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Eating Wild
Hosted by three hunting and fishing buddies with a lifetime of culinary experience between them, Outdoor Journal Radio's Eating Wild podcast brings folks from all walks of life to the boat, tree stand, and kitchen to tell the stories and answer the questions around the pursuit and preparation of wild fish and game.
Eating Wild
Episode 71: Crewed Up w/ Tim Dawson Jr.
Tim's story is as multi-layered as the waters he fishes. This week on Eating Wild, we'll share tales from the Grand River, highlighting its underestimated potential and the adrenaline-fueled battles with river fish. With our shared passion for shore lunches, we'll tantalize your taste buds with innovative walleye recipes, like the mouth-watering "bacon walleye."
Tim's proposal story is a romantic adventure that blends the great outdoors with a touch of creativity and collaboration. Picture a secret island, a sunflower trail, and a perfectly orchestrated moment that leaves everyone breathless. As the story unfolds, we'll discuss Tim's upcoming fall wedding, planned with a nod to muskie fishing on Lovesick Lake, a perfect blend of love and the thrill of the catch. His fiancée's adventurous spirit adds a delightful twist to the nuptials, as fishing becomes a part of the wedding day ritual.
Beyond personal stories, Tim’s approach to business is both inspiring and amusing. Imagine taking clients fishing only to find them unprepared in designer clothes, yet leaving with unforgettable experiences.
Follow Eating Wild on Instagram! To reach out to the boys, drop us a line at eatingwild@odjradio.com
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Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of eating wild podcast, smash malecka coming to you live from the studio today in guest studio again. Folks, I don't know what's going on here. The Eating Wild podcast studio has turned into a shop where you could come hang out, have a drink, have a dart, and you know it's always a good time when you're here sitting down with the E-Dub boys. So I got in-house special guests today. I'm pleased to welcome my good friend. We become friends and we come like oh, we're going to be fishing partners soon. Oh, for sure, for sure, we got Mr Tim. Tim is I got to get your title right because you have so like I'm just reading the script here, you have so many different titles. Brother, if, somewhere, if you had to give yourself a title, okay, somebody says give me the title for yourself, what would it be?
Speaker 3:I just have to say guy's guy guy's guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like so, tim's the guy's guy. How about entrepreneur? How about fisherman, river fisherman? How about popper? Like what's going on?
Speaker 3:it's been everything right, it's like. And then the best is when you take that passion and you merge it in with your work, in your day-to-day life. And any excuse to get on the water, do something outdoors well, listen, tim, it's uh, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:We we actually met. The eating wild team met tim over a year ago at the toronto sportsman show and I was introduced to you, um, by the fishing canada guys with you know, ang Viola, and you've been doing a business with Fishing Canada for a while, before we even met and before this whole podcast network was created. And we're talking, of course, about the company that you are a part of, it's ownership as well, ownership as well, and that's Campus Crew.
Speaker 3:Yeah, family business.
Speaker 2:Family business and you've been creating swag for F in Canada for how many years now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, a few years now. So it all started at the Sportsman Show. Crazy Approached Ange and Pete and hooked them up with some hoodies, said come check out the booth. And one thing led to another, and now I'm working with them, getting all their merch online, and then got the opportunity to meet you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, them getting all their merch online and and then got the opportunity to meet you, yeah, and the boys, we, uh, we came down to your booth and then we were just blown away because you know us going up to bear creek cottages for years and I noticed the similarity in some of the shirts you were showing us and I'm like, wait a second, do you do bear creek cottages as well? And you're like, yeah, that's you work with tara. Yeah and uh, your stuff is all over the place and it's amazing what you do. But listen, I'm excited that we're working together and the swag is coming. We got beautiful swag we're going to talk about. But let's talk about you, brother, because you have the most interesting story. I was reading more about you on some of the notes and fishing. You're a stick bro and you also are co-host of a tournament that you do every year. You're also the co-host of a tournament that you guys have been doing for how many years now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're on year five now. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:This is the Blue Lime Tournament correct.
Speaker 3:So it's my Uncle, sean Dawson, and then me running this. It's his company's Blue Lime Technical Services, right, so he sponsors it. Campus Crew. We're starting to sponsor it now and, you know, to start off it's just let's start doing something. You know there's a few of us and then it's starting to grow. We've had some nice guests in there. We've had Chris King, dave Chong, mike Reed Muskoka, mike he's one of the leads who organizing boats and guys coming in and out. Yeah, the one we just did. So it was a spring classic and then a fall classic. Right, I just had the pleasure of fishing with Mark Rich, mark Rich, nipsey and Stick, yeah, and we were on Lake of Bays for the fall one, okay, and came first in that, which was nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were mentioning. I remember you invited me to this tournament and I was actually gutted because we were so busy in June.
Speaker 3:And it's invitation only, it's not like anybody from the public can join this tournament, correct? Yeah, we're keeping it small to start invitation and then just slowly building it out. And it's bass, correct? Yeah, always bass, bass.
Speaker 2:And so you came first place this year. Who were you fishing with? Was it with Mark Rich?
Speaker 3:Yeah, me and Mark were in the boat together. Oh wow.
Speaker 2:What a team.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. So you know, pitching lilies docks, and we didn't even. We're going from dock to dock and there's this little lily patch, right eight lily pads you could almost see under the whole thing, and mark's like why not just whips a senko at it. I don't know where the thing was hiding, but a five and a half, oh my. God Bang and we rip that in. I get it in the bag and we look at each other. We're like I think that's it.
Speaker 3:Holy smokes we won it with a 15-12 bag, so small bag like.
Speaker 2:Small bag like but 15 pounds. I mean that's pretty decent especially. I guess time of year makes a bit of a difference as well. I could only imagine what lake was that on?
Speaker 3:It was Lake of Bays. Lake of Bays.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, there are pigs in Lake of Bays from what I hear, but you know, the fact that you pulled out a 15-pound bag is pretty decent attorney. So you guys do this tournament every year. Now you also said that it's not just about the fishing, it's the whole. You know, the night it's like, it's almost like a party it's a three-day event, yeah, three days.
Speaker 3:So it's all best friends, family and, like my uncles, brothers in there, get my old man to come down here and there, and uh, yeah, so you know, john will rent a place, put us up for he'll have it for like a week and guys come up as early as they can. We get some fishing in and lots of drinking, good eating and then the day of the tourney we get it catered. So you know, you wake up, everybody's on the water.
Speaker 2:Um, you come back and we got cold beers on the dock, we got a server, food's ready to rock and it's a wicked event imagine having a tournament like that, where you just show up, you got a chef, you got the ice cold beers, buddy, you just need like luke bryan there literally literally, you got to be at a party of parties happening.
Speaker 3:We actually had a country singer, one of the guys in the tourney. Uh, he's friends with, uh, mike reed. Mike reed and uh, he brought him in, he was in the tourney and then he was playing with the guitar right on the dock for us. So we're eating, had some beers and just finished the vibe for sure.
Speaker 2:That's great. And listen, you mentioned Dave Chong. If you can finish first in any tournament that Dave Chong is a part of, that's special.
Speaker 3:I would take kudos to that, but Dave wasn't in this one. Oh damn it. Yeah, you could at least lie, I know.
Speaker 2:I can't lie. Well listen, chris King, also a stick. Oh yeah, I know, chris, he's been. He fished a few tournaments this year. I think he was in the what was the one he was? Just, I think he was in. If I'm not corrected, stand me, for if I'm not corrected, it was the Tim for raw fish. He had a tournament and I think Chris King was in that one as well Georgian Bay Classic. And you know he's still working with NHLPA. We got to meet him as well at the Sportsman Show and he's still doing a lot of work there. And, buddy, he's a stick. He's always on the water and it's not just bass he fishes.
Speaker 3:He fishes everything. He's a big musky guy too, musky, right. Yeah, me and him are always sharing stories when we're together and I know he's got to be in the war room, all that. And we were rooting. We were rooting for not a game seven, because if it ended at game six he was going to make the spring tourney and then if it went to game seven he wasn't going to make it.
Speaker 2:So unfortunately it went seven and he couldn't make that one and it was a good game, though we got to admit watching watching Florida win that Stanley Cup was kind of well. You know, we're Canadian, you always were.
Speaker 3:We always were a Canadian team.
Speaker 2:But good for the sport. For a team like Florida to win the Cup, I would say that's Canadian boys on the team. Yeah, you got a bunch of boys that brought it back. I saw Roberto Luongo. I think he was eating spaghetti and meatballs out of the Stanley.
Speaker 3:Cup. I did see that.
Speaker 2:That was a beauty, well duty, well, listen, man. Obviously the tournament um is is a five-year tradition, you know, growing probably within. But let's talk about the roots, man. Let's talk about where you started fishing, because the first time you and I talked we had very, we had a lot, we had a similar path to what got us into the sport and you mentioned to me, you know, fishing, the grand you were, you know, grew up sort of in, I guess southeast the southwestern ontario, would you say, was the grand you were, you know, grew up sort of in I guess southeast southwestern ontario, would you say, was that where you kind of grew up bradford area bradford area and uh, the rivers right.
Speaker 3:Grand rivers run right through there. So from my house within like a walk there five minutes I'm on the grands you're on the grand and and and, just for people listening.
Speaker 2:The grand river is not like the credit river. It's not like Gany. This river can have some huge stretch of water and it's wide.
Speaker 3:It's a very wide. Yeah, it holds good fish. It's a very healthy ecosystem. I've had a bad rap for years.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That was kind of a shitty river yeah yeah, so many people think it's a shit river because there's so many fish that conjugate through the Credit River and the bowmanville creek and even bronte at one point and when I was growing up river fishing so all these fish would, would, would come in by the thousands and it was like you're stepping on their backs. Yeah, so you know why. Would the some guy go out with his fly rod to the grand where you have to put work?
Speaker 3:in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you gotta work stepping on, you're not stepping on them and, uh, I think, I think it's probably one of the best well-kept secrets, because if you know what you're doing out there, you're going to pop.
Speaker 3:You got to know the holes and it's a big river Right. You're going from Port Maitland all the way up Fergus Way. So that's where it started, with my old man, tim Sr, taking me and my little brother, zach, out and I remember he had his dangerous spot. He called it and he could never take me and Zach and that almost got the itch more when you know he'd take us to the irrigation ponds and you know you're just popping larges and jumble, perching those things.
Speaker 1:Oh, perch too oh there's irrigation ponds.
Speaker 3:Holy smokes. My uncle has had some family farms and so he'd take us out there and it was nuts. He'd throw a jig head and half a worm on and some of the biggest perch I've seen coming out of this thing no way. So he takes us there right when we're little, gets us hooked. We used to do, uh, fishing trips with all my uncles up on nip um cappy, take us out and do the shore lunches. So that was getting experience of that and got me on my first big pike. But yeah, like now to this day, you know, going to those spots, my daddy, finally, would take us there and just to show how good the Grand is, like me, him and my brother, we'd have a hundred bass days around the Grand River, no kidding. And then what I love about it too is, like you know, I get home from work. I is like you know, I get home from work, I can just jet there.
Speaker 3:There's a spot I go to within a 400 or 500-meter stretch. I'll start off carp fishing Pop, a couple of 20-pounders screaming like a salmon, and then you go into some top water. I'm catching smallies. You know, you got that witching hour. I switch over, I go to this other spot. I'm cranking walters and then boom, and then it's dark and then we have a couple beers. We go throw some stinky shrimp in and you're popping catfish no way. All within like a 400 or 500 meter stretch, they all got their own little holes. The bass and the walleye will kind of share a couple of the same holes.
Speaker 2:I got to ask you this and this has always been my take, and I have this argument with Top Dog Hookset. Chris Showtime Johnson got a little taste of what a salmon feels like this fall. Early in the fall we went out with the champ and he hooked in. We were casting for salmon out in Lake Ontario with Jay Duce. Anyways, do river fish fight differently? 100% 100%.
Speaker 3:It's not even close in my opinion.
Speaker 2:You listen up Hookset or Top Dog, you listen to Tim right now because I got backup right now. Tell the guys, tell people what's happening, because I'm a big bass guy right.
Speaker 3:So like I catch the lake bass and all that. But you got a river small. You get a four and a half five pounder. That's sitting there, even the smaller ones, even the smaller ones, but he's his whole life. He's sitting there in the current Constantly. He's working out, he's building the muscle. He's sitting in the current eating crayfish, minnows, whatever. And then when you've got that current, you're fighting with oh, are you kidding me? So the thing's peeling five feet out of the water, boom back down. He's fighting against current. There's nothing like it.
Speaker 2:He. I could only imagine so you, so all these species of fish you were learning on the river and you know how is the steelhead fishing in the Grand, because I've never fished it before. Back in the day we used to go up to the Cayuga racetrack when I was a teenager and I remember always driving alongside the Grand and I was like, wow, this thing is huge and it's intimidating because it does look like there's some spots where it's like really really quick water Rap, because it does look like there's some spots where it's like really really quick, water Rapids are flying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, rapids go super shallow into deeper holes.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of holes. You got to know where your holes are Right. So steelhead fishing, would you say? Steelhead fishing is up to par to some of the greatest steelhead fishing in the Southern Ontario area.
Speaker 3:I'd say so it's awesome, it is so. I'm like it's always circled Steelhead opener and we do it some untraditional way. Sometimes too. I got a little 14 foot tenner. We'll peel that down the side of a ravine. It's a nightmare getting down there, carry the batteries, trolling motor, we launch it in, and there's stretches where I'll be trolling spoons, just popping them, and there's a big boat. I'd say it's a 1500 meter stretch we run so I'll troll to the top of it, kill the motor and just drift back with current casting. There's at the end there's a bigger hole. I'll anchor in and just cast that for 30 minutes and then kind of just repeat and there's a huge island around there and you know we'll catch some. We go. We do shore lunches. I'm like opener and go right up. One of my good buddies, orlando, is a's a guide at Anderson's Lodge, so he loves doing the shore lunches. He does it for a living, so I let him take lead on the shore lunch and, yeah, flame up, do fresh shore lunch and then back at it.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about the shore lunches, because it's one of the things that you know. Everyone has their own stories and how they do their shore lunch. You could always get your classics with your fried Walters and baked beans and potatoes, but how do you guys prepare for your shore lunches? So, first of all, obviously you're planning on catching fish, oh yeah, and you're packing a cooler with all your necessities you need. Or do you guys build a fire from scratch? Do you guys just kind of bring a frying pan, some oil, some fish crisp? What do you guys usually do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we'll bring a pan. We got the pans. We'll start a fire. We have, like, the cages and everything, so we'll get all that, set up, the grill crates and, yeah, we'll fry them up. Some salt, pepper, oil, splash of lemon, fucking right. Yeah, get the beans going.
Speaker 2:Or the potato tots and, um, yeah, sometimes we've even done corn, we have cobs of corn going and you just kind of get around, you just throw a hook on, you throw it out there while you guys are eating yeah, and then I've done.
Speaker 3:I do salt bricks a lot too. We'll bring out the salt bricks oh yeah, big himalayan salt bricks and we'll cook them right on top of that. No way, that always tastes really good wow.
Speaker 2:So what species would you prefer doing a shore lunch, or what species have you had as a shore lunch? I would. I would that just to rephrase that question yeah, I'm still a walter guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love the walleye classic walters.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can never go wrong, and I know that. So so, walters, out of the grand. Where are those? Like do you? Are they darker? Are they golden? Because I know so, they are golden, they're golden Because I know some of the fish. They are golden.
Speaker 3:They're golden right, you get a bit of both Okay, but I'd say most of the I've caught have been more the golden Okay. And there's some good holes where you go and boom, you get a couple twos. Just bang, bang, couple two pounders, you're like perfect.
Speaker 2:What's the slot size on the Grand for Walters, or yeah?
Speaker 3:there's not even a slide in certain areas. It depends where you are and everything. Because it's such a big river, right, of course, yeah. And then it's crazy too, because there's your sanctuaries. You just got to know where you are. If you are on the Grand doing things, because there's huge stretches of it's just trout sanctuaries Okay, so no, keeping anything you catch in those stretches all barbless hooks, right and then you go to the other side of the bridge and that's free game. It's free game.
Speaker 2:So if you are fishing, you just got to look at the regulations and right no, make sure you know where you are is it strategically done, like I know certain areas, that I fished the rivers, and I'll use the beaver river up in collingwood or thornberry. I should say, as you know, my reference point, because back in the day, um, you know, my good friend jay and I again we up river fishing together there was a certain section closer to the bridge of 26 where there was a wire that shot across the river and you couldn't catch, you couldn't even cast past that wire and it was because of sanctuary. But I noticed all the guys would always, you know, if you didn't get to your spot early enough, all the guys will sort of line up right before that wire Right on that mouth Right on that mouth because they know all that, that sanctuary fish there.
Speaker 2:For me it was always the hunt Like I wanted. I didn't want to go there. Yes, there was tons of fish there. You know your chances were better of hooking into a rainbow. But fishing fast water, fishing deeper holes, fishing deeper holes. And I never really got into fly fishing per se. But you know, centerpin fishing is similar in in some sense, but I would say that the faster water, the deeper holes, you know lining your float up to get that perfect drift just under that wood, that's off the bank, you know, and you're just slowing it down.
Speaker 2:There's nothing. There's nothing like it.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean on the exact same way, like so same thing. There's whiteman's creek, which is just that's where all these steelies are running up, right, they're spawning whiteman the nith and all that and you'll get guys are an opener and there's 50 guys and they're all lined up at the mouth and I know I could probably catch more numbers too, right, but I'm like part of fishing is a piece of it, of course. You know like I can be in the city and then I go to my holes and you look around, there's nothing but trees and I got like it's real remote. I put a little more grind in to get into these spots and I know I might catch a few less, but it's just me and the boys On a boat. There's no one else around and I'm not dealing with 50 people sitting beside me fishing too.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned something to me bacon walleye. What's the bacon walleye? What's going on with that? It's awesome, is it awesome? So so would you wrap your fish?
Speaker 3:we just wrap it into the bacon and tinfoil oh my god, boom, bacon, tinfoil. And then you just chuck it on the side of the fire, crate, you know, not right over the flame, and oh man, so you're.
Speaker 2:You're sure lunches, you take them to a different level sometimes.
Speaker 3:That's awesome because, remember me and the boys were sitting there, it was actually my Uncle, sean. Right, we pulled the bass out. We killed it because it's the air. Right, we pulled it out like 40 feet down. We're like this is going to be a good one because he's eating schmeltz cold water bass. And then so we flayed it up. We didn't really have much because it was just rented a place, just shot up there, just seen the bacon and the bass slice and we're like this is incredible. I don't think you can go wrong here. You had me at bacon yeah.
Speaker 3:So we just put the bacon in the tinfoil, wrapped it, chucked it on the fire and it's a game changer.
Speaker 2:Game changer. Well, listen, man, we're going to take a short break, but listen when we get back. Ok, I got to ask. You mentioned the story and it's an incredible story and hope you can share with that to the listeners On the other side of this break. We'll be right back with Mr Tim Jr.
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Speaker 1:How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, steve Nitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people, share their stories of our trials, tribulations and inspirations, learn and have plenty of laughs along the way. Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
Speaker 2:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more fishing than it was punching.
Speaker 1:So confidently you said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a trout? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm back, welcome back, smash Malucka, here sitting down with Mr Tim Jr no-transcript and if you can share that story with us, because this is a true fisherman's proposal if I've ever heard one, and the story is incredible. So I'll leave the mic to you and you could even start back on how you were prepping this in your head, because I know there was a lot of work that went into it. It was a lot.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, just me being me, right, love the water had everything to do with being outdoors near the water, right? So that's one of my go-to steelhead spots. I'll mention you there, that island. We do the shore lunches on. I decided, yeah, I'm going to propose to her there. So she's a very outdoorsy girl too, and some of our first dates were at her cottage up on Stoney Lake cooking over the fire. Those are some of our early memories when we started dating.
Speaker 3:So I went out to this island it's got a kayak with a little trolling motor on it, so I jet out there with the boys with some tools and shovels and saws and everything, and it was all overgrown because I seen it in the spring and then you know it's fall now and I'm like, ah, shit. So we spent like a good day. We tracked out a path, cleared it out and there's a huge tree that's fallen over. So we had it. So like you go under the tree, so it's almost like you kind of don't see the backside, and then you pop up and and we had a whole area cleared out. So that day I had everything prepped on the island. So I couldn't have done it without my brother and a couple of my best friends.
Speaker 3:So I take her for just what she's thinking is a river walk. We get there, we start. I'm like let's go down this way. So we walk down. So there's two kayaks there. I'm strapped together and there's a trolling motor on the one. I'm like that's weird, that's convenient. Yeah, I'm like that's wild school for a rip. So we hop on in and then we cruise up the right side of the island and then my brother and the boys they're on their kayaks. They launch strategically, right at the right time so we don't see each other. I go all the way to the backside and that's where there's a path and her fair flower is a sunflower, so I just sunflower heads just as a trail leading.
Speaker 2:So she's like what's going on here? She, she must have thought of something when she saw that.
Speaker 3:So then we follow this little sunflower head trail and then you go under that little, big, massive fallen tree and pop up and there's a fire going, tablecloth, all the drinks on ice, and then, um, a bunch of her favorite foods. So then I cooked for out there, you know, did salmon on the salt brick, we did steak skewers and deep fried crab sticks for her, and then a big thing of nachos in a tray.
Speaker 2:I threw on the fire as well oh man, sounds like a party more than an engagement yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:And then yeah, just popped down on my knee and did it jesus.
Speaker 2:So she, she must have been blown away like she was, just just like. How did you pull?
Speaker 3:this off Exactly Just all the effort she knew and how much went into that.
Speaker 2:Of course, and the boys did. They show up after it was all done, Did they come out of? You know?
Speaker 3:No, they just. They went right back down river and then just peaced out.
Speaker 2:Well, that was a team effort, folks. You know if, folks you know if you can get your friends involved and something like that you're going to remember for the rest of your life. You know it's uh, needless to say, that's special and congratulations to you, and I know that tim might have set the bar for some of the listeners out there. You know, plan ahead if you're gonna make something special and, uh, you know what man toodles to you yeah, I had some people go you go, you're nuts, You're nuts.
Speaker 3:They're like that's not going to work. I'm like watch me.
Speaker 2:Oh man. Well, that's incredible, brother. Congratulations again. So now you've got a wedding that you're planning and you know we've chatted about it because you know I'm, you know, so grateful and I'm I don't even know how to say it, but you asked me to be the caterer for your wedding, which, I don't care what I had booked that weekend, we're making it happen.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't want anyone else but you there.
Speaker 2:And it's an honor for me to come up there and cook for you guys on your special day. And let's talk about that day because you have been planning something where you are going to include it. It's going to be sort of your outdoorsy type of wedding, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, like me and Steph, we eloped kind of during COVID Right, we just got it done and now this is the big one that we wanted to redo with the family and everything like that. And, like I said, like from the proposal on the island to us dating, it's like this is just how we want to do it. So, you know, we're doing it at Forest Hills Lodge. It's on Lovesick Lake in Kawarthas. We rented the whole lodge. It's a small, just intimate wedding, 25 people and it's got a nice chalet, seven cottages on the property, and so obviously I did it. We're going to do it in the fall, right, because it's a good musky lake.
Speaker 2:Now who plans their wedding around, muskies, that's incredible man. It's the way to do it and take notes, people. Okay, I don't think I'd ever ever be able to convince my wife to have a wedding around the lucky guy moon when the musky are biting.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean and she's even the one that said uh, you know, all the girls are gonna take a while to get ready, so you guys can get the boats and go fishing in the morning of and just make sure you're back in time shower and don't stink that that is awesome. I'm like wow, I'm lucky.
Speaker 2:You are like so, while the girls are getting their hair did, nails done, sounds like a Drake song. Yeah, and you're out there. You guys are smashing 50s. Oh yeah, that's the goal. That's the goal.
Speaker 3:And then you can even, like I said, if it's going to be, we're ready to go oh man, I don't know where's the caterer.
Speaker 2:Where is he there? He's on the lake smash tim, I think they're, they're into a big one that's awesome man.
Speaker 3:Best part too, is that, like just talking the owner. Last week I went to check out the venue and, uh, he's popping musky right off the dock there. Wow. So I'm gonna have all my musky rods sitting there set up for, you know, my uncle, my dad's, the guests, whoever like. Hey, you want to be in your suit and go cask knock yourself out what a wedding video that's going to be.
Speaker 2:Somebody, somebody landing a muskie yeah, right on the shore as well. You're just suiting, I'll die your knees deep in the water, pulling that puppy out I'll have my bow tie on and everything. It'll be beautiful. That's awesome, man. So you know you mentioned muskie. Um, you know the fall is coming. Um, you are quite a a musky angler as well yes, I love musky fishing and so, this time of year, you must be fired up, just as much as I am oh, it's everything.
Speaker 3:You got the big musky, the big bass, everything. And um, yeah, last weekend I was up at stony, so, um, I had one fall, that was it. But flying out next week on Tuesday going up to see my good buddy Will Polosky yeah, he owns Nordic Point Lodge- Nordic Point Lodge, who is also co-host of Steve Niedzwicki's Diaries of a Lodge owner. Yeah, and now they've added Stories of the North.
Speaker 2:Stories of the North Diaries and people. If you're listening, steve is, you know, being a partner with Steve for the past year, his podcast is fantastic and just adding your friend to that mix those guys there I'm sure the stories are going to be incredible, you know, and toodles to those guys. So you're heading up there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Unfortunately missed his wedding, so this was kind of a okay, get your ass up here at least then yeah, exactly, you gotta put your time in fly into winnipeg tuesday morning early and then, you know, fly out saturday. So get a good three and a half days just dialing in a muskie with him up there so the muskie up there would you say they're.
Speaker 2:You know, chances of landing a 50 are great, oh yeah, will sent me pics of like 56s.
Speaker 3:Wow, like just slobs up there, wow so and what kind of style fish you guys cast and trolling a little bit of everything yeah, it's gonna be my first time up there with him, so, um, I'm excited to see what, how he wants to dial in on it, wow, so I'm assuming a bit of both will do. I love the casting because there's nothing better nothing better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, we got the Muskie Brawl coming up, which Eating Well is the 50-inch plus sponsor for, and it's going to be hard for me to watch these guys casting their shots because it's a casting-only tournament. The brawl is a special tournament. Davey G and Graham. What they've put together is incredible and it's one of those things where you don't really see a casting only for musky tournament, like it doesn't exist.
Speaker 3:Trolling yeah, it's always trolling, and I've got planer boards out there covering ground.
Speaker 2:And I don't blame them because chances are, you know, especially if you're a guide and you want to get that person on a fish of a lifetime.
Speaker 3:You got some pain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hundreds of dollars, hundreds of dollars. And you want to make sure that they get that picture because that's what it's about, right? And it's not like back in the day where guys were going out there and trying to get a 50 to stuff and put them on their wall.
Speaker 3:you can do that now artificially take a picture your measurements, boom, it's done that's it and that's what I did with mine.
Speaker 2:The one I got with hook set was a 52 with dan. I think that was 2016. Maybe I could be wrong, but um took the picture, took 100 pictures, I was pumped and now it's stuffed in my cottage at the school and I got the Shadzilla hanging from its mouth. Still, retired bait, retired bait. I got the wall of those. Oh man, so you got your musky fishing fix coming up soon. What about business? So how do you find time, Because Campus Crew has been around since the 80s am.
Speaker 3:I right. So my uncle, nick Rizzo, he started the whole franchise, the retail stores and all that in 88. In 88. And then we were just a major retailer. My old man got involved early 2000s and then, yeah, about 16 years ago, we started dipping into the wholesale market and it kind of just took off for us, right, where a lot of people thought we went bankrupt because we just liquidated like 60, 70 stores all at once. Wow, you know. But after you know, doing a year of wholesale and you're running numbers and stocking staffing, dealing with the bullshit of 70 stores Right, it took all your time. You're making more money on the wholesale side. Right, your time, you're making more money on the wholesale side. So we just put all our eggs into that one basket and now it's one large building. We stock all the inventory blank, got embroidered machines chugging 24 7, and that's where, yeah, I'm out there hustling Getting custom orders and it's been awesome for me working with family.
Speaker 3:So now it's me, my dad, and then Nick Rizzo Jr, my cousin, so the three of us are running everything now and being able to merge my passion into the work side. So, you know, before we were very, you know, we were doing universities and all big sports teams, which is awesome too. And then I'm like there's such a, there's so much money in the fishing world too, of course, and that's my passion. It's a bunch of meat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's, it's you. Bunch of meats yeah, you said it right there. When you can combine your passion with your everyday job or career. I love cooking. I'm blessed because I get to cook every day, but if I can somehow incorporate fishing or hunting with the cooking ie shore lunches, cooking different types of meats, learning how to butcher different things and we're learning every day and anybody listening to our podcast knows that the Foreskins, we are not pros when it comes to shore lunches or shooting bears and field dressing them and making jalapeno bear poppers on the spot. That's not us. That's not the picture that we're painting here for people. We are just passionate dudes that have all different types of careers like yourself. Picture that we're painting here for people. We are just passionate dudes that you know have all different types of careers, like yourself, but we merge the outdoors and our passions into the career somehow, and the fact that you get to do that is amazing every day.
Speaker 3:It's a blessing. Yeah, you know what I mean. I'm here because of that. We met because of a work thing and now we're boys. I'm going up to Will's place because I started doing product for him and now we're good buddies Incredible.
Speaker 2:It's crazy how the outdoors just brings people together, no matter what your career is, and I find that you know, ever since we started doing this podcast together and you know this goes for again, I'm always speaking for the foreskins here we are meeting different people constantly and with social media now Siege has been running our social media. He's getting DMs from people talking about different lures and different lines and knives and spices. And did you guys try this? Have you guys tried that? And then we're putting out recipes and stuff like that. And it all comes down to being outside and being in the outdoors. Whether you're fishing, hunting, camping or you're just going out for a walk with your dog, no matter what it is, it brings us together. It's crazy. And you know how do you find the time, tim, like, how do you manage now your life where you're engaged? You know you guys have been together for a while. Sorry, you're married already, but you're you know, technically you're married, you been together for a while. Or you're sorry you're married already, but you're you know technically you're married.
Speaker 3:Um, you have a little man. You're a little guy.
Speaker 2:You got a year, year and a half boy and and you still find time to to get out there and do what you love to do, but manage work as well, right?
Speaker 3:uh, but still, if you find balance not as much right now as I used to, obviously, but, like I said, my wife's awesome. She lets me do these trips, those tournaments, and fly and fly up and see Will and get away in November with you when we go dial in on some skis.
Speaker 2:Oh, we're going to pop. We are going to find time to pop and through work.
Speaker 3:Right, that's an excuse. So it's like I got big corporate accounts where you walk in they're in a suit and tie. Next thing we know it's been an hour and we're talking outdoors and, and we're talking outdoors and we haven't even talked about what hoodies you want, what hats you want. And next thing, you know, our next meeting I'm taking a Thursday with that guy and I'm taking my client out fishing. Wow, like I take them out. I do a lot of steelhead fishing Right With my clients. I'll let them know like hey, we can get out. I got a tenner. It's an old bushwhack.
Speaker 2:We bush rack, we launch it and I'll put you out on there and I'll get you on a couple nice 10 pound steelhead and they're like no shit is it one of those guys that show up tim where you invite them fishing, and they show up wearing like designer jeans and like expensive nike shocks and you know, because this happened to top once I've had it once, yeah yeah, if you hear top dog story on what happened with him when he lost the pike of his life, when he brought his buddy out with him, who was just your hey, you're gonna the same thing, you're gonna come fishing with me, I'm gonna take you fishing and he shows up wearing designer jeans and glasses, looks like a model, and he ends up throwing the cradle at the fish. If you didn't listen to that episode, I gotta. I don't know. I'm not sure what episode it is, but luise tells us the story. It was the fish that got away and I'll tell you, man, you can get those guys where you invite them out and they're just not built for the outdoors.
Speaker 3:No, just got a super green, super green, right, and oh man I now bring a bag every time I go with rain gear, because I had guys show up too and just wearing like a hoodie and the forecast is calling for pissing rain the whole day.
Speaker 2:That's me, though. I have a problem. Yeah, I always. I and dan will always chirp me. He's always like did you not look at the forecast? And I look at him. Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it. Next thing you know, I'm shivering in the corner and they're like do you want to wear my jacket smash. So, speaking of jackets, speaking of jackets, buddy, you showed up here with a gift for the foreskins. I can't wait for these guys to see.
Speaker 3:How to hook you boys up.
Speaker 2:He hooked us up. Boys, if you're listening, well, by the time they're listening to this, they'll already have it in hand, but you made something for us that we can't wait to rep. We're going to show pictures of these on social media. Now, if people wanted to get your product, tim, do they have to be some sort of? Can the average person say, hey, I don't own a business, but I love Campus Crew? 100%, 100%.
Speaker 3:So I have I do like 24-piece minimums. So I have a lot of guys that it's a group of boys and they go up to their hunt camp every fall and I designed them up, stupid hoodies. It's like a deer. It says fast food or whatever they want or their you know their groups inside Stupid name or like no way Dirty joke. Like I got lots of those guys. They're like yo, I got a boy trip coming up.
Speaker 2:Can you make me this like just gong show hoodie, and I'm like I can put that together for you Funny story is, for the first 10, I'd say even 12 years of us doing our fall trip, the Foreskins, we actually did that. We made. Just we made five or six of them Actually it was six, because it was Sean, coach me, lou, dan and CJ we made shirts and we had them littered with sponsors, but not your average sponsors, like the sponsors that you would probably not see on tv because they'd have to be bleeped out. Yeah, and you know, we have pictures of ourselves and I'll never forget there's I think it's a picture of dan holding a massive pike or a muskie and underneath he's wearing a t-shirt and underneath it you see Vagisil. And I think somebody might have commented and said are you guys sponsored by Vagisil? Because you see the big.
Speaker 2:Vagisil it was on the bottom. And then, you know, one year we had the Big fish loop, oh my god. One year we had all of our companies on there. We had Colors in Space or Loon, and we had Scandinavian Tobacco Group, and we had all these different names Gourmet Craft and Catering, bear Creek Cottages and we all just littered these shirts with all the sponsors and I'm pretty sure that's illegal to do.
Speaker 3:But we were younger and we didn't really care. Take the logo 5%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nobody was really looking anyways, and it was cool man. So the fact that you do that for guys still and you custom make stuff for guys is pretty cool. So how can, like, can people reach you? Like? Can they just go on the Campus Crew website?
Speaker 3:Just go on the Campus Crew website, go to contact us and then you'll see Tim Dawson like contact info, email, cell phone number and, yeah, reach out. That's amazing. I come right to you, I'll pop in, I'll show you the samples and we'll have a good time in the process.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful man. Now, a couple of things before we go, because you know there's so much to talk about with you that this could, we could literally be here all day. You know, we, you. You quickly talked to me yesterday. It was a quick story, but you talked to me about your aquaculture, and aquaculture is something that was a passion of yours. Yes, and you were into breeding certain species of fish and to this day, are you still doing it? I'm still breeding koi. You're still breeding koi. That's incredible. What's the process like? How does somebody even how does that happen? How do you get involved in breeding koi fish?
Speaker 3:Again. It started with my old man, so he was really into aquariums, so it's just my whole love of fish from fishing to aquariums in the house and started in there and then to grabbing a shovel like dad, let's dig a pond. So we dug a massive like 12,000 gallon pond, filled it with koi, and then in the spring they started spawning. And then there's hundreds of thousands of eggs just littered in the ponds and then the sperms all on top. And then, you know, just started like, hey, let's see if I can make these, like do something with these, like make the eggs hatch and survive. And then just one thing led to another and it's just been going on for like 15 years now. So at my place I built big like the grow out ponds, right, so there's no pump systems, it's just all air stones so the babies can't get sucked up, so they'll spawn in the big ponds and then I go in there, goggles on, I'm swimming in there, oh my.
Speaker 3:God, harvesting eggs like rocks covered in eggs, gently putting them in totes little air stones in there and skimming the sperm off the top, putting it in the totes and transporting them over to the other grow out ponds. And, yeah, there'll be thousands and thousands at times and um, and then, yeah, grow them out and I just kind of sell them on Kijiji. Some a lot of people know me now so they'll just text me hey, tim, when's your next crop available?
Speaker 2:And that's incredible, and and and you wanted to do. You wanted to be a fish farm, sort of as a career.
Speaker 3:Before. Yeah, I was going to do like, obviously I joined the family business Before that. I had big plans on I want to be a fish farmer, you know, for do fish to eat, tilapia, and all that and then wanted to work with, like, the government as well and the ministry for stocking programs and, you know, raising all that salmon, musky, bass, anything that needed stocking, and, yeah, almost went for it. I was going to go to the fish and wildlife program and do the aquaculture program over at Fleming, but then, yeah, just ended up joining the family business.
Speaker 2:Nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3:And I wouldn't look back. I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you still get to do, you know. You're still breeding koi and you're still having fun doing it. And you're still breeding koi and you're still having fun doing it. And you're in the family business. You're making dough, yeah, and you can still enjoy it.
Speaker 3:I got busy during COVID too because I was really pumped in the koi breeding. I was doing a dozen aquariums in the basement. I was breeding discus fish. I was selling them to a local fish shop. I was doing like tropical species as well. That's great. You had the giant puffer fish. I had a huge five 300 gallon aquarium with a giant maboo puffer in there and then had another giant aquarium with peacock bass and red tail cat fish. I was right into it. Anything fishing, fish, fishing, raising them you got it.
Speaker 2:I love it so listen, man, you're a man, you're a man of the outdoors, you're a man of the outdoors, you're a man of family business, and we're so happy to meet you and to be a part of what you do, business-wise and also friendship-wise. We're going to fish together. We're going to come up with tons of stories, and I think that's the best part about having these relationships with people you meet in our industry, because it's a small industry but yet it's a. It's a big industry in the sense where everyone's connected. Somehow Somebody knows somebody and this person knows this person.
Speaker 3:It's amazing once you start getting into it and it all circles back.
Speaker 2:I would say that and so so what's in the future for you, brother? Like, obviously, the campus crew, you, you are growing, you are, you're out there, you're hustling every day, but once you get, once these guys settle down, you have the one and a half year old. What's the goal for Tim? What's your mindset when it comes to business and pleasure?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the biggest thing right now is just continuing to grow, grow that business, get it to a point where I will have another kid coming up and then so that would be my main focus. You know, raise, grow my family, grow on the company and then get it to a point where, you know, I do have the luxuries of, you know, getting a better boat, getting a cottage on the water and having more free time and to travel than with my kids. Yeah Right, take both my, you know, both my kids up north travel all around and, like my dad did for me, like we used to travel all over and and it was always fishing involved as well, like I remember times she'd take me out to, we'd go to nova scotia, yeah, and flew in there. It's a 10-day trip. We only had one night rented.
Speaker 3:The first night we had a hotel booked in halifax. When we landed we went, rented a big suv, went to the Walmart, bought rods, a bunch of spoons and Blue Fox, and then we would just drive, go up Cape Breton Cabot Trail and my dad would just pull over and be like all right, boys, go cast, pop a mackerel in the ocean and then he'd drive up another 1,500 meters, find a creek, catch some browns on the left side of the road and finding you know, and finding little lodges and cabins, little places right on the ocean. We'd stay and eat the best seafood and I was lucky growing up. My dad did a lot of wicked things like that for us, which then created the fish guy I am today and I want to just be able to supply that for my family.
Speaker 2:Exactly. If you can only do half of that for your kids and I know times are different now with kids and social media and everyone's glued to their iPads and to your cell phones and stuff but get rid of those for a weekend. Take them fishing, take your kids out there and do a short lunch, try it. If you fail, who cares? It's a story. And if you don't catch anything, you know what it's still a good day because you're experiencing something outside and you know it's. It's cool that you, you know. Now do what your father did for you and implement that with your own family and grow Like you said. You know. I think we're all in this to share our knowledge and hopefully, our kids take it you know, it was you know if they don't want to fish they don't want to fish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. But if you can show them the roots and you can tell them stories about you, know what your father used to do for you. I think that's what it's all about, brother.
Speaker 3:And I already started. Right last weekend had a little man out in Stoney and he just loves it. Doesn't matter the size you bring in a fish and he just quick feet screaming. And every time I bring in my musky bait thought I was a fish as well.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, man. Well, listen, brother, I want to thank you for taking the time to come in studio with me today. Um, you know, talking about fishing, love and hunting, whatever the hell it is that you do in the outdoors, whatever floats your boat, and, uh, you know, I can't wait to get on the water with you, brother I can't wait this is smash malecca.
Speaker 2:We have tim dawson jr with us live in studio. Please follow him. Check him out online at campuscrewcom, I would say is that, is that sound correct? Yeah and uh, you know, check out the swag, check out their gear. And uh, you know, tim, hopefully we get on the water soon and later brother.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hoping this year we'll get out in the fall we're doing it, smash malecca.
Speaker 2:We're checking out of here, uh, eating wild podcast ciao on the big old blue today we've got the stars lined up.
Speaker 3:They're coming out ready to play. It won't be long.
Speaker 1:They'll be pulling our fish and we'll be serving them their favorite dish. All the feeling screaming reels on fishing fire.