.png)
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 113: Following the Food - Predator Fish and Migration Patterns
Angelo Viola and Dean Taylor join us at Lodge 88 on Esnagi Lake for an exciting fishing adventure, sharing strategies and stories while filming for the 40th season of Fish'n Canada.
• Live bait versus hard baits debate for northern lake walleye fishing
• Understanding migration patterns of baitfish to locate predator fish
• Following food sources like herring, suckers, and ciscos that attract game fish
• East Coast tuna fishing experiences and the highly regulated nature of the fishery
• Traditional fishing techniques using anchors and marker buoys when electronics aren't available
• The physical and mental challenge of fighting large fish for extended periods
• Boat control strategies when fishing without spot-lock trolling motors
• The importance of hiring local guides to quickly learn productive fishing spots
Join us for our next adventure as we put these strategies to the test and see whether live bait or hard baits will prove more effective for Esnagi Lake walleye.
the excitement build-up is like intoxicating right getting out there and getting all set and steaming out to these places and and you're, you're, just, you're in a daze that whole time and then all of a sudden it hits right and you've got that instant adrenaline rush for sure. And then about an hour into it, you don't want to be anywhere near where you are.
Speaker 1:You want to go home. You're whimpering like a little child. You want to go home. The fight is extraordinary, just beyond words, because every muscle in your body is required for that next four hours, five hours that you're on the end of that ride.
Speaker 4:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network's Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. We are in the north and it is just like Christmas for me and hopefully for my guests, angelo Viola and Dean Taylor. Yay, yes, fellas, welcome to the show. I know I'm extremely excited about this one. We are as live as you can get in the moment on a snoggy lake at Lodge 88. Legendary Lodge 88. Legendary. Yes, and listen. Dean, thank you for running the equipment today. Oh, you're welcome. I'm happy to be here and, angelo, it is an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
Speaker 1:And it's a pleasure to be pleasured. Oh, how's that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I like that, I like that. And do you remember the last time we did a show together?
Speaker 1:Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy. This is like when I hunt for my Easter eggs. Now, I'm the one who plants them, but I forget where the hell I put them Wasn't? That was it a while ago.
Speaker 4:I don't recall it was episode number one. Oh, that's the last time it was on the show. Yes, Whoa what the hell's going on? Yes, I know We've turned 100 and we keep on rolling.
Speaker 1:Holy smokes. Yes, where have I been I?
Speaker 4:know I've been looking, and, looking and looking and finally I find you at Lodge 88.
Speaker 1:Angelo has come back to his snoggy lake.
Speaker 4:Yes, and you know what, buddy, back in the day at Chaudière, when you come up and we really began to build a wonderful relationship. For me, our relationship has spawned out of Chaudière and, more importantly, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh my God, but you always had told me that, listen, you have the bones here, you're doing a wonderful job and already I would suggest that you're on the top side of the lodges in the province. But Lodge 88 is one that you should look at. Yep, lodge 88 has got things figured out and I really took it to heart. And coming to Lodge 88 for the first time to do a Fish and Canada shoot is what we're doing. For those of you out there who I didn't explain the situation, why we're here yes, we're shooting an episode of the Fish and Canada television show 40th season coming up, baby 40th season and I was so excited and thankful that I was included in the shoot.
Speaker 1:How could we not include you?
Speaker 4:Because how could we not include you? Well, you never know, I never know. Hold on, nick. I'm pretty sure Uncle Ange is asking for.
Speaker 1:Uncle.
Speaker 4:Grandpa, uncle, grandpa, uncle, grandpa, uncle Grandpa is asking for a cigar. There you go, yes, and I might Join me be one myself, all right.
Speaker 1:I think I want to do that because I want this memory to linger, to have us doing that? Yes, I think it would be cool, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Sorry to disrupt you. Go ahead, there's no interrupting here. Finally I get to come and I had built an image in my mind from what you had told me and and I researched lodge 88 on uh online and and looked at the website and uh got to know dave mclaughlin and terry very well just through sportsmen, like the sports shows and tourism summits and and all of that stuff and and um I to tell you, the first time I walked into our cottage, even after everything that I had built in my mind.
Speaker 1:I was still blown away. Did you notice? There are no cobwebs anywhere? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Like how do?
Speaker 1:you do that.
Speaker 4:Well, I know exactly how you do it because I tried. It's a wonderful housekeeping staff. Oh my God, you tried. It's a wonderful housekeeping staff. Oh my God, you know it's a wonderful housekeeping staff. And Jennifer, the girl that's been looking after our cottage, has done a wonderful. Yes, thank you. Nick has done a wonderful job at doing that, like I mean, every day the tile floor is polished. It's crazy. Yes, you walk in and it looks like it's a wet floor, but it's not. And um, she even folded dean's clothes well, I think there's a.
Speaker 1:I didn't get my clothes folded.
Speaker 4:Okay, oh, I got mine folded and like I mean, we were talking about it yesterday and I had the perfect caper planned out here and Jennifer had folded Dean's clothes that he left on the floor. So we wondered if she was doing that for everybody, because Dean is a young, strapping, finely chiseled young man Can't play poker with a ship, but that's okay. And I thought to myself well, I said to Dean when we were in our room, I said I'm putting my pants on the floor to see if she folds mine too. And then Dean walked down to the dock and we had a little quick conversation where Dean said I wonder if she won't go in my dirty clothes bag or nothing like that.
Speaker 4:And um, as I was walking out the door, the epiphany hit me and I went back into our room and I pulled every piece of dirty clothes off the floor, out of his bag, his underwear, everything, and I folded them nicely and I placed them on the bed so that when Jennifer come in to make the beds, obviously she would fold all of that stuff nicely. And I wanted to see Dean's reaction. And what happened? Dean blew it. Dean went back up to blow his nose and he come down with a big fat grin on his face and looked at me and said Jennifer's been in our room already and he busted me, but I got to give it to you, dino, you were a little bit disappointed that you found it.
Speaker 5:I was. It would have been great. I ruined it. Yeah, that would have been a good memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you get underwear service quite often when you're traveling on the road.
Speaker 5:Not very often. No, no, no, I room with Nick normally.
Speaker 1:There's no underwear service when it comes to Nick and you right, okay, I got you.
Speaker 4:I'm not even sure if there's underwear involved.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 4:Not much, atta boy, yeah, so this fishing experience, I'm excited we're going to be sampling it here in the next few days. Yes, and the boys on the dock and this is the way it always works with us. Yeah, we come into a place, we go into a place and there's people inevitably leaving, and they had caught some monsters on crankbaits, no doubt. And the whole way here I was hearing how the live bait sponsored by God is going to be the way we go.
Speaker 1:I think it's safe to say, on most of these northern lakes, the tendency is to just drop a jig with a minnow or a worm or drop shot one of those items because that's just the way it's done. Because that's just the way it's done, right? Yeah, and very few people come into a remote lake and bring all of their arsenal of hard baits and soft plastics and whatnot, especially when you got to come in on a plane.
Speaker 1:So I told Steve you know what, we're going to depart from the normal on this episode and we are going to do a live bait show. We are going to go into a snoggy episode and we are going to do a live bait show. We are going to go into a snoggy lake and we are going to do the norm just drop chunks of live food and have at it like everybody else, and that was the game plan. Coming in, and then, like steve said, we met this group that was just going out. They had been here for four days and of course, they recognized us and said hey guys, guys, how you doing? Let me show you what we've been up to. And they started showing us pictures of these 27, 28-inch walleye, big fat fall walleye, and they had caught every single one of them on hard baits, so we had to change game plan. Well, we haven't completely changed yet. We'll find out tomorrow when we get out on the water. We'll definitely throw a few hard baits now, though. Yeah, because those pitchers were just stunning.
Speaker 4:And the problem is it throws you right off. Oh, completely it throws you. It threw me off. I was like, well, I'm sticking to the plan. I want to be involved with live bait. You're going to go with that?
Speaker 1:Yes, and the reason why don't we split up and do both? Why don't we challenge ourselves? Why don't you and Dean go off and do the normal thing that happens here on the Snoggy Lake Bring yourselves a bunch of minnows and a bunch of worms and have at it. That's beautiful.
Speaker 4:And.
Speaker 1:Nick and I will go out and throw some of the hardware that we brought.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because I've already got it set up in my mind. Live bait is something that is very, very familiar to me because that's the way we fish walleye on the French.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good example. Like did anybody come up to the French to throw, you know, body baits or crankbaits? No, not for walleye. No, Not for walleye. It's unheard of. Yeah, bass muskie pike, that's a different story Now do you think that's because walleye is more of a meat industry, in that people would go to your place or this place, for example, and really their only purpose is to be able to catch their limit every day and do a shore lunch every day?
Speaker 4:I'm going to say not so much anymore. No, I think the reason that live bait is, uh, still predominantly used because and I, and the reason I say not anymore because um at Shodier, very quickly into my tenure we, we did away with um with the take fish home game. We didn't, we didn't. We, we encouraged people not to take fish home and that quickly disappeared. But the live bait did not.
Speaker 4:And I think it's more, at least on that body of water, to access walleye during the hours that we fish for our guides is, say, 8 o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, and they're deep. They're deep. You can get them on crankbaits in the evening as the sun's going down, because those walleye that are hanging out in schools at this time of year we're finding them in 35 to 40 feet and they can even go deeper than that depending on the weather. We don't chase them any deeper than that and that's because of the damage that it can do to the fish when you pull them up too quick. But it's the depth and the best way to do it is with a jig, with a jig yeah, and it's fast.
Speaker 1:Right, it's fast, it's efficient, very efficient for a fish. 100% Out of curiosity, though, you must have had people going out after supper to fish on the river, absolutely, and I'm assuming that they would have been more likely to throw hard baits. Yeah, oh yeah. And my question to you is would they be fishing walleye in, say, six feet of water? At that point, do they come up?
Speaker 4:that high on the French. Six feet on the French is the best way I can answer. That is, six feet of water on the French River is a very scary depth for a lodge owner. Oh, I got you, because when you're actually trolling or you're in areas where you're in six feet of water, the engines take a shit kicking. Take a shit kicking, yeah, and um, so you discour.
Speaker 1:What you're telling me is that you artificially change that. Uh, hard bait fishery.
Speaker 4:Well, like they could be in six or they could be in 15, and I preferred 15. But yeah, they do come up uh, sure, um, uh myself, uh, I, a good friend uh of ours Tony, a good friend of ours, tony DiBattista. He always wanted to go out and fish and the evening time was always a nice time to go out, and we would go out and cast shoals that would top out in three, four feet and drop down into deeper water and you do catch them on those shoals.
Speaker 1:One of the best experiences and it wasn't one time but we used to do it quite often actually was late in the year, depending on the weather, depending on the geography. But there is a period of time late in the year, usually October, if you get some frost happening, some cold nights happening, where you get used to get not so much anymore a frog migration. You've told me about this, I'm telling you, the walleye fishery during that migration period, if you can hit it on point, it is phenomenal Because we used to use topwater baits for them. No, I'm not kidding you, Really, for walleye and huge walleye would work the shorelines waiting for these critters to pop in, and it was nuts and it would last for about five days, six days, you know, seven days at the most. But you had to have reliable intel locally to call you up and say, hey, I think, from what I can tell, the migration is going to happen tomorrow.
Speaker 2:And you had to be on location tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But oh my God, and it was a nighttime thing, never during the day, so it would usually start at night and, holy shit, I'm telling you one of the greatest walleye experiences that anybody could have. I would.
Speaker 4:You know well, topwater fishing in general is one of the greatest experiences that any angler can have. But for walleye, that would be outstanding.
Speaker 1:I don't know what's happening with frogs. I don't know. I mean, I'm going back to a period of time where it was still acceptable to be selling and buying frogs for bass fishing. You know, you buy a dozen live frogs and, you know, throw a hook in one of their legs and let them swim out and boom, but I'm not noticing as many frogs in our environment as there used to be no.
Speaker 4:Maybe that's all gone. It is weird for sure, and those migrational patterns that happen are magic. Oh you know. Can you think of any other ones off the top of your head?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, depending on the area, certainly still to this day the migration that happens on the Bay of Quinty for walleye is still phenomenal.
Speaker 4:Yes, it has changed over the years.
Speaker 1:It has changed, but it's still phenomenal. Yes, make no mistake about it, and it's all dependent on migration to food, like everything else is in the world of fish and water clarity. I think Water clarity has changed it significantly.
Speaker 4:Because that is a fishery I hold near and dear to my heart. When, right from the early 90s, I had friends that would go and fish, picton Harbor in particular, and we didn't even have a boat. But again, it's that late, late fall we would start thinking about it, about the third weekend, because that's the only times that we had access to in November and we would fish right off of the government dock, right across from tip of the bay, and we would also fish the Prince Edward Yacht Club docks. Yeah, that was crazy. Oh, that first green buoy. We always dreamed about getting out there because we would see boats anchored out there fishing, but right off the docks. And I made a point for years not to tell people how many fish over 10 pounds I caught because nobody would believe me. But we would go there and in two days, back in the heyday, right off those docks, you could catch, you know eight or ten walleye between you know, nine and fourteen pounds each, all nighttime, eh, all nighttime.
Speaker 1:All nighttime. That's the thing about that fishery. It's low light or no light. Yeah, dean, did we not have an experience recently, in the last couple of years, and the name that comes to mind is the Bell River? Yeah, and that was a migration fishery Suckers were migrating. Yeah, that was a sucker spawn. Tell us about that one, because that was another great, exciting adventure we had.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we didn't really know what was going on actually in there, but we knew there would be bait fish in that area and the only reason we were in there was because the river used to be a spawning site for walleye, right, but there was some, I think, a gold mine or something up there. Some sort of mining industry was letting their tailing ponds into the river. The water temperatures were changing and the sediment was changing. Then the walleye weren't able to spawn but the mines and the government kind of came together to clean it all up and we wanted to check it out because we heard the walleye were back and when we got in there, suckers were mostly what we were finding. But then behind them were pike and behind them were walleye, and behind them were walleye and behind them were smallmouth and everything was just eating all the eggs.
Speaker 1:It was amazing. Yeah, the reason we found out that that's what we because we didn't know, we went in and then we saw this separation of suckers, walleye, smallmouth and pike. We couldn't get it. We didn't understand because it was fall right and we didn't quite get the picture until we caught a pike and lifted it into the boat and it spewed sucker eggs all over the deck of FNC1. The pike were eating the sucker eggs. The pike were eating them.
Speaker 5:Yeah everything was eating them. Everything, everything in the lake. Wow, yeah, everything was eating them. Everything, everything in the lake, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everything in the lake was coming into this thing called the Bell River, and they were in there just gorging on sucker eggs.
Speaker 4:Wow it's got to be a way. Healthy source of food, protein galore, the protein, the nutrients that they're getting. Sure, why not? That's a great story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was nuts, and the smallmouth fishing was just phenomenal. Oh my God. We were fishing like two feet of water with the boat, trying to get around the rocks and the obstacles and just throwing anything. You could literally throw anything in the water and the smallmouth were just exploding on it. I love that and that's what they were doing. They were in there all feeding on and I'm sure that's a pattern that probably happens on a lot of lakes, but nobody would think about it. Right? Who thinks about following the sucker spawn to find a predator fish? Right?
Speaker 5:and no one really knows anything about them. That's because species you kind of ignore, like you don't you know, study their behavior, study their movements and understand where they're migrating, they're just species that you just don't associate with anything.
Speaker 1:Well, they're not even a sport fish it's yeah well, they're well, they're forage-based but it's funny how we associate recreational fishing with what we call sport fish, and that's a fish that has been designated by a body to be a sport fish. If it doesn't have the designation, we don't seem to be interested. Carp comes to mind, one of the most underutilized fishery, in my opinion, in North America it's certainly not in the rest of the world, but certainly here. Because it's not categorized as a sport fish, we don't want to go after it. And suckers are right up there, in my opinion, of a fish that is just as good a fighter it's just as. I mean you can get giant suckers, yeah, how big do they get?
Speaker 1:That's a great question. Any thoughts? Dean.
Speaker 5:I remember you were holding one up next to a like two-pound smallie and they were kind of similar in size. Yes, so like Two to three pounds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like 14 inches, 15 inches maybe, something like that. Yeah, and I'm sure there are various species of suckers, we just don't know anything about them.
Speaker 5:Yeah, but we were even having trouble identifying them at a certain point, like we were all debating, because we know there's types of like. When you're like, when we study a lake we look at you know all the sport fish that are in it and all the other species that are named you don't really pay attention to. And there's so many of those Like. I think we had a guy on outdoor journal radio a few months ago who was like a soccer fisherman from minnesota.
Speaker 5:You remember that show and yeah, and he was saying there's, like you know, dozens of species of them and he's trying to catch them all and do this big tour catching them. So we were all debating what even kind it was and it took us a while to figure it out. Wow, yeah, but fishing is fishing right, I mean that's absolutely.
Speaker 4:I know that um, one of the migrations that uh, we uh focus on a lot, um, and I'm speaking to the um muskie uh community is, uh, especially on the on the french and nipissing, are the ciscos, right, the ciscos and the and the cisco migration has been a focus for Pat and myself who, recreationally, and my son Rayburn, now recreationally fish muskies and one of the key factors that we always think about are the ciscos and where are they and how do they move, move and where do they move at certain times of the day and light conditions?
Speaker 1:And that's all key, as well as anglers. We're not focusing on the right areas when it comes to trying to figure out how to catch predator fish, because what we should be doing is studying their food. We should get a better handle on their food and how it migrates and how it works, because chances are real good if you find the movement of food, pattern it down, yeah yeah, you're going to have an awful lot easier time figuring out the predator.
Speaker 4:For sure. And I'll throw one more factor into that that nobody really thinks about. If you were to apply it to the male species of human beings, it would be a lot clearer. But you've got food and you've got sex, because the spawn and eating are two of the paramount pillars in a fish species' life.
Speaker 1:And it doesn't matter how much water they have to wander through, even like take this lake, for example, behind us, this snoggy lake, a huge lake, about 90% of this water will not hold fish Absolutely. And it's all based on those two factors you just mentioned they have to eat and they have to reproduce. Figure that out and you just eliminated the majority of the water, 100%. So I wanted to bring out another great example of following the food and finding the predator. And you're going to experience it for the first time, and I think you too, dean, for the first time.
Speaker 1:We're going tuna fishing in Nova Scotia in the weeks ahead, and it is one of the great migration stories of all time. I mean these fish, these giant thousand pound tunas. They come from a million miles away and they're in an area because of food. Right, yeah, it's going to coincide. Well, you two just experienced that on that tuna festival Wedgeport, wedgeport, wedgeport, nova Scotia. The tuna come in to feed on the herring and if you can find where those giant herring balls are, you're going to find tuna chasing them down Absolutely, and it was interesting there too they're doing a lot of work right out of this tiny little town of Wedgeport.
Speaker 4:The lobster fishermen predominantly also have tuna licenses because it's a very, very controlled fishery. There's quota, it's a science. There's barcodes on your license which have to be affixed to the fish. And not only that, you've got to hail in immediately to the DFO, highly regulated when you hook them, and one of the captains was telling me that to the point where when you hail them in, the DFO might show up on the ship before you get them into the boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had that happen to us a few years ago, that's right. Yeah, by the time we got the tuna, you know, even relatively close to the boat, we had three DFO vessels circling us. And they do that because they want to make sure that all the regulations have been met. And, in fact, funny because on that particular shoot the captain had screwed up a little bit, uh-oh, but we were okay. I mean, it wasn't a really egregious offense, but he had dropped the ball on something and they came on board. This was like a military operation man. They came on board and scared the shit out of us and they took him aside and read him the riot act and fortunately it wasn't a bad enough offense that there were any charges laid. But they're very serious. And the tuna you just mentioned, they have a barcode. They have a barcode in the sense that when that first call is made to DFO and you tell them that you're hooked up, they designate a number to that fish Automatically in their computer system. That fish has a serial number.
Speaker 4:I think it's already designated before they catch it, because I watched when you get your quota, they've got a certain amount of tags, and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right. You have to hook up with it.
Speaker 1:Once you hook up then that boat that's how they figure out the quota.
Speaker 1:That boat has now got a fish with an ID number. Yeah, and they will follow that through from the hookup to the catch, to the processing and right to the final market. They'll follow that barcode all the way through. Yeah, oh, it's crazy, but that's. I only brought that up because to see it in full bloom, to see that and it coincides the tuna fishery in PEI I'm not sure about Kanso, where we're going, but in PEI the tuna season opens on the final day of the herring harvest. Oh, really, right, yeah. So what happens is the tuna fishermen will go to the flotilla of herring boats yeah, herring boats, and there's like a million of them out there and you show up at daylight with your tuna boat and you've got all of these trawlers, big trawlers, that are cleaning their nets because they've been fishing for the last 10 days and getting thousands and thousands of pounds of herring and they're literally falling off the boats and falling off the nets.
Speaker 4:We experienced that AD, Did you see it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And so if you get close to them, all of a sudden, you realize, holy shit, look at the tuna. Yeah, they're surrounded, the flotilla is surrounded by giant tuna. And those tuna are there because they're getting the last little bit of herring that the herring boats are dropping off their boats.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and the herring boats were actually inviting the anglers over like the tuna guys. They were all on the radios and they were telling each other where the tuna were and telling them to come over and all that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a wonderful community out there. Yeah, yeah, it was great. And Eric Jacquard was the name of the lobster boat captain, who is one of the only people out on the East Coast aside from is it Captain Bill? We're going with Captain Bill out of Canso, nova Scotia. Yes, he has a live release permit for tuna and they're very rare, but he said that he had tagged more tuna than anybody on the East Coast. And the information that they found they found a spawning ground that they had no idea existed, where, and it was up in the Northern Atlantic by Finland, the Scandinavian countries. Really, they had no idea that it even existed. And now they're taking out the otoliths out of the little jewels I call them because the sheephead have the big jewels, but these tiny wee, I'm going to call them pearls, like stones and the DFO.
Speaker 4:While we were there, while they were harvesting the tuna in the Wedgeport tournament, they were taking those otoliths and using the DNA to backtrack that fish to find out what colony or school that they were coming from, to try and track where they are, what the stocks are like, the health of the tuna stocks, and it was extremely interesting, wow, and what a well-oiled machine this tournament was. These fish would come out of the and it was catch and keep. Obviously the government had donated a certain amount of quota to or I shouldn't say donate extended a certain amount of quota to the tournament itself, extended a certain amount of quota to the tournament itself and then to grow the tournament, all of the boats involved would donate some of their quota to up the catch and all of the tuna that was being harvested was being sold by one of the local brokers who was donating his time, and all of the money from that went to the Wedgeport Tuna Museum. Oh cool, and what a wonderful community.
Speaker 4:And these tuna would be craned out of the boats. They had already gutted them on the water. But there was a guy just to make sure that they didn't leave an extra piece of meat in there for the weight, for the weight right sure that they didn't leave an extra piece of meat in there for the weight, for the weight right. And they pulled them out with the head on, took them by a forklift over to the grandstand and they hung them there for the crowd to see they come straight down. It's funny.
Speaker 1:It sounds barbaric. Everything you're saying now to somebody who doesn't fish or doesn't, you know, is not a sportsman. It sounds a little barbaric. But first of all, this has been going on since the beginning of time. Tuna has been a source of protein and sustenance globally, a very important one from the beginning of time, albeit probably not regulated early enough, but now that it's highly regulated it's a perfectly sustainable industry and the proof is a trip to Nova Scotia or PEI and experience what you guys experienced at the Tuna Festival and you know that this creature is being well managed. There's more tuna than you can shake a stick at in our waters here in Canada. Yeah, I don't know about the rest of the world, I can't attest to that, but as far as the Canadian tuna blue fishery it is blue tuna fishery. It is just unbelievable, absolutely. And so few fish are actually being harvested out of the big picture. It's not an issue.
Speaker 4:It was a well-oiled machine, to the point that the tuna that they harvested were going to the open market within a day. Oh yeah, it's scary. Before the end of the tournament, and as soon as a boat caught a tuna, they had to bring it in, and before the end of the tournament there were tuna going all over the world from that location and it was a wonderful experience. And I'll end this part of the conversation.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, how far from Prince Edward Island? Is that place that you guys were at?
Speaker 5:It's the opposite end. Yeah, you'd have to go across the whole coast of nova scotia and then and then around, and then around, yeah so this is a whole different pod of fish that that I experienced.
Speaker 1:Uh on p, it could actually be.
Speaker 5:I don't know, um, if it's totally different, because the, the fish that they were experiencing in like the heyday of wedgeboard, have all moved out okay, and they moved out quite far, like the. The furthest people were running in this turn. It was like 15 hours offshore.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, so it could have actually been. What was the name of the spot? The Hell Hole. The Hell Hole, yeah, oh my God.
Speaker 5:Yes, aptly named, I'm sure because if you go out there, you're a real man. Absolutely yes. So it's still like a hub for where all the anglers are, but they're not necessarily staying near Wedgeport.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but regardless that community and tournament and everything around it was such a breath of fresh air. I cannot tell you folks, if you are from small town Canada anywhere and you're longing for that same feel, book yourself a trip for the week to go to Wedgeport and make sure you take a little bit of Pepto-Bismol and aspirin or Tylenol, because the party at the end by the by G's. I'll tell you what she was a cracker Jack.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of that great movie, 300. Oh yeah, what was his name? Leonidas, the main character, leon. What was his name? Leonidas or the the? The, the main leader. The main character said have a hearty breakfast, men, because tonight you'll be dining at the gates of hell, yeah. And I'm sure that's what it is going out, 15 hours into the Atlantic in the fall.
Speaker 4:Some of the roughest water in the world. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:Huge seas yeah, what a great experience. Hopefully we'll we'll taste some of richest water in the world. Oh my God, huge seas yeah, what a great experience. Hopefully we'll taste some of that here in the weeks to come.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, I did sit in one of those fighting chairs and Eric, who was a big man, grabbed the end of the rod, just gave you a sample.
Speaker 1:He gave me a sample and I'll tell you what I couldn imagine uh trying to reel in a uh seven, eight, nine hundred pound fish it is beyond words, my friend, beyond the words, to the point where the excitement build-up is like intoxicating, right getting out there and getting all set and steaming out to these places and and you're you and you're in a daze that whole time and then all of a sudden it hits right and you've got that instant adrenaline rush for sure. And then about an hour into it you don't want to be anywhere near where you are.
Speaker 3:You want to go home.
Speaker 1:You're whimpering like a little child, you want to go home. You're whimpering like a little child, you want to go home. The fight is extraordinary, just beyond words. And the problem is the captain is barking at you because in most cases, that's for him, that's his income, right, yeah, that's food. So if you aren't exhibiting all of your manliness and, by the way, I say manliness because I believe that in order to do well in that industry not saying that you can't be anything but a man, but I'll tell you, it sure as hell helps, because every muscle in your body is required for that next four hours, five hours that you're on the end of that rod. And if you screw up, that captain is bark, he's like a drill sergeant, he's in your ear and he's shouting, he's spitting all over you and the fish is just angry as hell. And you were caught in this vortex of pain, enjoyment, suffering, anxiety.
Speaker 2:Oh God, I can't wait until we get down there, I know.
Speaker 4:When you're in the wilds of northwestern Ontario, you need gear.
Speaker 3:You can trust and a team that's got your back. That's Lakeside.
Speaker 4:Marine in Red Lake, ontario, family owned since 1988.
Speaker 3:They're your go-to pro camp dealer, built for the north From Yamaha boats and motors to everything in between. We don't just sell you gear, we stand behind it. Lakeside Marine Rugged Reliable Ready.
Speaker 2:Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 7:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 2:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North.
Speaker 7:America. Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 2:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure. This podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 7:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 2:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4:I've got a quick question because I know at least in the first Wedgeport tournament because it was revived, it died out because of the fishery in 76 and was not revived again until 2002 or one D, somewhere in that neighborhood, I think. Three, three Um. Before that when it was a truly um international tournament and Wedgeport, a town with maybe 500 people in it, was known as the tuna capital of the world. Um, in this tournament there were strict rules that whoever is holding the rod to catch the fish was not allowed to spell somebody else in.
Speaker 1:There was no substitution On the Fishing Canada boat. There is a substitution.
Speaker 2:Not only is it allowed but it's encouraged.
Speaker 1:Okay, courage, okay, because Peter and I uh, yeah, we were, we just didn't don't have the stature to be able to wrestle one of those things in on our own. And so, yeah, we spelled each other and one time we took Roland Martin down there to experience it as well. So three of us uh worked. How did Roland do? Uh, oh good. Well, you could imagine how excited the whole time he was on the rod. You know whatever number of times he was up to bat. It was like turning on the TV back in the 70s and Roland is just being Roland man. It was sick, it was a great experience.
Speaker 1:And he said this was the greatest fight of his life getting that I think it was 837 pounds Dressed, by the way, Wow Dressed. He said it was the greatest thing that he'll ever do, and I believe him.
Speaker 4:I'm very, very excited.
Speaker 1:Now. We may not catch a fish, by the way. Pete and I have been down there once, yeah, once, before we've been down there and not caught a fish. We saw, oh I don't know, 200 of them. We couldn't get one hookup and we spent three days in the big rough seas trying to get that accomplished and we didn't, uh, we didn't make it.
Speaker 4:I um, I don't want to encourage or decourage anything, but in the Wedgeport tournament there were 20 tuna boats in the tournament and, mind you, we had a hurricane that blew past the east coast. It didn't make landfall, we didn't even feel effects for the most part there, but only 12 of the 20 actually hooked up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds about right. Actually, that's a lot higher than I would have thought. To be honest with you, I would have thought that maybe 20 to 25% hookup rate would be acceptable, but you guys are telling me that you know almost half of, if not a little more than half. That's great. I think that just shows you how that industry is doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not easy. You'll see them. You'll see them, but getting them to bite is a whole other thing, a different story. How the hell did we get on? I thought this was Diaries of a Lodge Owner. Well, this is Diaries at its finest.
Speaker 4:We go where the conversation takes us. So on that note, I'd like to, before we wrap things up, just for the benefit of everybody, why don't we talk a little bit about our fishing strategies, that we're going to go out with how in our minds at this point, because I know once the rubber hits the road and we're out there, things change. You've kind of alluded to the fact that Dean and I are going to be the live bait specialists.
Speaker 1:I think, so I'm throwing that out there. I don't know.
Speaker 4:It just dawned on me I appreciate that and the wheels have been turning since you mentioned it and you're going to be the hard bait guy and I'm assuming that it's going to be Yozuri and Crystal Minnow area.
Speaker 4:I'm going to talk a little bit about how I want to, how my ideas and Dean.
Speaker 4:This speaks to you as well, because we're in it together.
Speaker 4:I'm going to talk about a little bit of strategy on finding and catching these fish, and I'm a little disappointed in myself for forgetting one of the most important tools to this type of fishing live bait fishing to me, and it's something that has kind of become redundant in my fishing at home, because I have the luxury at home, because I have the luxury and and this is great for all you folks out there that that are looking to enjoy, um, uh, uh, an experience like this where you can't bring your own gear, you're in a rental boat, um and uh, you don't know what electronics are like. We've got that part covered, but and uh, but where we're lacking, where I have at home, number one is a trolling motor. Right, because spot lock when you're vertical fishing is a huge, huge benefit, but not an impossibility to get around here, but not an impossibility to get around here. And number two this is where I'm very disappointed in myself coming to this fishery and leaving my marker buoys behind. I never even thought of that.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 4:I'm going to search out Terry and see if I can bum some marker buoys, because they're going to become important for sure. Well, the way that I would attack this lake not being on it number one folks. Intel is important, so do a little bit of research on the place you're going if you haven't been Number two. Like we started off the show with people leaving as you're coming, talk to them, Find out what they're doing, Find out spots All of the lodges. Their goal is for you to catch fish, so they're going to give you spots. Best thing to do is take a guide for a day for sure.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say that that is the most important thing to do is hire a guide, no matter where you are. Hire a guide for at least a day, or half a day, if they're available for half days, and use that half day to not only to find locations on that particular body of water, but that guide has a wealth of information that you can glean from him. If you keep your ears open and your mouth shut, you can get a whole lot of intel that will do you well for any future fishing endeavor that you've got.
Speaker 4:And eyes Watch what they do. Future fishing endeavor that you've got. And eyes Watch what they do. Watch, because sometimes you'll get guides that can't convey. It's very hard to explain what they're feeling, but if you can watch what they're doing, that's very important. But I'm going to assume that we are going to attack this lake without a guide?
Speaker 1:Well, because location One of the things that the guide can give you that you cannot get on your own in your short stay, whether it's three days, four days, five days you can't get migrational patterns of these fish, absolutely you cannot get all the locations of fish on a body of water. So what you should be getting from that guide first and foremost is, if not his best locations, certainly locations where you stand a chance of catching fish. Because, my friend, as I've said a million times, you can be the best angler in the world, you can have the best equipment in the world, you can have the confidence, experience. All the things that we spew on on the fishing canada show that you need as a successful angler. You can have all that in spades, but if you're not on top of fish, you're just wasting your time.
Speaker 4:It's pretty tough to catch fish in a swimming pool.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Most important that you can get from a guide or a local or the lodge owner is location. Put that in your pocket first. Yeah, and that's where hiring a guide is going to pay off in spades, cause I'll guarantee you, if you've got him for a day, you're going to get five or six of his prime spots and you're going to learn more in a day than you would on your own in five years, right?
Speaker 4:So, having said that, um, I'm going to quickly throw down an idea, dino, and throw in any thoughts that you have, but this is something that I would do to find fish on a new lake. Number one ask for an anchor, because an anchor is key when you don't have your. I hate using it. I hate using anchors. Yeah, I get it, I get it, but you get a little bit of wind, and a drift is a nightmare, and then having an engine constantly running and bumping it into reverse yeah, but hang on, hang on.
Speaker 4:Hang on, wait a minute.
Speaker 1:This is a debate that Pete and I have all the time. Okay, Because we're I'm anal about it. Pete's not quite as bad, but I'm very aware of any intrusive sounds that I bring into that environment, whether it's a motor, even the electric trolling motor. To be honest with you, Sometimes I think we spook fish with that. I believe that when you drop an anchor into a pressure-sensitive spot and you plop that anchor down into the water, I think there's a certain amount of disturbance that happens.
Speaker 1:that we have no idea how the magnitude of it right. And so if you are going to be using an anchor and you're dropping that anchor in, say, 15, 20 feet of water, you have to be prepared that any fish within close proximity was alerted.
Speaker 1:I would say within 100 feet of you. Within 100 feet of you, fish are going to know that something was just dropped into their world. Yeah, and so if you are going to be anchoring over top of a place, you need to let it air out for a while. You don't expect to drop your bait and you're going to catch fish immediately. I do it all the time. I know and you know what else you do. You know what else guides do all the time they leave their engine running. How many guides?
Speaker 4:And I agree with an engine running as long as it's a consistent sound, but when you click it into gear and click it out of gear and click it, into gear.
Speaker 1:But that's what they do, that's what guides. Do you know that? Yeah, yeah, they'll ease you, they'll back you in, they'll forward, they'll hold you on that spot.
Speaker 4:Well, I'll tell you what? It's a hell of a lot easier to keep the light and the sun in the right spot to shoot when you're doing one of these shows, when you're anchored up and you're not fighting wind in a back trolling situation. Dino, you're going to drive this one because I'm going to sit on the bow like a princess.
Speaker 1:See, nick and I are going to have, in my opinion, the easier of the two in terms of boat control, because we're going to, because we're going to troll.
Speaker 2:We're going to troll.
Speaker 1:So the only thing we have to worry about is that when we hook up, we've got to be a little more sensitive to the sun, because the cameraman is going to be barking at us that we're in the wrong position. So, while the fish fighting is going on, somebody's going to have to maneuver that boat and make sure that it's pointing in the right direction. So that's going to be our biggest challenge, but otherwise, we got no worries with bokeh. No man, we're just going to. That's part of your issues. However, having said that, I do believe that we're going to have a more difficult time convincing these walleye that our hard baits are good food, whereas you guys, you're going to be dropping stuff down that they just ate two minutes ago. They know it, they feel it, they sense it, they smell it and it's real so, but your boat control is going to be a real problem for you. So I think we're even in that aspect.
Speaker 4:Yes, we might be, and the anchor, I still say, would be a key tool for anybody that's coming to these northern lakes to get anchored up. Now I will say it's an art and I will say that I don't go out in my boat without about 200 feet of anchor rope. Ah, there you go, number one. It's a three to one ratio. So if you're fishing 30 feet, you need a minimum of uh of 90 feet to get a decent anchor hold. Yeah, right. So the the thought of disturbing those fish? Yes, if you drop them right on their head, I think they're going to scatter. For sure they're going to scatter if you sure they're going to scatter.
Speaker 1:If you have current, it becomes a significantly easier task, right? Because you can go well up current and find that spot.
Speaker 4:Current is definitely more predictable than wind.
Speaker 1:And then you can ease yourself down the rope. You know backing the rope down until the boat is positioned over top of the fish. But the anchor is 150 feet up current. That's right, that works well If you have current. If you don't have current, you got wind. Yeah, not all the time.
Speaker 4:No, and if you don't have wind, then it's perfect, because you don't need the anchor.
Speaker 1:And it changes.
Speaker 4:Yes, the wind will change, wow. And the thing is, the other key when you're using an anchor is that marker buoy, because that marker buoy you do drop on fish. You look for schools of fish on the bottom and whether those schools might be five or 50, you need to drop that marker buoy and all that is is a visual marker that sits on top of the water, that has a rope and a smaller weight that falls straight down into those fish and then you have to line your wind or your current with your anchor and when you drop it and you try and anchor to that buoy and it gets exponentially more versatile the further you set your line, because, depending on what side of the boat and whether it's the port side, bow, stern side, bow, port side, stern you can swing that boat 50, 60 feet from right to left, right. So you do have on one anchor, hold a little bit of mobility.
Speaker 1:Now that we've completely confused everybody that's listening to this program, I'd like to suggest that you go online or to your favorite store that sells marine products and get yourself a nice, preferably Garmin LiveScope and preferably a nice Garmin Force or Kraken motor. And all of the problems and the confusion that we just gave you. They are gone.
Speaker 4:Yes, but the Force is tough to get to Lodge 88. We've done it. The Garmin is easy. We've done it. The Garmin is easy. We've done it. I don't doubt it and I wish we did it this time right. But I still I stand firm on the fact that I think that live bait, and with the knowledge that Dean and I have potentially could outfish.
Speaker 1:I believe the gauntlet has been firmly dropped. We will see over the next couple of days which is the better of the two.
Speaker 2:How's that, I love that, and we will be taking bets.
Speaker 1:For those of you listening that would like to maybe win a shackle or two, feel free to write to Steve and tell him that you yeah, stevein at fishincanadacom and I will pass you right over to the person that controls the shackles, I think.
Speaker 4:Who is the countess? That's right, I think, and say hello to her.
Speaker 1:For me, I think, at the end of the day, that we will end up catching more fish. I can't attest to the size because that's kind of out of our control that we will end up catching more fish. I can't attest the size because that's kind of out of our control, but I believe, under these conditions, we will catch more fish doing what we're doing than you guys will doing what you're doing. How's that?
Speaker 4:Well, that's a little gauntlet tickle right there, and what I will reply to that is.
Speaker 1:time will tell brother, and don't forget, I've got the Nick machine in my boat at the helm. Oh, nicky boy, I've got the Nick factor working in my favor.
Speaker 4:Yes, and that is an X factor, although I do have Dino on my side, I'll give you that. You know I'm not saying one is better than the other, but again, time will tell.
Speaker 1:and speaking of time. Is that what you were going to say?
Speaker 4:exactly. It has come to that time. We have to start this now we're we're going to head out for a nice evening fish and folks. Thank you so much for for listening to this point. We really appreciate it. It's your love that allows us to do this, and I want to thank Dino for being here. We really appreciate it. I want to hear your voice right now.
Speaker 5:Yep, this is my voice.
Speaker 4:I was trying to press a button. Sorry, dino, I was trying to press a button, but I forgot.
Speaker 5:That's not this kind of show.
Speaker 4:And Mr Mancini as well, our producer, and all of the folks Lakeside Marine in Red Lake. They are a wonderful operation and huge supporter of the show. We thank you very much and again, thank all of you for listening. And thus brings us to the show. We thank you very much and again, thank all of you for listening. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 3:Stories of the North Never meaning no harm. I'll be all you ever saw, been railing in the hog since the day I was born, bending my rock, stretching my line. Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way the only way I know how, working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Boy, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 2:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing. I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garton Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.
Speaker 5:To scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe.
Speaker 2:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 7:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 1: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.
Speaker 5:Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6: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 6: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.