Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Episode 51: Behind The Rod
Ever wondered how a lodge owner turned a simple idea into a marketing phenomenon? Join us as we recount the early days of managing a fishing lodge and the visionary plan that changed everything. We share personal stories of collaborating with TV icons like Peter Bowman and Mike Miller, capturing the essence of camaraderie and adventure that defined our journey. You'll also hear a special campfire recital of "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service—a poem that became a beloved tradition among our guests.
Get ready for an amusing tale from our first fishing show shoot. A stressful start and an embarrassing mix-up transformed into a day filled with laughter and unforgettable moments. As we explore the high stakes and significant investments made to ensure the lodge's success, you'll gain insight into the unwavering commitment behind every decision. From reality TV connections to hosting charity auction winners, these experiences laid the foundation for incredible friendships and future opportunities.
We also reminisce about our evolving relationships with industry figures like Ange and his team and how these connections opened doors we never could have imagined. Hear about lively evenings of storytelling, a memorable Maple Leafs game, and even a humorous incident involving our lodge’s housekeeper. These tales highlight not just the challenges but also the joy and community spirit that comes with outdoor adventures.
Ever wondered how a lodge owner turned a simple idea into a marketing phenomenon? Join us as we recount the early days of managing a fishing lodge and the visionary plan that changed everything. We share personal stories of collaborating with TV icons like Peter Bowman and Mike Miller, capturing the essence of camaraderie and adventure that defined our journey. You'll also hear a special campfire recital of "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service—a poem that became a beloved tradition among our guests.
Get ready for an amusing tale from our first fishing show shoot. A stressful start and an embarrassing mix-up transformed into a day filled with laughter and unforgettable moments. As we explore the high stakes and significant investments made to ensure the lodge's success, you'll gain insight into the unwavering commitment behind every decision. From reality TV connections to hosting charity auction winners, these experiences laid the foundation for incredible friendships and future opportunities.
We also reminisce about our evolving relationships with industry figures like Ange and his team and how these connections opened doors we never could have imagined. Hear about lively evenings of storytelling, a memorable Maple Leafs game, and even a humorous incident involving our lodge’s housekeeper. These tales highlight not just the challenges but also the joy and community spirit that comes with outdoor adventures.
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge, a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service. This week, on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network's Diaries of a Lodge Owner, it's just us folks, and I want to take you back in time into my mind, the mind of a young lodge owner who had no choice but to make his business work and understood that advertising was crucial to success, but couldn't afford to spend the time or the money on trade shows, which, at the time, was the way to advertise. On today's show, we are going to talk about what I did instead, other than my website. My marketing plan was this have as many fishing TV shows shot at the lodge as possible, shot at the lodge as possible. That was my plan. That was it, and, oh baby, did it ever work? But I want to give you all a look behind the scenes from my point of view as a lodge owner, a glimpse into what it's like to meet and work with some of the most iconic people in the fishing industry. So here we go, folks, with the first edition of Behind the Rod Fishing Show Edition. But first I was out with some buddies tonight and they motivated me to do something that I used to do quite often and I want to throw it in here for all of you, because it was something that I did when fishing show hosts like Ange and Pete and guests and just you know. It was something that I held in my pocket. It was one of those things when we were jamming or together around the campfire especially, I'd pull this out because it was a. I just enjoyed giving this gift to all of the people around me at the time, and Skacer and Mark, they drew it out of me tonight and you know what? I'm going to share it with all of you right now.
Speaker 1:And this is a poem called the Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service. There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The arctic trails have their secret tales that'd make your blood run cold. The northern lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see was that night on the marge of Lake LaBarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Now, sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows why he left his home in the South to roam round the pole, god only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell and he'd often say, in his own homely way, he'd sooner live in hell.
Speaker 1:It was Christmas Day and we were mushing our way over the Dawson Trail Talk of cold, through Parker's fold. It stabbed like a driven nail, and if our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till. Sometimes we couldn't see, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee. And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, the dogs were fed and the stars overhead were dancing heel and toe, he turned to me. Cap says he I'll cash in this trip, I guess. And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request. Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no. When he said, with a bit of a moan it's this cursed cold. It's got right. Hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone. It ain't being dead.
Speaker 2:It's my awful dread of an icy grave that pains.
Speaker 1:So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate these last remains, while a pal's last need is a thing to heed, and I swore I would not fail. We started at the streak of dawn, but God, he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee, but by nightfall a corpse was all that remained of Sam McGee, and there wasn't a breath in that land of death. As I hurried, horror-driven, with a corpse half-hid that I couldn't get rid because of a promise I had given, it was lashed to the sleigh and it seemed to say you may tax your brawn and brains, but you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate these last remains. Now, a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
Speaker 1:In the days to come, though, my lips were dumb in my heart. How I cursed that load In the long, long night, by lone firelight, with the huskies round in a ring howling their woes to the homeless snows. Oh God, how I loathed that thing. And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow. But on I went, though. The dogs were spent and the grub was getting low. The trail was bad and I felt half mad but I swore I would not give in. And I'd often sing to that hateful thing and it hearkened with a grin, till I came to the marge of Lake Labarge where a derelict there lay. It was jammed in the ice, but I saw on thrice it was called the Alice May. I looked at it and I thought a bit and I looked at my frozen chum. Then here, said I with a sudden cry, is my crematorium? Some planks I tore from the cabin floor and I lit the boiler fire. Some coal? I found that was lying around and I heaped the fuel up higher. The flames just soared and the furnace roared such a blaze you seldom see. And I burred a hole in that glowing coal and I stuffed in Sam McGee.
Speaker 1:Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle. So the heavens scowled and the huskies howled and the winds began to blow. T'was icy, cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks and I didn't know why, and the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky. I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grizzly fear. But the stars came out and they danced about there again.
Speaker 1:I ventured near. I was sick with dread but I brave, bravely, said I'll just take a peep inside. I guess he's cooked and it's time to look. Then the door I opened wide and there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar. He wore a smile you could see a mile and he said Please close that door. It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm. Since Plum Tree down in Tennessee it's the first time I've been warm.
Speaker 1:There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that'd make your blood run cold. The northern lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see was that night on the marge of Lake LaBarge I cremated Sam McGee. And so you have it, folks the cremation of Sam McGee. And so you have it, folks, the cremation of Sam McGee. And that was something that I always had in my back pocket and I'm pretty sure that most of the people up at the lodge that shared a campfire with me may have heard it at least once or twice If you were a guy or a girl that come up to the lodge on multiple occasions. It wasn't an every night thing, but there you go.
Speaker 1:So now I really am looking forward to sharing some insights with you and some of my stories, because I really feel blessed to have been in the position that I was in and had an opportunity to work with just about every awesome fishing show on the planet and to give you an idea of some of those fishing shows I shot in my 10-year tenure there's a tongue twister for you. I was upwards of 26, 27 shows shot and again there were multiple shows shot by television shows Like Fish in Canada. We did 13. That's a whole freaking season. I love you. Ang. Charlie Ray from Fishful Thinking. Bob Izumi, the Real Fishing Show. The New Fly Fisher with Colin McKeown. Musky Hunter with Jim Sarek. Roland Martin was up and shot when we did the Cooper Tire event with Fish in Canada. Troy Lidner was up for the Ontario experience. We had Matt Haynes and Babs. Matt is a British fishing celebrity, a British fishing celebrity and they they also did a wonderful show.
Speaker 1:It was actually an hour long and part of us, uh, so you know, I I had the opportunity to work with all of these people and, um, I think the best way to to put in perspective, um, what it was like from my point of view. We'll start from the beginning and the whole thing. In the intro I talked about marketing and my plan and I just couldn't, because I was 33, melissa, we already had Rayburn and Mikey, and they were like two and four months or something like that, and we had another one on the way and I know my numbers are a little bit off, but not a whole lot off and I could not very well, after the season was over, come home and tell Melissa that I was going to take the next three months and do trade shows. It just wasn't happening, not to mention the fact that I didn't have the money in the beginning anyway. But what I did have was the idea.
Speaker 1:Even before I bought the lodge, I wanted to market it on television and I knew how. At least I knew who to go to first and that was Fish in Canada. And that was because I knew Ange and Pete from the Last Cull, which was a reality TV fishing show that I was involved with. And, if you, I've told the story a couple of times in podcasts before this. So if you haven't heard the story, go back in the inventory. It's back there, folks.
Speaker 1:But anyway, it was a reality TV show that I met Pete Nange and when I decided to buy a fishing lodge and it was a very cut and dry decision I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to do it, to do it. And one of my first phone calls was to Pine Post, which is the Fish and Canada's headquarters. And I got Pete on the phone and I said to Peter hey, and I knew Peter, I knew Peter, we weren't really friends, we were more acquaintances at the time. This is 10, well, 2004 and then 2009. So you know, you're seven years or so, and McGee tore the voice up, but anyway, I knew Peter well enough to talk to him a couple times a year.
Speaker 1:And I said to Pete I said, hey, pete, if a buddy of yours was going to buy a fishing lodge, what are the chances that you guys could do a fishing show for him? And Peter said, well, you know, we uh, we gotta. There's certain standards that we look for and the depending on the body of water, and and he started into into that. Now I was like, oh, I gotta give him my sales pitch and I, I said, well, pete, well, first of all sorry. He said, when I said, hey, if a buddy of yours was going to buy a fishing lodge, could you do a show? And Peter said, steve, are you that buddy? And I said, well, as a matter of fact, yeah, I am. And at that point he went into the whole thing about you know, body of water, it's got to be good, and this and that and everything else.
Speaker 1:So I went into a little bit sales mode and really it wasn't, because I just told the truth and I said, peter, this place is the nicest place that I've ever been to. Now, I haven't been to a whole lot of, I wasn't to a whole lot of lodges, or at least high end lodges at that point in my life. But I said to him, I said it's really the nicest place that I've ever been to and it's on the upper French river. And uh, peter, as soon as I said upper French river, he says, oh, upper French river. Well, uh, I've got to talk to Ange, but we've been wanting to get to the Upper French River. So I can't guarantee we can do a show for you, but I'll guarantee we'll do a show for you and I said, oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:And then after that I had went down, I actually made a meeting with Ange and Pete to go down and show them the property, and this was right before I signed the deal and I was going down and hopefully getting some real good insight, but I really Ange scared the shit out of me right? He's like geez, I don't. You know, I don't know if I'd be doing this. I know what it takes to run a lodge and, buddy, it's a nightmare. But you know what I had my mind set right from the beginning. So, anyway, that is where this whole thing started, with television shows and, just like Pete said, they came up that very first year and they shot a show for me and I'll tell you about that show in particular.
Speaker 1:So it was mid-July in my first year and I did not know the water at all, like I mean at all, know the water at all, like I mean at all. I had never been on the Upper French River other than once to stay at Lunge Lodge, and that was right before I bought it, to compare this place with that place, because Lunge had just sold for about $450,000 and I paid like upwards of $800,000. It was $750,000 but then all of the other expenses and stuff that went along with it, it was pretty close to $800,000. So I wanted to make sure that you know the quality was there. I was paying almost double and I made the decision to buy it. So that says enough there. But they came up and my point is I knew nothing about the water and Ange didn't actually come on that first shoot.
Speaker 1:It was Pete and Mike Miller and for those of you who don't know Mike Miller, funny enough he was my bass partner in that last call reality TV show that I did when I first met Pete Nange back in 2004. And Mike co-hosted for Fish in Canada. For it's got it, I'm going to. I'm going to guess it was five, six years maybe. Anyway, he was with Peter and um and again I was like, okay, uh, I went out and I, I pre-fished a little bit, uh, the week, uh, week and a bit before um, we were going to do a bass show. I, I had Chris Shock, one of my longtime guests, and at the time he was long time to show to air new to me took me out and and showed me Marshy Bay and which isn't which wasn't wigwam. I didn't, you'll't Wigwam. You'll hear the Wigwam story later on. I'm not even sure if it'll be this podcast, you've heard it before. But anyway, that was like the third or fourth Fish in Canada episode.
Speaker 1:But this episode in particular come with a shit ton of stress because it was the beginning of my marketing plan and um, I'll never forget, uh, pete and Mike and the uh, the camera crew hit the dock and um, um, I knew, I knew them and they made me feel great about it and I trusted in their abilities to catch fish and, like I say, it was bass and then walleye. So what I did, and I don't know, and now shooting with the guys. It's not always standard, but for me, whenever a television show came to the lodge, I didn't pay them to come. Ontario Tourism they covered the cost of the shoot, but my responsibility was looking after the crew and the hosts and everything that went along with it. So I made available boats if they need. And, again, all of the fishing shows come with their own boats, but I always provided a second boat and a guide if needed for camera boat for B-roll and boat to boat shots and a lot of that stuff, because back in those early days there were no drones. The drones didn't start to happen until, you know, the mid 2000s, at least with the shows that I was familiar with. So it was a lot of boat to boat and everything else. So you provide the boat. And I told them, I said, listen, guys, I have my schedule clear. I'm going to go out and I'm going to operate the second boat and whatever you need you get. This show is the most important thing right now for me. Um, next to my guests, uh, that um that I have on the go, and um, here's a walkie. You guys go in your boat. I'll show you some spots and spots.
Speaker 1:That uh, billy Commander, my head guide, or the longest stayed guide, who wasn't there at the time. He actually ended up getting a job in Northwest Territories and left for a bit that year and it just so happened that it was over the time that these guys were there. But anyway, billy had showed me some spots and we went out and the first day I'm wanting to help and get this done for the guys and I take them to the first spot and I go out and I said, okay, the fish three pine here and they started fishing and they're doing pretty good, but I backed way off. I said, you know, I'm going to go check the point on Green Island and do a little bit of scouting Because again, the French River is massive and Lake Nipissing is even bigger and I was new. So another guide his name was Purple I'll have to do a guide show just to talk about the characters. But Purple had showed me some spots, but unfortunately he had passed just before these guys got up there and right around that same time. But anyway, it was a drop off on the corner of Green Island. So I and it was probably about a kilometer away and we could talk on the walkies and everything else.
Speaker 1:So I go over to Green Island and I start fishing purple spot and I'm feeling this jig dropping down, dropping down, dropping down, and then it stopped and I set the hook. And I set the hook into something real big and now I'm thinking, oh no, I've caught the biggest fish and I'm the one catching it and they're doing the show and like you don't pass the rod, like you don't hook, like I mean I've heard stories about some other guys, um, that that uh, shows that do offside things, but none of the shows that come to show to air. Do that Anyway. So I'm fighting this fish and it's heavy, like I mean, I'm reeling and reeling and lifting, trying to lift, lift, lift, and I can only get it so high and then it goes and lifting, trying to lift, lift, lift, and I can only get it so high and then it goes and stops on the bottom and I'm like, oh my God, what this can't be a walleye. And I did it and I got, like my light gear. It's like a light rod, eight pound test, a jig head, no leader, no, nothing. And this thing, I'm working it, I'm working it back up. I'm working it back up, I'm working it back up and then all of a sudden it gets to a certain point where it just doesn't like to come up and it goes right back down to the bottom.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile Pete and Mike are over fishing three pine. So now I'm thinking, oh my God, and? And there's no anchor mode on the trolling motor. So I'm got my foot on the trolling motor, I'm trying to manage the wind, I'm fighting this big fish and this and that. So I get on the walkie.
Speaker 1:I'm like, hey guys, I got a really big fish over here.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure if there's anything we can do with it, because I've hooked it.
Speaker 1:But I've got a really big fish over here and they're like we'll come right over and they come over. And they're like, well, we'll come right over and they come over. And they're like, okay, we're gonna roll on you. And I'm like, all right, and I am fumbling and pissing around and in the wind and I'm not miked or nothing, and Pete and and Mike are watching me they're watching right, and it does this for the seventh or eighth time. It does exactly what I described to you before the lift it, lift it, lift it down to the bottom. And it did that maybe two or three times. And again, I am just laser focused on the fact that I've got some sort of a goddamn monster here and the TV show is going on and anyway, mike looks over at me and he says Steve, are you sure it's a fish? And in my wisdom I look up and I say to Mike Mike Miller, the winningest Canadian tournament angler and co-host of the Fish in Canada television show at the time I say, mike, I know what a goddamn fish feels like.
Speaker 1:This is a fish. And again the same thing happened. So I think, to be honest with you, peter and Mike got a little tired of watching this circus going on in front of them. And Mike says to me, he says, hey, listen, would you mind if I jump over there and give it a shot? And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And I was thinking that, okay, well, at least he's miked and this and that and everything else. Well, mike got into the boat with me, grabbed the rod and he lifts up on the rod and he's feeling, and he's feeling, and he lifts and he reels, like I was doing.
Speaker 1:And now, and this has, I am not skirting this at all, and I am not skirting this at all. But this is when I came to the realization that it might not be a fish, because I'm running the trolling motor now, so the wind is not pushing me around and I've got more control of the boat. And now I'm watching Mike with the rod and it's just straight, pressure, loaded up, loaded up, loaded up. Got to a point and then the drag pulled down. It was doing the same thing. I was just holding the boat and then Mike's decided you know what to hell with it, and he just reeled, reeled, reeled and then held the spool and lifted it up, reeled, reeled, reeled down to the water, held the spool or the line so that it wouldn't pull drag, lifted it up Wow, it come to the surface and it was a stick. It come to the surface and it was a stick. It was the biggest branch that you could imagine. And I was mortified. I was mortified.
Speaker 1:Peter Bowman is sitting in the other side of the boat or in the other boat looking at us, in the other boat looking at us, and in my just awful feeling of embarrassment, I look up and Pete is killing himself, laughing, and he looks over. He says, yeah, nedswicky, you know a fucking fish when you feel it, don't you? And I thought, oh my God. And we all laughed. All I could do was laugh.
Speaker 1:And Mike jumped out of my boat and into his boat and we went back to shooting the show and that situation. Really, more than anything, it helped me because I was so stressed out at that point about not knowing how fishing shows were shot and how they work. And I'm here with Peter Bowman and Mike Miller and it just it really broke the ice and we went on to have a great day. They caught some nice walleye. I don't think in that first show we got a whole lot of really big fish, but we got a great. We ended up getting a great show. And it was not easy. As I've come to learn, it's not easy, and that one wasn't easy either, but we had a wonderful, wonderful time with it. We had a wonderful wonderful time with it.
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Speaker 2:Hi everybody, I'm Angelo Viola Book, now Right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 3: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. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garton Turk and all the Russians would go fishing. To scientists Now that we're reforesting.
Speaker 3:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 4: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, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:The most memorable part of that trip was and this is in my first year was, and this, this is the in my first year, uh, I've, I've told you the, the story about, um, um, um, mike Apron and the whole drinking thing. And you know, there's only uh, there's there's two kinds of lodge owners and only one make it the ones that drink and the ones that don't. Well, this was one of those times in that first year where I did have a few drinks with the guys, and Mike is the funniest guy that you ever would want to meet, like, I mean, he's the life of the party and impressions. He did a Scott, he does like a Scotsman impression and it had, like, I mean, and not only a Scotsman impression, I think between and Peter doesn't believe it or not, believe it or not, peter really doesn't drink a whole lot Uh, that night I think Mike and I drank uh, though it was definitely at least two bottles of scotch and pretty good scotch, from what I remember, and I near pissed my pants laughing at Mike. I don't even remember what he was doing. I remember the Scotsman accent and just he was just fantastic. And Pete I think probably because he was Ang wasn't there and it was the two of them. He was a little more business, but not, you know, he was still great too.
Speaker 1:And Salt of the Earth guys, they come out and again, I spent the four days with them and I took them everywhere I knew and they managed to put a good show together. Again, because I didn't know the water and we only had four days and it's so big. We didn't get any real, real showstoppers, but managed to showcase the lodge awesomely in in that first episode and you can go and find all of these episodes online, by the way. But it was. It was an excellent experience and it started the ball rolling, and what I mean by that is, you know, I wasn't sure whether it was going to be a one and done or how it would work.
Speaker 1:And this is really where my relationship with Ange began and, um, uh, I told you he wasn't even on that first shoot, but what happened was, uh, that fall Thanksgiving. Um, I had always told Ange that I would uh, if need like, if you need a free stay or whatever, to auction off at a charity fundraiser or because it's all advertising my goal was. I don't want it to come across this way because it doesn't sound right, but my goal was to get as much free advertising as possible. So technically it's not free because I'm giving away my inventory, but at that point in my tenure I had all kinds of inventory that I wasn't using, aka I wasn't anywhere close to being full, so the currency that I had was that. But anyway, this I and and I didn't. I ended up giving Anja um um a week stay for two and it got auctioned off, uh at a at a charity fundraiser. But this is is the the point where Anja and I um really got to know each other?
Speaker 1:Um in the uh in the off season, really got to know each other in the off season. Well, he also. I gave him the trip and then he trusted me with some of his beloved guests for Thanksgiving and he called me up and said I need you to do me a favor. He called me up and said I need you to do me a favor. I've got some. I've got some real, you know, um um uh how do you put this kindly, tony? Uh, I've got some high maintenance guests, high maintenance buddies, and, uh, they're looking for a place to stay and I want you to look after these guys like their family and I said, ang, no problem, I will do that for you. And the group that come up was Tony DeBattista's group and another turned into a great friend and I never regret it, but absolutely 100%, total high maintenance, to be honest with you. That's right, tony, you heard me Anyway. So I had done that favor.
Speaker 1:And then in the off season to thank Ange and the guys for coming and shooting that show for me my father-in-law actually, again, this is all you know, give and take and beg and borrow and everything else. But my father-in-law was a huge salesman for an aggregate company in the GTA and he had access to season's tickets for the NHL and I just so happened to be a huge Leaf fan. Oh, wow, today's day and age, I'm getting a little tired, okay, but that's a whole different story. But anyway, I was I am, I guess, a huge Leaf fan and Al gave me four tickets. I think it might have been for Christmas he always used to give me tickets for Christmas but my father-in-law, al, had given me four tickets.
Speaker 1:So I thought, well, this is a perfect opportunity one for me Ange, pete and Mike. So I didn't know if they were actually going to accept the offer. But I was certainly hoping they would, because I get to go to a Leaf game with like my heroes, like like Ange and Pete. I was the. I was the kid that used to watch them all the time. I watched them on TV. I watched Bob on TV, I watched them all on TV. But Ange and Pete, I watched them all the time and to be able to go to a Leaf game with them was like a dream come true.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I called Ange and said listen, I really appreciate everything you've done for me this year and I'd love to take you and Mike and Peter out to the Leaf game on whatever night it was, peter out to the Leaf game on whatever night it was, and I'll take you out to dinner and we'll celebrate a great shoot. And to my surprise, ange said okay, well, let me get back to you, but I think that sounds good, but let me confirm with the other guys. So I don't even know how much time passed, but Ange called back and said yeah, buddy, that'd be great. So now I'm going to a Leaf game with Ange and Pete and Mike and I thought, okay. So even though I didn't have a whole lot of money then the Leaf tickets were free. Thank you, al, I really appreciate it. God bless your soul.
Speaker 1:And so I thought you know what. We got to have a great dinner and I booked the Platinum Club, which is down under the well, it's not under the ice surface, but it's kind of back in the lower, underneath the lower bowl. It's a nice restaurant, like, I mean, really nice restaurant. And then you just walk right out and you've got access to your seats and you go kind of out where the Zamboni comes out, like down at the front row. And the tickets that Al gave me, they were good man, they were, you know, 12 rows back and near center ice. And that is where I found out that Ange was as sick as me, maybe a little sicker than me when it comes to the maple leaf disease. He is as fanatic about the maple leaves as I am and that right there was the start of an outstanding friendship that has continued and still continues to this day.
Speaker 1:And that wonderful relationship started the ball rolling and it gave me the confidence to go out and talk to a lot of the guys at the Sportsman Show. I did do the Toronto Sportsman Show and that was important to me, just to network with people and go up and ask Charlie Ray from Fishful Thinking, introduce myself, and Charlie come up the following year with Ang Well, not at the same time, obviously, but that Fishing Canada relationship was, I've told you before, paramount for me. All of those shows gave credibility not only to the guests and everybody else, but then different show hosts started taking notice that there were a lot of shows being shot there and it must be good. And Jim Greyston was another huge help. We worked very well together.
Speaker 1:I always told Jimmy you know, if I can help, anytime, please let me know. And when Jim would get into a jam because, believe it or not, there were lodges out there and owners who would have a show booked, like the Fish and Canada television show, coming into their business and decide that they could sell the spot, and would sell the spot and say I don't want the fishing show to come Like I mean it's redonkulous but it would happen. So I always made sure that I was on a short list and now people understand that that's not a very prudent thing to do, but back then it actually happened a few times. So Jimmy would call me and say, hey, can you help me out? And I would. But the next show that I would love to talk about is is Fishful Thinking and Charlie and Terry, ray and um, those two again are honestly a thousand percent salt of the earth, people. Um, I had a ton of of great times with Charlie and I think Charlie and Terry shot at least three shows with me Um and the, the first show, and and Charlie is a different cat.
Speaker 1:He's cut from a different cloth. Because everything that I told you before about how I give you it's my responsibility to put a second boat out there for you know boat-to-boat shots and guide and whatever you need I provide. I give Charlie the very first time he came, I give him the whole spiel. I've got your back, charlie. And he looked at me and he said Steve, I don't mean to be rude, but I really don't need any of that. I said what he said yeah, you know, I find it more fun to go out and figure out the water by myself. And I said he said yeah, he said listen just, uh, you know, on a map, pretend I'm a guest and point some spots to me and give me a bit of a lay of the land and I'm good, like I mean, terry's my cameraman and I don't need anything other than a little bit of direction. And then I just like figuring it out myself and I said okay, and off, charlie went. And that's the first time that I heard of Spin and Glows and they're wonderful, like I mean I use them now, but they're just like a little floating propeller that you can rig a worm rig on and it floats and you can go to that episode with Charlie. You can find it on the internet Just Google, fishful Thinking and Chaudiere, and it'll come up and he shows you how to make these split, spin and glow worm rigs. And he was dragging those for walleye and knocked it out of the park. Like I mean it was totally.
Speaker 1:There was no while there was a little bit of stress for me because I wanted Charlie to do real good, but like I mean, I wasn't out there living it and and worrying about it every moment and um, um, it was a great experience. And then when Charlie and Terry had come in for dinner, it was always a big surprise how they did and this and that. And then there were a couple of nights that I would go out and you know I always would offer to take a bottle of wine out. But I know Charlie didn't drink ever, that I know, and I don't think Terry did either. But I would go out and we would sit and chat out in the screen porch and you know I'd give him the lowdown on the goings-on at the lodge and everything else. This is one of the stories that I told Charlie and Terry and to this day whenever I see them they mention it.
Speaker 1:And at the time that Charlie was shooting I forget it was either the first or the second show I had a young gentleman working for me and I forget his name and I probably wouldn't use it anyway, but my memory is serving me well here. Anyway, I had a fellow working for me and he was a housekeeper server and I didn't have a whole lot of male housekeeper servers and Diane would always get on me. She would say you know, steve, anne would always get on me. She would say you know, steve, we don't have to have like an even number of guys and girls for housekeeper servers, but it's nice to have one guy or two guys doing that job, because some of that work is it gets heavy sometimes and you know it's nice to have a guy to lift stuff or do whatever or whatever.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I hired this, uh, this fella and, um, diane, she would always uh, train the housekeeper servers and it was. It was a fairly intense program she had going and I love her for it. Like, I mean, it was a fairly intense program she had going and I love her for it. Like, I mean, it was a perfectly orchestrated good cop bad cop deal and I play good cop very well. I'm not a great, I'm not a great bad cop, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So Diane would train all of her workers and she was working with this fella in particular workers, and she was working with this fella in particular. And the way that she would report back to me was, you know, every couple of days in the beginning she would tell me about the progress and would either warn me, you know, I don't know if so-and-so is going to work out. I'm giving them, you know, another three days to see how their speed comes up, because Diane would throw a stopwatch on these people when they were working, because there wasn't a whole lot of time and she knew it was possible. If you worked at a solid pace, there's no reason you couldn't get the job done. There is no reason you couldn't get the job done.
Speaker 1:And what I'm talking about is the housekeeping after the breakfast service, because we had to have the housekeeping done by noon because lunch was at one o'clock. And it was really her policy which I adopted and loved. We had to have all of the cottages house kept by noon because guests would come in for lunch at 1 o'clock. So typically by about 12.30, we had guests rolling in and they would go to their cottage and wash up and then come down for lunch and we had to have it done.
Speaker 1:So Charlie's out fishing and Terry and Diane come tearing up into the office and we had a discussion about how this fella was on the bubble, but Diane would always give them like two weeks it was a couple of days and then she would say, okay, I don't know if this person's going to turn around, but I'm going to give them two weeks and and that's that's, and then that's it, but you can start running an ad, just in case. So I said, okay, so this fellow was already on on the ad run and, um, diane come tearing up into the office that afternoon, and well, actually it was morning and she's like Steve, steve, you'll never guess what happened that I forget his name. We'll call him. We'll call him, uh, enrico, that sounds good. She's like Steve Enrico's got to go. I'm like what, why? No, he's got to go and he's got to go today. And I'm like, holy shit, diane and this is totally out of character for Diane she's hard, like she was hard, which was great, like she was hard, which was great, and it was for the people that worked out. It was very rewarding because they got the job done, they did it with pride and they had time to themselves because they got the job done. Anyway, she's going on out of character. This guy has got to go.
Speaker 1:And keep in mind, I'm telling you this story as I was telling, um, charlie and terry in the cottage, this story, right, so this is the parallel with with the uh, with charlie and terry in the shoot and this story. So I'm I like I say I'm telling Charlie and Terry this story, but I'm as if I'm telling it and I'm telling it to you. She says he was housekeeping and I'm like, good, no, no, he was housekeeping in his underwear. And I said what? And I kind of laughed and I thought I said what? And she said yeah, yeah, he was housekeeping in his underwear and you know what? He told me why he was doing it. I'm like no, diane, I don't know Because he was hot. Because he was hot, I started laughing. I'm like well, it makes sense kind of, doesn't it? Anyway, she just lit me up. Now she's like this is serious.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine if one of the guests come up with their children and they walk into the cottage and there's some guy standing there and his tighty whities? And I thought about it and I'm like no, diane, you're right. Well, why are you laughing? I said because it's funny. But it's not funny. I know it's not funny and I'm trying to justify my laughing.
Speaker 1:Anyway, that was, that was what do we call him Juan Julio's last day. Yeah, he ended up going home because Diane said that that's what needed to happen and I agreed with her wholeheartedly. You can't be doing that. And you know, once I started thinking about it, he was very fidgety and I'm pretty sure he was on speed a lot of the time and the guy had some issues. He had some drug addiction issues, I think. I'm not sure. Really, if you're working at a resort and you're a housekeeper and it gets hot, I think you got to be on some drugs to to peel down to your gitch and just keep on working, you know.
Speaker 1:But anyway, that was the story. Like I mean, that's one of the things that I remember about Charlie and Terry and having those funny conversations. And I didn't, I never hid anything from anybody like that. I, you know, I all of the stuff that was going on. I always shared that information with people like that, and Charlie and Terry especially, like I mean, they were my friends, I trusted them like friends and it was a great move because to this day I still consider Charlie and Terry good friends of mine and we don't see each other as much and don't talk as much as we should. But hey, charlie, terry, you remember that story I told you, anyway, and they got a wonderful show. Charlie would do segments, so the beginning half of his show at the time would be in one location and then the last half would be at another and, um, we got a great segment, uh, for for that year. And, uh, I remember, um, the other monumental moment, um, for the fishful Thinking television show, beyond the great talks and the laughs and the time we spent together outside of the shoots.
Speaker 1:But it was a cold day and this, I think, must have been maybe his last shoot there, like the third of three or the second of three. But they were coming from Muskie and there was guests of mine that I'm all over the place with this one. I'm sorry, but that's okay. It was a cold day. I started with that, and then guests of mine and anyway, charlie and Terry are out fishing for muskies. It was a cold bugger of a day and I had guests of mine, one of which was a bush pilot and for whatever reason, he had the plane he was flying from point to point. I forget the details Ian Arnold and Brian were father and son fishing at the lodge and Adam was brother and other son is the pilot. This is what happened.
Speaker 1:So Adam flew in for I don't know four or five hours. He was kind of on layover. He was flying clients up to a northern cottage or something like that. Anyway, he says, hey, you want to go up in the plane, I'll take you up in the, in the, in the float plane, and I and I said, well, yeah, I'd never been in a float plane up until that point.
Speaker 1:So Charlie and Terry are out fishing, we go up in the float plane and we're flying over the French River and I'm looking out the window, I'm looking for Charlie, I'm taking all kinds of pictures too, but in the back of my mind I'm wondering how he's doing and where they are. And I look at all of the regular places in the main channel. You know, you look at the Muskie Islands, you look over here, you look over there, you look over there. Well, I saw Charlie in Satchel's Bay and I thought, geez, that's weird In Satchel's Bay. Huh, and so we do this flight and Adam brings us back and sets us down and I go back up to the lodge and dinner rolls around and in come Charlie and Terry, and I'm like I mean, this was the first musky show that was attempted at Chaudière, and I shouldn't say attempted.
Speaker 1:All of the musky shows at Chaudiere that we've shot have turned out extremely successful, but they're by far the most stressful and most difficult. But this one was the first one and I was like Charlie, I saw you in Satchel's Bay. Was that you in Satchel's Bay? And he said yeah. I said how'd you do? And he said, well, you'll never believe it. And I said, well, what good bad? He said no, we did good.
Speaker 1:But what happened was it was such a dirty day Charlie had hit all of those spots out on the main river for for muskies, um, and nothing was moving. He was marking them. But uh, he said, steve, I got frustrated with what was going on on the main river. It was cold, it was rough. So I said to Terry you know what, put the camera gear away, we'll just go back into a bay somewhere and we'll fish for smallmouth. So anyway, that's what they did. That's why they were back in Satchel's Bay.
Speaker 1:Anyway, what happened back in Satchel's Bay, anyway, what happened back in Satchel's Bay, was brilliant. Charlie was fishing for smallmouth with I'm not sure whether it was a little Yozuri live target. It was a crankbait, I'm going to say Yozuri. Anyway, he was fishing with a little crankbait and one of the biggest muskies that was caught in my actually I think it is the biggest muskie that was ever caught during my tenure anyway was caught. Charlie caught a 55 inch muskie. I don't know if he measured the girth or not. I think it is possible that he did, because he gave me measurements and that mount is over the fireplace at the Shoddy Air Lodge and the sequence didn't do it justice, like I mean the camera gear was.
Speaker 1:Charlie said, oh my God, the camera gear was all put away and I had this, this musky, on light tackle and uh, I you know and and it's a good thing it was on light tackle because it gave Terry the time to go into the camera gear, get everything out and then shoot the last part of the fight and Charlie netting and showing the fish. But it was a game changer for me, that picture of Charlie Ray holding that 55 by fat muskie. It sold trips bar none. I put that picture everywhere I could put that picture and you'll see it kicking around on the website and all over to this day and that shoot was huge for me. And thanks, buddy, that was a great one. And that picture still lives on to this day, even on my website. I've got a website to rent my cottage or the island, which I haven't really done. It's not something that's high on my priority list, but anyway that picture is on the website and Chaudiere's website. So you know well, folks, I think we're going to call it.
Speaker 1:I think I've talked enough about a couple of the fishing shows. I will bring back another couple of episodes of Behind the Rod Fishing Show Edition, if you like it. Again, there have been a ton of guys that I've had up, from in-fisherman to Roland Martin, to Bob Azumi, to like I mean Fishful, fishful thinking, musky hunter, um, and fishermen, uh, you name it, uh and there's always a unique side of it, and each and every one of those hosts and crew that travels with them is is awesome with different stories. So, uh, so I look forward to telling you some more stories and listen. If you like this content, if you love me, go out and like and share, share this podcast and get as many people listening as you can and listen.
Speaker 1:For those of you out there who are looking for excellent partnerships, we've got a great network advertising program. All you got to do is reach out. And for those of you who like free stuff, man, go over to fishincanadacom and check out their giveaway page. There's always good stuff on there. Go and give it a shot. You got nothing to lose, right anyway. Thus brings us to the end of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner I'm a good old boy of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner I'm a good old boy, never meanin' no harm.
Speaker 1:I'll be all you ever saw Been railin' in the hog? Since the day I was born, bendin' my rock.
Speaker 3:Stretchin' my line Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine.
Speaker 2:I'll be making my way, the only way I know how, working hard and sharing the north With all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy, I buy the large and live my dream.
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