Episode 151: The Fish I Still Think About...

A muskie over 50 inches on a rod that holds about 30 feet of line sounds like the start of a disaster, but for me it becomes one of those rare nights that never stops replaying. I’m sitting alone with a handful of fishing memories that refuse to fade, the ones tied to a person, a place, and a feeling that hits you years later when you least expect it.

We start on the French River with my son Rayburn, and the moment that helped turn him into a full-blown muskie fanatic. The gear is improvised, the light is low, and I realize far too late I’ve got no net and basically no tools. What follows is equal parts muskie fishing, father-son coaching, and pure problem-solving under pressure. If you’ve ever had to keep it together while a big fish does everything it can to expose your mistakes, you’ll feel this one in your gut.

Then we head north to Lake Nipigon, where group records and bragging rights become a language of their own. A friend’s video and a truly giant lake trout reset the scoreboard, and the story rolls into boat-buying heartbreak, big-water waves, and an unforgettable strike that happens right as we’re trying to pull lines and find shelter. We wrap with a Glenn Barry memory that begins with a backlash and ends with a brutal dockside fight and my first 50-inch muskie, landed the hard way.

If these stories nudge your own “fish I still think about” awake, subscribe, share the episode with a fishing buddy, and leave a review so more Canadians can find the show.

Transcript

Why Certain Fish Never Leave

SPEAKER_01 0:05

So Rayburn's fighting the full force of this fish on a rod that has 30 feet of line, and he's trying to get it reeled in and lifting it off of the gunnel. And so I was stunned. I was stunned. And by this time it was dark. There was a little bit of glow from the light for the um boat for our nav lights. And I'm looking at the side, I'm kind of helping him with the rod, but the one thing that I never did was like, I mean, you want to come fishing and you catch fish. This is this is all you, brother. And um he he started to get control of it. This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Networks, Diaries of a Lodge Owner, Stories of the North. Folks, today it's just you and I, and the fish that I still think about. They're not necessarily the biggest. Honestly, these are the ones that have attached themselves to a feeling, a person, a place, or a moment. On this show, we're not building a highlight reel. I'm sitting with a handful of memories asking why they stayed. Was it something I learned or who I was with? But those memories never left. Like a song you didn't realize you memorized. So if you've got a fish like that, or even a moment that's not about fishing at all, I hope this nudges yours awake. Maybe sends you down a quiet wee path where the details live. That's usually where you find the gold. Folks, welcome to the show. And today is all about the fish I still think about. And there's a few, but it's not necessarily the fish, really. But it always has to do with fishing and a fish. So the the first one I want to talk about, and and this is this is one I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on because uh it is one of those monumentous moments that have already that it's already been talked about three, four

Rayburn’s First Big Muskie

SPEAKER_01 2:30

times on this show, and and uh I'm sure that folks you can find it uh just about anywhere. But it was Rayburn's fish. It was the fish that that um really cemented a musky fanatic. Uh it was a core memory for two people, myself and my oldest son Rayburn, that to this day has had a butterfly effect that I don't even think I understand how big that was. We just spent a weekend together on the French, and it was all about muskie fishing. We saw a few, caught one. It was it's one of those things where a parent sees their child turn into something that you just never thought you would see. And that is for my son Rayburn, an absolute musky fanatic, which is something that I love doing as well, which makes it so much more gratifying to see. And especially when you've got a young man at the age of 20, 21, there's so many other things that they could be fanatical about that are not good for people. You know, I lived there for a little while back in my partying days, so it was it was a wonderful weekend. Um we spent a lot of quality time together, and he Rayburn's been doing a lot of work through certain mentors of his. Pat Tryon has taken him on as a mentor. Another person that that Rayburn went fishing with two, three weeks ago when we were up there was uh Scott Scarpelli. And he was he was a guest of mine at Chaudiere and then went to Lunge Lodge. But he has been on the French River now for oh, it's gotta be 15 years and for weeks at a time, probably a month a year, and has has learned from the best guides on the lake and the river. He was um he fished with Pat, hired Pat for years, Corey. There's so many people up there. Really, the core, the core of of what he learned and what most people learn back then come from Pat Pat Tryon and Matt O'Brien and and uh a couple of core guys. But um Rayburn got to go out with Scott, which was great. You know, Scott has the um uh all of the gear, right from the 23-foot ranger to uh like it like all of it, and um and um that was uh um uh three days that uh that really, really helped Rayburn. And uh I got to go out and spend uh spend some time with Rayburn in the boat this weekend to see what he's learned. And uh, you know, I got in the boat, I sat in the passenger seat, and I let him go. And uh I did my very best to not say anything or put ideas in his head or give him any inkling on what I would have done or what I thought, and and uh he um he took charge and uh he made uh 90% of all of the major decisions, and I was just along for the ride, and um he put me in a position where I got a nice 43 and three-quarters, if we're being honest, but I like to call it a 44 because I'm a roundup kind of guy. Anyway, um that was great, but all of this, and having said all of this, goes all the way back to that muskie that um that Rayburn uh caught when he was maybe nine or 10 years old, might uh in that neighborhood. Um and um what it was was he back in those days when I owned the lodge um spent a lot of time on the dock. And um our rule was as long as there's a life jacket strapped to you, you're you're good. You can go to the dock, you can hang out down there as long as you're respectful and and you're not in the way, and you can fish. And he uh he would watch the guides coming in and he would see Pat um um the pictures of the muskies that Pat caught. And um he wanted to go fishing with Pat. And we went out and fished with Pat and uh Rayburn's very first muskie was a little 36-incher, which was perfect for him. He might have been five or six at the time. And then um from that point, he was really hooked, and uh Melissa would come up um usually for two, three weeks, four weeks at a um over the over the summer holidays. And um, this one week in particular, we already had the cottage. So this was probably around 2015. Um, so that would that that would make him uh 10 years ago, about 10 years old. Anyway, um I would go to the cottage, that's where everybody, the the kids and Melissa would stay on the island because it was just so much easier for Melissa to cook and everything else, and and she'd bring them over to the lodge, or if they wanted to come and hang out on the dock, I'd bring them over. And this one week in particular, Rayburn was on me, on me, on me every day. Dad, can you take me fishing for muskies? And it was um it was something that that um um you know it's the busiest time of my year, and uh that week in particular was a busy week, and I just unfortunately um didn't make the time to to to take them until it was the Thursday, and and I got back to the cottage, it was a little bit later, you know, 9 30 at night, and uh but in at that time of year it's it's light until 10 30. Um so Rayburn, he's like, Dad, can you take me muskie fishing? And you know, it being a long day, I didn't have really any gear at the cottage, and I said, Oh, but I promise I'll take you tomorrow. And he said, uh, but dad, we're leaving in the morning. If we don't go tonight, uh we can't go. And in that moment, I was like, Oh my god, I can't believe that I've I've done this. Like, I mean, they were here all week, and I kept putting them off and putting them off and putting them off until it's like now. And uh I said, okay, bud. But I knew I couldn't go back to the lodge to get the gear because if I go back to the lodge, if there's anybody on the dock, guess whatever, I get tied up because I can't just say when somebody asks me something or comes up and starts talking, you know, I can't put my hand in their face and say, sorry, I'm off the clock, I gotta go fishing with my son. Although I'm pretty sure most people would appreciate that, but that just wasn't me. Um, so I said, Okay, buddy, um I'll I'll meet me in the boat in 10 minutes. So he ran up, he got his his jacket on, and I went into the the the the little dockhouse and um looked for anything I could use. So I found a rod. I wouldn't call it a musky rod, but it was it was a rod and it was stout. It was a it was a bigger, heavy rod. And it had a bait casting reel on it. So okay, decent. That's good enough. Then I looked in in the I got a cupboard there that's basically a catch-all for reels and baits and just whatever. And uh I found um a musky bait, and the characteristics on this bait that I was looking for at that time were hooks furthest away from the line because I had no leader on this rod, so it was like a a storm uh deep diving crankbait, and um um I just thought, okay, that's good, because it had one hook on the middle, one hook on the end, and then a big long lip, and there was some separation between the hooks and the the line, right? So that you know I was hoping that the the the the the the more surface area the fish had to bite on the bait, the less time the less chance it would have to to bite the line. But I really wasn't concerned about catching. I did I didn't figure there was a a shot in in, you know, I didn't figure we had a shot at all at all. I was just going out because I needed to go out with my son.

Trolling With Only Thirty Feet

SPEAKER_01 11:42

We get into the boat, I start driving. I uh and and literally I pulled off the dock, pointed the nose out. It was already getting dark. Um, and uh I put the line in the water and I realized this reel of mine had about 30 feet of line. Like literally. Yeah, I could you couldn't even cast it, had 30 feet of line on. So I let it out. I saw it was right to the bottom of the spool, and it was barely two lengths behind the boat. I reeled enough line over top of the of the of the spool so that it it was covered. So, you know, so if if it hit something, if something hit it, there was enough tension on that that it it would hold the line on that spool. And I cranked the um the the drag as tight as I could get it, so there was no drag. Because if it pulled, if it if anything pulled it like eight five feet, it was pulling it right off of the spool. And I handed him the rod, and um he's sitting there, you know, um half eared in a pig and shit, and we're muskie fishing. And now I'm I'm in a I'm in one of the rental boats, just whatever boat I jumped in to to come over, and I'm messing around with the uh the fish finders, you know, on the rental boats, the the the settings are always messed with and whatever. So I just was fixing the settings and setting it up the way that I like. And um I hear Rayburn. Dad, I got one. And I said, no, just it was a reaction. I said, no, no, dad, I got one. And I and I'm and and now this is all registering in my mind because I I was playing with the the fish finder and I was over a hundred and uh whatever feet of water. We got 30 feet of line out the back. There is no way he snagged on the bottom. And as this thought is going through my mind after he said for the second time, no, I got one, I looked over, and that rod, he was it was everything he could do to hold on to the rod, and it was beating on the side of the gunwell. Like he was trying to lift it, and when he would try and lift it, bang, that it that fish would pull that rod down onto the gunwaga again. And as soon as I saw the the reaction on the rod, I knew it was a fish. Well, actually, the first thing I thought it was was that it got caught in the prop, um, being 30 feet behind the boat. Um, but um I I and and with that reaction, I shut the the motor of the boat off, and this thing is still going. Like, I mean, and because I tried I tightened the drag as heavy as it would go, it couldn't pull drag either. So Rayburn's fighting the full force of this fish on on a rod that has 30 feet of line, and he's trying to to get it reeled in and lifting it off of the gunnel. And um, so uh I was stunned. I I was I was stunned. And uh by this time it was dark. Um there was there was a little bit of glow from the the light for our for the um boat for our uh nav lights, and um I'm looking at the side, I I'm kind of helping him with the rod, but the one thing that I never did was like, I mean, you want to come fishing and you catch a fish, this is this is all you, brother. And um he he started to get control of it, and I I was kind of coaching him on how to hold the rod. And um uh and I'm watching, and this fish, it it surfaced, and it was it was a serious fish that like I mean I I look back, I saw it, and I thought, oh wow, Brayburn, you got you got yourself a fish, bud. And um we managed to uh to to to get it to a point where he was holding the rod by himself and kind of um uh you know controlling it. And um now the realization um hit me.

Landing A Monster With Bare Hands

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I didn't have a net. Like I didn't have a net, like not even, I'm not even talking a musky net. I'm talking a net. And then I got thinking, oh my god, I don't even I I don't think I have pliers, like I had nothing, I had nothing with me. And um so now I'm I'm leaning over the side of the boat. I've given Rayburn my um phone with the light on, and now he has the task of holding the rod with the fish because he's got it reeled in now to the point where there might be 10 feet of line out, and um he has to hold my uh phone with the light on in his other hand and shine it off the side of the boat so I can see what's going on. And um, I remember vividly I the the the words that I told Rayburn. I said, Rayburn, there are two things that you have to do right now. You need to hold the rod and do not drop my phone. Those are two things that you have to do. You cannot the there's no questions. There are two things you need to hold on to this rod, and you need to hold on to this phone, and you have to do everything you can do to do that, and that's it. You don't have to do anything else.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

So now Rayburn's holding the rod for dear life.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

He's holding my phone with a grip of death. He's leaning over the side of the boat, holding the light, and now I've got my my hand, um, my my right hand on the line. So I've grabbed the line that's coming off of the rod that's going in the water, and there's this muskie on the end of it. And there's still probably three or four feet of line beyond my hand. And I'm steering this muskie as it's fishing in circles, in big circles around the side of the boat. I'm just trying to keep it swimming so that it doesn't jump and it's not gonna try and run because it can't run nowhere, because there's no possibility the drag's gonna come out. The only way it's running is if it pulls Rayburn or the rod or both in. And um, I'm thinking now, as those thoughts of I got nothing to help me out as far as tools-wise, what am I gonna do now? So this fish has gone by me once. I'm steering it, I'm staring it, I'm thinking, it's gone by me twice. I'm thinking, and at this point, I'm watching it as it's going by, and I and it's uh I can see the the the wrist on the the the fish, which is the the fat part right before the back of the tail that we call the wrist, and that part, if you can get a real good grip there, it's not gonna get away from you because that's where the tail flares, right? It's like the the knob at the bottom of your baseball bat. So on the third pass, I stuck my left hand in the water, I gripped it, the fish at the wrist, and I put the grip of death on it. I let the line, the lure, everything go, and I reached with my right hand underneath as as I pulled the tail up, I reached underneath its belly, and I slid my hands under the gill plate and grabbed the fish by the gills and then flipped my hand over, uh, backhand, and I pulled that fish into the boat, and now I'm holding this monster um with the bait still in its mouth and two big, ugly, awful looking trouble hooks right in the face. And I and I and and then by this time, so now I'm holding that fish by the by the jaw, by underneath the gill plate, where where you need to hold them. And um I'm frantically saying to Rayburn, okay, drop the rod, use the light on my phone, find me some pliers. I need some pliers, bud. Vice scripts, pliers, channel locks, anything. And I said, look in the glove box, and he's looking in the glove box. Dad, there's nothing. There's gotta be something, bud. Look in there, look in there, ba-pa-pa, look here, look there. Finally, I forget where he found them, but he found me, you know, those the tiniest uh Canadian tire needle nose pliers. And then I pulled the hooks out with these little guys, and um, I passed that fish over to Rayburn, and um he held that fish like a uh a champ, and he was so proud in that moment, and that moment never mind the fish, which was I forget what it was 51 and a half, 52 and a half. It was it was over 50, and it was really fat, and he was 10 years old, and it makes this thing look like a a freaking bohemoth, which at the end of the day, it really, it really was. Like, I mean, anytime you can you can catch a fish, and I and I bet you the girth on it was 24 inches for sure. Um, anytime you You catch a fish like that, it's a monster. Never mind under those circumstances. And I truly believe that um that uh the good Lord was looking after us that night because um I'm not sure today if under those same circumstances I could have pulled off getting that fish off of the off of the the out of the water, unhooked, um, in Rayburn's hands, without any incident at all. The fish was fine. The the it everything went perfect. And um, and and that's the first the first situation. Um, one of those fish that I I always think about. I thought about it this weekend. I I thought about it when you know Rayburn uh was driving the boat out to his first spot, and uh, you know, we drove over that every day. We drive over that spot. It was literally a hundred yards from our dock. Um, but um that is a that that right there is the epitome of a fish that I still think about.

Two Rivers Lodge Spot

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Welcome to Two Rivers Lodge, where we know that our hard work and determination creates your best experiences. You'll arrive as a guest but leave as family. Surrounded by a multi-species fishing mecca like no other. Our elite cabins and professional staff are ready to make your stay unforgettable. Experience the difference. Because at two rivers, every cast is a story, and every guest is a part of the family.

SPEAKER_08 24:05

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.

SPEAKER_09 24:15

Every Thursday, Ans and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.

SPEAKER_08 24:22

Hmm. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?

SPEAKER_09 24:25

Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

SPEAKER_08 24:32

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.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

All the other guys would go golfing. Me and Garchomp Turk, and all the Russians would go fishing. The scientists. But now that we're reforesting or anything, it's the perfect transmission environment for line.

SPEAKER_07 24:51

The chefs. If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for you will taste it.

SPEAKER_08 24:57

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.

SPEAKER_09 25:06

Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Another one.

Lake Nipigon Jealousy And Leverage

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Um back when I was a kid, um, I was more than 16 for sure, because I was uh I was driving. I would have been, oh I thought, well, I would have probably been somewhere between 19 and 22. I was working uh at a sheet metal shop down in Brampton called Decoursi Steel and working with um one of my best friends, well, my best friend, uh Eric Poole, uh, God rest his soul. And um uh Eric had uh had uh that summer um called me and we always did this big fishing trip to Lake Kippwa in Quebec with uh with Ray and Rick and Claire and and um Eric and myself and and then uh a spattering of of different um people over the years. But we would do this Kippawa trip and that August, uh actually it wasn't, it was that spring, so June, I caught the group record Lake Trout, and the group records were were something to behold. Like these were these were benchmarks that I strived to get because what come with these records was bragging rights, and bragging rights back in those days for for for us were huge. That was leverage like no other leverage. Whenever, you know, like whenever you're in an argument and you're pissed off at each other and you really wanted to seal the deal, you pulled out your leverage, and you're like, yeah, well, you'll never catch a largemouth bass as big as the one I've got, bud. Right. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of those records to pull out, none, not one. And um this year, I I um um I I got the record. I had the biggest lake trout. Well, that was in June. I went, I had it mounted, and I and it wasn't huge. Like it wasn't huge by any means, but it was big for me, and it was it was our group record. I think it was like 16, 17 pounds. I went and had it mounted mounted and everything else. Well, in August of that year, beginning of August, Eric stepped in a groundhog hole while he was out um um doing something, checking the the um the deer, the the he was patterning deer for the for the fall hunt, for the October hunt, and um uh twisted his knee. So he couldn't work. And uh Ray at that time had holidays, his dad. So with like three days' notice, and keep in mind Eric and I worked together at DeCourcy Steel for Peter DeCourcy. And uh with like three days in advance, he calls me, he said, Stever, dad and I are going to Lake Nip again. You gotta get the time off. And that that meant like all of next week in the middle of August, and I was like, Oh my god, okay, I gotta get the time off. I went in and I talked to Peter, and um it was like a massive no. No, no, no, no, no. So anyway, we um um uh I said no. While Eric went up to Lake Nippigan with his dad, and they come back with the biggest fucking lake trout that I have ever seen. Um it was like I they were they were well over 25 pounds, like they were just huge, like smashed, smashed my record. And uh they took a video, and um, I haven't seen that video in years. I've been on Ray to get it, get it out so we can get it saved. But anyway, Ray, get that goddamn video for the thousandth time. Um, but anyway, they made this video, and Eric wouldn't tell me nothing. He wouldn't, he he called me when he got back, and actually, I I don't think he called me. I phoned him because uh back in those days there was no texting or sending pictures or social media or nothing. So it was Polaroids and and um and uh we had the camcorder. Ray had bought a camcorder. So um I'm I call. I finally I call. Eric's like, well, I said, Did you catch any? He's like, ah, we got a couple. I'm like, no, really, did you catch any? Well, Steve, you better come over. As soon as he said, You better come over, and he's not giving me anything else. I knew. I knew my heart of hearts, my my little my record was going to be gone. My bragging rights survived for like three months, and off I go. I get to the front door, and they're like, Oh, you're gonna have to come. We made a video for you. I'm like, oh my god, you made a video for me. And I'm thinking in my head, this is terror. This is not gonna be good. This is not going to be good. So anyway, I'm like, oh, okay, show me this video, you son of a bitch. Anyway, we walk into the that into the living room, and they've got it all set up. Like they're they they've got my like we all had spots where we sat, and they got my spot all set up, ready. Ray's sitting in his spot, and he's grinning from ear to ear. Like, I mean, he's he's he's he's jovial at the sight of Steve walking into this into the living room. So I take my position, Eric pushes play on the on the VCR, and on comes this video. And Ray and Eric are sitting in Ray's boat, 16-footer, and Eric's in the front, Ray's in the back, and all I see is a picture of Eric from the back with his and he's bent over with his big ass crack hanging out, beautiful sunset in the background, and uh I hear him talking, and he's like, and and and I haven't seen it in so long, so I can't remember verbatim, but it was like, Stever, if you wanna be a real man, you gotta come and fish with a men fish. And then he hikes this massive lake trout up out of, I don't know whether it was the cooler or where, or whether he was just holding it so low that I couldn't see it. And he says, You gotta come with a menfish, and he turns around and he displays this bohemoth of a lake trout, and he says, Now that is our group record, and he's like 25 pounds or whatever it was, and that's not even the biggest one, and he puts that in the uh puts it in the river or the lake, and then the clip is over, and then they all laugh, they laugh at me, and the clip is over. Well, I then say, So how many um how many um uh other fish did you catch? And they're like, Oh, we caught all kinds, Steve. And then and I said, Eric, so if that wasn't the biggest one, what's the biggest one? He said, Well, I'm glad you asked. And he per they they they pranced me back out into the kitchen and they had a cooler under the under the the the table with this freaking gargantuan lake trout on ice. They brought the big one home. They're gonna they're gonna smoke it and eat it. And and I I was I was flabbergasted. I was jealous, I was I was heartbroken that I couldn't go on that trip and I missed out on all this fun, and my leverage has dissipated in a very sobering way. Like uh, like a very sobering way, and uh I I looked at this lake trout, and that one was like it was 30 pounds for sure. So, anyway, we um we decide that um we've gotta go back to Lake Nipigan. Like, there's no doubt we've got to go back, and we did later on that fall, and that's a whole nother story.

The Boat Purchase From Hell

SPEAKER_01 34:25

But the fish that I always think about was um uh the following year after this experience, I bought a boat just to go out on this trip. And um, this was my first boat. Um a guy in I don't know, uh Meaford had this thing, put a brand new top on it, and it was fiberglass, and it had a motor on it. He said it burns a little oil, but it runs good, and it was it had to have been from the 60s, like I it didn't even have a name. Actually, I think it might have been a been a Viking, and that was a brand you got from like Simpson Sears back in the day. Um, but anyway, I got I got goaded into buying this boat, and it was pretty big. It was like a 19 or 20-foot fiberglass runabout, and it had this big, beautiful new camper top on it, and an engine that that that was supposedly running but burning oil. We got her out onto the lake and we got it running. Um, and I d uh at my buddy Matt's place, Matt Stoyanovich. He had a place on um, oh, I forget the name of the lake. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We get this boat in the lake, it's got a five-gallon tank of gas in there, got it started, got it driving and trying to get it on to plane, it wouldn't plane, wouldn't plane. We drove it for five minutes into the middle of the lake and it quit. And smoke. And I was like, what is going on? Like, how can it have quit? Anyway, after five minutes of trying to figure out what the hell is going on, checking oil, checking this, checking that. Eric picked up the gas can and it had burnt five gallons of gas in in literally 500 yards. Like, I mean, the gas, it was evaporating straight through it. Like it went uh like I'm pretty sure we left about four and a half gallons of raw gas across the top of this lake um that went straight through this engine. So, needless to say, my purchase was a heartbreaker. So that day we got the boat back onto the to the um onto the uh trailer. We took it to a Jack's Lake. That's what it was. Because I think it was like Jack's Lake Marine. And uh I said, hey to the mechanic, I said, You got something that you can fix this up for me? And he's looked at the motor, and in two minutes he says, Yep, I can fix this motor for you. I said, Oh, perfect. How? He said, he pointed at a at a used Yamaha about uh 30 years newer, and he said, You see that 115 Yamaha right there? I said, Yeah. He said, That's how you fix it, because this is a boat anchor. This is not fixable. I said, Oh, okay, so how much is that gonna cost me? And I think they in those days, this would have been like this would have been late 90s, early 2000s. Um, and uh he said, uh I think it was like $900 that uh that he sold me this engine. And I got a 9-9 kicker in the deal. Um, and that one was uh was uh two years old, a camp engine back when they did the camp thing. And um, so anyway, I bore down and paid the 900 bucks, which I didn't have, and now I and and and he was doing it all. He said, come back next week. Well, he put this engine on, and when I picked it up, he said, Hey, listen, dude, um, the transom in this boat is really, really, really rough. Like, I would not um recommend you driving this much without fixing the transom. And that is not something that I'm going to do because it's going to cost you a lot of money. And I looked at him and I said, What's the transom? And he said, Okay, come with me. And the transom is the back of the boat where the engine hangs. And basically, this boat, uh, and usually there's a an aluminum cap that goes across the top and it's all sealed nice, nice. And on fiberglass boats, there's the fiberglass shell on the outside of it, and a fiberglass shell on the inside of it, and you've got wood, marine plywood, layer upon layer upon layer to make about a uh two and a half to three inch solid board that goes across the back, and that's your structure. While my structure was rotten and rotten to the point where I had to take it home and trying with I couldn't take the engine off. I dug out, uh, I supported the bottom of the engine so that I could like trim it down so that there was no weight on it. I loosened the bolts so that this squished board and fiberglass opened up. I dug all the rotten board out and I stuffed as much plywood and stuff in there with glue as I could. I squished it all back up and I said, that's a job well done. And that was the boat that we took to Nippigan for the fish that I always think about.

Orient Bay And Big Water Waves

SPEAKER_01 40:09

And this fish, um we we by that time we found a place. So this was the next year after um Eric went with Ray, and then Eric and I went and camped, which is a different story. Uh great story, but different story. Uh, I'm sure that you can go back and find it. But um this year we found that a place called Tacey uh Cottage Rentals on Orient Bay, right on Highway 11, uh just uh the other side, so just northwest of Beardmore. Um, this was uh uh an older gentleman who had cottages, and you could rent cottages and then get out onto Lake Nippigan. Well, for us to get out Orient Bay just to get onto Lake Nippigan, and for those of you who don't know Lake Nippigan, Lake Nippigan is the largest lake by far in uh inside Ontario borders. So uh it doesn't, it's not a great lake. It we don't share any borders. This is in Ontario, and it's just this side of Thunder Bay, directly above Lake Superior, and it is a giant. You might as well be in the ocean. Um, so to get out to um Nippigan through Orient Bay, it was like a 10-minute boat ride, 10-15 anyway. And um so far away from where Eric and Ray caught those lake trout that it wasn't even an option. We couldn't we couldn't even get there. Mind you, the gas mileage on the new Yamaha was a hell of a lot better than than the Viking, which wasn't difficult. Um, but um anyway, we fished and we trolled and we put uh down riggers on this uh boat and um uh and and we didn't catch a whole lot of fish. We but but we caught we caught one in particular, and this fish was a fish that Eric caught. And um we got out to the mouth of Orient Bay out into the big water, and the wind turned and started to blow up, and we got out into these huge waves, like massive waves. And uh I've uh I finally said to Eric, because Eric was a trooper, he he was just in it for the the long haul. Um, but I said, bud, we I think we better pull up the lines here and go find some shelter somewhere because it's getting real rough. And at that time, I was not a seasoned veteran in driving boats and you know, in handling big waves and big water and everything else. So he agreed. And uh as I'm driving, because I couldn't leave the wheel to get the rods off of the um off of the downriggers. So Eric jumped back there and he was pulling these the rods off. Well, the first rod he pulled off. Um he's reeling it and reeling it, and I'm watching kind of I'm looking ahead, seeing how to navigate the waves, and then I'm looking back, and I remember looking back, and I could see Eric's eyes. He was focused on something behind the boat. And I look over the boat, like behind where he was looking, and I see the waves were like three, they were like three footers at least. And his his spoon, about 40, 50 feet behind the boat, is popping through the wave. Well, as I in the moment that I'm looking back and I I catch a glimpse of his spoon, I see this big mouth coming through the waves at his spoon. And I didn't even, Eric seen it all. Like, I mean, I just turned and I and I saw the spoon come out of this wave once I've located it and then a big mouth following it. Eric put put his rod tip back and set the hook. And did he not catch a freaking lake trout like that? Like he must have snapped it off of the down rigger at like 40 feet down and was reeling it back in and reeling back in. And this fish must have followed it all the way up so that it's diving through waves to get its mouth on this bait. Like it was hot on the bait. And Eric rod tip down, bow to the old lake trout and set the hook and bang. And he's like, Stever, I got a monster. And I'm off the wheel. I'm like, oh my god, bud. The waves are I I can't, I can't what do you want me to do?

SPEAKER_04 45:18

He said, throw it in neutral and we'll hope for the best. And dumb me. I threw her in neutral and run back.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

I grabbed the the the net. And by the time I grabbed the net, he had this fish beside the boat, and it was full of spunk because it came up by itself. And they can uh lake trout can can uh let the air out. They can uh equalize as they come up through the water column fairly quickly, and this thing is fighting.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

I'm like, Eric, you're gonna have to play it out. He's like, fuck that, get the net.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

So I went down, I grabbed the net and the and I got the net in, and we got it into the net, and this thing was a true nippigan giant. It measured 39 and three-quarters, and I I uh I'm a roundup guy, but not when it comes to our our our personal records, our leverage, our bragging rights, because it's gotta be accurate. But this fish was 39 and three-quarters, and the girth on it was 36 inches. It was a football. It was like, well, a football. It was like five times the size of a football. I can't even describe the size of that fish. And um, yeah, Eric got it. Uh, and in the moment, I was again very jealous. Um, I'm man enough to admit it, uh, but you know, it's um it was meant to be. And on that trip as well, down rigging, we caught, well, on Eric's rod, we caught a five and a five pound, five and a half pound brook trout on the downrigger. And I did catch a few fish. I I caught some, but nothing to I don't even remember that's how big or plentiful the fish were that week. Um, but um Eric came home and he had a mount made of uh of that lake trout and it was chasing and trying to eat his um five-pound speckle trout, brook trout, speckle trout, same difference. And um that fish that day will never leave me. That uh that was a that was a good one. That was a good one. And I am very thankful that um that it was Eric that uh that um took the glory. And to this day, there is nobody that's broken that record. Um that one that one is still living. Yeah, yeah. God God bless you, buddy. Uh I'm gonna grab a drink here quick. A little cold lemon water does a does a body good. Another fish.

Glenn Barry And True Friendship

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Um that uh well, and this is this is um um two fish with the same guy. And um one is uh my first muskie. Um my first muskie of uh um of uh substance. I had caught one muskie before this, but it was like a 16-inch hammer handle off a dock um when I was uh when I was young. But um my good buddy Glenn Barry, uh, and Glenn is uh one of those guys who uh will give you the shirt off his back, and that's basically how I met him. He was giving me the shirt off his back. Uh and in I had I had met him um peripherally uh through uh friends of mine, um uh the Smiths, Craig Smith and his mom and dad. Um, and they would always have a Christmas party. And Glenn happened to be their neighbor, and Glenn's wife, Laura, I'll do a little bragging. Uh Laura Barry is probably, in my opinion, um the best, if not one of the top two or three watercolor artists in the country, bar none. Um, her work is is um outstanding and and it uh kept her busy a lot, so that gave Glenn a lot of time to fish. And Glenn was a firefighter too, so you know he uh he had uh when he was on, he was on. Um, but when he was off work, he did have time. Anyway, uh I got uh I got um accepted uh as a contestant on the last call. And I knew Glenn was a in my mind professional bass fisherman, like he fished tournaments and all kinds of stuff. So I called Glenn to see if he would meet me at Super Burger um one evening to give me a few pointers on catching bass. And um when I talked to him on the phone, he said, actually, no, I can't do that, but give me one minute. And I thought, oh no, I knew he wasn't gonna, I knew this wasn't a good idea. He wasn't gonna help me and everything else. And as I'm thinking all this bad shit, he comes back on the phone. He said, Hey, listen, man, I just had to ask my son, uh, because we're going to our cottage this weekend, and um, it's his it's his 13th birthday. So I wanted to make sure it was okay with him if you came with us, because I can't tell you um how to bass fish. I have to show you. So we would love to have you come up to the cottage, and that's how my relationship started with Glenn. And uh to this day, um he is one of the he's one of those people that I hold very close to me, even though I don't see him a lot. You know what I mean? There's always those people. Anyway, so this wasn't that time, but another time, actually, we were fishing tournaments together uh because uh we spent a year fishing tournaments and after the last call, uh we tried to um to uh start a fishing show of our own called Fish Fever. And uh the legacy of that, the uh the the Shaudiere Lodge email address right now is still fishfever17 at gmail.com, which goes all the way back to when Glenn and I were trying to do this television show. We had a producer, like I mean, it was a whole thing. That's a whole nother story. Uh I should do a podcast on that too. Maybe I will. But anyway. So we're gonna be fishing this tournament, and um, we're up there. No, no, it wasn't a tournament. Sorry, these are all memories that are kind of coming in and out, but um, we went up to the cottage on go home. Glenn had a cottage on go home. He needed to fix it up and put some insulation in the underneath, and we were gonna go fishing. So the on the the first day, we went fishing and we um portaged back into this lake and got into a small boat and fished for bass, and it was a blast. Um, like fished until we couldn't fish anymore, and every freaking rod I owned was tangled, backlashed. Um, you know, it was just a state of mahem. And you probably figure out why. So by the time we got back, then we really got into drinking, and um um I uh I was like, oh yeah, just right off. Anyway, right off the deep end. And um uh no, yeah. I remember going to bed sick, not feeling good. And um whether it was because of excessive drinking, which in this it very well could have been, but in this case, I'm pretty sure it wasn't. I think that I just um I went to bed and I I was not feeling good at all.

A Backlash That Turns Into Chaos

SPEAKER_01 53:55

Um, but the next morning I remember waking up and it was early to the smell of cooking breakfast. And um, Glenn was making bacon and eggs and the whole gamut. And I I remember the first thing I remember is oh my god, that smells so good. And the second thing that went through my brain was, and I feel good. And I got back, I got up out of bed and I'm like, oh Glenn, this is amazing. We had our breakfast. Um uh I went down to the dock because I I had all of these rods that were just demoed. Anyway, I get most of them all cleaned up, and then I got my my um my bait casting rod that had a um a backlash in it, but really deep in the in the reel. So I stood on his dock, which was parallel to his cottage and deck. So it was like an L shape, and the cottage and deck was closer to the main water. It was like a big rock that went out into the into the lake, and then the dock was back and parallel uh or um uh perpendicular, like a T to the um to the cottage and deck. So I'm standing down on the the dock, and I cast straight out by the the cottage, the deck, all of that, right out into the main water of the lake until the spool went bank, and there was the backlash that was deep in the reel. Um, so I start working on it. I start working on it. I pull in, and for anybody who's tried to fix a backlash or what I prefer to call them professional overruns, but either way, you gotta just start pulling on lines and try and get the one that's you know, like a U and that's holding back the your line from coming out, and you pull that one and you pull the next really, it's not a science. You just pull on shit and then pull your line until it comes loose. Well, I get this one free, and there's a boat going by. I remember that distinctly, and I get two reels into pulling this line back. I wasn't even fishing, I had a long A-bomber on, is what is the bait that was on there. Or I'm not even fishing, honest to God. And this boat goes by kind of where my line is. I turn my second reel and whack the the the line takes off to the point where I thought that somehow, and I and and it's such a ridiculous thought that that it doesn't even make sense. But I thought somehow my line got hooked onto that boat, and the boat was pulling my line. Well, I'm watching this boat disappear. My line's still going, but there's that that boat is way too far away for it to be hooked to my line. Like I don't know what I'm hooked to, but it's not that boat. And and now I'm I'm reeling and I'm pulling. And this, honest to God, is the heaviest, um most ridiculous thing. And it's in the middle of the lake, like there's nothing, it's not like I'm fishing and there's there's logs and rocks and nothing. It's like in the middle of uh of the lake, right in front of Glenn's cottage and probably a good long cast away. And now I come to realization that this has got to be a fish, but it is pulling and going like I have no control of what this thing is doing. I'm just holding on for dear life. And now I realize that I'm on the dock by myself. I've got no net, I've got, I've got no way to try and to catch this fish. The boats are in my way. Um, and and I start yelling. Glenn! And I yell and I yell and I yell, and no answer from Glenn, like none. So I get to the point, and this is like five minutes now. Like, you know what? A long, like when when people say that they fight fish for like five minutes, that is such a long fight that it it it it it it that's like a half an hour. Like, I mean, to fish fish for the for longer than five minutes, you're strapped in a chair in the ocean, honestly. Or you're using light, light gear that is so light that it's it's you know, the that's why. But I had pretty pretty heavy gear and I'm fighting this fish, and I get to the point where I get it close to the to the water or close to the dock. I hadn't I hadn't seen it yet, and uh it would take back off and it would just go and go and go. And I'll tell you what, like sometimes you can try and pull them one way or the other, left or right, to try and steer them one. Uh there was no steering this fish, it just went where it wanted. So now I've got a choice in my head. I'm thinking I need Glenn and I need Annette, or I'm not gonna get this fish. So I hold that rod um straight up over top of my head with it fighting, and my hand, arm, and everything is bouncing as it's pulling. And the reason I'm doing this is because I'm walking across that dock. I walk up one, two, three, landing, four, five, six deck. So that was stairs landing up onto the deck that's probably eight to nine feet off of the water. Actually, it'd be probably closer to ten feet off of the water. My line is going down into um uh go home lake. I'm standing on his deck. I open the sliding door, I stick half of my upper body while I'm still holding on to this rod and the line going into the uh lake, and I start yelling inside the cottage, Glen, Glen, I need help. I got a fish on, I need help, Glen, and I am yelling at the top of my lungs, and that was a piss poor rendition of what it actually really sounded like, I'm sure. Um, but I listen and I hear, yeah, yeah, okay. And I've I think, oh my god, thank God he's coming. I walk that whole trip right back down onto the dock where I once had stood, and I'm fighting this fish while I get it up close enough to the to the dock that I see um I see the the fins on it, and I'm like, oh my god, this thing is big. I don't know what it is. And at that moment, it runs again. Like, I mean, it runs, and it is the it's pulling drag. I got 20-pound braid, and I got this long A-bomber, and it just rips drag. Like, and almost to the point where I'm spooled, like I'm thumbing it to slow this thing down. And Glenn walks out onto the deck in a nothing but a towel. He was in the shower, and I look at him with eyes the size of saucers, and I'm like, buddy, I got this massive fish on. I need help. I need you, Glenn. And he's like, Oh yeah. And as I as he's looking out, this I can see the fins on this fish coming out of the water. And it was it was a little bit, it was a little bit surprising because from my vantage point, it didn't look like the fin was very far from the back tail. Like there wasn't a whole lot for what I was dealing with, it didn't look like it was in, it was, it looked, it looked small. The way that the back fin, the from the distance from the back fin to the tail, it looked small. And Glenn sees this and he says, Oh yeah, I think you got a little pike there. I'll be down in a minute. So he saunters back in, and I'm like, No, Glenn, Glenn, you gotta come now. And he's like, Yeah, yeah, I'll be there in a minute. And he puts his clothes on. And I don't, I he might even have thrown a shave in there. I don't know. I honestly, I don't know. And finally, finally, he comes down, and he's like, Well, um he's standing there and I'm fighting this fish, and he's like, Yeah, I I saw it. It's just a little northern pike. I said, Glenn, get the net. I was in no mood. And honestly, this was like a fifth, I'm 15 minutes into this. I'm 15 minutes into this. At this point in my life, and maybe since this is the biggest fight that I have ever had. This is Barnon, the biggest fight that I have ever experienced. And Glenn is like, he's very nonchalant about it because in his head he saw it and it's just a little pike. I said, Glenn, go get the net. He said, We don't have a net. I said, Yes, you do have a net. I saw it underneath the cottage yesterday when we were doing insulation. Go get that net. It's right up there. It's just a little trout net, but it's a net. And what it was was one of those like black, small, the hoop on it might have been, I don't know, two feet, maybe, if that. And a black mesh. So I finally get this fish up, and it's right at the at the the dock, the one part of the dock that um that is um that that there's no boat on, and I see it. And uh it was the first big muskie that I'd ever seen. And I and I and I still wasn't I still wasn't convinced it was a muskie. Um like Glenn, this fish is big, man. And then it takes another run. And at that point, I realized that I had it foul hooked, and foul hooked means that I had it hooked by the tail.

Foul-Hooked Fifty-Inch Muskie

SPEAKER_01 1:04:43

Wow, it wasn't actually the tail. If you look on a muskie, the last their their their top fin, the fin on their back isn't actually on its back. It's about two-thirds back on its body. And I had it hooked right in through the base of that top back fin. And uh, I think what happened was it must have like, I don't know whether when that boat went by, it spooked it and it it turned and and kicked away or whatever, and it and it um it the tail hit whatever it was, the tail hit my bait. Whether it was scared from the boat, whether it it it um uh took a swipe at the bait trying to eat it and missed it and turned and and uh the back fin got caught on that hook. And I had that hook right in there, real good. And um, but I have no control. Uh it's swimming away from me constantly. And um I I said, Glenn, okay, um, I'm gonna work it towards the rock because the dock was was um uh perpendicular to the rock that the cottage was built on. So it was that L shape. So I was the the fish run back. out into the lake and I I brought the rod, I brought everything right up close to the to the rock. So I was standing at the back on the dock where it hooked to the rock and Glenn ran out onto the rock probably 30, 40 feet out the point. And I reeled that fish back up to the um uh to the uh side of the rock to the point that Glenn reached that little baby net into the into the water and then I released the fish uh let it go forward a little bit and he got the net around his head and that's that's where it stopped he got the net on its head and he's like Steve this this net is too small all I am I got its head in the net and I said okay good just let's work it back work it back work it back I'll reel it back you keep its head in the net and then we got it back to where the dock and the rock met and with Glen having the the net in its um uh on its head and I grabbed its tail and we both lifted this thing out of the water and he said to me no way that's a big fish I said I've been trying to tell you it's a big fish for the last 20 minutes dude anyway it turned out to be a 50 inch muskie that was that's my my that was my first 50 inch muskie and um um uh I woke up my hair was was sideways from sleeping on it I had severe bed head I was all greasy I hadn't showered I hadn't done nothing and uh I took pictures on that dock with that fish and we released it and uh those were some of the first that was one of the first pictures that I had to use for Shaudiere when I bought the lodge I think it's on it was definitely in the first booth with me with bedhead hung over as shit and uh I might have made the first brochure or two but that's another another memory that uh that sticks with me and a fish that I always think about and and um I think I think to be honest with you I'm gonna I'm gonna cut this one off here um I've got three three more memories which uh um uh which are fish that I uh that I always think about but um um I'm gonna do it in our next podcast um because uh I've taken up uh uh enough of our valuable time today and folks I really really appreciate you getting to this point um it was uh it was wonderful sitting down and uh sharing those memories with you and like I said in the opening I I certainly hope that um uh if you've got to this point that some of my memories have triggered some of those memories that uh that you have that uh are are embedded in feelings and um uh just they're they're the ones that that um they just

Closing Thanks And Memory Trigger

SPEAKER_01 1:09:20

pop up every once in a while they're not recall memories they're not memories that that um that are very clear in your mind but every once in a while you'll see or smell or or um something will happen where where those fond memories come back and I hope that uh I hope that um that uh this has triggered a few of them for you um thank you to the Fish in Canada television show all you boys out there working hard uh we're making TV go check us out um thanks to uh uh two rivers lodge and uh Willie the oil man up there we appreciate your support and uh head on over to fishingcanada.com where you can get all kinds of wonderful merchandise and we're always giving away free stuff for those of you who want to put in your entries uh every day as many as you can um that's the way you win and folks thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North I'm a good old boy never meaning no harm I'll be the whole you ever saw been reeling in the hog since the day I was born bending my rug stretching my mind someday I might on a lodge and I'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 while I'm a good old boy I bought a lodge and live my dream and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems yeah back in 2016 Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.

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Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

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Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

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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.

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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. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures tight lines everyone find Uglypike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts 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 Olet and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:53

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. After nearly a decade of harvest, use testimonials and research my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show's about my pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts