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Untamed Pursuits
Embark on a wild adventure like never before with the groundbreaking podcast, "Untamed Pursuits."
Join the intrepid duo of renowned author and outdoor enthusiast, Ridr Knowlton, alongside the seasoned professional fishing guide, Jamie Pistilli, as they traverse the globe in pursuit of the world's most exciting fishing and hunting destinations, and the fascinating creatures that live there. From the lush rainforests of the Amazon to the icy depths of the Arctic Circle, each episode promises heart-pounding encounters, captivating tales, and invaluable insights into the natural world.
With Ridr's profound storytelling and Jamie's unparalleled expertise, prepare to be transported to the front lines of adventure, where every roar, splash, and rustle ignites the senses and leaves listeners on the edge of their seats. "Untamed Pursuits" isn't just a podcast—it's an adrenaline-fueled odyssey that will redefine your perception of nature and leave you craving more. Buckle up for the ride of a lifetime!
Untamed Pursuits
Episode 24: From Shark Waters to Bird Calls and Beyond
Flying through a year of adrenaline-packed escapades, we've earned the nickname "Air Miles" for a reason! From thrilling shark encounters to hunting crocodiles and the challenge of cooking cormorants, this episode brings you along on our journey through the wild and wonderful world of outdoor exploration. With a foot in both real estate and the rugged outdoors, we've crafted a lifestyle where business meets adventure, blending fly fishing and bird hunting into unforgettable experiences with guests who bring their own tales of discovery.
Bird hunting enthusiasts will find themselves in familiar terrain as we recount heart-pounding upland and waterfowl hunts. Our trusty companions, the pointers and retrievers, take the spotlight, showcasing their impeccable instincts. The joy of cooking freshly hunted grouse in Minnesota and the dance of waterfowl hunting at dawn are just a few of the vivid memories that highlight this section. As the stories unfold, the narrative paints a vibrant picture of why these outdoor pursuits remain so beloved, celebrating the camaraderie and sheer joy of time spent in nature.
Unexpected adventures punctuate our tales, with spontaneous catches like a striped bass and a surprise encounter with a 44-inch northern pike adding twists to our fishing stories. We've shared these unexpected delights with friends, family, and even newcomers to the world of outdoor sports. Reflecting on lessons passed down through generations, we explore the ripple effect of introducing the next generation to the great outdoors, whether through Boy Scout trips or first-time fishing experiences. Join us as we relive these moments, and perhaps you'll find inspiration to create your own unforgettable outdoor memories.
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.
Speaker 2: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 3: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 you so confidently, you said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a drum?
Speaker 1:Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the next episode of Untamed Pursuits on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. This is Ryder Knowlton and my trusty partner, Jamie. Jamie, how are you doing?
Speaker 4:Hey Ryder. What's going on, man? It's that time of year, Everything's the holiday season. We're eating too much food and getting ready for the new year.
Speaker 3:Dude, it's crazy. It's New Year's. I mean, it's this whole year, of course. You know, with the podcast and all these adventures we've had, I can't believe we're wrapping up 2024. It didn't seem possible.
Speaker 4:No, it's, you know we stay busy and I think that's why the time goes by so quick. But no, it's, you know we stay busy and I think that's why the time goes by so quick. But planes, trains and automobiles have got us through 2024. And I thought maybe we could do a little recap of our season you know favorite things, favorite trips and kind of let everybody know what we've done, and in a little bit more detail, and then, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that sounds like a great idea. I and both of us I know we all, we both had a bunch of adventures in 24 and and um, you know. But I mean I'd like to let's. Let me just start by saying, holy cow, what a great group of guests we had on the show this year. Yeah, some of the best new relationships, friendships and just the the adventure of meeting some of these great folks we've had on the show.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're truly blessed by some of the conversations and the connections that we've made. We're always looking for new people to hop on and share their stories of the outdoors with us, so we're blessed. We talked sharks. We talked holy jumping redfish. We talked almost every freshwater species and hunting tails.
Speaker 3:Crocodiles and pythons and cooking red meat over campfires and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:And eating cormorants, eating cormorants. I mean, we had some great adventures. You know, that's glad that was you, not me. Oh my god, you know what that? I tell you what that proves. What that proves is that if you're hungry, anything can taste good, even is it if you're you know everything's relative. If you're really really hungry, then even a you know a gray greasy relative. If you're really really hungry, then even a you know a gray greasy cormorant can still taste good.
Speaker 3:And then, of course, the wonderful thing is and we learned talk about learning that on you know one of our episodes. You know where we really dove into. You know how do you approach and how do you cook some of these meats. Of course it helps when you have people that know what they're doing. You know cooking this stuff. It's not me cooking it up and messing it up and creating a hockey puck. It's actually, it's still cormorant, though I better be careful and not build it up too much, because at the end of the day it was definitely a meal that I think it helped that I was starving when I ate it.
Speaker 4:Like we said, protein is protein, sometimes Protein is protein, no question about it. That should be on a t-shirt. I think we might have to look at that. No question, get that in the old gift shop, for sure? Oh, for sure. Now we didn't. During the year you came up, we came up with a nickname for you Air Miles, and that's because you're very well traveled. You know more than the average angler or hunter, right? So let's start with what was your favorite adventure this year Holy smokes.
Speaker 3:You know I'm lucky. You know that I get to do a lot of this stuff, you know, and for a lot of my career I've been able to tie it into work. You know, a lot of folks ask me how do you get to do all these things? And you know, and I made the decision, of course I'm in sales, real estate sales but I made the decision years ago that, you know, as it comes to entertaining clients, I was going to be the guy that took people fly fishing, you know, or bird hunting, something like that, something different, you know, just a little different than the normal golf outings, or maybe taking folks to a concert or a fancy steak dinner or something like that. I said I'm going to be the guy that takes a fly fishing, or maybe quail hunting, something like that. And so I've been able to tie a lot of this into just my career in real estate and entertaining customers and clients and so forth. But as I've balanced that, of course, with my own adventures, one of the things that I just love is how much of it I'm able to do with family. I do a lot of stuff with friends, you and I do a bunch of stuff, but I love being able to try to tie so much as much of it as we can, doing it with family and doing it together with family. You know, I tell folks that I've hunted Cape buffalo in Africa and water buffalo in South America and plains buffalo in the American West. You know, and I hunted. You know, with the exception of the Cape buffalo that I don't do with family just because it's too dangerous, but I hunted plains buffalo, you know, with our daughter, and I hunted water buffalo in South America with my dad. You know, and I just love how much of it I'm able to do with family.
Speaker 3:So, to answer your question, my wife and I did a bird hunting trip. She's a hell of a shot. She's way more of a fanatical bird hunter than I am. When we shoot sporting clays I usually end up just pulling for her and she's the one that goes around the course shooting all the clays. But we've got a bunch of friends that we do sporting clays with and we also do some bird hunting with and we had a chance this year to do a really special and really unique trip where we took a train and did a wing shooting trip, in other words, a bird hunting trip, wing shooting trip around South Africa.
Speaker 3:But we went by train and that in itself holy smokes, it was like going back in time 100 years. That in itself was the train ride was as much of an adventure as the bird hunting. And we got to do it together. And I'll tell you this we've been married almost 30 years but even so and you're stuck on one of those little train cabins even if you've been married 30 years, it still gets tight after four or five days where you're having to sneak by each other in the bathroom and only one person standing in the room at a time, because the bed takes up three quarters of the size of the room. And even if you've been married 30 years, a little room on a train can get tight after four or five days. But we really had quite an adventure.
Speaker 3:And what was so cool about that trip was as we would hunt during the days, meaning bird hunt during the days, and then, as you slept, the train would continue its route around eastern South Africa, would continue its route around eastern South Africa. So it was kind of a clockwise route from the capital or really kind of, of course, the main city. You've got, Cape Town, on the west side of South Africa and in the eastern really central eastern side of South Africa is Johannesburg. Pretoria is right there, next to Johannesburg, and so if you can picture kind of a clockwise circuit on the eastern half of South Africa, that was the route we did, and each night we're moving forward to the next station, if you will, and then each morning you wake up and you go bird hunting in a new area. And so we got to do lots of different types of wing shooting. The first day or two was waterfowl of wing shooting. The first day or two was waterfowl. That was pretty. That was, I would say was, average at best, and that was purely just because of the route we took and the timing.
Speaker 3:South Africa is known for having outstanding duck hunting, really, you know, people think about South America, you think about Mexico, obviously Canada my goodness, talk about a hotspot for waterfowl Canada, maybe at the very top of the list. And then the legendary areas in America. You know the different flyways Mississippi Flyway, the Eastern Flyways and out west too, but one of the below the radar locations for wing shooting is absolutely South Africa. And so we had I would say we had a couple average days for what it could be in South Africa, and so we had I would say we had a couple average days for what it could be in South Africa, but then we just hit it out of the park with two or three days of incredible pigeon shooting.
Speaker 3:Rock pigeon is the famous bird, very, very challenging, very erratic, fast flying. You're shooting them in open fields open kind of sunflower fields and very, very challenging, even more difficult to hit than the typical doves you might see in North America or Mexico the ear dove or the white-winged dove or the morning dove that you hunt in North and Central and South America. These rock pigeons are even more challenging, and so that's one of the main reasons people go to South Africa. And we had two or three great days of that. And then we've spent about three days, I guess, doing driven Guinea fowl hunting, and that's where you actually have folks pushing through the brush driving Guinea fowl. A lot of coordination, a lot of safety, a lot of obviously only shooting, you know, with sky behind and no low shots, and everybody in the group a small group was very, very safety-focused. But what was amazing it was amazing was just the experience of all these different birds. You know, each day a different species.
Speaker 4:So, Ryder, in terms of the birds that you hunt, there's so many different varieties. I'm not a hunter, as we know, but what do you? Is there a preferred bird that you? Are you trying to get all the different kinds of species Like? I don't know, is certain birds are obviously harder to hunt than others. For sure, For sure.
Speaker 3:You know it's really, I think you know you hunt birds for different reasons and there's different parts of a wing shooting experience that make it such an amazing experience, and so let's talk about, you know, maybe, a couple of different types of wing shooting or bird hunting, if you will. You know upland hunting. Upland hunting is where you're hunting on dry ground. It might be cornfields of Canada or the western US, the Dakotas. You might be hunting the sunflower fields of the southeast or down in New Mexico for dove, but you're up on high ground. But with upland hunting you're hunting with pointing and retrieving dogs definitely pointing dogs and the dogs, man, the dogs are. Even the dogs are the most fun, the most incredible part of that whole experience, even more so than seeing the birds coming in or maybe getting some shots. So when I think about seeing the birds coming in or maybe getting some shots, so when I think about upland hunting, wing shooting, I think about quail, pheasant, chukar, obviously, as you get up into the far north, you get up into grouse and woodcock, and the things I think about absolutely number one is the incredible dogs seeing these pointers, these setters, these pointers, you know, doing their thing, that they love, you know, and finding birds and going on point. And then the other part, of course, is the table fare. You know, some of you know pheasant or grouse is fantastic man, I did some grouse hunting in Minnesota this year and we were cooking, we were flash frying grouse breasts right on the back tailgate of our pickup truck in Minnesota. We just brought along mustard and some butter and just literally cleaned the birds on the tailgate, cooked them up in some butter and and and and wet, you know, did a little wet rub with some mustard and and had these amazing grouse sandwiches. So you know, you think about the dogs, you think about the great meat you get from these upland birds. And then the third thing I think about is the terrain. Whether you're busting brush, you know, going for grouse and woodcock, which is hard, but you know you're out there in the thick woods. Or maybe busting cornfields in the Dakotas for a pheasant. Or the most luxurious of all, of course, is a nice southern quail hunt where you're walking through that. You know that beautiful, you know pine and you know high grass of quail habitat in the, let's say, in the US. You know the southeastern US, you know just being out in those different woods, and so I've just rattled off three or four things I love about it, and none of it we haven't even gotten to the shooting yet, right? And so of course the birds and the shooting is so cool.
Speaker 3:So when you think about those different experiences of upland, obviously you've got waterfowl hunting, waterfowl. When you think of that, you think of early mornings, you think of cold, you think of busting your shins on ice as you're breaking ice to get out to the duck, blind in the morning. You know, you think about first light, you think about the first sound of the wings of those first ducks coming into your decoy spread, and it's an audible thing as much as a visual thing. And you think about the first shot. Who's going to take the first shot? You don't want to be the guy that takes the first shot, spooks birds off the water, and then you screwed it up for everybody else. You know, you really want to. You know, and those are the moments that make waterfowl hunting so special. And of course, if you're somebody that knows what they're doing not me, but if you know what you're doing, of course you know duck can be an amazingly prepared meat if it's done properly.
Speaker 3:And so you know, you think about those experiences and and then you've got the driven shooting, which is where, literally, you have a coordinated effort. Safety is of utmost importance. You have people that are called blockers and they're out at the end of a field and you've got pushers or beaters that are beating through the brush and pushing birds. Obviously, it's all coordinated and and and the. The top focus is safety and you're only shooting high birds, but it's a coordinated effort. The top focus is safety and you're only shooting high birds, but it's a coordinated effort. And with that you're thinking about maybe pheasant. This is where you might get into some of the European shoots driven pheasant shooting, or what we were lucky enough to do in South Africa, driven guinea fowl, where you've got literally folks busting brush, pushing through and kicking up birds from the thick, thick, you know, brush country of South Africa for the Guinea fowl Again a great eating bird. So yeah, man, there's just each.
Speaker 3:There's so many different types of of um bird hunting and they're all different and I think if you're, if you're into bird hunting, you're probably really into dogs and with that part, with that focus, you love all of it.
Speaker 3:It whether it's the retrievers and waterfowl or the pointers. You know, with upland birds, you know you just love being around the dogs and seeing them work and and uh, and if you're lucky, you know you kind of go through the seasons and maybe do a little bit of. You know early teal season, in the early fall you get into the. You know the real winter. You know duck and goose season and then and then a lot of places you can go into the spring. You know, with some of the, for example, some of the quail hunting continues through March in a lot of areas, so you can spread it out for at least six or nine months of the year and there's lots of choices and it really depends on the season and and what the dogs want to go. And so that's what's so cool about bird hunting, jamie, is it's just there's lots of options and as long as you're into being outdoors and being around those dogs, you just can't go wrong.
Speaker 4:Wow, I have a couple of dogs myself and I know how excited they get about even a trip. I can't even say it too long because they're listening, but if I said the P word, you know like they start losing their mind. So like I can imagine like hey, we're going on a hunting trip. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's so fantastic. And of course, these dogs you know these, these bird hunting dogs are they're just, you know, their whole genetics, you know, are formed around in. Every instinct they have is to want to go do this, and so they get so excited and it's, it's. It's. Anybody who's a big time bird hunter will tell you it's about the dogs. It's so much more about watching those dogs and about shooting something. It's, it's just a very, very special part of it and I just, I absolutely love it. Tell so, tell me, so that you know that was a special thing because it was a unique area, it was quite an adventure. But, most importantly, I got to do it with my wife. You know we did it together with friends, and so that made that trip such a great 2024 trip.
Speaker 2:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast.
Speaker 4:That's right Every Thursday, ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor.
Speaker 2:Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 4: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 2:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
Speaker 1: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. But Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. Now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe, it's the perfect transmission environment for life to be.
Speaker 7:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 2:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify.
Speaker 4:Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 5:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 5:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's, under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature. And under the canopy Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:So tell me you know you also I know love doing things with your family, and a lot of what you do, of course, is focused on the fishing world. But what's so cool about you is you'll go to a place to fish and you'll suddenly love three or four other things about where you've gone, whether it's a city that you go through to get there, or other parts of the experience, like what were some of your. What was maybe one of your favorite? Here's a question for you what was your favorite 2024 trip that wasn't just about fishing? Maybe you went to fish, but you got to do some other things as well on the trip. That turned out to be super cool.
Speaker 4:Okay, this is good. So I got two little side stories. On this one, I think you brought up trains and travel, right when we mostly drive and fly. But I had a train experience and now that the certain company has not got back to me, I have to vent a little bit on my extended trip.
Speaker 3:Are we allowed to vent on this show? I don't know. Let's go there, let's be real man, let's make it real, let's do some venting.
Speaker 4:But I, you know, we did a. I drove up with some friends. I had to get back for a charter on the Tuesday, so I was leaving. There was a train to leave, we were up in the gas bay, so leave Mattapedia, which is a tiny little town, and then my train was supposed to leave at 10.15pm and it was an overnight train. So we had a birthday party for a good friend and then lots of food. So I figured I'm going to close my eyes and I'll wake up and I'll be home. Right, I'll be transferred to Montreal and then I'm home by 9pm and I can get ready for my next day.
Speaker 4:Well, I got a notification on my phone during the day that the train was late. So, no problem, it went from 10.15 to 10.30. And then I got another one oh, it's delayed again till it was like 11. The last one was 11.15. Anyhow, the guide brought me to the train station from the lodge that we're at and, you know, dropped me off at 1020. He had a early trip the next morning, so I said no problem, I'm in the own.
Speaker 4:I'm the only person in this train station. There's no actual employee that works there, so I can't talk to anybody. And, sure enough, I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, and 11 o'clock comes, and 1115 comes, and 1130 comes. I thought this isn't good at all. This isn't good. So I called the train company and I was like, ah, is the train coming? I got a notification that it's late, but now it's 15 minutes after that time. And the lady on the phone said, well, but now it's 15 minutes after that time. And the lady on the phone said well, your train is in Amquay, which is three exits past where I was. Oh no, so it actually wasn't late, but the fact was I missed the train.
Speaker 4:Now being in small town, quebec, the train only comes every like twice a week, so the next train was like a little Wednesday evening, right? So I thought, oh boy, this is not going to be good. Right, I have a trip planned. And then you know, my wife is tending to the family by herself at the house. And when you say you're going to be home at a certain time, it's nice to be home at that time. Right, I thought the extended three day fishing trip, my, this isn't going to go over too well, you know a lot on the go and was expecting me to be home. Yeah, yeah, I get. I call the text the guide. Wake him up, he comes back. Go back to the lodge, you know, sneak in my bed. They don't even know that I'm there anymore. And in the morning I had the walk of shame. Everybody's like what the hell are you doing here Exactly? What are you actually doing here? And so I had to take three buses to get home, oh, dude.
Speaker 3:And I ended up, hang on, hang on, hang on, let's back up. Did you, were you honest with them about what had happened and why you were there?
Speaker 4:yeah, yeah, yes. But. But everybody that was there thought eh, I don't know something's up, right, they kind of blame me, thinking he just wants to stay. You know which? I just would have stayed. If that was the case I wouldn't have sat at the train station for.
Speaker 4:But then my trip got a little funky, as it always does. I got uh. The only way home was to take three different buses. I had to transfer from uh, from the small town that we were in, to Rimouski, and then go from Rimouski to Quebec City and then Quebec City to Montreal.
Speaker 4:Now my train arrived in Montreal at 11.45 pm and my next I took a train connector to get home, which was at 6 am. So there was not enough time to get a hotel and I was exhausted. So I thought, well, I'll walk with all my fishing gear downtown Montreal, and you know, when I get to the train station it was about a half an hour walk I'll have a nap in the train station. Well, apparently you can't sleep in the train station. It was about a half an hour walk. I'll have a nap in the train station. Well, apparently you can't sleep in the train station anymore because they have a lot of homeless people who kind of took residence there. So I got kicked out. As soon as I closed my eyes I got two security guards going. Sir, you got to get out of the train station until 445, when it opens. I thought, well, where am I going to go? They said well, outside with all the other addicts and homeless people.
Speaker 3:I was going to say let's ask the obvious question Did you look homeless yourself? Before we judge these poor people from trying to clean up the place, let's talk a little bit about how were you presenting yourself at this moment? Now, you know, at the end of a fishing trip, I didn't bring my razor. I'm picturing. I'm picturing these guys doing their job, taking one look at you saying we got to get this guy out of here you know I'm not.
Speaker 4:I'm probably fitting in with the locals.
Speaker 4:Pretty good right I got a big, gigantic bag with all my stuff in there and anyway, I walked around, I got kicked out, I had to kill four hours and I didn't want to fall asleep outside because I didn't think it was very safe. So anyway, I found a bite to eat and I just walked and walked and I found some little dive bar that was open till 4 am and I sat there with my bag until they kicked me out, and then I walked back to the train station. But it was like one of those fishing wise, like you said, I ended up catching my first ever striped bass, which was on my to catch list for a long time. So it's really.
Speaker 3:You've talked about that for a long. That's exactly right, that's been a bucket list for you for a long time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it was, and it wasn't even really planned, I didn't know. Um, I guess now in the East coast of Canada, a lot of the Atlantic salmon fishery, you know fisheries are having this issue with the striped bass that keep moving up the coast. Now that, uh, you know water's warming and such, but, uh, I didn't catch an atlantic, but then I did, I was able to catch a couple striped bass. So, as much as you know, the target species was not accomplished, it was still nice to go. Hey, I caught a couple really nice striped bass. Absolutely, yeah, make the most of it, you know. And we saw some salmon, some of my, my partners that I was fishing with, they caught fish. So, all in all, lots of good times, lots of, lots of lots of memories with with the friends you know.
Speaker 3:I think sometimes when you get, you know even if it's not your target species some of those unusual animals or fish or experiences. That's what you remember. You know what I mean. Like you know you're going to remember, you know I'm going to remember those, the native. You know folks on the beater lines pushing, you know pushing through the brush, singing, beating. You know they've got flags, they're making noise, beating. They've got flags, they're making noise, beating things together, making sounds.
Speaker 3:I'm going to remember those folks way more than the birds, let's say, or the shooting, necessarily, and just the friendships we made and how, over the course of that trip, you just suddenly leave that place with some really great new friends and interesting folks and you're going to talk about that striper. Leave that place with some really great new, you know friends and interesting folks, and and you're going to talk about that striper, you know that I mean I remember you sending me texts and talking about. I was like, oh, dude, I got my first striper and that's, I mean, atlantic salmon, maybe the one of the highlight fish for anybody to catch, but at the end of the day, a striped bass. For you was that was. You know that was a new species and one you really wanted, you know, and totally unexpected, and that ended up becoming the highlight of that whole trip for you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think my my other adventure. I went on, I went up north, I guided a group up on a lake. I actually never fished before, which is always I was a fishing guide a unique thing to do, but you know it was a walleye trip primarily. But you know, going on the company's website I noticed they also had Northern Pike. So I brought up a musky rod just in case you know. But primarily it was a walleye trip. They wanted to catch some fish and eat some fish.
Speaker 4:So I went up a day before the group to kind of learn the lake and the lake was just incredible. I've never seen walleye fishing like that, so it was pretty easy to find, you know, to figure out. So then I kind of went and I asked our pilot. We flew up a little beaver float plane. I was like is there a big pike in here? And he, he was like nope, actually it's just a walleye lake. There's some little pike but there's, you know, no pike. So I no big pike. Oh, okay, great.
Speaker 4:Anyway, the group comes up and we caught a lot of walleyes and lots of great meals and um, and then, sure enough, we're trolling and guess, gets broken off, then gets broken off, then gets broken off. So I thought it sounds like there's a predator in here, you know. So I I threw on a gigantic musky bait and put up. We were just trolling around and telling stories and having our morning coffee. I said, hey, if this rod goes off I'll just hand her over. And it didn't take three seconds. Boom, sure enough, we got you know three seconds. And boom, sure enough, we got you know the biggest northern pike that I've.
Speaker 3:You know boated to to this day. It was a 44 inch gigantic shovelhead fish. Right and it was. Remember the belly on that fish, remember the I just I remember seeing the pictures of that fish in the belly. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's just a hefty fish big shoulders and it was one of those we weren't expecting. I didn't. We were told that they didn't get that big there. But I thought, well, it's a destination, you know, walleye destination Like so guaranteed that most people don't put any effort into the northern pike fishing, that's there. So that was a special bonus on our trip. And then just the you know the like we always say it's, half the fun is getting there and the adventure.
Speaker 4:We stayed at this little inn and we were the only guests in there. So the guy basically gave us the keys and his keys to his pickup truck and was like the inn's just around the corner, the restaurant's there. See you in the morning, you know, don't worry about locking up. Well, it was such a small town that they'd they just everybody knew everybody. And you know we walked into the little diner for for something to eat and everybody stared at us like, wow, these people aren't from here. Yeah, yeah, right. But uh, all in all it was absolutely wonderful year I did a couple of weeks of uh, kids fishing camp. So always nice to teach the next generation how to appreciate the outdoors and how to tie knots and catch some fish Now.
Speaker 3:You've been doing that for a long time and did that come about the same way this year? Or is it the same program you've done in the past, or like, yeah, talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 4:Same program, ottawa Fish School. It's been going on for a couple of years and it's a unique thing, you know some of the kids are. We have some weeks that the kids are seven and eight years old, which you know. It's a learning process. Some of them don't automatically have the patience that most anglers, you know, acquire once they're serious about the sport. But at the same time, there's something so special about, you know, kids showing up the first day. They don't know how to tie a knot, they've never caught a fish.
Speaker 4:You know to boating. You know not boating, but on shore grabbing some panfish. Or you know smallmouth bass we caught some really nice walleye too throughout the town of Ottawa and also some really big bass. So, and it's you know, you get. You get messages from parents saying some of the kids you know made friends there. Now they're on their bikes and fishing together. So it's uh nice to, you know, get the next generation going like we. If you think about our life and what makes us happy, it's nice to be able to share and teach too, which kind of brings you back to, you know, when you were a kid and when you first got going in the sport too.
Speaker 3:Oh, totally. And well, you're, you, you are changing lives. You know, you're, you're introducing, you know, obviously, whether it's your own kids or just you know, even through these programs, where you're you're introducing, you're introducing that next generation to the outdoors. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't have to be fishing, it doesn't have to be hunting, just introducing the next generation to the outdoors and hopefully that changes their life and then, if you're really lucky, someday they do that with their kids. And you know, and you just you've, you've, you've, you've the domino effect of it.
Speaker 3:One of the trips that I was so lucky to be part of, two different groups this year we got together twice and one of the one of the head guys in the group is really involved in the scouts, boy Scouts and and and you know and did amazing trips, you know and you know, taking kids on big hikes around the American West, around Colorado and Wyoming, and fishing trips and all this kind of stuff. And he's just, you know, he's done so much with the scouts over the years. But one of the things that he always did and I always appreciated this, but in 2024, did, and I always appreciated this, but in 2024, that group did two trips and we were all able to talk about this and really watch it come full circle is he would always make sure that the dads were part of the adventure too. In other words, it wasn't just hey, drop your kids off, we'll see you in three days. They're going to go out and experience hiking for three days. It was no, no, no, no, come on. We're meeting here to head out. And, by the way, dads, you're coming too, and we expect you to do this, this and this to help out, and and, and you know, some of these dads had never been outside. You know, some of these dads were just, you know, corporate working types who had never done that stuff themselves.
Speaker 3:And so these adventures were not just teaching the next generation about the outdoors whether it's fly fishing for a little brook trout in a lake up in the mountains, or hiking or whatever it is but they're teaching the dads too in those cases. And then, of course, with that you get this priceless time of the kids and the parent together out in these places and on these trips. This year we were able to see the kids. This was years and years ago now. So those kids on those trips now are in their 30s and even 40s, because my buddy used to do this. He's now in his 70s. So these are all trips they were doing you know gosh what 30 years ago. And now those kids are grown up, they've got their own kids and we're all getting to see. And you know, now, of course, it's all on Instagram and so we're all talking about all the posting of these incredible activities of their kids now doing hiking out west or skiing out west or fly fishing, or somebody's just caught a great trout. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3:And it's that whole next generation that is. You know, you're seeing that. Pay it forward if you will. You know those experiences. Now, really, a third generation is now really a third generation. And it was so cool to be on two trips this year where I got to see firsthand the domino effect of a third generation of new outdoors boys and girls enjoying the outdoors as it's been taught to them by their parents, who were, in turn, taught by my generation. And it's just, it's priceless, man, it's just. It just obviously warms your heart. But you look at it and you're like holy smokes. You know you're really. You're not just changing a life, but you're changing lives because it can. You know it can really, if it hits and they really love it. You know it can continue to be passed along.
Speaker 4:Yeah, love it. You know it can. It can continue to be passed along. Yeah, I think uh, guiding wise too.
Speaker 4:This year was a it was a great season, lots of ups and downs, but some of the trips that I like the most are, like you said, you know the folks that don't fish that hire you to kind of take them fishing for the first time to see if they like it, and watching them catch you know whether it be catfish, or you know their first big fish, or you know several fish.
Speaker 4:It's. It's one of those rewarding uh things as a guide. And then when you, when you can give somebody you know a new love for a new sport and really kind of change somebody's life in terms of the way they're going to plan future trips or whatever, it's really rewarding. So it was a great year for new anglers, for new species, for people, and then a lot of personal bests at the same time, which you know you get the species, specific clients that are looking for a trophy or those are, as a guide, obviously a little bit more stressful, but at the same time, when you get it done, you sleep well at night. Hey, when you get it done, you sleep well at night.
Speaker 3:Hey, I meant to ask you this and this is unrelated to 24, but I'm curious because it was a topic this week on a lot of the online interaction in the saltwater world. When somebody talks to you about hey, I want to get a personal best, do you get folks that are going after, like IGFA records and, if so, do you get into tippet class? Do you ever get Tripp's book where you're actually building those regulation tippets so that if you do get somebody who's maybe going after a certain weight class record with a fly rod, is that something? Did you have any of that in 24? Or do you get much of that? Jamie up on the Ottawa system?
Speaker 4:I do not. However, I am registered with the IGFA and I do have on board the catch and release official catch and release measuring tool. So if there was ever, you know, I think we have always a possibility for a potential musky record or a long nose gar record or, who knows, even like a small mouth catch and release record. I know the catch and release record system with the IJFA is pretty new, so there are some species that are pretty attainable in terms of, you know, being able to hit those, but I don't. I haven't had a guest yet that said, hey, I'd like to catch a world record like it's, it's uh, we actually the funny thing.
Speaker 4:We had a kid in fish camp, not this past year but the year before, who broke um the carp catch and release world record. No, oh shit, he never registered it. I gave him all the information, we had the photos on the board and everything like that, and we successfully released the fish. But I think the family decided that maybe the fame of having the world record catch and release canal tuna was not for them. Right, right, right, the fame and notoriety Right right right.
Speaker 3:The fame and notoriety, the notoriety, yeah. So tell me, actually that's interesting. So tell me about, let's talk about 24. Let's talk about fish. Or for me maybe it's a critter or a fish, but what are one or two? And, of course, with you being a professional guide, it doesn't have to be a fish, but you know what are one or two, you know, and, of course, with you being a professional guide, it doesn't have to be a fish that you caught. But let's tell me about. You know, obviously you had your first striper, you had that giant pike. Were those your two highlight fish of the year? Or is, if you had to think about what was a highlight, you know, fish or two from 24, other than maybe that pike and other than that, those stripers, what you know? Fish or two from 24, other than maybe that pike and other than that, those stripers, what you know did you get?
Speaker 4:some special catches this year that you'll never forget. Yeah, so, uh, there's, there's two. I come to mind right away, um, probably the last fish of the season, which was the biggest muskie I caught of the year, and it was one of those fish. I should have measured it, but I didn't. I don't measure all fish, because a nice fish is a nice fish and I really don't care if it's 52 and a quarter versus you know 49 and a half.
Speaker 3:It is nice to know. It's a big fish. It's a nice fish.
Speaker 4:Sometimes a nice fish. I personally try to limit the time the fish is out of water and all that stuff. So quick photo, back you go. But you know, looking at that photo I do regret not knowing exactly how big it was, but at the same time I know it was a great fish. So that's all good with me. And the other fish was the first day I got out for longnose gar this year. It was a beautiful day and my daughter and I got out in the boat. I said, hey, let's take the boat for a rip. And she caught her first 50 inch gar.
Speaker 4:Oh that's awesome. I got one as well, yeah. And then I said you know what, let's just leave these fish alone for my guests in the coming weeks. We saw so many fish that day and I thought you know what, there's no point in stinging them all. We'll just wrap it up, have a great. We had a great little morning and that was it. You know, like you said, sharing, sharing these special moments with your family is often the greatest memories you can have.
Speaker 3:Oh, totally no, that's priceless. It's priceless. And and I I remember the muskie, I remember the photos of the muskie, and that's another fish that had some shoulders Holy smokes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was fishing with a buddy and you know we're kind of trolling and the line went off and you want it? No, do you want it? No, I'm good, do you want it? And he's like, well, you haven't caught a lot of fish, you go ahead. And as soon as I grabbed the rod, I went oh, dude, you're, you're gonna be pissed. You didn't grab the rod on that one, but uh, it was fun. It's muskie. Fishing is always a team effort. You get one in the boat, you get one in the boat especially, you know I got when I'm not guiding, I got a couple buddies that we get out and it's.
Speaker 3:we just try to put fish in the boat and laugh, oh yeah and a fish in the boat with muskie is is is I mean talk about a fish. It just doesn't matter how big it is. For a lot of people it might be the first in their life. Maybe you get lucky and get a personal best, but a musky is a musky man. That's a highlight. No matter what the size is, who cares? A musky is a highlight. A musky of any size is a highlight. You know, a muskie is a highlight. A muskie of any size is a highlight.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they're always fun. And what was your favorite? Either fish or hunt your harvest, so to speak.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I would tell you, you know, of course I had some great highlights, you know, on that hunting trip in South Africa. You know getting to, you know watching my wife get her first rock pigeon, which is a big deal. You know that's a, you get a. That's a really hard shot, you know, and you need a lot of patience and you need to be a good shot. And I, you know, and seeing her with a rock pigeon and she was of the group, she was the only one that that there's.
Speaker 3:Um, when we're doing the Guinea fowl hunting, you know there's also kind of grouse-sized ground birds. They're kind of like a prairie chicken. They're called Franklin and there's several different species of Franklin in South Africa but it's kind of like a big prairie chicken. Anyways, you know, so you're getting there's three or four different species of birds you have a chance to see on these drives and of course, my wife being a great wing shot, she was the only one in the group who got all three or four species. And those are just moments you watch and you're so glad you're there to be part of that.
Speaker 3:But fish-wise, I would tell you it was an unexpected, totally unexpected. It wasn't that it was unexpected, because I did a lot of research on the fish, knew it was there but I sure didn't expect that I would be getting one. And it was on that trip, if you remember, I got a chance to go down into very, very remote part, actual indigenous lands, remote part of Bolivia this summer. Remember that trip. I can't forget that. I was hoping you'd bring that up again indigenous lands, remote part of Bolivia this summer. Remember that trip that was from Golden.
Speaker 4:Dorado, I can't forget that. I was hoping you'd bring that up again.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, what an adventure. And you're literally in the edges of the Amazon, where it comes up into the foothills of the Andes, and it's one of the most remote places I've ever fished, but it is absolutely the most untouched and I would even compare it to parts of Nunavut I've ever fished. But it is absolutely the most untouched and I would even compare it to parts of Nunavut. You know, I've done a lot of hunting and fishing in Nunavut and that is arguably, along with the Yukon, you know, some of the most untouched parts of Canada. I would, for me, this felt even more untouched than that, if that's even possible. And but of course, we're there fishing for the golden dorado. The golden dorado is this big, bright picture, a striped bass that's the color of a goldfish. I mean this is gorgeous, golden, yellow, big predator with just these black stripes. Voracious, predator fish, big, sharp teeth. It's like a, I guess it's. I'm trying to describe it. To me it looks like a big, bright, yellow, striped bass and they can grow to be the same sizes. You know, they can be five pounds, they can be 15, they can be 35 pounds. You know these are big, voracious predators in those headwaters of the Amazon and throughout the Amazon system. The area we were fishing was so remote, so pristine, that one of the main sources of water in the rivers was dew coming off the plant leaves of the rainforest. Imagine that. Imagine the volume of dew that's necessary to create a river system and that's how pure this water is. And, of course, these voracious bright yellow predators that are attacking spawning fish. They're called sabolo and they're similar to the shad runs that come up or the smelt. Maybe some of the smelt fishing you guys might see up in Canada or surely up in the northeastern US. I remember as a kid my dad going smelting Same thing down there in those rivers, those little spawning fish in these dorado or just, you know, preying on these Well, in the pools.
Speaker 3:As you're spending your day hiking up these rivers, these headwater rivers, you know you can see these fish. You can either blind cast up against banks, no different than you and I would do for smallies on some of those smallie banks we fished, or on some of the bends in the rivers. These are not big rivers, by the way. These are 20, 30 feet across their headwaters and so they're very manageable-sized water. It's like kind of some of the salmon or trout streams you might find up north, and in some of those pools you can see the Dorado prowling the pool like a pack of wolves. You had four or five of them, bright yellow, just circling the pool waiting for some critter to get in front of them.
Speaker 3:But also in these same pools are two other things, and both of them are incredible, and I was lucky enough to get one of the two. One of them is these giant, giant South American catfish, and these catfish can be the size of a couch, meaning five feet, six feet plus massive, massive catfish. And so you'll be wading up this river looking for these dorado to be moving up and down the river so you can get a cast in front of them. You come to a bend in the river and there, in the bottom of the pool, at the bend in the river, is this dark shape. It's like a log, you know, down in the mud and the muck and you know that it's just this massive, massive. You know, one of the two or three different species of massive South American catfish. And of course, I could spend hours just you know, dangling flies on their, on their front lips, hoping for a bite. I never got lucky with a catfish, but the other fish that you do get. That to me is the absolute prize. I you know, I've heard people refer to it as as the permit you know of, of of the jungle.
Speaker 3:It's called a paku and a paku is a. If you know what a piranha looks like, picture a giant piranha. I want to say they might even be a distant relative. Picture a piranha that's the size of a dinner plate or the size of a big tray and pitch black, big, meaty fish. Piranha is probably the best description I can give of it. It's a big, round, flat-sided fish, pitch black, and they eat. They don't eat. They're not a predator fish. Obviously, unlike piranha, they're not a predator fish, matter of fact, their teeth if you catch a paku and open its mouth, the dorado have these razor sharp, you know, predator teeth. Well, a paku's teeth looks like human teeth, jamie. It's freaky, it's crazy. You open their mouth and it's like seeing human teeth in this fish's mouth and they eat leaves and they eat organic material, flowers and leaves that fall off the trees that grow over the river in the jungle.
Speaker 3:So, as you're going up these rivers and if you get a breeze, if a breeze comes through and rustles the trees, the native guide will stop and look around and he'll point. And the breeze he knows is gonna to trigger some leaves falling in the water, which he knows will trigger paku coming up and eating the leaves. And so when the breeze comes down the river, everyone kind of raises their heads and looks. Sure enough, the native guide says points, he goes, okay, paku, paku.
Speaker 3:And you quickly put away your streamer pattern on your fly that you've got on there for a Dorado and you tie on like a foam hopper might be, maybe like a yellow or green grasshopper pattern, something that's meant to be, you know, like a floating terrestrial fly, but at the end of the day it's going to be.
Speaker 3:The paku is going to think it's a leaf or a flower and you cast it and, sure enough, put it in the middle of the pool and, sure enough, this giant plate-sized black, piranha-looking thing comes up out of the bottom and looks at it like a permit and it sniffs around and it goes around the fly and it rejects it and it goes back down and you do it again and for most people you get rejections all week, week, you know, and it's just frustrating, just like a permit in saltwater.
Speaker 3:But darn it if I didn't get lucky and we had a brown fly that looked like a sinking leaf and the paku just wouldn't take the floaters and my guide was smart enough to switch it over to a brown. It looked like a brown leaf but it had a little bit of weight. And it looked like a brown leaf but it had a little bit of weight and it looked like a brown leaf. It was sinking down into the muck of the bend in the river and, sure enough, one of the paku nailed it and, oh man, I've never wanted to land a fish so much in my life. I mean, it was like catching my first permit. I've never wanted to just get the darn thing landed. And anyways, it was a week of fishing. Only one paku for me that week, but it was a highlight and I'll never forget it, and that's probably the highlight fish you know, for me for 24.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's so great. You know, 2024 has been a marvelous one and I can't thank you, Ryder, enough for, you know, doing this, we were a bunch of episodes in and we're having just an absolute blast, oh for sure. I hate to say this, but let's connect next year, I agree.
Speaker 3:It's a good way to end 24. And then maybe we kick off another episode thinking about what's next in 25.
Speaker 4:There we go. We'll maybe do like a sneak peek of what's happening in the year coming up next.
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