you know, willie, that's how we met. You was through the vanity and it's just a great sport and the camaraderie is great and and although you know, these days things are getting a little bit of a black eye with all this cheating that's going on, but, uh, I'm sure there was cheating going on back in those days. It just maybe not wasn't as prevalent, or people yeah, yeah. Well, social media helps nowadays too, right, because something happens in a little corner of the world and everybody knows about it. But that's kind of where it started. I think Lake of the Prairies might have been the first tournament we ever did.
Speaker 3:And where is that Jerry? Just to tell our folks.
Speaker 2:Russell Manitoba, Just kind of northwestern part of Manitoba.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, yeah, that's the one right by. Yorkton. There right, Just east of Yorkton.
Speaker 2:Yep, just before Yorkton. Yep, it runs along the border. The lake actually goes into Saskatchewan.
Speaker 3:Nice, nice, awesome, beautiful Nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's interesting. So Pete is your partner. Has Pete always been your partner?
Speaker 2:No, pete hasn't, but Pete's a fellow Polack, too Nice. So I think we came up with some graphic. And it's too bad, I don't have it handy, but we actually came up with a little graphic a few years ago. We call ourselves Two Poles Fishing. It was either that or Two Fishing Poles. Wow, either one is good. Yeah, but Pete and I've been fishing for probably uh, was it 24 years now? Oh, maybe going into 25 next year, and, uh, I fished. I fished with, uh, another fella, ken Boychuk, for probably about a decade.
Speaker 3:Uh, before that, oh, yeah, yeah, but it's just been those two. I tell you, the group of guys that you chum up with, they know their fish and they know their waters, that's for sure. I know, like you say, me and Jerry had met. Man, I think it must have been like what, 2013, 2014?
Speaker 2:Hey Jerry, like what? 2013, 2014? Yeah, probably mid-decade anyways, probably about 10 years ago Something like that. Yeah, and.
Speaker 3:I was fishing with a guy named Greg Haga who ended up being a good friend of Jerry's and we met there, had a few, had a few drinks there to one night and we ended up getting along and did a little bit of team fishing.
Speaker 1:That's what drinks usually do, right yep yeah, absolutely we, uh, that was a pretty wild.
Speaker 3:Uh, that was a pretty wild weekend. We ended up, we stayed in the, we stayed in that cabin remember that little tiny cabin that just had nothing in it, it was just a box like a closet and, uh, the fishing, I remember it was cold, cold, cold and the fishing was pretty good. Still, there was, uh, that was the year that I got to tell this story about Greg, because he taught me a lot, that guy. So, greg, we were in this tournament at the Vanity Cup that we've talked about, and day one, I think we were like we had like an average day, jerry, I think you guys had an average day too, running like the middle of the pack day, jerry, I think you guys had an average day too, running like the middle of the pack.
Speaker 3:And day two came and we were struggling to put some fish in the boat and I changed up to a bait that my grandfather had had shown me to present years before, you know, when I was a kid, and just a little trick he showed me and we ended up. And what was that? We, we, it was actually so it was. We were running a bottom bouncer and I had the you know, a tiny piece of my sewing sequin on, but I also put just a little instead of just that sewing sequin for my flash. I also had a little bead On the hook On top of the hook. On top of it, yeah, so you run like a three-foot lead off your bottom bouncer, okay. Then a piece of sewing sequence like that's on a dress of a dancer or a figure skater, right, yeah, yeah, with the flash. And then I had a little tiny bead behind it and then a little tiny number eight octopus hook with a leech, and the leech was so big and the hook was so small I just buried it in it.
Speaker 3:The concept was just a you know, when you're salmon fishing with a, you know pulling a big spinner or a blade to attract them, was kind of like that. You know. I figured well, they're finicky and they're there and they wanted something moving, but they were coming in but they weren't grabbing. So I put on that little bit of flash and we didn't go 30 feet and my rod loaded up and Greg puts the boat in neutral and like this is a good one, this is a good one. And we had seen two sturgeon caught, like you know, 15 minutes before that, hey, jerry. So you know how that is.
Speaker 3:At the mouth of the vanity there, the mouth of North Saskatchewan, you know, when the sturgeon move in, usually there's three, four, five caught. Bang, bang, bang. And it's the worst thing in the world when you think you got a nice big walleye on and he's burying it and all of a sudden he shoots to the surface and you're like, oh shit, it's going to jump, right Walleye ain't jumping, so yeah. So anyways, that fish did this. It peeled out and then shot up. And as soon as it shot up, Greg, I remember Greg threw the net down and he was like fuck, it's a sturgeon. And I'm like, yeah, it's a sturgeon, fucking. So I was, I gave it about you know 15 more seconds and all of a sudden it's like it was kind of laying you know 10, 15 feet below the surface and it shot up again. And it shot up and rolled over on its side and, sure enough, it was a fucking walleye.
Speaker 3:I was gold as gold could be, and I was yelling at Haggard get the net, get the net. Well, haggard grabs the net. I slammed the boat in reverse because it was kind of. You can tell by the way it was laying on its side. I wanted to catch up to it fast. I didn't want to drag it in. So we caught up to it, just kept the tension on the rod, put it in the basket, get the net in the boat and we popped the hooks out of it and it's foaming like crazy, like it was stressed beyond belief, and it started to go like that milky gray, that white you know what I mean and I'm like, and this is within like five, six seconds of it being a beautiful gold laying in the water. So I'm like fuck sakes, and I'm kind of panicking about it. Because I'm kind of panicking about it, because I'm kind of newer I wasn't newer, I was kind of newer to tournament fishing, but definitely newer to like when there were things like that were happening in the boat, I didn't know what to do at that time. I was still green, like that.
Speaker 3:So Greg kind of shoves me out of the way and he's got the head of the walleye folks in the, the tail and this is in a ranger. I had a ranger back then and the tail, the tank was 32 inches long and the tail is hanging out of the walleye and I'm like, fuck, we gotta drive, you know, 10, 12 kilometers to get back to the landing, to weigh this fish. And we were thinking, you know, it was like it ended up weighing like 10.62. But you know, at the time, with adrenaline, we were thinking, you know, we might have a 12-pound, 13-pound fish here. We weren't sure right. So the last thing we want to do is kill it for one and for lots of obvious reasons.
Speaker 3:So Greg says Willie, get some ice, get some ice. So I run up to the front of the boat and I grab a bag of ice and he's laying on the bottom of my Ranger with the head of the walleye in the tank, the tail in the back, and he takes the bag of ice and he presses it on its side and he fucking starts yelling at me go, go, go. So I fucking gun it and the ranger playing out so I'm not beating the shit out of him in the waves. And he rode that way, those waves and that boat, all the way back to the dock and it was not a nice ride. You know how it is, jerry, when there's 200 boats. Steve, you too how packed it is there now, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So we're cruising, smashing through all the boats and he's taking the waves in the chest on the bottom and I couldn't believe it. We get in there and, sure enough, weigh that fish and we had big fish for that day, for majority of it right and but I'll never. Where I'm going with that whole story is dreg. How we met through him was, uh, saving that fish, and I'll never forget that there was two or three little tricks he taught me in that weekend that have helped me extremely over the years.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, so the little trick was the ice right, the ice on its time, yeah absolutely yeah, and something I wouldn't you know.
Speaker 3:you think about it now you're like yeah, it makes sense. It completely relaxed the fish and it stopped stressing Like the fish when we got back to the dock. It was completely fine. You know it was a little light colored still, but it was completely it was stress-free.
Speaker 1:You got any little tricks like that, jerry, to help your fish to help your fish while you're in tournament day.
Speaker 2:You know I mean everything that we do. I think everybody's been doing. You know the weights, the weights to keep them down, the fin weights the clips. Yeah, just the fin weights. And you know we have on occasion done some fizzing for fish that are. You know their bladders are a little bit full. Let's talk about that for a minute for people that don't know, gerard.
Speaker 3:What are you? You're talking like you're one inch back from your fin and one inch up. Is that what you're talking about? And why are you fizzing them? Tell the folks.
Speaker 2:Well, sometimes they I mean you could still be catching them in 10 feet of water, but there could be some 50 feet or 60 foot water right beside you and that's where they're coming out. And they're coming up to feed and and for them what they'll do? What I think they do is they come up and they feed and they go back down into deep water before they get any of the barotrauma. And what happens is you know you catch them when they're up in the feeding mode and now you're putting them in, you know two feet of water in your tank and they're coming out of 10 feet of water and they haven't had time to adjust.
Speaker 2:So doing a little bit of fizzing helps on the swim water yeah, yeah, and fortunately we, you know we haven't had any, any, uh, any fish die after we've done that in the past. So so that's that's kind of, you know, pretty much the only things we really do. I mean, there's the ice in the, in the, uh, in the, in the live. Well, in the summertime, when, when you're catching, uh, when you're catching fish, and the water's a little warmer on the on the surface than it is, you know in the bottom and you're sucking in you know 65, 70 degree water, um, and you're in your boat, so you know, putting ice in there, does this, cool it down and does exactly what what willie and greg were doing. But other than that, we haven't had to do much, much of the way of any of these secret fish-saving recipes.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you One thing that I learned from Gordy Pizer, and this is bass tournament fishing. But if you get a fish hooked a little deeper into the gills and they bleed a little bit, if you get them and they're bleeding heavily a lot of times, there's not much you can do for them. But if you get bleed a little bit, If you get them and they're bleeding heavily a lot of times, there's not much you can do for them. But if you get them a little bit deep and you can get poor Coca-Cola down through their gills, that stops the bleeding and a lot of times will save the fish.
Speaker 3:I've seen that one before too.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, yeah it does it works the acid in. Yeah, it does it works the acid in the Coke.
Speaker 1:It cauterizes it, it cauterizes the wound. Yeah, yeah, and the carbonation might help with aeration. I have no idea. And the other thing, speaking of aeration, that we used to do too is we would carry a bottle of peroxide in the boat and dump a little bit of peroxide in the water. Apparently it helps oxygenate the water. I've never heard that one, yeah, whether or not it actually does work. I'm sure some of the Diaries family out there will correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:You know that'll happen. Oh yeah, that's okay, and I've been known to be wrong.
Speaker 2:But you know, you know that'll happen.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's okay, and I've been known to be wrong. Believe me.
Speaker 3:Coca-Cola that's patched. Today. I'll tell you a quick story on the rigs here. When we're drilling with inverts, when we're drilling with oil, with bitumen, well the connections, it's just oil everywhere and your coveralls at the end of the shift. Well, the connections, it's just oil everywhere and your coveralls at the end of the shift. Steve, you could wring them out like your hockey equipment. You know what I mean. Roll them up and wring out the swell. You're dripping out oil out of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like black oil and what an old boy taught me one time. He'd come down and he saw my coveralls and I couldn't get them clean ever. And I just keep throwing fucking detergent in there. Well, he grabs a can of coke and he throws a cup of you know one cup of detergent in, takes the can of coke and cracks it and he throws it in there. He says you come back in 40 minutes, them coveralls will be brand new. And sure enough, I come back and that fucking Coca-Cola ate right through the oil on them coveralls, man, they were like the best Nomex coveralls you could ever have no way.
Speaker 1:Well, I know it's not, it's crazy stuff. I put that back when I owned the lodge. But at home, when I built this house, I put the epoxy on my garage floor. I put the epoxy on my garage floor and you're supposed to be able to wipe battery acid up off of it and everything else, which I've done, and it doesn't really stain. Other than I had stockpiled about 40 cases of Coke, because whenever they went on sale I would buy 40 cases of Coke and then I would take 10 up to the lodge every time I left home. Well, one of the cans on the bottom of the pile broke and Coke leaked out underneath this, the stack of cases, and that Coca-Cola man. It stained the floor and ate that shit right off there like nothing you know Well. And then you hear if you want to clean a penny, just throw it in a glass of Coke overnight. Yep, you know, and we like that stuff. That's good. Put that right in your gut, right.
Speaker 3:Put a little whiskey in that glass too, and then we'll give it a burst. Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskey in that glass too, and then we'll give it a burst.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskey in that, that's good for you. Yeah, yeah. 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 with five-star service. So follow your heart. Book now.
Speaker 6:Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 5:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
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Speaker 1:Listen, jerry Willie's been. He's told me that you donate a lot of your time doing a lot of different things and because fishing is your passion, I think a lot of those things are in that genre of things that you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, willie might have spilled the beans on that one a little bit. Yeah, yeah, we try to give back as much as we can to the community when we can, and that led me to join a group here in Winnipeg called Fish Futures back in 2000, and I don't know, early 2000s maybe. Oh, wow, jerry, yeah, mid-2000s.
Speaker 3:I didn't know, early 2000s. Oh wow, jerry, yeah.
Speaker 2:Mid 2000s I didn't know that long and it started. It started with a little banquet that they, they, that they had and I went to it with with Don LeWant.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 2:At the time Don Don was running his complete angler show and and on TV and and and all that other fun stuff that he did. And he got us out to this banquet and we really liked it and enjoyed it. And the next thing I know he was recruiting me to become a member on the committee for the banquet. So the banquet committee turned into being co-chairman of the banquet with a good buddy of mine, john Armitage, and we've been. The two of us have been doing it for 20 odd, 20, some odd years and and you know I don't tooting the horn here, but it's, it's probably one of the premier events in the province of Manitoba, definitely probably the premier event from from the angling hunting perspective. I don't, I don't know one. That's good for you. So, uh, so uh, you know, led into that and then and uh, and probably about 10 years ago, eight years ago, we became president of Fish Futures Inc. Um, so we we've kind of kept our fingers in there and and uh know, we we try to donate and as much time as possible it's a totally uh, volunteer board and and volunteer membership on the, on the um, on the board of fish futures inc. And, of course, on the committee for the banquet. So, uh, we've raised a lot of money, we've had a lot of fun, we met tons of people and it certainly is probably one of the premier events that gets run in the province.
Speaker 2:It's not your traditional banquet where people get to sit down and listen to speeches and get the old you know make the heartfelt throws about. You know we're going to save the fish and whatever. Ours is a real fun banquet. It was about. You know we're going to save the fish and whatever. Ours is a real fun banquet. We traditionally have about half a million and up in prizes and live auctions and all kinds of games and things. We've got some cool celebrities. Kathy Kennedy, who's a radio personality here, is our emcee for the night. She's been doing it for decades Seems like forever and we have a lot of fun and that's all. What the night is all about is to have fun and to raise money and not to have people sitting there getting bored listening to some guy talk about you know something that he believes in or you know some kind of project or whatever.
Speaker 2:And we do quite a few projects ourselves. We've got a couple of. We've got a couple of. We've got a scholarship that we give out every year to uh, to a graduate student at the uh from one of the one of the universities that does something in fish biology. We've been doing that for ages. Uh, there's a it's called the Dr Ken Stewart Memorial uh scholarship fund and, and Dr Ken yeah, dr Ken was probably. He was on Fish Futures, probably before I started there, but he wrote a book Fishes in Manitoba it's really hard to find right now, but it was on every single fish species that is in the province. It's an incredible book. He was, uh, he was quite the fish biologist. I'm sure, uh, I'm sure some of the guys uh that are into fish biology and and whatnot would know him quite well. But uh, that's just.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the little things we we also do. Uh, you know we we donate prizes and gifts to all kinds of all kinds of derbies and and kids related things. We run a program called Fish Winnipeg that takes out, I guess, underprivileged I don't know what the proper word to use is these days but but you know, youth at risk and stuff like that. Take them out for a day fishing on the on the red, we, we, we run that through the city of winnipeg and and, uh, we have a van for that program. We take them out for half a day, give them a rod and a reel and in hopes that maybe one of these days they'll, they'll take that up instead of, you know, going in a different direction all of these things.
Speaker 3:Like there's there's so much to what you just said, like there's so much to go back to. Like, so, this, so Fish Futures. Can you start from like, like, what, what do you guys? What, what is your, what is your goals on a yearly basis? Is it like are you several, jerry, or are you? Are you you know? Are you helping with stocking programs as well? Are you helping with? Like, what are you into with the Fish Futures programming?
Speaker 2:Well, we've done everything from limno corrals, fish ladders, fish docks, building observation docks at the White Shell Fish Hatchery. You know the things that we've done over the years is Wow, numerous, yeah, numerous, to say the least. You know we're focused lately because we did a project where we got the government to put back. There was a stamp program years ago in Manitoba and the money from that stamp when you bought your license it was supposed to be a dollar, I think. When it first started it was supposed to go to fisheries related projects and it never did no, and so we got. We spent a lot of money lobbying the government to get them to put that back in, lobbying the government to get them to put that back in.
Speaker 2:So I can't remember if it was about 10 years ago, maybe a little bit longer, that they started up the Fisheries and Wildlife Enhancement Fund. Actually it was called the Fisheries Enhancement Fund to start, and then the wildlife, the hunters, tagged along and now it's the Fisheries and Wildlife Enhancement Fund and the monies from the license go to a fund and the fund is administered by stakeholders throughout the province for different projects and things for, you know, water and and, of course, hunting, hunting related things. So, so that's something that that we're we're very proud of, that uh, that we started back in the province and and uh, and actually put the funds back where they belong. So I can't remember if they do about a half a million dollars a year in projects and and uh, for us it's, it's, uh, you know, fish. Winnipeg is our big. We just purchased a van this past year, so that's a big expense. Um, you know, that's probably our, our biggest thing, along with the scholarship if you ever.
Speaker 3:Just to cut in there if if you ever need another van, just donated you, let me and Krista know. At Sunset Limo, a hundred percent, we would do that for the day, for free. You let us know and we would send someone up there for sure, Just to hop in there. Yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that was a thing, no problem, yeah, and, and you know, know, the list goes on and on. I could. I could bring it up and and uh and start reading all this, but I just bore you all to death. But it's just one of those things that anything that's that can be fish related, uh, we've probably done I believe the the sturgeon ladder up at sturgeon creek in when it just off the assiniboine, was something that we did as well. And Lions Lake, building a dock and a wheelchair access to that lake. It's a stock lake. We've also been involved with fish hatcheries and all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So over the years you've been involved.
Speaker 1:Over the years you've been involved and and um.
Speaker 1:First of all, thank you, because it sounds like such an awesome uh program and um one that I'm the wheels are turning when you're. When you're talking about the um, the stamp program, and and how the other provinces should be following suit, and the fact that the stakeholders are the guys that have their fingers on the purse strings is probably the most important point when we're talking about that, because we all know what happened in the past when government had their fingers on the purse strings and tell you one thing and do another, absolutely you know which. That is unbelievable. But, jerry, over the years that you've been involved in Fish Futures Inc. What is one of the most memorable experiences that you've had and that might be a project, that might be a day with an individual, what is one of those moments where, because to be a volunteer and to give the kind of time that you're giving, there's got to be some of those moments in there that keep you going, and I'm just interested to know what one or two of them might be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a real tough question because I don't think that there's a lot of like aha moments or aha moments. It's just been a forever moment, I guess, if you want to call it that, from just being involved. You know, even at the beginning it was just being involved in a group and in a sport that I really enjoyed and I loved and seeing some of the things they were doing and the fun we have doing it. The people that we work with to put on these events are incredible. They're all very dedicated and very professional. The people that we work with to put on these events are incredible. They're all very dedicated and very professional. The fun we have every year, I mean that's what keeps us going. It's kind of like Christmas for us.
Speaker 2:We plan for the banquet for months and months and months and thanks to Will for coming on board with Nordic Point Lodge and a trip that we put in our live auction. It's just, you know, you just sit back at the end of it all After all, the presents have been unwrapped and everybody's, you know, kind of gone home and you just kind of look around the room and you just go. You know we did it again and we outdid ourselves and we're always trying to come up with new ideas and new things and there's always new people that come along that that help us out. You know Will from a couple of years ago and and you know guys like Brian from Lake of the Woods Sports, that that you know, when they first opened their store in Winnipeg, we we kind of got involved with them. Fish and Hole, which has been part of this for forever. You know Crow Duck Lake Lodge, aikens Lake Lodge so many of these. I'm going to miss so many of them, but it's just, these guys are what you know we do this for and it's just great working with them all. It's just absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2:And that's probably the thing is, every year there's that satisfaction and that that satisfaction and the thing that drives you to do it again, which is why you know myself and John um, you know we, we do it every year and you know we always look at it at the end of the year and say, wow, it was so beat. You know, look, all the work we did. And then we just kind of think about, okay, well, you know, maybe we take a little bit of a break, we fish for the summer and you kind of go, ah, do we want to do this again? And then 10 minutes later, after talking about it, we're making plans to start working on it again for next year. So it's just become a real passion for us and that's. You know, there's no real big moment.
Speaker 2:I mean, the Fisheries Enhancement Fund was a huge thing for us to win that battle and get that, you know, the funds put back into the fisheries resource. You know, a couple of years or last year, I believe it was that we're, you know, we ran a little ice derby for a couple of years and we raised some funds that helped us buy this new van for a couple of years and we raised some funds that helped us buy this new van. So you know, in presenting, I guess, fish Winnipeg, which is an arm of Fish Futures, but you know, presenting Fish Winnipeg with checks so that they could go purchase a new van and be able to go continually go buy rods and reels that we hand out to kids, and you know it's just the satisfaction of everything. There's really no one big thing that we do this for, it's just the satisfaction at the end of it all.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know, as a former lodge owner and Will, being a current lodge owner, the work that you're doing to help the fisheries is paramount for people like us in a business like the ones that we operate, because it's one thing to be an avid angler, it's another thing to stake your business and life on it. And I know that for me, being on Lake Nipissing and looking at a fishery that was under stress for quite a while to put back and to help maintain the fisheries and the longevity of the resource. And you know, I look at my kids and I look at all these little youngsters running around and I think back to the days when I was that young and going to the Grand River and catching fish, and now really there's not a whole lot left where I used to fish. And you know, hoping that, uh, that that the resource is going to be there for future generations. And you know something um, it must be well, it must be satisfying to to know that you're doing something to make a difference and, um, for that I thank you. You know that, yeah, like I mean, that is, um, that's, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:And then you know, um, uh, as far as the hunting side of things goes um, I know that um, delta Waterfowl is. I'm not sure if you work with them or not, but they're another organization and they'd be a great one to talk about or maybe get you involved with. But they do a lot of work with the nest boxes and they're, uh, they, they're, um, um, they claim and I'm sure that it's a factual, backed claim that they're, they're, they're making um, uh, a million birds a year by by doing this stuff, and um, it's, uh, it's, it's a lot of what you're doing, um, when we're talking about fisheries and when you're fishing lodge owners, that's money in the bank baby.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly Money in the bank. What have you guys got working on right now? Jared, have you got any secrets in the chamber you want to let loose here for the Diaries family about Fish? Futures has got going on. Have you got any you know? Where can the people go to to? Is there is the? Is the banquet online too, jerry?
Speaker 2:No, we, we held the banquet online for a couple of years during COVID and, and we had some great response from from everybody, and I think everybody wanted to do something and still wanted to do something while while we were running through that crazy time. But, um, but, we're planning, uh, we started planning for, for the 2025 banquet and and, uh, you know, we've got, uh, we've got our, our, our traditional uh, Lund boat, and I'd be remiss if we didn't mention those guys. They've been, uh, they've been sponsors for for 25 years at least. Um, this year we'll have a 2075 Taiyi with, I think it's, a 250 on the back. It'd be about $150,000, maybe closer to a $200,000 boat. Wow, that we'll be auctioning off. And, of course, we've got Nordic Point Lodge and we've got Aikens A lot of the stand.
Speaker 2:You know the ones that have been around with us for ages. We've got something called the Silver Six, which is a real popular item. So there's not a lot of, you know, new things that we're going to be doing. A lot of it's going to be the same old, same old, but we always try to put a new twist on some things and maybe add a couple of new items every year, just so, the guys are always looking for certain things. Where's your venue? It's at the Victoria Inn Gotcha Ellen Conference Centre on Wellington Avenue, right by the airport. Great venue. We put close to 1,000 people in there.
Speaker 1:That was my next question. Wow, 1,000 people Close to yep.
Speaker 2:Wow, and it's a real fun evening. I mean, boats are on display. Yeah, you know, manitoba Liquor and Lotteries is a new sponsor that came on board, so there's some. You know, going to be some tastings going on there. I don't know if it'll be wine or hard stuff this year, but we always try to, you know, come up with something a little bit different year to year. Just to make you know, we've had oyster bars before and you know all kinds of stuff like that.
Speaker 3:I know a really good celebrity speaker and he's got a great voice. His name is Steve Niswicky. You should get a hold of him sometime. He's real good, Jer. He might even.
Speaker 1:Wow, I don't know about the celebrity part and I don't know about the voice part, but I do like oysters.
Speaker 3:Nice, Nice. Well, that sounds awesome, Jared. I'm super excited. You know what it's for everything, you know. I just I really, like Stephen said I've said this to many people over the years and as my relationship has grown with you, Jerry, I can't say enough about how much you commit your personal time to these charities, these foundations and these charities, and I just love it. I love everything you do like that. When it comes to the tournament side, skip back a bit in your work here. I know in the lodges you do a lot of printing and stuff for those lodges. You know a buddy of mine, Tim, does a lot of the Timmy Dawson there. He does a lot of our stuff for Campus Crew from the swag end, you know, and that's kind of a market for him. Is that something that you target, Jerry? Do you target the fishing industry and the lodge industry, like akins and those, you know those bakers, narrows, the guys to the north there? Is that something that you do?
Speaker 2:yeah, not not, uh, not specifically. We we've. We do work for a lot of the people that we know um and know over the years. I know the lodges have a lot of deals that they make with certain people. You know some of them actually have people that are in the printing business that go to the lodge. So of course there's you know there's probably some some deals there. We don't, we don't focus on the on the clothing end of it, that that there's a several large firms that look after that kind of stuff um for for the lodges and do a great job, you know, administering that and and they also look after, you know, marinas and and all these other places. So so not something that we really focus on it's. It's more of uh. If somebody asks, uh, you know a la like you, uh, you know we'll be more than happy to look after them and make sure that uh're serviced properly.
Speaker 3:Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you for that, because you do a heck of a job. I know that. I appreciate that your product is amazing. Another thing that always has attracted me in our conversations is the fact that you do not ice fish. It is insane to me that you live by Lake Winnipeg, one of the best, like the Greenbacks, one of the best walleye systems in the world, and it's 20 minutes from your door. You don't ice fish, but you're a crazy fisherman. I love that and it just drives me. If I was you, I wouldn't be able to not go out there. I'd be telling Krista every break of morning honey, I'm just going to run to the store and grab a lottery ticket. I'll be right back and go pound a couple of quick walleys out of a hole.
Speaker 1:Four hours later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, eight hours later, whatever.
Speaker 1:You'd never go out of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we've done a little bit of ice fishing on Lake Winnipeg and, you know, a couple of years ago, uh, we went out with Brendan Walker and had a lot of fun, but it's just, for some strange reason, I've just never really caught the bug for ice and cold. Well, it's cold, but, uh, you know, it's just one of those things there's. There's a lot to do in the winter and we're busy putting on the banquet and trying to try to organize that and and uh, and it's just nice to sit at home and, and, you know, watch some stuff on TV and and relax on the weekend instead of running out and, and you know, doing some ice fishing, and maybe we'll get, maybe we'll get a little bit done this winter. I don't know, but I think I say that all the time and the guys are always like, yeah, you got to come out this year, you got to come out this year, and then we don't, but it just I don't know.
Speaker 1:Nothing wrong with that buddy.
Speaker 2:It's a really weird thing, you know you would think. You know we've bought a ton of ice stuff in the past and had ice gear and thinking that I was going to go, and then it just sits there and does nothing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's so funny. That ice fishing scene out there is wild now. Eh, like it's. You've never seen anything like it. I'm telling you, like Simcoe is like one thing. I'm telling you, lake Winnipeg is like fishing Tobin, but like times 300. It's like a super highway on the ice road. Eh, jerry, it is.
Speaker 2:It's crazy and the guys are starting to go there now already, really, yep, ice is just forming. There's, you know, five six.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what I've been saving this business idea and I know and I'm going to spill the beans here and somebody is going to take advantage of this, if they haven't already but I always thought that it would be very lucrative in a situation like that and I always had Simcoe in my mind, right. But if you had a coffee truck, you know, like the old coffee truck with the horn that rip around the back of the shop there- If you had a coffee truck that you'd pull behind a sled or something and you went out onto the ice.
Speaker 1:I know that you would sell coffee and sandwiches and all that shit. There's a business right there for you. Coffee truck on Lake Winnipeg Willie.
Speaker 3:Grumpy old men. There was one in the movie brother. I remember that. Yeah, yeah, there's actually one in Kenora. Here, when you go over Treaty Island on the ice road on the right-hand side, about a mile out, a guy has a every year. He's got a coffee shop set up there, steve, he does his wife's a Ukrainian lady and she makes homemade biscuits and all this shit and these folks know this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, willie, I think you need Willie's coffee wheels, willie's coffee wheels.
Speaker 2:Willie's coffee wheels. There we go, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, willie the oil man, you get out there and you start selling coffee by the gallon.
Speaker 2:There you go. There's actually a guy that does some. He'll deliver orders to you, yeah.
Speaker 3:Uber.
Speaker 2:Uber on ice. Is it Carlo Carlo? Yeah, carlo Guzzi, he's a fucking beauty, that guy. He's. He will you know. You can put your order in and he'll end up delivering it out on the ice. I guess you pin your location or whatever and he'll deliver it out on the ice.
Speaker 1:Nice, see, there's guys that are thinking a mover and a shaker baby, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:I saw him on Facebook promoting that and I was like I fished a turnip. Actually, me and Haga were fishing Pine Falls one year and he stayed in the room hotel room right beside us and was having drinks one night. He's an awesome guy. He's got a big burger joint or something, doesn't he? Out Lake Winnipeg.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's out in Gimli now. He was in Winnipeg Beach for a few years and he's actually won three out of the last four LeBurger Weeks, which are a Canadian competition, and all kinds of restaurants enter their burgers and you make a special burger. Look it up.
Speaker 3:It's called LeBurger Week. Oh shit, I've got to call him and get him on the show. Man, I've met him before. I'm going to call him because that's something we got to talk about here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Championship fucking burgers here Champion, that gets really jacked up Three out of the last four years and I think the year that he didn't win he came in second place, and this is against. Like across Canada, people vote. Wow. He's got an incredible following out here of people that do vote for him and go buy his burgers and try it out, but every year they come up with a different you know type of burger and he names it something and that's your entry, and then people vote.
Speaker 2:It's pretty crazy. He does an incredible job, incredible job, and he's another philanthropist that gives back to the fishing community when he can, too as well cool beautiful willie.
Speaker 1:That's I'm. You're pretty excited about that. That's as excited as I've heard you.
Speaker 3:It was like it was. I think it moved in my pants. Willie's gonna be excited because it's. It's like the piece of mango you know yeah, right on.
Speaker 1:Well, listen, jerry. Thank you so much for coming on. It was my pleasure, really appreciate it, really appreciate it. Yeah, willie, any last thoughts?
Speaker 3:Nope, that's Jared. It was a pleasure to have you and you know I'll be talking to you later in the week anyways, but thanks for doing this and I love you like a brother. You look healthy and happy and that's all I care about, to be honest, when I see you.
Speaker 1:Perfect, Nice Well and Willie. I love it when I say Willie, any last thoughts, and you say no, and then go on for four minutes.
Speaker 3:You know what? The last episode? You did the same thing, meaning you were horrible at that shit.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, I know that's okay, though that's okay, but anyway, thanks again, Jerry. Really appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing you again sometime soon. Maybe we'll make that trek up north and I'll see. I'll try out some oysters.
Speaker 2:There you go. Well, you need to come out to Winnipeg May 1st and come visit our banquet.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll show you what a real show looks like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, maybe we'll do a podcast live from the banquet.
Speaker 3:That would be a good idea.
Speaker 1:That'd be cool. Yes, sir and folks, thank you very much for those of you who've got to this point in the podcast. I always thank you at this point because I love you and listen. You know what's coming up. Go over to fishingcanadacom. We've got all kinds of giveaways there. Get your name in there every day and win. You never know what you're going to run into Garmin fishing trips. You name it, it's there. Have a look and any questions, fire them off to Willie and I. You know how to get us steven at fishingcanadacom and will at nordicpointlodgecom. And again, thank you very much. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 3:Stories of the North.
Speaker 1:I've been reeling in the hog since the day I was born.
Speaker 4:Bending my rock, stretching my line.
Speaker 3: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. Boy, I'm a good old boy.
Speaker 1: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, yeah.
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 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 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. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 2:but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 1: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 Garton. Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists.
Speaker 6:But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe. It's the perfect transmission environment for line fishing.
Speaker 5:To chefs if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 2:And whoever else will pick up the phone.
Speaker 1:Wherever you are.
Speaker 2:Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.