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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 107: A Journey Through 100 Episodes
Host Jerry Ouellette welcomes Angelo Viola, founder of the Outdoor Journal Radio Network, to mark the 100 episode achievement while giving listeners unprecedented access to the world of outdoor media.
The conversation begins with Jerry's practical outdoor wisdom—using coffee grounds to repel garden-raiding skunks—before diving into the remarkable journey of creating a podcast network dedicated to all things outdoors. Angelo reveals that fewer than 1% of podcasts survive their first year, making Under the Canopy's century mark truly exceptional. Together, they explore how the network has grown to include specialized shows like The Ugly Pike (dedicated to muskie fishing) and Diaries of a Lodge Owner, each serving distinct yet interconnected outdoor communities.
Most fascinating is Angelo's behind-the-curtain look at producing "Fish’n Canada" as it enters its 40th broadcast year. The average 22-minute episode requires five full days of filming and two weeks of post-production with up to twelve people involved—a staggering commitment that explains the show's enduring quality. We learn how drone technology has transformed outdoor filming, now comprising nearly 20% of all footage, and how fishing preferences have evolved across Canada (with walleye dethroning lake trout as the most popular catch).
But beyond the technical aspects, both hosts share their deeper mission: inspiring people to reconnect with nature. As Angelo eloquently puts it, "If we can influence one person to take that step that's keeping them from connecting and enjoying what we take for granted, we've accomplished so much." This philosophy fuels everything from their choice of destinations to filming techniques—all designed to help viewers emotionally connect with outdoor experiences they might otherwise never encounter.
Whether you're a longtime listener or discovering Under the Canopy for the first time, this landmark episode offers rich insights into the passion that drives outdoor media and the dedicated people behind it. Subscribe now to join a growing community of nature enthusiasts and never miss an opportunity to learn from those who've dedicated their lives to sharing the wonders found under the canopy.
Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman.
Speaker 3:Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast that's right Every Thursday, Ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor.
Speaker 4:Journal Radio.
Speaker 1:Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 5:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 6:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 5:We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, From athletes All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists.
Speaker 2:But now that we're reforesting- and everything.
Speaker 6:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 3:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it, and whoever else will pick up the phone.
Speaker 1:Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 4:Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever 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're still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used 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 is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world 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. So join me today for another great episode and hopefully we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. We can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. All right, as always, we want to thank all our listeners across Canada, the States, switzerland, ghana. It's just, it's great to have all those listeners in Canada, the Bahamas, trinidad and Tobago and all around the world. We really appreciate you listening and, as usual, you know if you got a question, ask it. If it, if you want to show, let me know we'll see what we can do to put it together.
Speaker 4:But I gotta tell you same as usual, this morning now out with my chocolate lab gunner, and he had a good swimming weekend up at the lake and which is great and he loves it and he just goes and with that heat that we've been having, it's kind of the humidity has been very high. It just goes down and swims. But sometimes and I'm going to have to get this checked out, because we had John Bell on the show a while ago and I talked to John about it and guess what? Gunner ends up with a hot spot for those people who knows what a hot spot is. And guess what? Gunner ends up with a hot spot. For those people who knows what a hot spot is Now, a hot spot is kind of like it's actually a disgusting looking sore on the dog that just kind of leaks oil out it and they call them hot spots and very, very painful for the dog. And then poor Gunner, he started just like his predecessor Strider, and when he gets down to the lake and in the water too much he up with these hot spots. So john bell suggested I get the water tested. But you know, josh is our son. Josh is now back from the bahamas with his girlfriend casey, and benny has gone home. But I gotta tell you josh was down there and he says you think it's hot up here, oh my. He says you want to walk around down there and you're looking from store to store to go to go in, not to shop, but it's a ploy down there to get people to go in just to cool off because it's so hot that you get heat stroke so quick down there because the temperature is so hot.
Speaker 4:Now some of the other stuff is again. We had a skunk in the yard problem and I mentioned this on a number of podcasts in the past where all of a sudden, we get these skunks in the yard and they're coming and digging and looking for stuff, and I kind of found something that seems to work. So I went around to the coffee shops, I picked up bags of old coffee grounds and threw them around same as always. Guess what? Now, three, four days later, no skunks around. They don't seem to like the scent of coffee, I guess. So they just stay out of the yard and you throw the coffee grounds around that actually work as fertilizer, but it has an added benefit of chasing the skunks away. Well, at least that's what I'm thinking. It's my story and I'm sticking to it. Whether it's true or not, I don't know, but it's an interesting thing. And every time we see a skunk around and we start putting the coffee grounds around, no more skunks. So guess what? My mother just is around going to coffee shops today because she's got a skunk in her backyard and she's going to try it in her yard. So we'll see if it's working elsewhere as well.
Speaker 4:Now, some of the other stuff as well. My living apothecary is doing very well. So my mints out there that are growing, my sage and lavage, which is kind of topped out Lavage got pretty big. It was about seven feet this year, which is pretty tall. But I know I've given a number of seeds to a number of individuals because for those that haven't tried lavage, it's a great celery, it's like a peppery celery. But for those that enjoy here in Canada we have these Caesars the stalk of the lavage is actually hollow and they use a lot of the stalks in specialty places as straws that give that celery taste to the Caesar and it's a great thing. A little something a little bit different. But the mullein, the thyme, the rosemary, the lemon balm and all are doing well.
Speaker 4:Now one of the questions that we get all the time is you know, and I have to tell you, I was with the college president, local college, I'm on the board of governors for the local college and we got discussing about the podcast and the questions came up about you know well, how do you get your shows and stuff, because you're doing one so often and things like that.
Speaker 4:And I said well, they kind of spur each other on. And I have to tell you the last one for those that listened last week and heard Andalyn from the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, we got into a discussion about fireflies, and fireflies are on the decline because of guess what? Probably it's an environmental thing. But the biggest reason fireflies are on decline is mostly because of the light, and so fireflies attract mates by flashing this light. But when all of a sudden there's all these park lights and everything else on, it's taking away from that mating ability from fireflies.
Speaker 4:End result was we had a discussion about it with Anne Dillon on the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory and she sent me a link about firefly research and I'm now working to get this individual on a podcast to talk about fireflies and what's happening and, quite frankly, the information I saw that I was linked to was quite surprising.
Speaker 4:I didn't realize there was that many strains and they can identify fireflies by the type of blink that they do with their light. So different fireflies produce different or attract different strains of fireflies based on the light that they produce or the strobe that comes out in the color, which was really interesting. But you know, here we are and we're over a major milestone right now with the podcast, and I got to tell you we're over 100 podcasts now and it's going very well. It's doing well, we're getting great shows, great results all around the world and the one thing is I guess only about 1% of podcasts actually last year, but we're well over the 100 number mark now of podcasts being out there and I wanted to bring back the person who inspired me to get involved and the person responsible for the podcast, and bring back Angelo from Fishing Canada. Welcome back to the podcast, ang.
Speaker 1:Hey, buddy, how you doing? Man, I'm okay. How about you? I'm doing good, Doing good. I was just so. I was sitting there listening to you and I think I've told you this before Boy, you are the best Roseanne Rosanna Dana, next to Roseanne Rosanna Dana. I've ever heard. Like you can do this man, you can pull this stuff off Like you just go and you go and you. Oh, no wonder people love listening to you, buddy.
Speaker 4:Well, it's. Sometimes it's like, um, I try to imagine myself sitting with somebody when I'm doing an interview and people wonder well, what about that? You know I, well, I don't know. And so I asked the questions a lot of times of what somebody else would ask and it's uh, that was one of the things that people like is that you ask those questions and then some of the people we interview say, you know, some of the questions are kind of good and I said, well, I'm asking because the average person has no idea. I mean fireflies, I. I'm asking because the average person has no idea. I mean fireflies. I just talked about Andrew. Did you know about fireflies? I?
Speaker 1:didn't know about fireflies. I used to be a big. I probably did my part in reducing the overall global firefly population back in the 60s and 70s, because as a kid I just loved going out and putting them, capturing them in jars, and obviously they would die and and I would just keep collecting and I I was infatuated with that whole thing and it wasn't until later in life that you know, of course, I learned what you were just alluding to, and that is that that whole process of light is part of their mating ritual. It's not part, of, it's the most essential part of fireflies being able to perpetuate their kind if. If they can't do the light thing, they can't reproduce. So that's right yeah now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I didn't. I didn't know until we had andaline on that. Actually, fireflies eat slugs and snails I didn't know that, so that's. That's the main food forage base. So if you want to reduce slugs in your gardens and things like that, fireflies is one of the best things to consume them, because they kind of bore right in and consume them and things like that. But I had no idea about that stuff. I didn't come on to talk about fireflies and slugs.
Speaker 1:I came on to congratulate you and your listenership too, by the way, because without them, of course, those of us in the entertainment world whether it's podcast or television or whatever we do we wouldn't exist without our folks that are giving us their valuable time by listening to the program and subscribing and all that stuff. So congratulations to you and your listenership on making it. You know, beyond just a milestone, but you mentioned that less than 1% of the podcasts that go to air every day survive to last a full year. Yep, and I think if you dig deep into those stats you'll see that it's even less than that. So you're past that 1%, brother, and great job. Keep it up. Your audience loves you. I think you add a wonderful element to the Outdoor Journal Radio Network which, by the way, as you know, is ever evolving. It's a moving target and it's constantly changing as we try and better understand what audiences would like with regards to the outdoors. But keep it up, man.
Speaker 4:Doing a great job. Thank you very much, we appreciate it and, of course, we very much appreciate our listeners. I was in Halliburton a week ago yesterday and one lady comes up and she says you know, I listen to your podcast. Great job. I really appreciate it and I don't know how I got onto it, but it's one I really enjoy and when you hear that sort of things in rural Ontario, it's nice to hear and it's appreciated.
Speaker 1:I think podcasts are unique in that sense because I mean, you know, my background is mainstream broadcast and terrestrial radio. I've been doing it for most of my adult life and it's all well and good. But podcast gets us into little corners of the world that traditional broadcast just doesn't reach, just doesn't reach. Yeah, when you talk to somebody that lives in one of those little corners of the planet and they tell you that they listen to you, it's a pretty uplifting experience, isn't it, to know that you're there in that corner of the world with them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I just kind of look at them and say why, what's the reason? What is it that appeals to you? Tell me so that we can provide it and make other people have the same sort of feeling. But maybe Angie I'm not sure just to re-familiarize a lot of our listeners with the network, kind of give us a breakdown of the network or how we started, if you want.
Speaker 1:We started podcasting a few years ago as the Outdoor Journal radio podcast, because originally Outdoor Journal was a radio. Actually, before it was a radio show it was a TV show. But we transitioned into radio and did live radio for the better part of 20-some-odd years I think 26 years. Then we transitioned from radio to podcast and then we had so many friends and people in the business that hooked up with us, and yourself being one of them, saying hey, you know, I'd kind of be interested in doing a podcast. And here's my idea. What do you think Would it work? And so we started thinking well, why don't we make it a network and allow anybody with any outdoor interests and pursuits to kind of hook up with a network whereby, once in, they could then move along that timeline? And, for example, diaries of a Lodge Owner comes into mind, steve. Yeah, steve, Totally different concept than yours, but it's not unusual for some of his listeners to gravitate over to yours and for some of your listeners to find some of his topics interesting.
Speaker 1:We've had Eating Wild that was with us from the beginning, who now have gone in a separate direction. A great program and that initially started as a wild game At least that was my vision of it, because a wild game preparation program, because Antonio is an exceptional chef, and I thought, well, you know what, let me talk to him and see if he'd be interested in podcasting. And he was, and he did, and he came on board. But, you know, as he grew into the network, he thought he would like to take it in a slightly different direction, which was fine, but it just didn't, you know, fit into what our idea was. You know, listen, make no mistake about it, the network is filled with personalities and characters because, at the end of the day, that's really what we have to offer the audience. They need to connect with you guys, the hosts of the shows. That's the most important thing. But more important, not as important as that I also like to think that we do offer them an array, a diverse array, of options on the network.
Speaker 1:And so what happened with Eating Wild is that they wanted to go into a genre that we already had covered with somebody else. And so what happened with Eating Wild is that they wanted to go into a genre that we already had covered with somebody else. And so, you know, we amicably said, hey, you know what? That's not what the network needs. It might be what you need, but unfortunately it's not here at the network, and so we agreed to disagree on that and Antonio and his crew went in a separate direction, which is I wish them nothing but the best. It just didn't fit into what we wanted. And we wanted that wild game, that culinary prepare. You know, jump out in the field and get that rabbit and skin it and bring it to the fire, and you know, let's do a Cacciatore wild style, you know.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 1:And so they didn't want to do that.
Speaker 4:Right. So, yeah, well, I had Antonio on for a show and we talked about medicinal herbs to cook with and the benefits of things like rosemary for memory and basil for anxiety or people with sleep problems and things like that. So when it was actually was very well received, good guy, I really like him. Oh, I love him, I love him. Yeah, you've got Frank as well. The ugly pike.
Speaker 1:Ugly pike. There's a little niche, that is a specialty area that we felt we needed on the outdoor journal and that worked out extremely well on the outdoor journal and that worked out extremely well and you know he's got a very hardcore loyal following and you know, same with that. We always hope that maybe somebody from that group gravitates over to Under the Canopy or to Diaries of a Lodge Owner or to Outdoor Journal, you know, and says, hey, you know what, this isn't bad either. I can sort of add it to my list of things. Lodge Owner or to Outdoor Journal, you know, and says, hey, you know what, this isn't bad either. I can sort of add it to my list of things that I'm interested in.
Speaker 4:Yep, and everybody has a different release day. Ours, under the Canopy, is Mondays Yep, and so what are the release days for the others?
Speaker 1:We're out on Thursdays. I know that with Outdoor Journal, I think Wednesdays is Diaries and the rest of them. I'll be honest with you. I'd be lying to you if I knew that's a Dean Taylor question. Of course Dean is our backbone to the network. He's the guy who schedules everything and used to produce it all too, until we got too busy with it, but he still has his finger on the pulse of the actual distribution of the network. So I think we have something going on every day of the week. That was certainly the goal at the onset of the network concept. Is that every day, Monday through Saturday, I believe, we had something dropping. That was new.
Speaker 4:So just when we started off, you know I mentioned about asking questions, so our listeners would understand. Maybe you can explain what an ugly pike is.
Speaker 1:Great question. You know, and I'll be honest with you, that's what drew me to Frank and Chris in the first place. I didn't know them personally and it might have been a TV thing that they originally contacted us for. Whatever it was, what intrigued me about them was the title of their program. So the Ugly Pike is a muskie. They always referred to a muskie as an ugly pike.
Speaker 1:Okay, but their program is all about muskie fishing hardcore, unadulterated muskie fishing. It's just for the purists. But it doesn't mean that the novice muskie angler can't get something out of an episode, because one thing that they do really well is not forget that not everybody is at the same level of muskie fishing as they are. So they do get guests and themselves do take the time to explain some of the vernacular and some of the patterns and some of the things that only a muskie fisherman can understand. They do dumb it down for us and allow us into that magic world as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're just incredibly insane muskie anglers, as probably every real serious muskie angler is. Because you have to be insane, you're going after a fish. That the chances of you hooking up with a muskie angler is because you have to be insane, you're going after a fish, that the chances of you hooking up with a muskie every day that you go out is like almost zero, almost zero. So think about that. Here's somebody who goes out with that in mind, that the chances of me hooking up with my target is almost zero. Right, so start from there and work down the road.
Speaker 4:It's what they call the fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 1:Exactly, there's a reason they call it that. So, with that in mind, you spend thousands of dollars on the pursuit of this elusive creature and, yeah, if you're not a little bit slightly off-center, you're not a serious muskie fisherman.
Speaker 4:So I'm sure my son Garrett, who's on the podcast with us all the time, and his girlfriend Brittany Brittany would probably appreciate, along with Garrett's mother, my wife Diane. Is there some way that we can block the ugly pike from him listening to it? Because I got to tell you. I come home and oh, what's that? That's a new muskie lure. How much is that? One Five hundred dollars for one lure, handmade lures, and he's getting 10, 15 of these at a time and it's just like, wow, I can't. What do you do with them all, Garrett?
Speaker 1:Hey, I know guys in that fraternity that have got $1,000 lures that they would never put in the water. Yeah, okay, that's how insane that whole activity is, and for those of us who aren't in that circle, we find some of these movements really tough to believe. Yeah, it goes on every day, right?
Speaker 4:Well and they do well. Frank and Chris do well at their job and attracts a lot of people and, from a parent's perspective, they sell a lot of product for my son who's making those purchases all the time. Look at this, dad. I said when are you going to use it, garrett?
Speaker 1:Yeah right. Wouldn't dare put it in the water because it's so expensive.
Speaker 4:Well, that's exactly it. What do you do if you lose it? You bring it. You come with a scuba set just to look for it in case you break the line. So tell us, Ang. This is a busy time of year, though, for you as well, with the TV show. A lot of listeners may not understand what happens now and so and it's a big milestone for the TV show as well it's 40 years, right.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on 40 years being on our 40th years, our 40th year anniversary. Uh, as far as the field work goes, it'll be. It'll start broadcasting in january of 26. Uh, first saturday of january 26 will be the debut for the 40th season which we're working on. Um, yeah, yeah, to say it's been, we're kind of in the middle of it, to say it's been obviously a milestone season. We all feel it, we sense it, we know that we're working on something totally different this season even though you know a lot of this stuff, we're still going through the same motions every day.
Speaker 1:It just feels different. We hit 40 years of continuous broadcasts in the television industry. We don't, you know, we still don't realize it sometimes just how big that is. There have been a handful of Canadian productions in any genre, not just outdoors or fishing in particular, but in any television genre. There's been a handful of Canadian productions that have accomplished that, and sometimes we forget that because it's fishing and not, you know, a sitcom or a comedy series or any of that stuff.
Speaker 4:I'm going to play this one up a bit, but come on, Ang. I mean, how long does it take to film a fishing show? I mean, you go out in half an hour and you got a show done, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right Jerry.
Speaker 4:I'm leading you out.
Speaker 1:Clearly you haven't been on a shoot, jerry. Clearly you haven't been on a shoot, jerry. So we, over the course of the years, we like to look at data and calculate stuff, and one of the things that one of the staff around here came up with a few years ago was which was a surprise to me, by the way, this happened about seven, eight years ago, because we get so into it, and you know the old proverbial you can't see the forest for the trees. Well, we get so deep into the woods that we can't see the forest for the trees. I really had no idea until this particular individual brought it to my attention just how much goes into each episode, and so he collected the data over a number of years and came up with an average. So here's the bottom line, here's the story here.
Speaker 1:So the Fish and Cajun show, which is 22 minutes long if you eliminate all of the commercial breaks, we deliver 22 minutes of finished production product to Global Television Network every week. And in order to get those 22 minutes, we average five days in the field, and our days start at sunup and they generally are not over until the sun is completely gone and we can't shoot anymore. And we do that for five days is completely gone and we can't shoot anymore. And we do that for five days. Then that product comes back to the studio and it's handed off to the post-production team at that point who then, over the course of that cycle, will spend another 14 days on the post-production part of that 22 minutes. So, when it's all said and done, at the end of the year, nine people some years as many as 12 people have worked on that 22 minutes and it's taken the company the better part of a full month of production time, both field production and post-production. And we repeat that week in and week out.
Speaker 1:We're on 52 weeks a year and have been, like I said, this is year number 40 that we're working on now and when I tell that to people, they're always just absolutely amazed. Hell, I'm amazed when I listen to that. Yeah, the show that you watch Saturday morning where you've got a couple of guys or one guy or whatever happens to be there, you know, basically leading you to believe that they just got into their vehicle and drove to the lake and, wow, look at that, fish in, fish in, fish in. And well, I've had a good day and it's time to go home. Not like that at all.
Speaker 1:We have people, jerry, that when we talk to them at live events we still have people. And keep in mind our audience is almost four generations old, but three solid generations old. We've had people from each one of those three generations still come up to us and say, man, you guys, I don't know how you do it. I, you know, I've been fishing all my life and you guys, like you guys, go out and the fish are just jumping in the boat. How do you make it so easy? And then I have to tell them, chances are, we probably spent five days making it look easy.
Speaker 1:So it's not what people think. I mean, there's been programs on TV and God love them, because everybody has their own shtick. And that's not what the Fish and Cannon Show is about originally and certainly not what it has evolved into and not what it's going to be in the future. Our intent is to depict as best we can the many wonderful opportunities that are available to, I'll say, most of us Right that have a passion and a love for the outdoors and fishing and sometimes they just need that little extra nudge, that little push off the couch to go and try it. And that's what we try and do on the Fishing Canada show. Last thing we want to do is mislead people into thinking that, wow, that fishing is real easy, man, just get in a boat. 22 minutes later you're heading home because you had a great day. That's not the case at all.
Speaker 6:Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 3:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 6:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
Speaker 3:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 6:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure. This podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 3:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 6:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4:And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Okay, we're here in Lindsay, ontario, with Rusty, who's up from California and visits us every year, and Rusty has been a faithful Chaga user for a long time. Rusty, maybe you can just tell us about your experience with Chaga.
Speaker 5:Well, I feel that it's had a significant impact on my health and well-being. I believe in what I'm doing. I think that Jerry is very knowledgeable on it. If he says something, I take that very seriously.
Speaker 5:He has spent most of his life in the health care field and certainly knows what he's talking about, and I like to be around people like that because that's what keeps me healthy. And I'm 80 now and I'm going to try to enjoy what I, what I've created with the motorcycle, and one thing another which will require that I live for at least another 10 years to get back what I've invested in my health and wellness.
Speaker 4:So so you're seeing a, you're seeing a big benefit from it an overall healthy environment and when you go back to California next month, you actually take quite a bit with you back to California, don't you?
Speaker 5:Oh yes, we're going to be there for eight months and we don't want to run out, so we take it back and we take it every day and you know, like I say, it's not a problem for me.
Speaker 4:Right, so how do you take it, rusty?
Speaker 5:I put a teaspoon in my coffee each morning when I brew the coffee and I put it in as the coffee's brewing. I put that in with it.
Speaker 4:Oh, very good.
Speaker 5:And I put a little bit of cinnamon in with it too, right. And then I sweeten my coffee because, to take the bitterness, a little bit of bitterness, I use a chaga and maple mix. Very good that you make up for those that want to be well and stay well.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, thanks very much. We appreciate you taking the time and sharing your Chaga experience with you, and we'll make sure you have a safe trip back to California.
Speaker 5:Sure enough, all right. Thank you, jerry, yeah.
Speaker 4:Thanks, Rusty.
Speaker 5:Thanks, sir, my pleasure.
Speaker 4:We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you about and, whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, chagahealthandwellnesscom, place a few items in the cart and check out with the code CANOPY C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening Back to the episode. So if it takes an average of five days from sunup to pretty much sundown, how many days does it take to do a musky show?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, as you may have noticed, as some of our audiences have noticed, we don't do very many musky shows, okay, and we learned a long time ago that you have to put yourself in the position of success more often than in the position of failure. Right, and when you're talking about a production crew, it's not just a guy or two going out fishing. We have people that their job is to be able to document and depict what we do out there and put it into a nice, entertaining, well-packaged, visually pleasing episode of the Fish and Canada show. So we try and put ourselves in a position to succeed Muskie anglers. As I just told you a few minutes ago, they go out on the water knowing full well that their chance of making contact with a muskie today is almost zero, right, almost zero. Yep, we can't do that. So every once in a while we forget that, and every once in a while and usually that once in a while is probably every four or five years, probably every four or five years when we're sitting around the table at the beginning of our cycle, we say, man, we got to get a musky show in this year, and so you know a couple of us, yeah, that's a great idea. We haven't done musky for the longest time. Let's do a musky show. And then somewhere in the next 12 months, when we've gone out to try and do a musky show, we say who the hell suggested that we should do a musky show? Exactly, having said that, we do, every once in a while, hit a home run.
Speaker 1:We've been very fortunate to have probably, I'm going to say a half a dozen, and this is in the 40 years, to have a half a dozen, and this is in the 40 years. Okay, to have a half a dozen really, really outstanding musky episodes, and I can. I know each one of them. I have each one of them like permanently stamped on my brain because they were so hard to produce, right, and because we got so incredibly lucky that we do have them, but but no, a few apart between and.
Speaker 1:And the other reason we don't do it is because not everybody is going to go out musky fishing. No, well, if, if you get it, if you get one when you're, you know it's as an incidental catch, when you're walleye trolling or casting for small mouth bass or whatever, you know those stories that we hear about. Where somebody is, you know they catch a musky inadvertently? Yeah, that that's, that's apt to happen, but very few of us actually have the fortitude because that's what it takes to say I am going out muskie fishing. It's a small group of hardcore people.
Speaker 4:Yeah, do it yeah, so muskie, what would be the most popular fish that uh people like to watch on your shows on?
Speaker 1:So that's kind of changed over the years. We track that annually and we've been tracking it since 2012. Okay, it was the first time that we started using that stat in our data collection, and Canada as a whole has gone through a bit of a cycle. It used to be, believe it or not, lake trout and I'm talking nationally. Oh, okay, really Lake trout it was the number one when people were asked anglers were asked what fish turned your crank. Basically, it was lake trope, by far.
Speaker 1:And then, um, I'm going to say I'm gonna say in the oh, 2018, ish, okay, uh, that shifted drastically to walleye, yep, or, depending what part of the country you live in, could be dory, could be pickerel, okay, by the way, by the way, I'm going to do a t-shirt. It'll have a question on it and that is when is a walleye? Not? Oh, no, when is a walleye a pickerel? And on the bottom is it reads when it's a pike, because the true definition of a pickerel is a pike. Yes, chain pickerel, yeah, right, so, anyways, that's just. I digress.
Speaker 1:But so then walleye really became huge across the nation and lake trout dropped to number two, and then it dropped to number three and now it's probably number four. We haven't looked uh in this past 12 month cycle, but a strong number two now is definitely a combination of bass, um, both largemouth and smallmouth, and um the trout family, other than lake trout, has moved it to number three and that includes all of the other trout species. You know, salmon uh, regionally, can play a big role in the favorite fish, for example, you know, obviously out on the west coast it's the only fish right that even makes the the needle move on the meter uh. But here in the great lakes near home salmon have played a major role. The Great Lakes salmon, the freshwater salmon, have played a pretty big part, but never have they gotten into the top four. Always been five or six down the line as far as favorite, I would have thought. But without question, walleye is king right now.
Speaker 4:I would have thought, when all the derbies were on the salmon derbies that they would have probably been peaked at that time because people were out en masse and you know, here in Oshawa you go down to the Oshawa Centre and they'd be giving out weekly awards at the big mall here and things like that. I would have thought that would have been a time when the salmon and salmon fishing would have been peaked in this area. But obviously not.
Speaker 1:It's all about critical mass, buddy, just like anything else. When you had all of those boats fishing the Great Lakes, in particular Lake Ontario, especially during the salmon derby, et cetera, if you had all those individual anglers that were involved in that, you might have 300,000 people, right, okay, as far as the Canadian angling community, at that time, when this Great Lakes salmon fishery was at its peak, we were selling 6 million fishing licenses in Canada. So just to bring it all into perspective, right, 300,000, 6 million. So that's the disparity. By the way, that's since dropped drastically. Okay, we now have, I think the last census told us we had 3.8 million licensed anglers, and I can kind of explain that.
Speaker 1:Two parts. Number one part is that a lot of people my age and beyond all of a sudden discovered one day hey, I don't need a license anymore because I'm 65. That's right, and that was a huge group. You know that six million number that we had in the 80s and 90s. A lot of them were getting up in age, yep, and so now they're called the baby boomers.
Speaker 1:Right, now we've all eclipsed that 65 year period that we used to think was old, now that's. We look back at that, say, wow, that was a good. I was young back then. So we don't have licenses anymore and I'm talking about people my age, um, but we still make up a big part of the angling community in this country. Yep, and as we've been dropping off of the census because we can't be identified anymore, because we don't need a license, it's been a disproportionate number that's been coming in at the bottom end. So a lot more of us have turned, have hit the 65 plus, but not an equal amount has come in to buy up those licenses that we used to buy.
Speaker 4:right, exactly so, and it's an age thing, obviously yeah, well, there's been quite a few changes, you know, having been the minister. Now we see that the regulations, uh, printed in in mandarin and chinese and things like that, because of the number of influx of of immigrants that are coming in, that are fishing and making sure that they can understand the regulations, because it's as clear as mud those regulations still to this day. Oh, boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, you'd almost think and you were a part of this, so maybe I'm talking to you now You'd almost think that you went out of your way and paid consultants to make the regulations unreadable, totally dysfunctional, because when I read them I say okay, somebody went out of their way to make me have to go from page five to page 51 and then back to 41 and then 32 in order to get it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know. So I don't know, I don't understand how they come up with those regs.
Speaker 4:Well, not only have the regs changed that much, but the technologies that are out there. I imagine the technologies for your fishing show has changed quite a bit, for, like drones, for example, that give a different perspective when you're fishing out there and you utilize a lot of those new technologies, which is which is great for, like you mentioned about visual visual presentation for people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, drone drone has completely changed the way we uh, the way we design our episodes. I think somebody made a point last year somebody from a technical aspect on our staff figured out that 18% of our visual assets on on an episode 18% is collected from our drones. We have three drones that we fly, so that's almost 20% of the show is shot from drones, whereas you know, I don't know, six years ago it was 0%. So that's been a huge transition for us. It's changed the program completely and from an audience standpoint, it further connects them to the adventure right, because up until then they couldn't sort of get that big view. Oh yeah, we did yep. And by blending drone footage in with on boat camera work, it really, I think, allows the audience to come into our boat with us every Saturday and kind of experience what we're and listen. That's always been our goal. Our goal has not been to teach people how to catch fish yep, that's that. The television show is not the right platform because it's in 22 minute bits. It's impossible for us to effectively teach people 22 minutes at a time without having each show interconnected. Our shows, our episodes, all of them are designed to stand on their own, so we can do a little bit of teaching, but that's not the intent of the show. The intent of the show is to allow people to live vicariously through us. Most of the places that we shoot the shows probably will never be visited by most of our audience. We know that. But we're hoping that allowing them to join us on the boat every Saturday and experience the emotional part of what fishing is about and the outdoors in general is about, we'll spur them on to going out and doing it themselves.
Speaker 1:A lot of our audience members don't fish on a regular basis. In fact, I'm going to tell you at least half, if not more, slightly more than half, have not fished in the last five years. They had a connection, maybe as a child. They have a family member that's connected to it, but they themselves don't. And we're hoping that by producing this wonderful little 22-minute piece of entertainment that is designed to get them to smell what we're smelling and hear what we're hearing and enjoying the moment like we are, we'll spur them on to say hey, you know, I got to do it. I got to take my son out, I got to take my dad out, my daughter, I got to get out there, I just got to do more excuses. I just watch these guys have the time of their life. Why can't I do it? I can do it, I will do it. I'm going to do it. That's kind of the concept of the Fishing Canada show.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I got to tell you, ange, when we ran the, when I had the privilege to be able to run the kids' fishing days, the biggest comments that I had come forward were from single parent moms that would come up and say you know, when I was a little girl, my dad used to take me fishing all the time and I look forward to this to be able to take my kids all the time. And we really just want to thank everybody and you know you were part of that and so many other groups participated in showing people how to fish and making the rods and reels available, stocking the ponds and all that kind of stuff, which was really good to see those individuals to get out there and spend that time to get out fishing and which is just a great way to enjoy things. Guess what Out there under the canopy right.
Speaker 1:You got it, buddy. That's what this network is all about. If we can, if we can influence one person, just one person, with all of our products that we produce, if we can, in my mind, if we can influence one person to take that step, that one step that's keeping them from connecting and enjoying what we take for granted. We've accomplished so much. We've accomplished so much. Yes, we've accomplished Our job is done for that one day, yep, right. And that's the way I feel about our product, all of our products, whether it's the podcast, your podcast, the TV show. To me, our focus should all be about one thing, and that is let's make sure that we are the conduit that brings that one person who has not introduced any of our products, brings that one person to what we call home and allows them to go through that portal and experience what we take for granted and then say hallelujah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Why do I wait so long?
Speaker 4:Exactly, exactly Well. Congratulations on 40 years of providing that experience for people out there through the television network and giving that people the opportunity to live vicariously through you and getting out there and fishing in one way, shape or another. And you know, personally I want to thank you for making me a part of the network. I enjoy coming and doing the podcast and it's yeah, it's a lot of work to try and give some of the audiences something that they want to listen to out there.
Speaker 1:Let me just interject too. I wanted to mention one other thing before we go here. I want to all you guys are working so hard producing your shows and I know what goes into it and I know it's a labor of love, but I want to just send this out to anybody that might be listening that maybe has a product that kind of connects with our type of audience. Producers like Jerry, believe me, are doing this for nothing, but as we grow, I would like to think that there is some reward for all of this hard work and I urge anybody that is in a position to maybe get involved with Jerry's show, with Under the Canopy, and maybe become an advertiser or a sponsor or anything along those lines. I urge you to reach out to him.
Speaker 1:This man works harder than anybody else alive and he's so passionate about what he does that it'd be great to think that somewhere down the road that this tree that he has planted and is nurturing and raising will bear some fruit. Of course, that fruit is in the form of support. If you want the program to continue, if you want to be able to listen to it from wherever you're listening to it, some support, even little support, like subscribe, would be a huge benefit. Pass this on to somebody and influence somebody else to listen to this podcast would be incredibly beneficial to the product. So don't think that you can't make a difference, because any of those moves I just suggested can move the needle for Jerry's show and I think if you enjoy it, if you love it, let them know. Nothing like love makes you work even harder than you already are.
Speaker 4:Well, we appreciate all the support that you're able to provide out there Ange, in making these things happen. I mean here in your recording studio, using your equipment and being able to provide some entertainment for the audience out there. And I think the response that we get from people like I just mentioned about the person Halliburton really loves their show they get out there and that sort of thing it's.
Speaker 1:You know I enjoy doing it and we hope to continue doing it and remember Gary, all you need to do is influence that one person to take that last step.
Speaker 4:Yep, To get it right, absolutely, absolutely Well, ange. Thanks very much. We really appreciate the update on what's happening. Congratulations on 40 years. Thank you for making us a part of your network and we're going to continue to work hard and provide some information for things that are happening out there under the canopy.
Speaker 1:thanks, ang and congratulations on episode 100 brother appreciate that.
Speaker 4:Ang. Thank you, take care. Yep, bye for now. How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic?
Speaker 2:fishing lodges. 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.
Speaker 1: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 5:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be for more fishing than it was punching.
Speaker 4:You so confidently.
Speaker 2:You said hey, pat have you ever eaten a drum? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.