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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 109: The Return of Willie?
The legend returns! After mysteriously disappearing, Willie "the Oil Man" has resurfaced at Two Rivers Lodge in northwestern Ontario. This episode reveals his ambitious journey of resurrection—transforming an abandoned fishing resort into a premium wilderness destination.
Willie walks us through the extraordinary challenges his team faced: a main lodge sinking into the water, wildlife reclaiming the buildings (including bears using the shuffleboard table as a toilet), and devastating forest fires that nearly derailed the entire project. Yet through ingenuity and determination, they've created something spectacular. The elite-level cabins have been restored to their former glory, while innovative techniques like using airbags to re-level a massive lakefront deck showcase their resourcefulness.
What makes Two Rivers truly special is its unique location at the convergence of four major Canadian watersheds—creating a fishery that produces trophy specimens across multiple species. Willie shares stories of incredible fishing success: 74 fish before 10:30am, northern pike exceeding 40 inches, and muskie adventures where first-time anglers are connecting with multiple trophy fish in a single day.
Perhaps most remarkable is the appearance of an extremely rare albino beaver on the property—considered by local indigenous communities to be a powerful spiritual sign of protection and good fortune. This extraordinary encounter happened just days after the team had disposed of a damaged taxidermy specimen of the same rare creature that had been in the lodge.
Rather than maximizing capacity, Willie is deliberately keeping Two Rivers intimate—focusing on exceptional experiences for a limited number of guests. It's a philosophy that prioritizes sustainability, conservation, and creating authentic connections to this special wilderness environment.
Ready for your own northern adventure? Experience the resurrection of Two Rivers Lodge firsthand—where wildlife, walleye, and Willie await to create memories that will last a lifetime.
I always watched this property. I never really understood how, when it closed, how it didn't get taken over, because it's, you're right, like these, my cabins are. They're elite. I mean elite, truly Elite, like a lot of people say, their cabins are good, and our cabins at Nordic were good. Our cabins everywhere are good, these ones. There's a step, and it's I think it relates to what you used to say Angelo would tell you right when he would come to your place. When you walk in a cabin, you want it to feel like it's brand new, and I really get that feeling here at Two Rivers Lodge when we do that.
Speaker 2:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast networks diaries of a lodge owner stories of the north. Well, folks, the question round here has been where in the world is we Willie the Oil man? Well, we've tracked him down at Two Rivers Lodge on T2 Lake in northwestern Ontario and have caught up with him to find out what he's been up to lately. On this show we talk about him jumping right back into the northern hospitality industry with Two Rivers Lodge, the challenges and triumphs his crew has faced so far and how close fire came to burning it all down. So, folks, hold on to your fire extinguishers. Willie may catch fire, telling stories like only Willie the Oil man can, and I may need a hand putting him out. Here's my conversation with Wee Willie the Oil man. Welcome folks to another very special episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North with our guest back from the unknown, willie the Oil.
Speaker 2:Man, how you doing, brother, hoo, hoo, hoo hoo.
Speaker 1:Good man. That was a fantastic intro. I'm good man. It's been a long time since I got to see your handsome face and chat with you and our amazing Diaries of a Lodge owner, stories of the North, friends and family. So, yeah, yeah, buddy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So listen, you had a bit of a life change that saw you and as all of the Diaries family probably has realized step back a little bit from the podcast. So why don't? And I haven't said a whole lot about it? Yeah, because I wanted to save that so everybody could hear it from the horse's mouth.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, I, yeah, you know I. First of all it was. Everyone knows, the last episode I was on here was with Krista and we and we kind of did a revelation into something that had fallen into our lap and and we've decided to take on in our lives again. Up at Two Rivers Lodge, north of Kenora, I'm actually sitting right now on the deck looking out over the water right now shooting this podcast and, uh, I've been out. We've been up here seven weeks straight now, just, uh, going as hard as we can. Um, and yes, and obviously I had to, uh, you got to make some choices in life and this was why I was really saddened to step away for a bit. But you know, hopefully in the future we can, we can hop back in or I'm always here for a, for a podcast with my brother, stevie.
Speaker 2:Anyway, oh yeah, 100, 100. So you're. You're now involved with um Two Rivers Lodge and I had the pleasure last year when I took Melissa and the kids up to your place for a holiday. Yeah, the Nordic visit, yeah yeah. I ended up having the opportunity to go and have a look at this place. It wasn't called Two Rivers at the time, but when I looked at it I couldn't believe that a place that hadn't been run for over five years, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, five and a half yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I couldn't believe how beautiful the insides of the cottages were. Now you can imagine well. You know very well now that the ground had been overgrown, as you can imagine, being left for five years to nature. But the potential in that moment that I saw got an opportunity to work with this property. So tell us a little bit about what it is now.
Speaker 1:So, as everyone knows, the place used to be called Titu Island Lodge. You know, steve, what you just kind of led into there was. You know what you saw here, for the bones was something that I've seen for years. This was the first spot when I stopped tournament fishing and this is where I went guiding. This is where I cut my teeth. You know all those stories that I've told on here over time right of me and Dave's growth into Nordic and the special people that I've met and the things that I've grown into do especially, you know you'd be working with yourselves now at the, at the channel, here a little bit.
Speaker 1:And when all these amazing adventures I've had all started here and I I always watched this property. I never really understood how, how it, when it closed, how it didn't get taken over, because it's, you're right, like these, my cabins are. They're elite. I mean elite elite, like a lot of people say. Their cabins are good and our cabins at Nordic were good. Our cabins everywhere are good, these ones. There's a step and it's I think it's. It relates to what you used to say Angelo would tell you right when he would come to your place. When you walk in a cabin you want it to feel like it's brand new, and I really get that feeling here at Two Rivers Lodge when we do that.
Speaker 2:Listen, those, those cottages. To be honest with you, I kind of got that feeling after they had sat for five years.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, they're very, very well appointed. They've got a bathroom for every bedroom, air conditioning. They're really truly some of the nicest cottages that I've ever seen. Yes, you know, and I haven't had the pleasure of going to Lodge 88. And I know they've got beautiful cottages At Obabaca Lake Lodge or Lake Obabaca Lodge. They have extremely beautiful cottages, but the cottages at your place at Two Rivers are just as nice as any place anywhere. Yep, they really are, oh for sure, and and that's that's something that, um, that Nordic didn't have Yep.
Speaker 1:And and Nordic had, we had to build it in that big cabin right.
Speaker 2:In that big cabin.
Speaker 1:You're right, but that's it right, like it wasn't, they were good. But you're right, steve, they weren't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they weren't elite.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:Now, now Two Rivers, those, those cottages, they're elite, they really, they really are.
Speaker 1:You know, this property is so like as I sit here and look around. You know this property is so like as I sit here and look around. You know, like we, like steve was saying, um, you know, when we came here, it was wheat fields. You know it was, yeah, you know, four foot high straw grass and there was actually bogs, um, reed bogs. That because all the water under the buildings and all across the property that have been laying stagnant for so long started. It started to change, like mother nature would take it over, right, and and it's amazing to sit here and now see the beauty that that was always here. You know it's, uh, we've done a lot of all the wood. We know there was a lot of wood rotten that we replaced the spongy, but there's a lot of things that we were able to salvage, like, like, we brought a 4,000 PSI pressure washer in here with the proper tip and we were able to save all of the decking, all of the railing, all, and bring it back to pressure treated color.
Speaker 2:It looks new. I thought, oh my God, where did you get the money to buy all that new lumber?
Speaker 1:Right, cause it would have been, it would have been a hundred grand to do all that wood. Like it's insane the amount of wood that's around the property. Like every cabin has their own walkways, special walkways and railings, and for safety, yeah no. So we just pressure washed it. And then Chris took this stuff and it was like a it's a, a, just a natural um inhibitor for for wood. So it just brings out the essence in the wood and then we're gonna, we're gonna leave that for the year and then in the springtime the guy told us then to shellac it, give her another pressure wash and then give it a shellac and then it'll be sealed and we'll be good for a decade, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, perfect, that's perfect. So what are some of the challenges to what you've done so far?
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't even know where to start.
Speaker 2:Opening up the can of worms. I'll start. I wasn't sure that you were going to be able to salvage the main lodge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the main lodge we did it was as you saw. It was, you know, falling over forward pretty much and to the side.
Speaker 2:Off the cribs. It had been built on cribs.
Speaker 1:Correct cribs and then cribs on the back and rock on the front. But what had happened was so now, over time, being here and seeing things, what had happened was the high water year that we had back in 2020, 2020, I believe, maybe 2021, the water up here in the northwestern Ontario was the record it's ever been. So, as I'm sitting here now looking at my deck, the water was halfway up the door of my bait house, like there's a watermark there prior, and we noticed it at the lodge on the rock piles. So what had happened was the water had actually lifted. It was. The water has enough force and it lifted the front of the lodge off of the pins, just like the dock and the deck. That's an insane amount of weight.
Speaker 2:Well, it's buoyant.
Speaker 1:No, you're right. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So that's what happened, so we were able to.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:We were able to repin the front half and then that was able good enough to stabilize the back half of the jacket yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you lifted the front, got it on the, on the pilings or on the sonotube or on whatever again, and then you were able to fix it from the back. That's great.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, that's awesome. That was the first part for safety. The back, that's great. Absolutely, yeah, that's awesome. That was the first part for safety. Um, there was some roofing issues right over time that a lot of uh, you know some. Actually this is a good one for for for the listeners here. So and something we've never talked about is steel roofs, and it's something I just really I never had had an issue with it, but I had here. So over time, now time now, the steel roof, you know you get a little bit of, let's say, you get some water that freezes beside one of those quarter inch head bolts that you drive in and then it freezes and then the next year it gets trapped again and it freezes it more and presses it and over time they actually will press out of the truss for where it's screwed into on the roof.
Speaker 2:So the screws pull out.
Speaker 1:Correct and so we had several. I bet you we did 2,000 roof screws that we replaced and caulked all over the camp. But the main lodge was the worst because when it sank it obviously also pulled tin off of the structure, pulled it loose, incorrect. So yeah, that was a lot of work. We got that done. And then the inside of the lodge, like the inside of the lodge looked like the cabins were elite. I couldn't believe it. But the lodge had animals living everywhere, like there was, like there was bears, martins, squirrels.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, there was bear shit all over the all over the shuffleboard.
Speaker 1:We found right. Oh yeah, we found six dead cormorants in the chimney. So they go. This isn't, and I didn't know this was a thing right, I had to talk to the m&r and find out what the heck are. These birds dive bombing our chimney. So like it's a beautiful stone folks, it's a beautiful stone chimney or a fireplace in the main lodge, right by the kitchen, just like steve used to have and he would talk about chaudiere. Um built very, very similar. So what had happened was is they they will actually try and find a cave or a crevice or whatever to nest.
Speaker 1:Well, it's like a minnow going in a trap once they go in, they can't turn, they can't get out so then one goes in, and then two goes in and three, so the whole bloody flock flew in my chimney, no, yes, and decided to die. So we had to pull them all out, all these dead bird carcasses. And then we completely, uh, we like, obviously, we bleached every part of the lodge. We had to steam, clean everything, new carpet, um, you know. And then, and then, from there it was, then it was just cosmetics, right, like, uh, you know, putting up a new TVs and getting the bar, the bar top we've actually left. So the bar top was so beautiful. I remember I was guiding, so I would back in the day, I would guide during the day and I would bartend at night. Um, being a social butterfly, I, I and I didn't want to go to bed, I didn't want to sit in my cabin, not you, willie.
Speaker 1:No, no. So I, I decided, you know I would always bartend at night and get to know the crews and a little more and who I wasn't guiding, um, and it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Looking at my future now, um, but yeah, so I would put that time in. And um, so this, this beautiful bar top, showed up the last year that I was ever guiding here. No-transcript, um, so we've decided to leave. So it actually says T2 Island Lodge in it, but it's so beautiful, steve. Um, we've decided to leave that as the lodge because, you know, there was a lot of memories here of that place. Yeah, the clients are going to come back here because of the family occasions and events they've had here, uh, in the amazing times. So we wanted to leave something and I think that's important to recognize the old place like that. The history, yeah, yeah, we got a new pool table in there, the shuffleboard. We rebuilt the shuffleboard table that the bear was using as a toilet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no shit eh. Lots of shit.
Speaker 1:Lots of shit, yeah, lots of shit, oh man, yeah, lots of shit, lots of shit, oh man, yeah. No, there was, the main lodge was a big one. So there's, that was a huge project. Another one well, there's two actually. The one would have been the barge. I spoke about that last in that episode with Krista the barge, so after the fire locked us out, I don't know if we ever talked about that I'm not sure you did okay.
Speaker 1:So so folks remember, I, I, we, we floated the barge and and, uh, we got it up, um, salvageable. Well, what had happened was is a fire had ripped through northwestern ontario. As everyone knows, this fire season's been devastating all over canada. Um, horrible, um. But so we, yeah, when this happened, the um, the water, we couldn't get into camp. We were locked out of camp. So we, we signed the deal on this camp. We get locked out of camp because of the fire, um, and what had happened was they couldn't operate the dam, steve, so the water levels had dropped. So the barge now is sitting on sand because now the water level is so low from no rain this summer, we have to wait for it to come back up. Yeah, so that's one that we got to deal with.
Speaker 2:I wondered why the water levels were so low.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty much how it. If it would have started out the season, we also had a really really light winter, right. So, yeah, all of it combined has just made it to the point where it's. You know, I think we're just dealing with it. For now we've been, we've been hauling fuel back and forth with a crestliner boat that we got going here, that that was just sitting here, so we have a fuel boat now instead of the barge temporarily, but it seems to work, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I guess the next biggest one job we've had in an obstacle was the deck. Like the dock, so there was no dock system. It was torn out, obviously from the high water and the ice and the neglect, so there was that portion of it. We actually went and bought a brand new set of docks from a place called Docks and Lifts in Kenora here Fantastic to deal with and they were like. It was reasonably cheap, it was a good deal. So we installed and built our own cribs, obviously, which helped, and we could do all the maintenance and installation and the low water made it easy enough.
Speaker 1:Correct, absolutely, yeah, that's actually been awesome because we can set it easy enough.
Speaker 2:Correct, absolutely, because, yeah, that's actually been a been awesome because we can set Blessing in disguise.
Speaker 1:Well, we got. I have a thousand pounds of weights on each dock set because I can lock down to rock and I can lock. We actually bought cement sauna tubes and poured them with with arms handles, right? So yeah, chains crossed on the the end. These docks aren't going anywhere, right so, um, but, but that was one portion we got in. Um, but the deck. So there's a folks as I'm looking, there's a, a deck that's 70 feet by 50 feet. You know it's a dance floor. Um, when you come up off my dock, it's like our beautiful sign is there and then you, you know they have this big, beautiful landing so people can sit out there on the chairs and lawn chairs. We do a bunch of shore lunches out there. We have a little bar set up there now like a picnic table with a top on it, so then you can sit down there in the evenings and have a cocktail with your wife or your son. So, but that when we showed up, it was like a spaghetti string. You remember seeing it, steve?
Speaker 2:It was it was.
Speaker 1:It was 20 feet in the air, broken in half. None of the piles were there. The cribs were all ripped out and it was the same thing. It actually lifted the water weight, lifted the wood and the deck, the boathouse and all of the cribbing. All the rocks fell out, right. So think about it you lift the top and all the cribbing rocks fall out of the bottom and then it sets back down and it just goes like it goes wherever?
Speaker 1:yeah so that was a bit so what we did there. We did a unique thing there. So we um, you got to be really careful. It's not something I recommend, uh, to just anybody, but we used airbags. So I, a friend of mine, cody Charlebois uh, he is a bait outfitter, he's like a Wayne, he's like the Wayne Clark of the Kenora area. Wayne, you know, wayne is the Dryden Red Lake area, over where Nordic is. This guy is the. He is the man when it comes to bait and flying, one of the best pilots you'll ever meet. But he had a set of airbags. He had two of them.
Speaker 1:So what it was was an airbag from a transport truck with welded plates on the bottom and the top. So what we decided to do is we picked each corner and we slowly jacked it up with the air, okay, and started pulling out rock. So the the danger is, when you're pulling out these rocks, you're only supporting a certain section, right. So, like the weight is so much, you got to be careful. So as we were lifting, we were pulling out rocks and then so we would pull a couple rocks and now we can get now we can get a small crib built under there to support and then another small crib to support and then, once we had enough small cribs to support, then we built small cribbing to jack off of, because then you had to have to jack up because it's 10 feet in the air. Right, you got to jack off something, yeah. So we were able to then jack off these mini cribs, take the weight off of the airbags and re-level it.
Speaker 1:We had to make all new wood, like we have. You know that people have the spindles, the log spindles four inches down wide. We had to rebuild all that and then, like you said, we pressure washed that decking and it looks brand new. But that was a lot of work. That was a week-long project. That. And then, like you said, we pressure washed that decking and it looks brand new. Um, but that was a lot of work.
Speaker 2:That was, that was a week-long project yeah, I don't doubt it, I couldn't believe what you did with it. It looked like it was new. Yeah, you sent me pictures when you guys were doing that and I thought, oh my god, that that and and the final product was amazing, thank you. Like, honestly, what you did with that deck from what I saw to what is there now for relatively not a lot of investment is amazing. Like it really, truly, you've done a wonderful job with that.
Speaker 2:Well thank you, buddy, because it looks awesome, thank you, and like I mean it looks awesome, thank you, and like I mean it is massive, it is a huge deck.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's gorgeous, it's. We've actually done so, something we've. So here we used to do our short lunches on the lake all the time and and that's lovely, it's great. You know, the guides hate it always, right, cause they got to take all the gear. But we we have such a dance floor down there and the way you look out on like there's no one here, like this isn't like um, like Nordic, where I was off the highway and you still it was secluded, but not like this, like here we're a boat into a fly-in, so I'm 30 miles from anybody, um, so we can sit here in tranquility and have shore lunch on our deck and what we've been trying to push that more. For one, because of the forest fire severity right now. For two, because I've noticed over time the clientele that I have.
Speaker 1:A lot of them like to go back or they use the washroom after, or they want a fresh drink and they're old. So it's nice. A lot of times we come back here. We do our shore lunch on the deck. We got a little shore lunch area built off the back now with a lean-to steel roof, so if it's raining even we can cook there. The guests can sit out even if it's raining. They can sit out under the pavilion out there we built on the deck and enjoy it, and then if they request a short lunch on the rocks, you know we'll go do that, but it's been really handy to have that for that purpose as well.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah, like I mean. And you speak of the forest fires like they have been pretty devastating up there this year, right?
Speaker 1:It's crazy, man. It's like you know. God bless guys like Rick Payne, you know that are out there doing that job. It's a forgetteless job. You know that are out there doing that job. It's a forgetteless job, you know, because everyone thinks you can just put out a fire like just drop water on it. Yeah, yeah, just like that.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know it's such a freaking nightmare. And listen, mr Carney, if you're listening out here, let's not talk about carbon neutral bullshit. Okay, let's get serious about putting some money into the M&R and really look after our forests out there, like I mean, they need cleaned up. You talk about our world burning and carbon. Well, listen, let me get on my soapbox this time, and what you need is you need to pay guys like you just mentioned. You know you need to pay all of these forestry workers to get out and clean up all of the dead. Bush Do prescribed burns. We have left so much fuel in our bush for years. And I know, you know guys like Rick can't say nothing because their job is on the line, and I totally understand that.
Speaker 2:But guys like me who have been up in planes and have seen all of the shit that is left out in the bush to burn Like come on, come on, prime Minister, give your head a goddamn shake and do something with our money. Create some jobs, get out there and clean up our bush and stop telling these goddamn lies.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, the climate's changing, yes, there are wildfires that no doubt are worse than they have been in years. The legislation and they've cut so much job, so many jobs, out of our, our, our Bush and our, our natural resources, that this is the biggest issue.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I agree a hundred percent. I mean, like, if you think about this and it's something I think about now all the time since I've seen this, you know, I've fires have always been around up here and I've always been the Bush guy and and. But Fires have always been around up here and I've always been the bush guy, but to the point where it was two miles from my camp. And when I sit here right now and you see the devastation, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:And here's how I look at it now is, everywhere has a natural disaster of some kind that could take form. You know, the southern United States has hurricanes, california and the coast has earthquakes. Right, there's volcanoes in certain areas. Our natural disaster issue is fire. Yes, if we're not careful, it's like that fire that burnt here was 65,000 hectares. That's insane, that's huge. Like I think the one right now in Newfoundland is like 110,000 hectares. It's something like that. Like, yeah, we shouldn't be having those and and all of that, mr Carney, when that fucking shit burns and it goes up, that ain't good for our environment either. So I agree a hundred percent, brother. I think we there's a lot of problems that could be solved by just just spending our money right people to work putting people to work in the bush.
Speaker 2:Yes, never mind this bullshit out in nova scotia, where they're outlawing people from walking in the bush and charging you twenty five thousand dollars this is a free country.
Speaker 1:Did you hear about that? Yes, this, that's what you should be able to do. That's how. That's how people made their way around the country for the last freaking 150 years, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yes 100%.
Speaker 2:Like I don't know, maybe I'm really good, maybe I walk so goddamn fast. The friction off my boots are going to cause a fire, I don't know. You know what I mean. Yeah, this is, it's insane. Please, let's stop the insanity here. Yeah, like honestly. Yeah, I agree that whole Nova Scotia thing. Now I'm really worked up.
Speaker 1:Oh folks, hold on the gangster's back baby.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the policies and the sheer stupidity that's going on around this country is so upsetting and I understand that forest fires are a problem, but the solution is not painting a blanket of people, everybody in the whole province and saying you can't walk in the bush, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly the bush.
Speaker 2:Yep, okay, yep, exactly, come on.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:I don't care. If you want to charge people $25,000, $50,000 for having an open fire or smoking in the bush, yeah, absolutely. Take some of our taxpaying dollars and hire some people to police the area, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Create some jobs here, maybe, but don't take your freaking free rights away to go to police. The area, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Create some jobs here maybe.
Speaker 1:But don't take your freaking free rights away to go walk in the woods. No, that we pay taxes for every day.
Speaker 2:Don't tell me I can't walk in the bush on Crownland when you're charging me more tax than most countries in the world. Right, like, come on yeah.
Speaker 3:And you're wasting money on bullshit.
Speaker 2:Anyway, folks, I think we beat the hell out of that one.
Speaker 1:We covered that topic very well oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh it's good to be back, buddy.
Speaker 1:It's good to be back with you.
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Speaker 2:Okay, so listen, yeah, we've talked about your journey a little bit so far. Yeah, why don't we talk about your fishery? I've seen on Facebook and your Facebook presence is freaking great Good, like you work that Facebook well Good, but I've seen some freaking hogs.
Speaker 1:Oh buddy.
Speaker 2:Like and and and every aspect. So let's talk about the species and the average size and what you're getting them on and just tell us, tell us, what's going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, for sure. So. So I'll start with the uniqueness of the body of water. So there is, if you look at a map of Canada, you know, and especially the central part of Canada where I am now, there's three, four main bodies of water. Okay, one's half in the US, but so Rainy Lake, which is half in the US, lake of the Woods, which is majority a Canadian lake, lake Winnipeg, which is a massive body of water, and Lac Seul, which is three quarters the size of Lake of the Woods. Those four bodies of water are absolute fish factories, you know like, and everyone knows that there's some of the. You know most of the TV shows shot now are in Northwestern Ontario or out here. You know there's a lot of presence on those lakes. Most of the TV shows shot now are in northwestern Ontario or out here. You know there's a lot of presence on those lakes. Well, the reason for that is the fisheries are good. The fisheries are really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, this body of water I sit on, so I sit on T2 Lake, and T2 Lake is fed. It's the dump-in portion for the English River. So the English River starts at Lack Sewell, past Nordic, where I was, you actually drove over, we went up to Bowling there and Red Lake there and we drove over that bridge near Falls. That's the starting of the English River. So that river comes down through Maynard Lake and Oak Lake and makes its way down here and it dumps in on the east side of my island. The west side of my island is where the Winnipeg River exits and goes up to Lake Winnipeg and dumps into there. The south end of my lake is where Lake Winnipeg enters from Lake of the Woods, which is fed by Rainy Lake. So this is the only body of water in Canada anywhere that connects those four major fisheries and those four major watersheds, and they're all different One's sandy, one's clear water. They're all different, one sandy, one's clear water. You know one it's. They're all different and here they converge and I think that's what makes this such a crazy fishery. So we'll start there.
Speaker 1:The second thing is no one's been here for five and a half years. Right, like you get locals, you get locals. There's a little tiny guy up here. He does a little. He's a great guy, ed priest is his name. He does a little bit of blue collar stuff, kind of like the, the housekeeping stuff at nordic there. Um, yeah, you know he does that kind of thing. He has the odd meals, great guy, but he's a smaller outfit, um, he, so they're not going to fish it out, you know. And then I'm pretty far north, that you know you don't get a lot of locals. You get get the odd one, but that's it.
Speaker 1:So the fishery has been left alone. On top of that, everybody here practices safe conservation, so as in a conservation license, and you're only allowed one walleye a day. That's it, that's what you eat for your shoreline trade. It's, it's, it's, it's protected, is what I'm saying? You know, kind of similar again to what we did did over there at Nordic. Um, but yeah, that's what I think makes it a great fishery, those things combined. So what's been going on in the fishery? So I'll just give you a few little stories here to to make it relevant. Just give you a few little stories here to make it relevant.
Speaker 1:I had a 88 year old grandfather. He, um, he brought his son, who was about 60, and his grandson, who was 11, and the grandson was one of these kids if he wasn't catching fish, you're gonna know about it as a guy like right meow, oh yeah, it was coming right. So and I know because I've had this gentleman on my boat a few times and uh, they're, they're long-term guests of mine. I do all my, I do a lot of work with them at sunset great family, they're actually. They're actually canadian, they're from ottawa and toronto, this family nice, um, so they did. They came out for a trip, like they do every year with me, and decided to check out the new place and the first morning they went out. Adam called me adam, who was my partner, adam brow, who is probably the best guide I've ever met. I, I, you know, I I was a good guide, but I wasn't his kind of good, you know.
Speaker 1:Um yeah he's next level, like um, but he goes out with adam and he calls me. He says you wouldn't guess right now what we're at for numbers. And I threw a guess at 50 and I wasn't close. I threw a guess at 60, I wasn't close and this is for half a day 74 fish in the boat by 10 33 in the am when he called me.
Speaker 1:And he had this little young man counting every one, trust me, every one. So a numbers game has been so that's been a staple. We haven't I haven't fished with a live minnow here Like we can fish with live minnows. We use salted shiners, plastics. You know, we haven't really crawlers, we don't really have an essence or a need to.
Speaker 2:Yet yeah, which is super fast and they're hard to keep alive, so why?
Speaker 1:right, like I'm not gonna lose 10 dozen a day if I don't have, or five dozen day if I don't have to. So, um, to me, though, that's an standalone thing. You know, if you can go out and you could fish, for I've went out with my children specifically, and I've caught 20 walleyes on plastics in 40 minutes Now, and I mean, like, these are quality fish. I'm talking, I'm not. You know it's hard. You get your 14s to 16s they're all over the place, but, like I'm talking, quality, solid, 18 to 25 inches, consistently, and then every, you know, once in a while, you throw in the 27 to 32 class. You know that's our biggest this year already is a 32. Yeah, it's just insane. And then, so that's our walleye.
Speaker 1:Fishing has always been known for that. I believe that's the reason it's like this. It's a standalone when it comes to walleye in this general area. There's a few other places around here that would compare. You know your Maynard Lakes, and there's a couple that are high quality, like this. When it comes to that, I would say, though, that our fish are river fish. River fish fight, different than lake fish. These fish are solid, they're stocky, you know, they're that beautiful gold that everyone loves to see, but so that's a portion. We have an obscene amount of smallmouth bass. Obviously, being in this area, smallmouth bass isn't targeted as heavy. You know, you get them up to 21, 22 inches here, right, nice, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's cool. The uh, so it's bass fishery. The pike fishery is outstanding. The pike we just put a 42 incher in the boat yesterday um 42 inches and it was pushing. It was pushing 20 plus. It was pushing 20 plus. It was fat. It was fat, I would say an average northern here would be 33 to 34 inches.
Speaker 2:That's an amazing average, which is pretty good.
Speaker 1:When you're talking hammer, handles and all that stuff, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. What's your biggest northern so far this year?
Speaker 1:42. That's the biggest one so far 42.
Speaker 1:We've had them 40. We personally caught them up to 47. Yeah, but that's personally. That's without a guest. Yeah, it's wild and now. So here's the kicker. We get crappies in here, you know. You get perch for all that kind of jazz too. Sturgeon fishing here is you can't fish sturgeon, but there is an obscene amount. They actually the Emanarta studies all over this portion of the rivers and it's pretty awesome because you do hick into them and get the odd one. And it's pretty awesome when you see a six, seven foot sturgeon come up after an hour fight. And this gentleman or this lady has just conquered a dream they've had Right.
Speaker 2:So no doubt.
Speaker 1:But on top of that, the king again are muskies, and so when I, when I guided here Steve, it was it was a 20 minute run, 25 minute run, to the area of the tributary where you could actually fish muskies and and be consistent in seeing fish and putting fish in the boat. Yeah, it was down south by the white dog dam, we call it, uh, and that's kind of where my landing is. When you, when you come in there, you park there and then we boat you in or you fly in. So that's where that is. We have been catching muskies everywhere Out in front of our lodge on shores that we've never seen them up in the northern parts of the dam in abundance. You know, adam went out one day.
Speaker 1:Adam went out with a lady. Her name is Beth Workin. She's been a guest of mine for years too. Super fun lady. She's one of the most intelligent people you'll ever meet. She's a scientist down in Minnesota, and her son his name is Aaron Super nice man as well, great fisherman Never caught a muskie. Neither one of them Never threw. They throw for pike all the time, you know. So they can throw a baitcaster but never thrown muskie baits, and you know there is a difference, right? And your tactic of your eight and your inlines and all that stuff. Well, these folks went out for their first time muskie fishing with Adam.
Speaker 1:They saw 15 muskies and they boated four. Wow, biggest, yeah, right, biggest was 46. I mean, oh, that's great, that's an insane day Like that's. If you tell a muskie fisherman that they're like man, that's a gold mine. Besides putting a 50 plus in the boat, that's a gold mine, right, yeah. So so for us, now that me and Adam are back here, we're looking at this, going like this is amazing, because the fishery is now in all aspects, Better than it ever was.
Speaker 1:And in every I can truly say in every species. You know we could compete with the best of the best of the best in every species. 100%, that's awesome, yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:If not be the ones that are being chased. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's great, and right now you're only doing you've limited yourself to one group a week.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, so obviously, when we took this over being, you know, it was like Mother's Day, and then we got in here in late June or mid June I guess it was we and we're, you know we're a couple of young families. You know I'm, you know I'm only 45, right, and and you know I I, because I've been, I've done these lodge builds over the last few years and and made some money. I was not, I'm not a rich man by any means. So we some money, I was not, I'm not a rich man by any means. So, yeah, we had this. We had to kind of piece together what we had and put what we had and could invest.
Speaker 1:Um, but, yeah, like the, the, uh, the, where were you going with that stevie? Get back to me, get back to me. I was thinking about something else there. Get back to me. Yeah, I just looked at, I know an eagle just flew. An eagle just flew in front of me and I was looking at atlantis. It's like taking out a squirrel here. So, and it's nice into my head where were we going?
Speaker 2:no, no, no, I was just saying so. You're, you're, you're only taking one group a week. Sorry, right now yeah.
Speaker 1:So we, the reason, we, we sorry, so, yeah. So when we had to start out like that, we wanted to generate a little bit of revenue. You know, yeah, to help build Correct, because we had to keep climbing that mountain to get through. So we rented out two cabins, so cabin one and cabin two are all our cabins are elite, but there are two most prominent ones on the point. All our cabins are elite, but there are two most prominent ones on the point. They. They have been, they were the easiest to get ready to as well.
Speaker 1:So so what we do now is you know, adam does all the guiding. You know I've been doing the cooking and the chef and I got a little bit of, you know, a food, a food finger. So I, I, I've been doing that until we can get up. You know a Jarrett Machete in here, a professional guy next year, uh, but uh, yeah. So we've been, we've been taking these little groups, we've been full, full, except for this 10 day period here which we've we've um left the gap to continue getting some things done around camp. We're going to do some filming next week for a promotional video. So we took that period to do that. But on top of all that we're actually going to. I know this sounds crazy because everyone's you want to make money here, but we're not going to do what was here before and we're not going to do what I had done at my other places and try and max everything out, because the more overhead I we got to find a fine line between get putting too much out in my in costs, being where I am logistically, and, and and and not having enough, right.
Speaker 1:So we've decided to keep camp at 25 people. We might push 30 for now, for the first couple of years. We don't want to get too big and have, you know, not be able to handle it and those things. So we're going to run five cabins for the first year or two. We have a giant cabin, it's called the Fort. It has eight bedrooms. It sleeps 16 people. Now that one isn't going to be open. We're going to work on it next year because it's such a project.
Speaker 1:But that'll be our next upbringing, right, if we can handle what we've got, the fishery we don't want to burn a fishery out, you know we don't want to. Yeah, and and I don't, to be honest, I don't want to have 25 30 staff here, you know, just to get by. I want to try, and you know we want to run with the, with the family model, like we've always had, um, and have the right pieces in the right place. So, yeah, that's how we've been doing it and that's our future, right? We want to, we'd like to stay in that class and and put the focus on the clients, put the focus on the resource and and actual lodge and and just make it about the next 20 years being our family here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'll tell you, 25 to 30 people is a lot of people.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:That's a, that's a. That's a handful.
Speaker 1:Brother, as long as I'm not, as long as I'm not, corporate America in the end, that's all I care about. I want to make sure that this was just like you had. It was love and passion, and you hang it when you hang it up.
Speaker 2:That's what it was, you know, and that's yeah. My other experience did didn't turn out that way, but this one's going to. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's great, that's great, and um, it's, um, it's, it's great to hear your voice. So what else is new going on up there?
Speaker 1:oh, oh. What else is new up here there?
Speaker 2:was something going on there. You were looking out to the side there looking at something with that eagle Something was going on.
Speaker 1:It took out a squirrel, so there's eagles everywhere here and I'm overpopulating the squirrels. I've been trying to take them out with the 22 like crazy, but they reproduce like wild boars and rabbits. You know what I mean. So yeah. So an eagle come off this tree out here and tackled one at this rock on the other side. So that's why I was like oh shit, and I was honestly, I just like slipped my mind there. So that was like, wow, you know, there's been, oh, wildlife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what cool this and this you sent me that really cool picture video.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, okay. So we have lots of big bears up here. You know wolves Actually wolves have been really cool. We saw a seven pack of wolf with two little baby pups and they were all walking a line going down the trail to the beach bud and it was one of the coolest things you'll ever see. You never see pups with the pack and they were getting. You could tell they were getting taught right. Yeah, it was cool.
Speaker 1:You know, there's moose up here. We've seen a couple moose already, some deer, but what Steve's talking about is it was something really special and it is so back when the lodge was a freaking mess, you might not have seen it in there Maybe you did, but there was a stuffed beaver and that beaver was albino, okay, so a white beaver with red eyes. Yeah, dna pigmentation kind of deal, um, pigmentation deal, and it had. I don't know the story behind it, how it ended up there, but it was stuffed and it was in there, so it was destroyed because whatever was living in there thought it was a real beaver and decided to tackle the shit out of the stuffing Right. Whoever ate it would have been bunged up for a week.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Full of cotton batten.
Speaker 1:Right, right. So we've had three or four big fires down by the beach to get rid of all the dry shit that was here over the years, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just burn and burn to get rid of things that you can burn. So that was one of them. We had to get rid of it because it was destroyed, so we threw it out. Two days later and this is I still can't even believe it Two days later, we're down on the dock and we actually just put the weights in the water. So that's what we were just checking to see the stability, and, sure enough, this brown beaver comes, walking out of the woods, down its path and into the water. Yeah, and right behind it comes another albino beaver, Two days after we burned it.
Speaker 1:No bullshit, man, I can't even believe it. Like it's such a rare thing in the world and we have one here, Not alone do we have one. We just got rid of one that was stuffed in the lodge and now I have a real one. So he actually sat out here for like a week straight and he was playing like an otter on his back, playing with with um birch twigs. I have videos of it. Really cool, One of the coolest things ever, man. I wish, I wish we had a way to post it for for the people here to see. It would be super cool, because maybe on the Instagram or something. I can send it to you and you can post it. It would be cool for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it would be cool for them to see, because, folks, it's something that you may never see again in your life. It's that rare.
Speaker 2:Oh for sure, Like I mean, you sent me a short clip of this thing via text and I couldn't believe it. I was on a shoot with Peter, because he sent it to Pete the same day.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were up in Tumiskaming. Yeah, and we get this video from Will showing an albino beaver, which is very mind-blowing.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the other significance to us. So there's all of these amazing things, but so we live, or we live. That's how much this place is home. Now we live. So we live here at the lodge and it's just north of some Aboriginal lands and a reserve called Wababasong, and Wababasong means white dog. Okay. So these folks are, they're in this area pretty heavily. We actually have them coming up here on the 28th of August when we're doing our filming, and they're going to bless our property, they're going to smudge our property. They're going to come and do a dance. We're going to have a beautiful spread dinner outside and and welcome the property to their area and or back to it, and and we're very happy to do that.
Speaker 1:And and inside of this, I reached out to the local reserve to find out what the significance was of this beaver, cause there had to be yeah and they wanted videos. They were like, please send. The significance was of this beaver because there had to be yeah and they wanted videos. They were like, please send them to us, please. Like it would say. It was a really rewarding feeling for them to see that, to get them excited over.
Speaker 1:So the meaning of a white beaver is is it's, it's like a, it's a good presence. It's a. It's a. It's a clear path forward in in in your future, and it's a. It's a. It's a. It's a clear path forward in in in your future and it's a. It's a. It's a very positive, karmatic. Um, I don't know how you would say that. You know what I mean. It's a positive enforcement for our property is what the belief is, yeah, and it will protect us. It'll protect our area and our people and our lodge from negative vibes out there, and that's what the beliefs are to the Aboriginals. Right, and what a strong feeling to hear it from those, those folks I have. No, uh, unfortunately I'm not. I'm just a silly ukrainian guy, right, I don't have the education and the know how. I wish I did know more about it and I intend to learn more as I'm up here. But, uh, yeah, what a beautiful thing, it's awesome oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's great you shot it with your camera and not the 22 to stop it and put it back on the wall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they came here and shot me.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt. But yeah, something like that is so cool. It's money. It's money Anytime I had wildlife interacting with guests in a positive way. It's money, right, yeah, that's freaking cool. That's freaking cool.
Speaker 1:So now, what's been going on with you? What have you been up to? What's on your plate?
Speaker 2:You know I'm well into season 2026 of shooting for the Fish and Canada television show. We've got a shoot coming up here on, not this week that we're in, but next week. So we leave Sunday for Nova Scotia.
Speaker 1:I was going to say you're back just again, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, this one we're not even fishing. We're actually shooting a festival in Wedgeport, nova Scotia, where they are hosting the oldest fishing tournament in Canadian history and it's a tuna tournament, really. Yeah, there's this big festival that we're shooting and I'm pretty sure that somebody is going to be nominated to get on one of the tuna boats and steam like 18 hours into the North Atlantic and shoot on that boat for a couple of days and come back and it's looking more. It's in some of the roughest water on the planet and it's looking more and more like that guy could be me. Oh, that's awesome. I know that's awesome. I volunteered, like. I mean, the question is, does anybody get seasick? I said no, they said perfect.
Speaker 1:You're in.
Speaker 2:You're in. So we'll see. We'll see. And then, tragically, as a lot of you have heard and maybe some haven't, ange's youngest daughter, abby Viola God rest her soul passed last Sunday and that has been a very difficult time for everybody, as we can all imagine, and you know we've been working through that, being there for Ange and Nick.
Speaker 1:The whole Viola family. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:The whole Viola family.
Speaker 1:God bless you guys for being there for your support. That's such a tragic thing.
Speaker 2:Abby was such a sweetheart. She was unbelievable and I loved her. We would go over to Ange's place and pull out the guitars and I mean, abby was a fiend. All she wanted to do was party and sing, and it didn't matter whether it was country or old rock and roll or you name it. She was, she was, uh, she was right there partying and, yeah, she loved her mom and dad so much and and uh, nick, um, so you know it's, it's uh, that's been, uh, that's been weighing heavy on everybody obviously.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'll give everybody my regards down there, please, and you know, wish Nick and the Viola family God bless them. And keep your chins up here and forward boys. And she was going to be looking above wishing you the best. You know that always.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, for sure, and you know I've been busy at the cottage. We did our annual family trip up there for the beginning of August. We do a beginning of July family trip, a beginning of August family trip, and that's been. That just come to an end. And uh, you know I've been working on getting this bunkie uh finished up and and, uh, I actually guided for a couple of days and uh, you know it, uh, yeah, it, it worked out real well. Um, I, uh, I, oh yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. And um, I guided out of their boat because my oldest son, rayburn, was up there fishing for muskies and you know he had my boat and reserved it. Oh, yeah, he had it reserved, you see. So I guided out of Shortier's boat but I put LiveScope on the Alaskan. Oh yeah, what a game changer man Like I mean, it's a game changer when it comes to that. It's crazy. You know I'm going to have the island pretty much ready for operation here, coming into the fall and working on the old honeybees and keeping them working hard.
Speaker 1:You got the garden going, you got the garden going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the garden my tomatoes this year. For the first year in about three, I've actually got two ripe tomatoes that don't have blight and it looks like I'm going to get a decent tomato crop. But three weeks ago I left, you know, on that shoot in Tamiskaming and then went straight to the cottage and I haven't been back since. Well, actually, the first time I've been back home was two days ago and I didn't put my water on the timer. So the last three weeks have been very, very dry and hot and the cabbage it bolted. So there's some things that I think are going to do good, like my tomatoes and potatoes. I'm going to get lots of potatoes, but just about everything else is gone to shit. Well, you know what?
Speaker 1:You take the good with the bad brother and every year you just roll with it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's the facts of life, baby, you take the good you take the bad.
Speaker 1:So this bunkie here. I remember I missed out last year on a trip and I might have some time this fall, so I'd like to be a passenger in that bunkie house if you ever got an invite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 100%, Absolutely 100%. And then we may have to check out Two Rivers Island Lodge this fall. After you close up for a little bit of muskies too.
Speaker 1:Well, it sounds like we should get up here and do some tubing. For sure, that's what we should be doing.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, tubing eh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's the big thing up here right now is the big tubing no shit oh.
Speaker 2:What about bondies? Are they floating the tubes?
Speaker 1:No, they're dropping them, but we kind of finagle them our own right.
Speaker 1:Throw some blades on them, throw a little bit of dust a little razzle and dazzle, but actually so, adam, he'll have one. He'll have a tube in the boat ready to go all the time and it's sitting behind him. And when he's fishing like you're talking with the live scope, like he'll be fishing walleye, walleye, walleye, and all of a sudden, right, he'll see 30 feet out oh, there's a big northern or a big muskie creeping in, and he'll grab that rod, pitch that tube out, give it to a guest man and 90 of the time it's on oh, no shit oh yeah, man, it's like because they're coming in to hunt.
Speaker 1:Well, now they see this dead, this dead fish fluttering down. Man, it's game over, right? Yeah, Hook line and sinker when you see them on the live scope, right.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I got some baits for you. There's these. My buddy, paul Fisterio, is making these. They're like a bait. They're like they're a bait that it's almost like a bulldog, but it's a cross between a bulldog and a tube. Okay, yeah, and it's a combination bait and they're doing very good on them and I think that those would be awesome. It's kind of like a Medusa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to link me up with them and we'll bring them up here and try them and we'll put them in our store because we got same as Nordic. We got a little store up here and the tube bodies work really good in the Northwestern Ontario. I'll put it that way Nice, I can't wait to get you up here, buddy.
Speaker 2:Oh, me too, Me too, and on that note, my buddy is there. How can people best get a hold of you to get their spot booked at Two Rivers?
Speaker 1:Because you know things are limited right now they are, we're actually slamming for next year, Like I'm already pushing 25% occupancy already for next year.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really good. So wwwtworiverslodgenet, we decided to go with net. So com was taken years ago and the guy won't give it up. So Adam says to me Willie, net for fishing. I'm like that's such a great idea. So tworiverslodge, as in T-W-O, tworiverslodgenet, will at tworiverslodgenet, will at tworiverslodgenet. You know I really miss doing this every week. Folks, everybody, our fans that do email me and have emailed me still. You know, johnny and all those guys are there. Please say hi to everybody and hi everybody, and if anyone needs to reach out to me, please feel free. I got a couple of guys here Steve lined up for you for some shows here, so we'll talk soon.
Speaker 2:Perfect, yeah, 100%. Thanks, brother. And thank you to Lakeside Marine, a good buddy of yours up in Red Lake, for supporting the show. Really appreciate all of that support. And folks if you're in the area Appreciate all of that support. And folks if you're in the area, their customer service is second to none, as Will has said and I'm sure he'll confirm right now.
Speaker 1:I am still. I am an hour and a half from Red Lake and Kenora's 50 minutes and I'm still going up there. I just bought another boat, some motors, trolling motor we just Adam just bought a brand new 200 tiller off him. Yeah no, his service is elite. He's a fantastic human and they know what they're doing up there. So I will always continue to go back there until there's a change.
Speaker 2:Yes, thanks, Thanks to them so much. We really appreciate the support and we appreciate all of you out there listening. Thank you so much to getting to this point of the show. We really appreciate the support and we appreciate all of you out there listening. Thank you so much to getting to this point of the show. I really appreciate it. Willie appreciates it. Thank you Like. Subscribe. Thanks to producer Anthony Mancini and Dino back at the Fish and Canada headquarters. And hey, folks, there is some big stuff going down over at Fish and Canada right now. We've got some big ticket items. I don't know if they've hit the giveaways yet, but make sure you're going over to check. Get your name in the hat. There is some big stuff going on, so you're going to want to go over there. And again, thank you all. And night-night little Nixon. You remember Nixon? Eh, Willie, yes. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North.
Speaker 2: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.
Speaker 5:Bendin' my rock, stretchin' my line.
Speaker 1:Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way, the only way I know how.
Speaker 2:Working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy, I'll buy the lodge and live my dream with all of my pals. Boy, I'm a good old boy, I buy the lodge and live my dream. And now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems.
Speaker 5:Yeah, 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 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 5: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.
Speaker 2: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 3:But now we're hosting a podcast that's right Every Thursday, Angelo and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 2:Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 1:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 4:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 2: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 3:But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe.
Speaker 4:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 3:To chefs. If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it, and whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.