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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 87: Betting It All on Crow Rock - One Man's Leap into Lodge Ownership
What does it take to risk everything for a dream? Sean McAughey, the passionate new owner of Crow Rock Lodge on Lake of the Woods, knows that feeling all too well. In this captivating conversation, Sean walks us through his remarkable journey from wide-eyed young guide to lodge owner, revealing the perfect storm of experiences that prepared him for this moment.
Growing up under the mentorship of his biologist father and surrounded by the wisdom of a generational commercial fishing family, Sean developed an unparalleled understanding of Lake of the Woods. His hilarious early guiding mishaps (including hitting rocks with lodge boats on consecutive days) contrast beautifully with the confident expertise he now brings to Crow Rock Lodge. The parallels between Sean's journey and host Steve Niedzwiecki's own path into lodge ownership create moments of profound connection and insight throughout the episode.
What makes this conversation truly special is Sean's infectious enthusiasm for the multi-species fishing opportunities at Crow Rock. From the strategic location providing access to trophy walleye, smallmouth bass, muskies and more, to the unique portage lakes offering intimate fishing experiences, listeners get an insider's view of what makes this property extraordinary. Sean's detailed account of catching thirty-inch walleyes during tournaments illustrates why he believes Lake of the Woods fishing is better now than it's ever been.
Beyond the fishing tales lies the emotional reality of lodge ownership - the financial leap of faith, the sleepless nights, and the unwavering support needed from family and partners. Sean's candid discussion of "putting every penny we own and many we don't" into this venture resonates with anyone who's ever considered risking it all for something they believe in.
Whether you're dreaming of owning a remote fishing lodge, planning your next Canadian adventure, or simply enjoy stories of people pursuing their passion against the odds, this episode delivers authentic inspiration. Visit crowrocklodge.com to connect with Sean and experience the fishing paradise he's pouring his heart and soul into.
It's amazing just to be able to be so diverse in what you're offering clients. And that's the thing. Like people, everybody gets stuck into their same thing. You know, oh yeah, we catch them here. This is where I go every time. But to be able to take someone and put them in something that's totally foreign whether it's structure, you know, current water clarity, fish species To be able to do all that within one day is something that you just can't do in many places.
Speaker 2:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. On today's show, willie and I have the pleasure to talk to a great young man who has just jumped off the cliff, so to speak, and become a new lodge owner. He is someone who I connected with right away because he reminded me of the person I was when I bought the Chaudière Lodge. Even though his journey is just beginning and mine has come to an end. We are just on different parts of the same road, one that is definitely less traveled. The parallels between us don't stop there. He's the same age as I was when I started, and his burning passion for creating outdoor experiences to share with the world is hot and infectious, and you can't help but love this guy.
Speaker 2:And it is now our pleasure to introduce to all of you the new owner and operator of Crow Rock Lodge, sean McGaughy. Of Crow Rock Lodge, sean McGaughy. On this show we talk about what led and motivated Sean to jump into the northern tourism industry. Willie and I tell some stories and share some advice that we learned from our experiences owning a lodge, and tossed in a few well-placed stories. So, folks, if you ever wondered about what it takes to jump into fishing lodge ownership, and if you have what it takes, this one's for you. So strap up, hold on as we walk down a couple of paths that have led a few of us to the same place.
Speaker 3:Here's our conversation with Sean.
Speaker 2:McGaughy. Hello folks and welcome to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North and today is going to be an amazing episode. We've got Willie the Oil man here with us.
Speaker 4:Hello Willie. How's everybody doing today, Stevie?
Speaker 2:Well, everybody's good on this side.
Speaker 4:Diaries family Diaries family out there.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we've got Sean. And Sean, pronounce your last name for me again, because I don't want. I want to make sure that we get this right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a bit of a tongue twister, but once you get her, it's okay. It's Sean McGaughy.
Speaker 2:But McGaughy, wow. Hey, listen, when you grow up with a last name like Ned Zwicky.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I got it. Yeah, that's it Close enough.
Speaker 2:And Sean folks out at Diaries, our Diaries family. I just I want to tell you from my perspective why this is an exciting episode for me to do. Because as I sit here on this side of the mic and we've got Sean on the other side I'm basically looking at myself, although I wasn't as slim and good looking as Sean is when I was 33, 34 years old. Sean has just bought a lodge up in Kenora on Lake of the Woods called Crow Rock Lodge, and he's doing it basically the same way and the same age that I did. So I'm really excited to dive into your story, sean. So let's start kind of from the beginning. You're a young man and where did you find the love for the lodge business and fishing and how did this adventure start for you that's led you to just buying a lodge?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no for sure. First off, I'd like to appreciate you guys having me on Looking forward to it. Got to watch some of the lodge ones and there's some cool stories on there, so it's nice to be able to jump in and add my story into the pile.
Speaker 4:And uh, good to hear, good to hear good to reach out and meet everybody for sure.
Speaker 1:Uh, my story is kind of unique. I kind of have got a lot of different aspects into it. So my family history we've always been a very outdoor oriented family. My dad, he actually is a biologist by trade. He's got his master's degree in fisheries biology and he did his. He actually just retired this fall, but he did a full career at the super cool mnr.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he did the biology part for the better part of his career and then as he got towards the end um, he's always been a kind of hands-on guy and he transitioned more to wanting to be out in the field, more so he actually actually towards the end of his career he jumped over to the conservation side and started off as just a regular patrolling conservation officer. But as he progressed he basically turned into oh, he'll be pissed, you know he'll be upset that I can't remember the exact thing, but he basically turned into an investigator side of it. So it was like the bigger he dealt with all the bigger stuff. He wasn't out there checking licenses, he was building the big cases and stuff along that line.
Speaker 2:Chasing down poachers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so obviously from the time I was a really young guy, we were always super outdoor oriented, and I mean from the time I could fit in his backpack he was hauling me around fishing and hunting everywhere. So he, my family history is actually from southern Ontario. They're all kind of based north of Huntsville in that carney emsdale area and my dad really being so outdoor oriented before, basically when we were born, he started moving us further north and north and north and um, you know, when I was really young we spent a good little stretch in ignace and then he just kept going to the Graceland and we got to Lake of the Woods and that was it. I remember, you know, I remember being very young and obviously real estate was different than what it is now up here, but I remember we had a. He was looking at a place on the Winnipeg River and the house was like, ah yeah, out of place on the winnipeg river, and the house was like, oh yeah, and then there was a hundred yard stretch between the house and the river and it was all like tag alders, 20 feet high, and the previous owners didn't even have a trail down there.
Speaker 1:And I remember him hauling me down to the water and we bushwhacked down and got to the edge of the water and he's like, yep, we're buying it. So that that was the initial how I kind of came to kenora. And then obviously you know pretty much my whole middle schooling heist. Like you know, we came when I was probably like 10, I think we moved to kenora and so I've always had that outdoor side of it and then kind of the cool side of it was my best friend growing up. His family is one of these, uh, original lake family like commercial fishing families that have been on lake the woods. So I got to expose, I got exposed to lake of the woods through that family, a lot of it, and uh, and who's that?
Speaker 4:I don't know who that would be. Who's that? Those the bouchers? Oh, the bouchers. Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 1:That's how I kind of got my foot in the door, um with that, and so I've been able. You know, from a young man I was exposed to kind of both ends of the blade, if you could say there was, you know, my dad with the uh, you know the biology end of it and that science. And then I was also. I spent all of my time running around with this family on the lake and they were traditionally like commercial fishing family on the lake. So I mean, their knowledge is no one knows Lake of the Woods better than those guys do. As far as the north end of the lake Far superior than most yeah.
Speaker 2:Let's talk a little bit about that. Like that experience must have been great, and for a commercial fishery, I'm assuming that it was walleye they were targeting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so basically from really around the time when I first started hanging out with them, they were in the process. Their commercial fishing licenses were bought out, so they weren't I've done through that. We would do like side licenses and stuff, like growing up I was always. We always worked as kids, like through that family, so we weren't at school, we were, that was like our fun, but you're still technically working, so we did get to do a bunch of the commercial stuff and that was. That's a side that people don't understand unless they see it firsthand. And unfortunately, the commercial fishing industry as a whole is nothing like what it used to be anymore. Um, it's really it's fallen completely to the wayside. Um, but yeah, so I got exposed to that kind of end of it.
Speaker 2:So what was one of the most interesting things you saw out? There when you were when you were doing that. I can imagine, like I'm assuming, that they're using um uh gill nets for the commercial fishery.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, like I said, the lake of the woods license wasn't uh active when I was with them, but we did. We used to do one every fall up on cedar and peral, like where will's?
Speaker 4:got experience.
Speaker 1:We do a white fish quote yep, we do a white fish quote up there every fall, so I got to spend fred, does it up there now that old, that old boy out of yeah, yeah that's. That was. That's a cool lake.
Speaker 4:It's funny you know, buddy, there's a lot of big fish up there. Man, I'm telling you, like those guys, the more that they look at it like I've seen fish on the live scope there, dude, that I'm like, yeah, it's probably a 20 pound red horse sucker.
Speaker 1:that lake has the biggest red horse suckers I've ever seen anywhere. Honestly, you'd think they're a big goldfish when they come up. You're like what the heck is that? We put one on a certified scale and it was 20 pounds. No, oh yeah, moss, like the scales are that big around on there.
Speaker 4:Let me hop in here quick with a story. So last year at the lodge Jarrett, so my chef, jarrett Machete, him and we hired his boy, rudy, and Rudy was our dockhand and he's like, rudy's, like a really unique individual, let's put it that way. He is an awesome kid but he is unique. So anyways, him and Jarrett go walking down to the dock. They're going to take a couple casts. You know, father and son. Well, they see these red horse suckers swimming in the sand. Eh Well, rudy gets the good idea to go and net them. Well, he goes, and it was just so stupid. He goes to jump off the dock. The water is only like eight inches deep and he took like a jump, like he was jumping in 30 feet of water With this net. This head jumped down six inches of water, hit the water like his ankles just shattered, fell right over in the sand and the sucker pile sean just like down towards the waterfall and I'm like oh fuck.
Speaker 4:Well, that was the rest of time, boys anyways, it was a good story to see my chef and his son jumping in the water after those suckers of pro is funny like that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so it was. Like it was cool to just be able to experience all that stuff from both sides. Like even being a young guy, I remember I got to like do all the neat stuff with my dad, whether it was stalking walleyes out of a turbo water, like opening the door and pulling the chute and let, because they used to be a lot more active and you know the ministry as a whole. There was a lot more programs and I remember like tagging, yeah, tagging, and stalking and stuff along those lines. Like I have great memories growing up of doing that and then kind of circling back around to the you know, the other family that I had the privilege of running around with.
Speaker 1:That's where I really learned the art of Lake, of the Woods, because it's such a complex and diverse body of water and it's. It's an interesting beast to say like it's changed so fast, especially when it comes to the shoulder seasons and the ice. Whereas, know, I remember growing up we you know you never really see the people running around like you do now. So you know I've got fantastic memories and life skills that those guys taught me, especially when it comes to ice conditions and everything along those lines like you can't learn that stuff in a book. Someone has to physically show it to you.
Speaker 4:That's invaluable. Yeah, you know this. This past year at the lodge sean, we but me and holton I pulled him out of school for a year and a half because they didn't have a teacher up there. Well, I don't want to give you a long story about it, but they just didn't have anything available for his grade and uh. So I homeschooled him and you know what man. That year and a half he grew as a man and an individual. Educationally he was all straight a's and b's like he normally would have been in school, but he learned more about life and becoming a human and a man, being around everybody at that lodge, than he ever would anywhere else. So sorry to jump in there, but it was your like. The lifestyle you grew up in was awesome, you know, no, and it's that's.
Speaker 1:That's the thing. Mean it was always. Don't get me wrong. I mean I'm sure I increased my parents gray hair count substantially when I was a younger man, because it was. It was a very addicting lifestyle to be around, and it was. It was when I got to the high school age. I just my mom she's a, she's a teacher by trade and she ended up like doing the principal thing and the vice principal and she would just like shake her head at me Like you know you're not going to school, you're out messing around on the lake with those boys and you know what it? Uh, don't get me wrong. Like we live in an age now where education is like a pivotal part of you know you need to do it education is like a pivotal part of you.
Speaker 2:Know you need to do it, it's, but it is a pivotal part. But I'm going to jump in here real quick because I've got kids now, um, that are that range in age from 19 to um, uh, 13. And um, I've like high school is a, is a must, obviously, um, but there are so many and I've been, I've been telling my kids you know, you got to start thinking young what you want to do, because I bet you, 80% of the people that go to college and university never use what they learn. And there is a number of people that need to do college or university for what they want to do, but that number is so much smaller than it could be. And or, or, or, taking a trade, going out and working in in the trades, and and, and learning that stuff at a younger age is, um, is a path that I think far too few of our of our young people are thinking about and taking right.
Speaker 1:So and it's it there. There is a in time like I can vividly remember. You know, kind of through the later part of my high school education, you, him, I was like dad, I'm, I'm not, I'm not going, like I'm, I'm going to work and I'm going to guide the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:My dad, like his, his father was a selective hardwood logger from down there in Southern Ontario, Like they would manually, like everything was cut with chainsaw and skid out of the bush and a lot of it was sold to furniture. And so, you know, my dad grew up in a real, like you know, a blue collar working household. And you know we had this conversation and you know he said you, you can make your own decisions. But he said you're not. There's going to be no free rides. You're either going to school or you're working.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, I made the decision at a young age that I wanted to. You know, I just I could see what I could accomplish and you know that's the way I wanted to go and, to be honest, it, uh, I don't really I've never felt. You know, they always say hindsight's 20 20, but I still wouldn't change my decisions if I could go back in time. You know, that being said, I also, as a young man in northwestern Ontario, I mean basically I've always kind of prided myself on my workmanship and so along those lines. And so, you know, from a very young age, I made a point, I put my head down and I was like, hey, we're going to do this, we're going to work. And you know, that was always the thing, because you'd see guides and stuff. They'd guide through the summertime and then in the wintertime they'd whatever, they wouldn't work or you know, along those lines where I always had to be doing something because I had this drive that I wanted, always wanted something else on top, and so really my guiding started off.
Speaker 2:So is that what you did right fresh out of high school, when you made that decision that hey, I'm going to work?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was?
Speaker 2:the first job, it was guiding.
Speaker 1:You know, what.
Speaker 2:What did you do?
Speaker 1:Right out of high school, because I have a January, an early birthday, so I was 18 and I was in high school, my first. So I would guide in the summer times when I was younger, just kind of casually, sort of casually sort of. And then my first full job was I took, I got a job doing forest firefighting and I moved to wawa. I left school because I was 18. I moved to wawa and moved into some like dingy mouse laden, basement, flooded apartment and I was just in heaven because so my dad, my dad went, did all of his post-secondary education in Thunder Bay and so he got through that, all that like north shore trout fishing and all the streams, like I have great memories that we used to go to Nipigan like every June and we go stay in a motel and fish the river and like so one of his best friends is is gourd ellis.
Speaker 1:So you know, I just was always around these guys and so I was like, oh, I'm going to walla, I'm gonna go fish streams for the summer. And so I did that and really I just couldn't be away from the lake, like from lake of the woods, long enough. I just it was don't get me wrong, it was amazing and there was fantastic life experiences. At the time british columbia was burning up with all those uh beetle kills, those invasive beetles, so basically I got to spend the whole summer flying around a helicopter bc so that was pretty awesome. And then, uh, yeah, basically, when I came.
Speaker 2:Let me stop you there, let's talk about that. That sounds like a wicked um uh experience. Yeah, and you know we've had forest firefighters on um and talked about that, but I'd love to get your perspective yeah it was, um, you know it was.
Speaker 1:It was really a great experience and it's it's funny like I talk to these firefighters now and they seem like they're struggling to get people to work for it, and at the time I mean there was no better way, whether you were in Ontario or shipped away on some project fire, I mean, for somebody that loves the, the outdoors, it was the ultimate experience. I mean I had a little pack rod that would fit into my fire bag. I sacrificed extra pairs of socks and underwear so I can haul more tackle, because, you know you're, you get 50 pounds or whatever it is, and I was like, yeah, clothing can be reworn, but I gotta have fishing gear. So yeah it was who needs underwear?
Speaker 1:oh yeah, it was commando's the best way anyway I'd tuck my stuff in a stream and hang it up on an old jack pine to dry out for the day. We're good to go, but oh yeah, getting like free rain on all those streams and stuff, and it was. It was awesome. And the thing in bc, like central bc, water's so hard to come by. We'd set up these big inflatable pools and the helicopters would like bucket out of these glacial streams and dump into these pools and like inadvertently they'd suck up trout like rainbows out of the streams.
Speaker 1:They didn't go away oh yeah, there'd be trout swimming around in the pool, so I'd be barreled in there just peeling them out, and we'd be having trout on the fire for lunch. People looked at me like I was nuts, but I was like hey you guys want to get a free drive, mri, go ahead I'm gonna have fresh rainbow
Speaker 1:yeah, no doubt that's awesome, but yeah, and then like so that was kind of my first real job per se. But like I mentioned before, it was I just couldn't be away from the lake. I just just had grown into this lake kid and that's all I wanted to do was be on Lake of the Woods and really I started. I guess my first full time job wasn't on Lake of the Woods, it was at a place called East Hawk Lake, which is just east of Kenora, and it was like a fly fishing oriented lodge. It's a pretty neat spot. But, um, I worked there. For where's that place? Is it past ted's place there? Yeah, it's like where you know where they built that new overpass. Yeah, like it's called hawk. Hawk lake lodge is the actual term for it, but everybody calls oh yeah, everybody everybody calls it East Hawk because there's West Hawk on the Manitoba border.
Speaker 1:But yeah, and the you know, this was like two owners ago or three owners ago. Yeah, it would have been. It would have been neat to spend more time there. Spend more time there, uh, unfortunately, uh well, put it in layman's terms my best friend who, like, introduced me, his family, he actually passed away when we were 18 and so he passed away when I was at that lodge so I had to. I got the call that he'd been in an accident and passed away and I was guiding and my guests. I was like guys, I go Like, basically my brother just passed away and like yeah, no for sure, yeah. And I got back to the dock and the owner at the time he's not associated with the place anymore, but you know, I got to the dock and I was just 18 and I was like crying and like messed up and he's like, well, he's like you gotta, you can't leave. I was like, oh sorry, I'm leaving that was uh, so I after that, um, that led me into the place.
Speaker 1:So I came back and kind of centered myself for a couple weeks and then we've always had a close family friend have been the clinton family that owns ash rapids lodge on lake of the, and yeah, that's pretty much how I started on. Lake of the Woods was at Ash Rapids, so it's kind of on the west end of the lake and their big selling features. It's right at the mouth of Shoal Lake and you know, at the time I was just green behind the ears, showed up with my one ugly stick and that was it, a box of jigs, and just wanted to learn. And Shoal Lake was. I mean now there's mapping options and like everything has changed so much about all of Lake of the Woods. Now we have such great mapping and everything that. But at the time I mean I remember showing up and I was just like this little kid showed up and all these guides were, you know they've been there for 20 years, most of them all from the Shoal Lake community. And here I come up the dock like OK, here we go. And you know it was. I had this like paper map. Obviously there was no GPS or anything.
Speaker 1:And Andrew goes. Well, I'm going to put you with, uh, with this guy. He's been coming for like 20 years. Basically, you just gotta drive. He'll tell you where to go. Um, his name was Terry McBrayer, he's from.
Speaker 1:Kentucky. And, uh, that was the beginning of an amazing friendship. But first day Terry goes. He looks at me, he goes boy, you ever been to the big water? And I was like no, sir, I've never been into Shoal Lake. He's like, well, buckle up, we're going for a ride. I was like, oh no, so the far end of Shoal Lake actually goes into Manitoba. And as we're driving, he looks back. He goes you got a Manitoba fishing license. I was like, no, sir, I don't even know how to get there. He's like I'm going to show you.
Speaker 1:And we take off and like you've never been on Shoal Lake, when you come out of Shoal Lake Narrows across the middle, you can't see the far side, it's just ocean. And I remember, just like at the back, like just shaking like a leaf, there's just reefs everywhere. Terry's up there doing this left, left, right, and we get like halfway there and there's this narrows. And he goes boy, right, right in the middle. You just gotta line her up. I'm like, okay, so we line it up. And I'm like, right here, terry, oh yeah, you're fine. Her pow. We freaking cracked a reef with us 50 horse, it was a brand new boat motor too.
Speaker 1:No, gagged it. And on the rev limber, I'm like, oh my goodness, I look back, I trim it up, whole bottom end's gone, everything. I'm just like well, basically just shaking. And terry looks back, he's like, huh, I guess those canadian rocks move. I was like I don't know, terry, oh no, so we, we actually. I paddled us over to a cottage that was nearby and luckily enough the guy had a phone, so of course I had to call andrew. I was like andrew, we're, we're out by hell, diver off, dominique. I said we hit a rock. He's like well, put a prop on. I was like, well, there's no bottom man, so nothing to put a prop on.
Speaker 1:Sorry, was like well there's no bottom man, so sorry, brother so he brings another boat so we switch into the other boat and can't make this story up, so off we go again. So we go fishing around and we're having. I was like, oh, and out there, it's just crystal clear water. And terry showing me all these spots, and there's back then, like the pressure was so minimal compared to what it is now, like there's four pound schools of four pounders swimming around and he's like, well, get your rod out. I was like, no, no, I'm just here. He's like no, no, we're fishing okay.
Speaker 1:So we ended up we were having like the best day. So we head off back to the lodge and, uh, you know, I was always very adamant about like boat control and it's one thing I always like preach to young guides is like being mindful of boat control, like with your guests casting and everything. And we get back to dock and Terry gives me the nod. He's like, oh, yeah, we're going to have a good run together. And I was like, ok, so the next day we come down and morning, mr sean, you ready. I was like, okay, terry, where are we going today? And we take off the opposite direction and we're on lake of the woods. So there's a map, at least a paper map. So I'm running around with my map and he's giving me the left and right and we come up to this narrows line it up with this pine tree and that one.
Speaker 1:over there I'm looking at the map on my knee and it's blowing around. I'm trying to not make it so obvious that I'm completely lost. Yeah, right through here, right through here, there used to be an old lady lived up there. We'd trade her crappies for cigarettes and I was like, okay, we go running through this back bay. I remember looking down and I'm like this is shallow, like there's rocks everywhere and Terry's just doing this on the bow, little left, little right. Sure enough, ker-pow. We smack another one, whole skag this time and hurled one blade of the prop over. So I had another prop. So, yeah, two days, two big rock smacks. So I switch the prop on and we fish the rest of the day and I get back and I remember we idled in the dock and andrew's stand there and he goes oh, you didn't hit anything today. And terry goes no rocks, just a big turtle got the best of us. We hit one of them, big dang snappers. He says like, glaring at me, I'm just like I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1:Yeah that was my first two days ever guiding on lake of the woods double skaggers oh no, oh, that's awesome yeah but it was uh, that was the beginning of a great thing.
Speaker 1:I uh kind of on and off worked for andrew and tannis for 10 or 12 years and through that kind of once I got my foot into the door and especially the clientele, especially all of like may and june. First half july there it was all mostly guys fishing small mouth and through that like fish doing it all the time. That's where I really got my foot into the door. As far as, like the fishing peer group, canora is really neat in the fact that we have this unbelievable bass tournament scene and we've just pumped out world-class anglers so really like that's, you know. Then through that I started hanging out with jamie bruce. Like we became best friends and fished together like all the time. And then, you know, I got met up with Gussie and just like through that. So I just had this awesome peer group around me and you know both of those guys have been can never thank them enough for everything that they've shown me. You know, gussie, when I really decided that this is what I want to do for a living and guide full-time, g gussy kind of took me under his wing and, you know, allowed me to be a part of, like all of his fall hunting and wolf guiding in the winter time and everything, and really opened my eyes to that kind of the upper echelon of the fishing community. So I got to meet all these great people and, you know, be part of all these like Linder photo shoots and then, yeah, I mean just kind of grew from there and really just went all into it and got to see, you know, the amazingness that can be what it is to fish in Northwestern Ontario and yeah, so kind of through that I mean I did, I did the lodge guiding thing and then eventually got together enough money, bought myself a big bass boat and then from there bought myself a big Alumacraft and started doing my own guiding thing.
Speaker 1:And yeah, but through all that I mean it's the thing with Kenora.
Speaker 1:You know there's lots of young guys coming up and everybody, you know there's lots of young guys coming up and everybody, this new age that we live into with social media and youtube and all along all these other things, there's so many more avenues now for people to be involved in the fishing industry. It's not just a cut and dry like guide or not guide, but the one thing that people like, especially, especially young, young people coming up. I mean there's no better way to get your foot in the door than to go guide for one of these main base lodges around Canara, whether it's on Lake of the Woods or any of the surrounding bodies of water. Especially in the age we live in now, with cost of boats and cost of fuel like you get, you know you can run around in a lodge boat, you know you're not buying your own gas, you're making a really good wage doing it and you're just. You're building the skills that you can't do anywhere else Like and you get to see if you like it.
Speaker 1:That was the thing, like you know, during when I was full on like guiding every single day. I mean I remember on like guiding every single day. I mean I remember, you know I'd put 800, a thousand hours on like a 60 horse yamaha tiller in a year. And you know, andrew always had this joke. He'd be like yeah, okay, sean, here's your new boat for the year. The next year it'll be a rental boat because you'll have so many hours on it.
Speaker 1:But that's the thing, like I couldn't, I couldn't have ever afforded to do that by myself. Or, you know, know, gain, the and the other it's, it's so much more diverse than just catching fish. Like, sure, catching fish is a huge part of it, but the skills that you need dealing with customers and you know reading situations and building, you know your repertoire of your skills dealing with people, that's where you, that's where it's cut and dry. I mean, some of the best guides that I can think of aren't the best anglers, like some of the times. Sometimes the best anglers make terrible guides. They're just not. You know, it's either their way or no way and they're not people. So that was. You know, I got to grow in that aspect and then that led me further down the line, obviously working my way up with Andrew and Tannis at Ash Rapids. You know I got more responsibility, et cetera.
Speaker 2:Well, when you show that kind of integrity, an owner, and being able to speak from the point of view of somebody who owned a lodge for over a decade and dealt with guides all the time, the way that I could tell who my best guides were was in my dining room and talking to people who were out on guides. My dining room and talking to people who were out on guides and um and and. When they come in and the fishing wasn't the first thing that they began to talk about, or they didn't catch many fish, but they had so many other things to say, like how wonderful the day was. We went and did this, we saw the osprey Abby come and grab a carcass. We saw this, we did that. The guide was this, the guide was that right.
Speaker 2:And those are the things. It's not just catching fish, it's the experience of being out in an absolutely beautiful place in the world and there are a ton of them in this province, from north to south and to be able to give somebody an experience that the memory lasts a lifetime, or it changes who they are, or it lasts long enough for their children that they say Mom, dad, when are we going back to Shodier? When are we going back to Crow Rock Lodge, mom? You know what I mean? And those are the. That's the, just like you said, it's the experience.
Speaker 1:Like. The other thing that people don't understand is like how diverse your relationship becomes with these people. It's not a simple like they're my client. I mean, when you think of some of these people coming for generations and that's yeah, you know, that's the part that really excites me going into this crow rock venture is the repeat clientele. There is nothing I've ever seen and it's not only just you know, the first generation, the older guys coming on their trip, there's like three, four generations. You know, you talk to me. They've been coming every year for 35 years.
Speaker 2:It's got to make you feel good knowing that you've got that kind of clientele, because I know when I bought Chaudière I had none, I had zero, like I mean I had. Well, I shouldn't say that. I think I had about 12 people that were returning guests. It was very depressed that way and it was scary. It was scary and to be able to step into a business where you've got a very strong returning guest base is awesome and key.
Speaker 1:Crow Rock has been. You know, it's funny like growing up here, it's always been there. So the Dasik family that has owned it. They've owned it since I want to say the 40s, so there's like, and they've owned it since I want to say the 40s, so there's like, and they've built this amazing place. And as far as lodges go on the north end of the lake, I mean, in my opinion and I've worked for pretty much all of them over the years in one sense or another there isn't really a spot that I haven't guided for or worked for, and Crow Rock has always been this kind of upper echelon of what you know. Everybody else should set their standard to be like, whether it's accommodations or guide staff or boats or anything along those lines, or food.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they kind of have it all. They're steeply raked on the lake, it's awesome to go into it to go into it.
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Speaker 5:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand-new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? 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 5: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.
Speaker 6:To scientists. Now that we're reforesting, it's the perfect transmission environment for life To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly you will taste it.
Speaker 5:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2:We've got a good base and feel for who you are and who you, who you and why you're there and how you grew up. Now let's talk a little bit about, well, first of all, something that's really important to this type of venture your relationship with your wife and how you met her and where this is taking you, and let's really get a an idea on how you got here.
Speaker 1:now let's talk about the lodge yeah, so I mean, my wife is amazing in her support and you know what she does for our family. We actually met really young. We met at a hockey tournament. Like she was playing boys hockey at a hockey tournament and yeah, I was 18 at the time, so it was like a tournament in somewhere in Manitoba, some small town, and I was 18 so I could like drive myself and go play in this tournament and yeah, she was like on our team and that's kind of how we first met. But, um, yeah, I mean she's like she's one of the most competitive, competitive people I know. So it works out. That's awesome. Yeah, like when it came to getting into fishing and tournaments, like she wants to fish more tournaments than I do. Like it's just like every time she's like sending me a poster of some tournament and so that's.
Speaker 1:You know, fishing and hunting was kind of always our thing and you know, just through that I mean, we kind of progressed. Um, what really kind of kicked off the lake thing was I mean, obviously, like traditionally I was always on the lake guiding throughout all summer and you know that was a big part of the beginning of our relationship. But then really, you know, once we got married and we started having kids. You know, there was a point where I needed to be more, I needed to be at home more, when we had the younger kids, and so you know, so right now I've got a four-year-old and a two-year-old. So basically, for the last kind of four years, um, I took I, you know I still always guided through the summer, but I didn't. I wasn't guiding full time. Um, when I came to town, um, the, the couple that we're partnered with in this venture, they own a number of existing businesses in Kenora and they're also like super outdoor oriented family but they own it's called Redden's and pies, so they're they're like, well, redden's used to be a fishing camp. They're like third generation into it now, but it's transitioned more to seasonal campsites, but there still is a fishing aspect to it when it comes to other cabins and stuff.
Speaker 1:But the skills that I've built up over the years of just being doing lodge life, for all those years when I kind of came to town, um, we actually just lived down the road from their business and their home and so we'd always came to town. We actually just lived down the road from their business and their home and so we'd always. You know, we kind of knew each other and you know, when I made the decision to kind of come to town full time, you know Carlton and Leanne were gracious enough. They kind of reached out and said, like you know, why don't you come work for us? We're right at home at home, like you can be around for your kids, etc.
Speaker 1:Because how it used to work was I would guide all summer and then in the winter time I would always work with the other family that I was talking about. So the winter time they do all the ice roads and a whole bunch of barging and lake work on. So I would, that was what I would do, so it would, and with that comes like the extended work hours too. So I'd work all summer guiding, which is for people.
Speaker 2:Extended work hours.
Speaker 1:Extended work hours and then all winter and but that was the thing. I just built up all of these skills and got was shown all this stuff firsthand. And so then I made a decision that you know I needed to be more, be around more for my kids and my family. So Carlton Leanne were gracious enough, they offered me kind of a position. I don't even know really what my position was, Just kind of running their campsite and doing all the maintenance and stuff along those lines.
Speaker 2:Just down the road from you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they also had a pretty big retail store there too, road from you. Yeah, I also got a pretty big retail store there too. So I also part of that. You know there's they sell tackle and fishing and guns and ammo. So I kind of did all that aspect of form as well too.
Speaker 1:But you know, the lodge thing was always it was always a pipe dream of mine. Um, you know, it was always something that my wife and I had talked about and you know it's what we dreamed about doing and you know we were actually we were looking at doing it and kind of just humming and hawing, but you know today's age and you know the cost of living and everything along those lines. I mean really, you know we got to the stage where it was like you know, this is what we want to do, but you know, I don't know if we can do it. And then, yeah, so what I did was we started up like a business, like a legit business, and I was running all my guiding through it, and then I was also doing property maintenance, because canora has tons and tons of seasonal residents, kind of like what muskoka has for toronto. Canora is like that for winnipeg. So I was doing all this on the side while doing my nine to five.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, yeah, I mean, really, we just started talking with carlton leanne and I believe the conversation started off is there was like a fly-in place way up north, like kind of just an outpost, and Carlton's big into hunting. And you know I haven't been doing it the archery moose thing as much as I used to do, but it was a huge portion of I used to guide every fall for it and we were just like joking around like oh, wouldn't that be a sweet spot to get for moose hunting. And then, you know, through that it was kind of. I said, well, you know, and they asked me you know, would you like to partner up with us? And I said, well, I said, to be honest, the way that I foresee, you know, the market and everything changing. I said really, I think you know, if I'm interested in investing in a place, it would be on Lake of the Woods.
Speaker 1:And you know, obviously that was. That's a whole different animal, different animal in itself, because once you put your toe into that door you're, you're up in this whole different echelon of you know. You're playing in the big leagues at that point. And you know we kind of kicked it around and we were looking at some places.
Speaker 1:Point, and you know we kind of kicked it around and we were looking at some places and the thing is, on the north end of the lake around canara, there's just not a whole bunch of main base lodges. If you go down towards sunaros and ester falls and morrison there's a lot more, but up on the north end around canara there's really not that many. And, um, yeah, just one thing kind of led to another and the way it ended up was we got a toenail in the door at crow rock and, yeah, progressed from there and you know, kind of got to the stage of holy cow, we're, we're looking at buying crow rock lodge, which really had never worked yeah, and it's to be honest, it really hadn't ever been on my radar and you know, I remember I vividly.
Speaker 1:I was like holy cow, like this is actually, this is gonna happen. And then came like the shock value of oh, we got to make this happen, so we need to find some money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so oh, yeah, well like I mean, we actually are gonna do I, uh, when I bought chaudiere, I begged borrowed, stole, you know, to get the money that I, that I needed to get into the game. And back then, you know we're talking 2010, 2009 actually and my house, which is like I don't even know what the hell it's worth today. But let's just say, houses back then down south here were worth, you know, $300,000,000, 250,000, and I jumped into this business that didn't have anything for 750,000. Like I mean, yeah, it was big money and putting your balls on the line is not an easy thing, and and I remember and I'm not sure if you experienced this, and and and maybe not because I was on my own other than the fact that I borrowed $100,000 on a line of credit from my mom and dad, so it wasn't just my house that I would lose, it was their farm too. But I remember when I actually signed the papers at the lawyer's office here in Shelburne oh yeah, the lawyer was, his name was John Timmerman and I had done my due diligence and I had formed a corporation to buy the assets only of Chaudière Lodge. Like I didn't actually buy the corporation. The old owner released all of the assets from his corporation. He kept the corporation.
Speaker 2:I formed a new corporation and then that way I was in my mind I was isolating my house, which I had already mortgaged to the tits to to put, uh, oh yeah, I had a hundred thousand. My house at the time was worth, you know, 250,000. I took a hundred thousand dollars out of it, uh, in equity, to throw into the pot. Anyway, I'm sitting there with John and he throws this bit, and I borrowed um like 450,000 from a mortgage broker who charged me $32,000 for the right to borrow that 450,000 at 10%. And I'm sitting there in front of John and the stack of papers like it took me near an hour to fill them out and uh, I'm signing, and signing, and signing.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, I, just to make myself feel better, I looked at John. I said so, john, the um, the corporation's responsible for paying this money back, right, and I had already, like they had given, the mortgage broker had given me the money. They took the $32,000 out of the 450. So I only got 450 minus the 32. And so like 18, 418. And he said, yeah, yeah, that's right. And I kept signing away. And now I'm thinking to myself, well, worst thing is like I mean, if I don't make it, then you know the corporation's liable. I'm not liable.
Speaker 6:And about five minutes later, as I'm signing.
Speaker 2:John, in his lawyerish way, leans over his desk, pulls his glasses down a touch, like this, and he says but Steve, you are the corporation. And those words hit me like a freight train. I'm like I started sweating and I started to feel a little bit sick and I'm like, and in my mind I'm thinking, fuck, I can still back out here. You know, maybe I should just get up from the table. And then the other guy on the other side of the shoulder is like, yeah, but what are you going to tell Melissa, my wife? What are you going to tell her that you just lit $32,000 on fire because I was not getting that back from borrowing the 450. I pay the 450. I could pay the 418 back and then probably get sued by the old owner because I'm I'm backing out before like I had. We had already agreed on a deal and, um, if not for the 32 grand, I think I probably would have um pulled the pin on it, um, but wow.
Speaker 2:I was, I was shitting, I my, I didn't eat for for a week. And when I left the office, in my head, that voice in my head was screaming so loud and it was three words, and it was piercing, like I've never, ever, had this sensation, this feeling, this, this, this, whatever you want to call it before. And those three words and it was over and over, I couldn't escape it was what have you done? What have you done? And then I'm trying to reason with myself Well, you know, this is not. And you had, there was there, I had like three people booked.
Speaker 4:The time for reasoning is over now Time for selling.
Speaker 2:When you signed those papers with the lawyer and you're putting your balls on the line, what were your feelings?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:You know the big. The best way I can break it down, like for people from the outside is talking about it is one thing, but when the pen hits the ink and it all comes, the train comes to a screeching halt and you got to look the headlight dead in the eye and it's really the best thing from my point of view was having like so much support from my wife and both sides of our family, and then you know my Carlton Leanne family. I mean for people to take, you know, put that amount of trust in you. I mean, don't get me wrong like we we've got every single penny that we own and a whole bunch of pennies that we don't own into this. So it's there's a lot of pressure when it comes to that side of it.
Speaker 1:But really the thing through this whole deal that gets me so excited is, you know, the product that's already there. I mean crow rock is amazing and it's. It's really neat to see so many of these lodges. Um, you know, as everything changes and everything gets more expensive to run and fuel and insurance and everything, like a lot of these places are, whether they're selling off or whatever is happening to them turning into family communes and yeah, like it that's.
Speaker 1:the other thing is a lot of these places are getting older. Like there's Like there's no way to put around it. Like you know, a lot of these places are older. You know the buildings, stuff Run down. Yeah, so to be able to come into a place like Crow Rock, where it's such an amazing feeling when you stand there and look at it and you know I don't have this undying desire to just level every cabin and start again, you know, like the benefit of the Dasik family is they put a lot back into the place and it shows like it's. You know, as far as accommodations go on the North Dent Lake, it's amazing, it's and it's just even like little things that people don't think about that as an owner, are daunting. I mean, every guest cabin has one of those new heat pump units so they all have ac. Like that's huge. You wouldn't think about that looking at a place, but you know to be able to offer that's huge yeah yeah, offer guys air conditioning while they're up here.
Speaker 1:Is, you know, for us? I mean we go to camp for the weekend if it's plus 30, you're like, okay, I sleep with the window open and a fan going and probably won't sleep that well, but you know, to be able to have all those little odds and sods put together, you know they've done expansive renos and everything's fantastic so it's a how many cabins you got out there sean?
Speaker 4:uh, there's nine. Tell us about your property, a little like when it comes to those cabins, and tell us how many people you can sleep in. Yeah, like I mean.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at your website right now and your main lodge looks gorgeous. Yeah, um, like I mean the, the accommodations and and folks out there. Um, you gotta check this out and and I see I see something that that again is something that again is like home for me, and those words are private island.
Speaker 1:So we also. We have so the main base lodge. The main base lodge operates only under the American Plan platform, so everybody eats in the lodge. We have an amazing culinary experience there. It's whether people, a lot of people, come off the lake, whether they're surrounding, you know, property owners, etc. There's a pretty prevalent restaurant business. It's there. But when we have, uh, you know, with our american plan, that's one thing we really pride ourselves on. Is, you know, with our American plan, that's one thing we really pride ourselves on, is, you know, the culinary side of things. So we have, yeah, so that that's fantastic. So we have around 48, we can sleep at the main lodge. And then we also have that private island thing you're talking about. That's our outpost camp, we call it. It's pretty much like half a kilometer away, just around the corner, and that's a big, and so that one it's got all the cooking accommodations, everything set up in there, so guests can either choose to do their own meal plans at our outpost.
Speaker 2:How many cottages do you have there?
Speaker 1:It's one big one, perfect.
Speaker 2:That's the same deal that I had at Chaudiere. I can't believe the mirror image of this. So the outpost.
Speaker 1:It'll sleep eight to ten, depending on how you know if you sub in couples or kids or anything like that, but you can put eight single adults in there comfortably and it's you. You know, it's set up with its own power system, everything, etc. So we have the benefit of being able to offer kind of a diverse um, you know, if people are looking to not do the american plan the outpost is, we call it sunset point. It's uh, it's a really good option for that. The other really neat, diverse thing that we have that really we're the only kind of people that are prevalently doing it on the north end of Lake is we have a really big portage lake aspect to it. So we've got boat cash rights on seven lakes that are on the western peninsula of Lake of the Woods, which are, you know, within a five to 15 minute boat ride from the lodge, and then guests walk up into these lakes and they're amazing.
Speaker 1:I, I get I had the experience, a privilege of, when we were younger kids and running around the lake. I mean, we never, we didn't have big fancy boats or anything. You know, we had a 14 footer with a. You know, we graduated to a 15 and we were big dog and we'd all sit three of us on the back seat so we could get a whopping 20 mile an hour, whatever. And people looked at us funny because there'd be three kids sitting on the back seat of a tenor, but it was just so we could go a little bit faster. But so we we grew up fishing a lot of those lakes and they're they're beautiful when you get in there. They're crystal clear, all surrounded by cedar and, of course, like so many of these small lakes in northwestern ontario, yeah, the fishing is fish in a barrel and what are some of the species?
Speaker 2:are you, are you into specks and walleye and and northern's back in their lakes.
Speaker 1:Um, six of the seven are smallmouth and obviously pike, because every piece of water has pike in it. Yeah, but the big draw for those portage lakes is the smallmouth fishing and it's. It's a crazy experience to be in there because the water's so clear like it's. It's awesome. You know you pull into a bay and you can, you whip your jerk bait out and you watch like 25 three pound smallmouth all come flying out in a big wolf pack and it's like yep, these things haven't seen a bait for 12 months.
Speaker 1:Yeah and we also and then we do have our one bigger lake. It's got insane walleye fishing on it, so guys will go in there and walleye fish. But I mean we're blessed with lake of the woods, uh, and just how diverse the multi-species angling is, so it's pretty tough to beat lake of the woods walleye fishing right now. Um, you know, I've spent all of my guiding career per se on lake of the woods and personally, I mean it's kind of a contentious topic but I don't think that I've seen it any better than what it is right now, whether it comes to numbers or big fish.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, really, when it comes to our portage lakes, a lot of the guests are going in there to smallmouth fish and it's just a very intimate like yeah, you're the only boat on this lake and it doesn't matter if it's windy because they're. You know they're small, narrow lakes and you know guys can go in there and fish top waters the whole time and some people love, love doing that. And then how can you not? Yeah, like I can remember going in there and you know we we'd go in there and push a boat in the water and you know we didn't. The motors would be chained up but we'd be paddling around and, yeah, you'd go catch a hundred smallmouth in a couple hours, like, okay, that was cool yeah, like I was just talking to a gentleman this morning.
Speaker 1:he's been coming for like 20 years and he was telling me that last year there was five of them five of them in our one portage lake and they started fishing at 10 in the morning and they were back on land by like three 30 and they caught 430 small mouth or something like that. I was like oh, wow, so but yeah, it's, it's a really neat different thing. We offer that isn't. You know, you can't really do it anywhere else off of Lake, of the woods, and our guests really love that aspect of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then we also. So, can they just drive out there by themselves, or do you actually book them into the lake and then take them out there?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if, guys, you know what they'll do is on a standard booking, say if they're here for four or five or six days, most of them will. Some guys just exclusively fish the portage lake, that's all they come for. They just every morning you drive them over, drop them off and they go up and cause that's the thing, you don't really need a guide in there, cause you know you're just that's, that's a small little lake. You got your six horse putting around and you know they're not going to hit anything. Or you know they just fish the whole lake and lake of the woods, you know, intimidating in an aspect for people that aren't familiar with it, because you know it is a big giant body of water and there's lots of stuff to hit. Um, now we have the benefit of, thanks to johnson outdoors and lake master mapping they've they've poured a huge investment into remapping lake of the woods. So I, uh, you know I'm forever indebted to those guys for sacrificing all those have you ever seen those guys in town, Sean?
Speaker 4:They have those boats with like triple aluminum hulls.
Speaker 1:I vividly remember the first year they were mapping, like remapping all of Lake of the Woods. The guy Jaden Simons and I we fished KBI together for years. We were like way down the lake and we were fishing along the shoreline and there's a reef and I've known been there since I was a kid. I actually I remember because I hit it at one point. We were duck hunting and we were not looking where we were going, we were looking at the ducks and I always remember those oh yeah, you never forget the ones we hit.
Speaker 1:But we were fishing along this bank and at the time lake master was remapping all lake of the woods. So you'd see, they'd have 14, 15 boats all lined up at the motel every night. And this guy's, you can see he's running his grid and he idles past us as he's and I said, oh, there's, there's a reef up there. And he looks over at me and he goes we've been mandated. He says our policy is we break our stuff, so you don't have to. And sure enough, he idles long right over thompson. He's like yep, it's there, you were right and I'm like as far as lake of the woods goes now.
Speaker 1:I mean now with don't get me wrong we've always had decent mapping, but now it's on a whole. You know you can be confident in running around now on our Lake Master maps. Before I always told people, you know we had the old Navionics and blue chart data and it was good for navigating. But I always told people if it's less than 10 feet on the map chip, don't trust it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly, I've seen those guys for years down there, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Like that early early 2020. I've seen those guys for years down there oh yeah, Like that early 19, early 2020.
Speaker 1:I can't believe, I could not comprehend the actual number of man hours it took to map that whole thing. It's funny, one of our guests that comes to Crow Rock, he's retired now from Hummingbird but he was breaking down the amount of data storage they had to have available for those guys, of data storage they had to have available for those guys and it was. They had a whole truck of hard drives and it was an insurmountable amount of data to like, comprehend and they're, oh yeah, insane. But that is, that's such a cool thing now.
Speaker 1:And, um, you know, circling back to the state of the fishery that lake of the woods is in now, it's insane and I've got to witness highs and lows of the fishery.
Speaker 1:I mean, obviously we had that big smelt boom that everybody kind of got their feet wet into and that really kicked off.
Speaker 1:You know, the Lake of the Woods, smallmouth, craze in my mind, especially when it came to the tournament side of things. But you know, so I got to be a part of that and I was there and witnessed it firsthand at its peak. And but you know, to see it where it's at now, I mean especially when it comes to big fish, like you know, the proof is in the pudding when it especially when it comes to the tournament side of things on lake of the woods. I mean kbi, which is, you know, the biggest team's tournament, one of the biggest in north america. I mean, you got jeff gustafson who's like he's won the bass master classic, he's one of my best buddies, but you know, if you're betting on someone to win kbi, I mean he's always going to be up there but he's never like a for sure, like you got to catch him, catch him to hang with the big dog there's a lot of tight anglers out there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's the thing I mean. There's a lot of good fish, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, and it's neat to watch how the fishery has changed from the tournament side of things when it comes to bass fishing. You know, growing up when we were younger, we were just large mouth crazy, because everybody had it in their mind that you had to catch large mouths to win any of these tournaments and hindsight's always 2020. But I probably should have spent less time flipping and frogging to catch three large mouths and sure probably just spent more time fishing small mouths, because don't get me wrong, and frogging is so much fun, yeah no, it's.
Speaker 1:This this year was was, you know, a kind of fun revamp of that, because we had a huge cold spell during kbi and you know I remember floating in the bay and like the tournament has really transitioned to a lot more small mouth oriented. But you know, my partner and I are floating in the bay and I'm wearing like a snowsuit and gloves in august like freezing, and we look at each other like we're going fishing for black bass and yeah, you know, just went on a whim and fished old memories and somehow got 18 pounds of large mouth like, okay, they do still exist nice then promptly fell on her face for the next two days because there's no way you'd repeat that again.
Speaker 1:So it was uh. But even like, when it comes to the walleye fishery, I've had the the benefit of being exposed, you know, through my peer group of friends through the midwest and the states. Uh, I've had the benefit. Of these guys have kind of opened my eyes to the all these new walleye techniques and like how effective and how big the fish are like. So one of my best friends named Dan Fuller. He's from Bemidji and he's always kind of been into the tournament walleye scene and now he's transitioned, uh, he's got onto this train. He's an amazing talented guy when it comes to boat rigging. So obviously with this age we live in, with new sonar and how complex these boat rigging is again yeah, I mean so dan fuller.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I met him through gussy years ago. He came up wolf hunting with us and we just our friendship grew from that. But he's always kind of been at the forefront, like if I have any boat questions that's the guy I call. So you know he started coming up and fishing with me and he left his full-time job and has jumped both feet into this boat rigging game and he started this new thing it's called black sheep outdoors and, like you know, he sends me all these boat riggings he's doing every day.
Speaker 1:He's rigging boats for all these walleye pros and it's insane the graphs, the batteries, the wiring, the quality of stuff coming out of his shop. I'm just like holy cow. No wonder you almost puke when you look at my boat. But yeah, through that he's always been in the the tournament walleye fishing thing and we had this discussion a number of years ago and it was he's like, hey, let's fish that walleye tournament and I was like, oh yeah, I'm in, like I want to do that. And you know, growing up with kind of the guiding traditionally guiding walleyes on lake of the woods, and you know a lot of the local anglers on lake of the woods here I mean our walleye fishing isn't super complex just because we have the benefit of having such an amazing fishery so you know, I grew up like well, I jigging a minnow bud jigging a minnow, like that's it.
Speaker 1:We'll go catch a hunter and have shore lunch, and and then I got to start fishing with those guys and it just exploded my mind of what the options are and what it's turned into now as far as big and the success, the, the difference in success and how you know I've been doing this, this walleye thing, and it's kind of honestly my passion little project right now.
Speaker 1:I always go through stages of, like my fishing like, yeah, you know, five, ten years ago I was all gung-ho, all out muskies, that's all I did, yeah. And then, you know, I got into the bass fishing thing and did that more and more and now, like this walleye thing has been my new bread and butter that I've been infatuated with and, yeah, like the amount of big fish in Lake of the Woods, like people just don't realize how amazing it is.
Speaker 2:So last year, and when we're talking big, are we talking like 32 inch, like 14 pounders or?
Speaker 1:Here's the best way I'll break it down, like last year in the tournament. So I pre-fished for two days and then two days of the tournament. I think we had 34 fish over 28 inches. The second day of the tournament we had four 30 inch fish and we still got. And we still got.
Speaker 4:Fifth, like no shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was gonna say you probably didn't crack off I was like, oh yeah, so the first day we had a 29 and three quarters. So how the format works now with the rig change, you get one big fish that you catch, photo release, and then you have your four, your unders, your slots and yeah, so we had a 29 three quarters and a pretty good bag of slots. And then the second day we had like a 30 and three quarters and another like decent bag of slots and yeah, still got fifth, like you got to be, yeah, and that's the thing Like. And then from the guiding end of it, I mean I can take people out right now and just the skills that I've learned through these guys, I mean it seems an endless amount of fish between 26 to 29 inches. I mean obviously those 30-inchers are still 30-inchers, like there's no guarantee to it, but yeah, it's amazing to see the fish.
Speaker 2:Well, that's like trying to guarantee a 50 inch muskie, like a 30 inch, a 30 inch walleye. Once you break that three, zero man, that that that is a big, big walleye yeah, and then it like when it comes to this catch photo release format.
Speaker 1:So it's you know your weight and then they, they're your length and they give you a weight associated with it. Like I said, that last day, the tournament, like the second day, we knew we had to have the best day of walleye fishing for the year. So we just leaned on big ones for most of the day and yeah, I'd say like, oh yeah, we caught 4, 30 inches on the last day yeah, yeah 30, a 30 and a quarter, a 30 and a half and a 30 and three quarters.
Speaker 2:Are you also taking the girth to get your, to get your weight?
Speaker 1:So that canora wall I opened format is they base their weight just off of a length measurement. That's bullshit.
Speaker 2:You tell him. Steve says that's bullshit because mine's way fatter than yours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and Lake of the Woods is a whole there's. It's so diverse in the different bodies of water. They're all interconnected. Because that's the thing like you can get, you could catch a snake skinny ones. Yeah, you get to like the dirtier portions of the lake.
Speaker 2:You get a 27 incher that weighs like nine pounds like yeah, fucking nine yeah, it'll be gotta get the girth in on there to make it fair yeah, no, it's uh. Listen, I'm five foot seven at 275 man I'd be winning the derby with my body winning those right you gotta yeah, you're a trophy brother, and every which way you look at it my trophy is some guy, yeah, and like the.
Speaker 1:The nicest thing about, you know, going into this this season with crow rock is to be able to have the confidence in the state of the fishery that it is right now and to be able to like that's the biggest thing I just to be able to market that and open people's eyes and that the nice, the nicest thing is how prevalent catch and release has become, especially when you get into, like, the trophy class fish.
Speaker 1:Um, you know I've I consider myself growing up through you know, that transition period of time of like how good fish handling has gotten. And you know, even when I think back to when I first started guiding and you know I look back at the point of my life where I was all in on the musky side of things, I mean you know I look back and old, you know I can. I've got old Polaroid pictures. Or you know digital camera folders that I keep fired up and you know you look at people. You know you got a 50 incher and they they're holding it vertical and it's like now you wouldn't dare take that picture. Put that on your website, no, or?
Speaker 2:the old pictures when I bought chaudiere of guys standing on the dock with like 30 walleye dead right in front of them and they're all like arm in arm or hanging. Uh, I've even got some old pictures from the you know the 20s and 30s, where guys had um bars strung up on the dog every lodge had the muskies and northerns had. They were all lined up like I mean, I don't know what they were. I guess they were eating them, but I don't know you know you wouldn't dare put that out there now it.
Speaker 1:It's so cool to see that. And Lake of the Woods is so amazing in the fact that we have true trophy quality fish of pretty much every species, every species. I mean you know you can go like you know I always call it the big seven Like you can go crappies, smallmouth, largemouth lake, trout, pike, muskies, walleye walleyes yeah, walleyes like and that's the thing to be able to have all of that at your disposal, I mean really, and pro rock as a whole is positioned so strategically placed, like in what I consider the best area of lake, of the woods.
Speaker 1:I mean you're the center of the lake man, like you're north center I can be in lake trout country and 15 minutes we can be in the turbulent, dirty water that has all the current, where you know it's the best musky fishing around, and whether it's you want to catch smallmouth vertically over the bow deep water or you want to catch them in six inches of water up in the rocks and the reeds, and you know it's it's. It's amazing just to have be able to be so diverse in what you're offering clients. And that's the thing. Like people, everybody gets stuck into their same thing. You know, oh yeah, we catch them here. This is where I go every time.
Speaker 1:But to be able to take someone and put them in something that's totally foreign whether it's structure, you know current water clarity, fish, species to be able to do all that within one day is is something that you just can't do in many places. And you know the species that are in Lake of the Woods, whether they be natural or whether they be introduced um, yeah, I mean there's nothing, there's nothing like it, really, that you can offer. So it's uh, and to be able to have that in your repertoire, that's the biggest thing is. You know you can't be closed minded in what you're targeting from the guiding point of view or the lodging part of it, because you can do so much and be in so many different places and it's. It's such a neat thing to be able to take somebody that's been coming for 20 years and put them on their head and spin them like a top and they look at you like where are we? Like oh no, let's go on the same lake yeah, yeah well, I am so excited for you, sean.
Speaker 2:I really, I really am your enthusiasm with, with this, uh, with this lodge and and your body of water just bleeds from you. And throughout this whole conversation I was trying to think about something that I could give you a little piece of advice from my point of view, having been in your shoes and kind of knowing how you feel at that point. And the one thing that comes to my mind and I'm not sure if I've told the Diaries family this story or not, I know, willie, you haven't heard this story, but when we were talking about your outpost lakes, I asked you a question and that question was do you take your guests out there or do they go there by themselves or whatever? And you said you go and take them and drop them off. And I had a lake like that. The name of that lake was the natives called it Eshe Lake, and it was just a real same kind of lake that you're talking about and it had very few northerns but it was full of largemouth bass and you were talking about. And it had very few northerns but it was full of largemouth bass and you were talking about how you know lake of the woods is, is big and can be intimidating, and you know the old adage 90 of the fish live in 10 of the water. Well, the upper french river and lake nipissing is exactly that.
Speaker 2:And I'd have guests that would come in and they would have a difficult time, like they wouldn't want to really take a guide, they want to go do it themselves. They'd head out on the river and they wouldn't be very successful and I would say, listen, I would sell them on a package out to Esche. Well, I had this one father and son who wanted to do Eshay, and great guys, and I took them out to Eshay and I would take them out right after breakfast. So you know, our breakfast was 7.30 until 8.30. So they'd be out there by about nine o'clock and I'd carry over the nine nine and throw it on the boat that I had back in this wee lake and they'd fish until four and I'd go pick them up.
Speaker 2:Well, on this day and this is where the advice as a lodge owner comes shit just some days gets wild, it gets out of hand. You get doing things, you know, like the shitter in the Blue Jay Cottage bus, and you got to go out there and you're fixing something and then the chef has an issue, or the hydro goes out or God knows, or there's a boat that comes in, or the food order comes in. There's just so many moving parts. Well, on this day in particular, dinner came and one of the girls and I always told the staff you know, our job is to look after our guests, we look after our guests. So the guys on the dock, you know, after dinner we would always track where our guys are going to go.
Speaker 2:We had a whiteboard and everybody that left the dock they put what direction they were going, what part of the river they were going to be on, what time they were expected to be back, so that if they didn't show up, we at least knew which direction to go and start looking. And very rarely it happened. Well, this this day in particular, violet, my one of my, my housekeeper servers, come to me and she said Steve, jake and Danny aren't back yet and it's really, it's really strange that they're they're not back and I and it didn't, I didn. Really strange that they're not back and I and it didn't, it didn't even dawn on me right away.
Speaker 2:I'm like, fuck, I forgot them, I left them out there. It was like seven o'clock, dinner was over. I already went through the dining room. I'm like, oh my God, I forgot them, I left them out there. So I said, oh my God, violet, I forgot them. I left them out there. So I said, oh my God, violet, I forgot them. I got to go. I got to go, I ripped down to the dock, jumped into the Alaskan and ripped out to Eshe.
Speaker 2:I run over the portage, it's like I don't know like 80 to 100 yards over the top of a hill and the boat's back, the engine and everything. They already carried it out to the dock and they're not there. I'm like, what is going on? And now I'm really, I'm panicked. I'm like, oh my God, and I'm yelling their names out into the bush and I'm walking around yelling for them Because I know that they're like I mean, this is an isolated area, like you can't even get to the lodge from where. This is Like, unless you're going to swim, you're not going anywhere. So I'm yelling and then all of a sudden, I hear Steve, is that you? And I'm yelling. And then all of a sudden, I hear Steve, is that you? And I'm like, yeah, I go over there.
Speaker 2:Well, they had built a shelter for the night and they were like we didn't know what happened. We weren't sure if you forgot us or if there was like some sort of a tragedy or something or whatever. I'm like, no man, I am so sorry I forgot you. I'm like, what do you say? Like you can't make up a story. I would never make up a story anyway. Like I mean, my memory's not good enough to fabricate shit and try and keep it straight. I can barely remember the truth half the time. So I'm like, yeah, I'm so and anyway, and they were good about it, they were, they were really good about it.
Speaker 2:I took them back. Obviously, I didn't charge them for the for the day. I'd give them a free guide the next day and. But so the moral of the story when you're dropping people off out there, make sure that you're not the only one that knows they're there. All right, I changed my whole protocol when it come to that lake and I had my lead hand on the dock. I put him in charge of scheduling what was going on with that one lake. So there's a little tidbit of information that may come in handy someday and save you a ton of embarrassment.
Speaker 1:Hope I don't forget that we run the format like you discussed at the end. There we have a lead dockhand that if guys are going to the Portage Lakes they take them over. I mean, sometimes they do take a guide to the lakes and it all depends on guest preference.
Speaker 2:Some people just don't want to run the boat At the end of the day, just remember when shit happens and you're the one that's in the middle of the shit and somebody's want because I know by talking to you and listening to you, you're like me, you're like Will You're there for the guest? You want to make sure that they have an experience of a lifetime. And when a guest asks to do something right, like hey, maybe I could do something different you say, oh yeah, eshay Lake is a great spot, you can go and catch and everything else. And your dockhand is going and he's splitting firewood on the other side of the island and there's nobody down there to deal with it. And you say, ah, don't worry about it, I'll do that. I'll get you out there. Make sure you let somebody know right.
Speaker 2:Because stuff like that happens and it can happen pretty quickly, yeah, and that's so.
Speaker 1:I had to. We didn't touch on this Stuff, like that happens and it can happen pretty quickly, yeah. So we didn't touch on this, but towards like kind of the end of my full lake career, like when I was guiding full time, I actually did. I guess, it'd be like five, four or five years. I managed another lodge that is kind of in that central area of the lake. So you know you talk to guests and like oh yeah, it must be nice, you know you get to fish.
Speaker 1:all the time I was like, no, you don't get to fish.
Speaker 2:No, guiding is not fishing.
Speaker 1:No, but even just like the managing aspect. Yeah, for sure, and at the time that was, you know, obviously someone else owned property, so I was the manager, and you know. That's the thing. There's so much more that happens in a day, Once all the guests have their breakfast and they're gone in the boat. That's when the stuff gets the fan.
Speaker 2:That's when you got to take the garbage out. That's when the fuel order's coming in by barge. That's when the food order is coming in and you've got to bring it over by boat. That's when all of the repairs are happening.
Speaker 2:That's when all of your housekeeper servers are cleaning the cottages and making sure everything is good. You know there's so many different aspects about this business in particular and we're going to have to have you on again and talk about that. But listen, I'm very excited for you. I'm so happy that Will shook the bushes and found a wonderful young gentleman like yourself to join us here on Diaries of a Lodge Owner. And I'm sure that all of our family who have got to this point and folks thank you so much for getting to this point we really appreciate it. They're falling in love with you, with you and and uh, it was, uh, it was very wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're, we're super excited going into this and, you know, to be able to have that foundation that's already in there is such a great feeling but at the same time, like the most pivotal part of this entire industry is the relationships you build with guests and everything along those lines. So you know that's coming into it. Um, you know, obviously, when you're dealing with changing of hands of any business that you're emotionally invested in, especially as a guest, you can, you know. So that's been such a big part of my winter so far has been getting personal and getting to know all these guys. Obviously there's no substitute for shaking hands on the dock and getting the, you know, the first real introduction.
Speaker 1:But that's moving forward. I mean this place, its roots are, it's a fishing lodge, pure-blooded, like that is the bread and butter of crow rock, and so we're really looking forward to, you know, our existing family and clients, but at the same time, what we can accomplish with the long-term goal and push this even further. So you know, whether it's I always try to make it's funny my wife was like, going through my phone the other day she's like you realize you're averaging like five and a half hours a day on your phone, I was like, yeah, no, I'm aware of that, so whether it's talking to you know new people right now though buddy is pump those tires, man.
Speaker 4:That's if I can give you any advice in the small amount of time, sean, that I was out there. You know so far is is just push it, man. You know you, and if you need to have any questions or we can help you at all, me and Steve in that aspect, just let us know we, we. I think you're amazing dude. I I've heard about you for years, I've seen you with you, know mutual people we know and as soon as I heard that you bought that place, I was like that is exactly.
Speaker 4:it was a match made in heaven, and I'm so happy for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no match made in heaven and I'm so happy for you. Yeah, no, we're really looking forward to it and it'd be, it'd be so neat to see what we can, where we can take this place because, you know, I, with my experience and, like I mentioned earlier, having the benefit of working in one way or another at majority of these places on the north end lake over the years I mean I can pick and choose everything that I like and dislike and to be able to combine all that into one place amazing and to be able to put the work into it and, you know, have the confidence that it's going to succeed and to be able to expand it even further and the benefit of no ceiling, absolutely no yeah you know the previous ownership.
Speaker 1:They lived in the states in the wintertime, in the off season, whereas, you know, myself and my family, I mean we're moving out there as soon as the ice comes off and I'm gonna, I mean we we're always on the lake regardless, so I'll be freezing in out there. So you know that that second part of the season that a lot of people don't get to experience, the fall on lake of the Woods too, like that's going to be such a neat thing to be able to market and bring to people. And we have the benefit in the modern age, of this digital marketing age that we live in. I mean it's transitioned so much from going to, you know, go into fishing shows, et cetera, and you know my existing relationships with everybody in the industry. We've got a whole bunch of really neat stuff teed up for this first year, whether it's videos and promotional stuff.
Speaker 1:So it'll be, it'll be cool to see the media that's coming out of Crow Rock this year and we're really looking forward to it and even from the Canadian market. I and that's the thing you know, given the fact that we have the diversity in our accommodations where we can offer, you know, the full, all-inclusive plans or we can offer the outpost for people looking to just pay a nightly rate and bring their own gear. So it'll be awesome to be able to push everything further and further and expand. I mean the fall muskie fishing on lake of the woods is it's like a woods it.
Speaker 6:There's nothing that you know. It's insane.
Speaker 1:So to be able to have a place for people to come up and stay, because a lot of these places don't stay open all that late into the fall, so be able to do that, and then you know, your waterfowl hunting, your deer hunting, like everything all associated with that. We're really looking forward to it. And you know, like I said earlier, I appreciate you guys getting me on here today and, uh, looking forward to the future and, like I said, either one, if you guys want to come out and hang out, we'll definitely get something together here for sure, but uh, yeah, me and krista will be out for dinner, for sure.
Speaker 1:We'll be supporting you on that, on that new patio you're building, for sure yeah, yeah, that's the project of the week, but yeah, no, it's going to be great and it's going to be really fun to see what we can do at this place. And yeah, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks again, shamagahi and Crow Rock Lodge Folks, we thank you guys for making it to this point. Our, our awesome family, um, you know, we also, we also and and this is something that I should be mindful of to do more often and, uh, it is to thank Andrew over at Lakeside. Marine, um're a great supporter of Diaries and for anybody else out there looking to partner up, give us a call. We've got a great deck and we always look to forge wonderful relationships with people. Don't hesitate to reach out. You can get willie at, uh, sunset limo. Is that the one we're going to use, willie, or?
Speaker 2:willie, that's my, that's my life now, baby info at sunset limo at uh, give that uh that one out info at sunset limo.
Speaker 2:Dot ca stevie oh, perfect, thanks, buddy. And and everybody knows that they can get me at steven at fishincanadacom. And, speaking of fishincanadacom, folks, head on over to the website and check out the latest episode of the fish in canada television show, which hit the airwaves on Saturday and that was Peter and I revisiting the Chaudière Lodge, which was the place that I used to own, and it was a bit of a surreal, awesome feeling and a great episode. We had a sheephead shit all over the boat and it actually made the show, because I didn't use the F word, it was just shit and we beeped it out and it was a wonderful little sequence.
Speaker 2:So check out the Fish and Canada television show this weekend and next, this upcoming weekend, I'll be fishing smallies at Lake Obabaca Lodge and that's not my first, but it is one of the rare hosted episodes where it was just me, me and the fish folks. So check that out and head on over and get your name in all those draws. You know we talk about them every week and every week people are winning. So folks, check that out and again, thank you. Without you guys, without the family, we would not be here. And again. Thus sadly brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North.
Speaker 3:I'm a good old boy, never meanin' no harm. I'll be all you ever saw, been railin' in the hog Since the day I was born, bendin' my rock, stretchin' my line. Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way the only way I know how, working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and live my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah.
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.
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Speaker 7: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 7: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.