.png)
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Epiosde 58: The Thrills, Trials, and Triumphs of The Fish'n Canada Show
What does it take to film a successful outdoor show amidst Canada’s breathtaking wilderness? Join us as we sit down with part of the dynamic Fish'n Canada team, including Peter Bowman, Dean Taylor, and Vova Babushkin, to uncover the thrills and trials of showcasing Canada’s natural beauty. Dean and Steve share their nerve-wracking yet exhilarating experiences of hosting their first episodes, while Peter reminisces about his own journey from reluctance to success. With camaraderie at the forefront, this episode is packed with heartfelt stories and a shared passion for the great outdoors.
Ever wondered how to overcome the fear of being in front of the camera? This episode promises insights into navigating the path to success in television production, highlighting how experiences like podcasting and surprise hits at Lodge 88 helped build on-screen confidence. Vova, our talented cinematographer from Ukraine, offers a glimpse into his technical expertise and creative vision, explaining how these elements have elevated the show’s quality season after season. His incredible journey from a war-torn Ukraine to the Canadian wilderness adds depth to the discussion, showcasing resilience and the power of collaboration in achieving excellence.
Get ready for an emotional and inspiring ride as Vova recounts his harrowing escape from Ukraine amidst the war and his transition to a new life in Canada. His story is a powerful testament to human resilience and the importance of following one's passion, even in the face of adversity. From editing techniques that transform raw footage into captivating episodes to the unforgettable challenges faced during shoots, this episode celebrates teamwork and the unbreakable bonds formed through shared adventures in the wild. Join us for a heartfelt exploration of what makes The Fish'n Canada Show a remarkable journey worth tuning into.
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge A luxury outdoor experience with five-star service.
Speaker 2:Each shoot is kind of special to me because each shoot is a different challenge between the weather or travel, or forgetting beer, something like that, yeah. But I mean, I'm just fortunate that I get to travel throughout Canada and witness and experience this beautiful country, meet beautiful, wonderful people along the way, and I would say that each shoot is memorable in its own way for me.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner. Folks, I have a special one today. We have the Fish in Canada brass, sitting around the round table at Lake Obabaca Lodge and it is an absolute pleasure to have Peter Bowman, Dino, taylor and Vova pronounce your last name, babushkin. Babushkin on. And I'd love to call it live, but it's not going to be live when you hear it, but it's live for me right now.
Speaker 3:You're living the dream right now, aren't you? Oh?
Speaker 1:and we're in front of our cottage, overlooking Lake Obavica, and it is beautiful. The sun is going down.
Speaker 3:Here is my surprise for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, that is a beautiful surprise. I love that sound. The only problem is the surprise is for you, not for me.
Speaker 3:I just want to surprise you with the sound effect, that's all that's a great sound effect the after effect of even better yeah, yeah, baby.
Speaker 1:so I'll lay this one out a little bit, folks. Um, this is a a fairly special podcast and a fairly special shoot. We are shooting Lake Obabaca and, for the first time, dean Taylor hosted an episode of the Fish and Canada television show. Come on now. Oh yeah, baby. And the other very special thing is we've got Dean on the soundboard today, so we've got all of the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast effects. There you go. That's the one and I also hosted. Yeah, I'm hoping you aren't going to forget that. No, yeah, no, it's hard to forget. I hosted my first Fish in Canada episode as well. Fish in Canada episode as well. I've co-hosted many and been in front of the camera since the last call days, here and there, but never by myself, without a guide or anybody else to talk to, but all of you and me.
Speaker 3:Let me interject here. I am very proud of these two fellas. They did a great job. I know I am the one person in this world that knows how tough and when your nerves are going. When I started doing the Fish and Can on the television shoots and they asked me to host it, I just didn't want any part of it. I was the guy that didn't want it. I wanted to help, but I didn't want to be a host. It is so hard and these two guys both of them did outstanding jobs. Outstanding job, that's all I'm going to say right now. You guys did great work. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:While you bring that up and thank you very much. You're welcome. Do you remember that first shoot? Just tell us a little bit about what it was, how you felt and when you look back at it, because I did a shoot with Tyler Dunn about four years ago, with Tyler and I. I was there. You were there, that's right, but not in the boat with me. You kind of just put me in the FNC one with Tyler. No, I was in the boat with you for part of it, were you?
Speaker 3:Oh, maybe for part of it. I sat in the back there and kind of directed, you know, director of photography.
Speaker 1:Well, there was one day you left me alone.
Speaker 3:Call Director of photography. Eh, I'm the dope.
Speaker 1:But I remember watching the television and watching myself on there with Tyler and it was number one. It was nerve-wracking because I drove the boat out to where we were fishing for the Atlantic salmon. Yeah, that fast water. Yeah, and it was a tough, tough fish. Oh my God, it was tough. Yeah, so tough if you go back and look at it was tough, yeah, so tough. If you go back and look at that episode, I didn't even boat one. Yeah, tyler got one or maybe two, I think two fish was all yeah that was all we caught.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for Atlantic salmon, that's right, and Tyler knows that water real well, so that wasn't an easy chore for you on that one, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but now that we've heard about that, tell us about your first shoot.
Speaker 3:I believe Ange disputes it sometimes and we talk back and forth on it, but I think it was the Bay of Quinte and we were on an awesome night pattern. Me and Mikey Burris my buddy Mikey Burris were on an awesome night walleye pattern in the fall in September and I knew Anson Reno. They had the show and I says guys, I got something. If you want to shoot something cool, this is so cool. You know, the pattern was ridiculous. It was nighttime, there was lights involved, the walleye were hanging in the shadows, the bait was hanging in the lights and it was just a predator-prey scenario. So they said why don't you do it? You do it. And I said no, I don't want to do it, I'll go with you guys.
Speaker 3:That night I was working as an electrician. I says I'll go out and help you guys out. You know it's after work anyways and I can go back and be in my job in the morning. They said, well, why can't you do it? And I says I'm not doing it, I don't want to do it. So what if you had somebody me going on it and and and? So Pete Polklock, they Pete Polklock was also kind of sitting in on the odd shoot too, as a guy.
Speaker 1:And and what year was this? Just so we're clear, I don't even know. It was in the late eighties, wasn't it?
Speaker 3:Had to have been. It was eighties sometime, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know when. Honestly, monique would know that, probably. But but yeah, and I was just a nervous wreck, I just it was horrible. And uh, did you still have the mullet? Uh, I probably did. I would think I was a metal head all my life, so I'm sure I had the hair. Uh, you know, I had some long hair so but we didn't have that great a shoot, but we got some fish and it turned out all right and that was my very first. So yeah, you're right, in the 80s, at some time in the 80s, and then every year I did one or two shoots with the boys. I'd help them out.
Speaker 3:It was always co-hosting, never hosting, it was always co-hosting. You know, I did the odd trip to BC, stuff like that, because Ann says hey, come on, we've take a week's holidays and do that sort of thing. And I don't even remember my first hosting shoot. To be honest with you, I'd have to really dig the memory. Ang might remember that one too, but I don't remember my first one. But again, I would have been nervous as hell. For sure I know I would have been, because it's just my nerves are. I mean people don't. They don't see that on TV and I'm used to it now, but honestly it's been. It's one of the worst things that's ever been. What do you call it a fault of mine in my life in my own mind, almost a phobia in your own mind exactly so.
Speaker 3:But I'm past that and I know how hard it is for you, you know, to carry a show. You gotta catch fish, everything's gotta go right. You gotta think about lighting. You gotta think about all that stuff that nobody else watching thinks about. They just think, oh, you're out there catching fish, good for you. And you got to think about proper things to say you don't swear yeah no doubt Stuff like that that's the big one.
Speaker 3:everybody says to me how do you not swear on camera? Because I have a tendency to swear off camera A bit of a potty mouth yeah.
Speaker 3:But yeah, so I go. It was great I got to. I was glad I sat in the boat there and and listened up and helped it whenever way I could. You know what I mean. So I had to turn if you guys were. That's the one thing. You guys did not think about the lighting and I knew that and I was so excited I wasn't thinking about the lighting and both would look at me and say turn the boat, come on, turn the boat. So they woke me up a few times.
Speaker 1:So you, did great, and I'm going to say this because you don't understand when you're out there, thinking about the lighting is one thing, but you didn't have the distraction back in the day that we have today, which is the forward-facing sonar, like I mean, your eyes are glued to that thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a whole new ballgame.
Speaker 3:Now it is a whole new ballgame, a hundred percent.
Speaker 4:It's so much fun too, right.
Speaker 3:You guys put it to good use this week too. Cameron's going to be very happy with these episodes for sure.
Speaker 4:Yes, they will.
Speaker 3:Especially no offense to Stevie, because Stevie was doing small mouth in certain areas. It was. You know it was partially significant, but Dean's segment was all about LiveScope. Without a doubt it was all about LiveScope. And then Instinct. Of course you still have to catch the fish and you guys both cracked them. Good, it was good, yeah, it was a lot of fun. How did you like it, boba? What did you think of these guys? They did pretty good, yeah, yeah. Who was better Was there?
Speaker 2:one better than the other.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, Some ups and downs, but Well said, well said.
Speaker 1:And listen folks. I just want to be very clear Pretty good from VOVA is like a nine.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah, I mean you don't get excellent. Yeah, you guys must have rocked it, because VOVA was pretty good. I've never heard beyond pretty good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just think about it on a scale of rating girls here versus Europe.
Speaker 1:We found out there's a big difference between that rating scale.
Speaker 3:this week too, I love that, I love that Vova.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, good man. So now you guys have all of our Diaries. Listeners out there and family have heard a little bit about Peter and my first solo, dino. Yeah, tell us about your first solo and what that meant to you and how you were thinking about it, because we had two weeks to kind of stew over the thought of doing this.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, for me it's like I don't know. I felt like I kind of got the podcast has helped massively. Like I'm kind of similar in a sense to Pete, where I was never expecting to be on camera or really had that much of a desire to be. I was going to be maybe a biologist, maybe a fishing guide, maybe a magazine writer. Like I was perfectly okay with never speaking in public and uh. So this has all been kind of a turn for me.
Speaker 5:But obviously getting the opportunity to work on this show it's just it's not necessarily that I never thought I would, but never really thought I could do something like that. So it's been kind of a challenge to get just mentally over that. But I found like, um, a little bit of doing the podcast stuff. And then even last year I got on an episode at Lodge 88 with Nick and that kind of broke the seal a little bit because it wasn't even supposed to end up airing, so the pressure was off. And then when we filmed it it was natural enough that it made the show. It was good, it was a good little piece.
Speaker 5:So that kind of got me over that hump in my mind where I was like, okay, I can do this. Like the camera is not as big of a deal as I thought it was. But what I've noticed most on this shoot is that when the when I'm fighting the fish, or when I have one in my hand, everything is completely fine, the camera's gone. But as soon as I let it go, the camera's back and then all the pressure's back because I just like all of a sudden you realize like okay, I have nothing more to say. Yeah, like everything I'm here for just happened.
Speaker 3:That's the one that comes kind of with time. It comes. I don't know if I'd call it naturally. I would say probably does. It comes with time. It's just kind of a it's an exit point. Now you have to you put the fish back in the water. Now you have to address the camera and then get back to fishing right so it's just you'll learn it.
Speaker 3:It's a learned thing. It's like anything you do If you're an electrician, you learn how to strip wires properly, and when you're a carpenter, you know everything you do. It's just A trade. Yeah, it's just a thing that you'll get used to. And what Dean said that's the only way I survived it as well was that I pretended the camera wasn't there. I just did Pete Bowman, fishing and talking. You know what I mean. I said, okay, I got to talk, but I'll just do it. I won't, and I'll look back at the camera every now and then. That's still what I do a lot of times now is I just refer to the camera?
Speaker 3:let the audience know I'm talking to them, but I do a lot of my talking. Look at the fish finder screen. Looking at this, I'm telling you it's weird and I bet you, most of you, couldn't do it. You could do it but you'd have a hard time with it, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:I'm still not used to pressing the record button.
Speaker 3:What's that?
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love it. Well, speaking of pressing, the record button.
Speaker 1:This is button. This is a very I'm very honored to have Vova here and I'd like to ask you, vova, because I'm going to set this up a little bit. I've had the pleasure of working with different people on the show and in the boat and everything else, and the one thing that Vova does is he's very calculated in everything that he's thinking about with the camera and a lot is business right, and it was a little bit of getting used to. But when you see the product that comes from what you do and you do a lot of the editing and the between you and Dean and Ange and everybody back at the office, all of the storytelling and that kind of stuff I'm not sure that there ever was a better product that we've been putting out.
Speaker 3:Sorry Todd, Sorry Dave, Sorry all those other guys, but again, and it's no slight against those guys but we have so much more technology, like the drones.
Speaker 3:Let me just say this when Vova came, he gave Vova the first interview and Vova was straight from the Ukraine pretty much, which we'll talk about. And then Ange gave Vova the first interview and Vova was straight from the Ukraine, pretty much. And then Ange said Pete, come on in, this is the guy I interviewed last time. I want a second interview and he sounded okay to me, so I want your opinion. And I said to Ange after Vova left I said he's our guy. I mean, he knows what he's talking about. He knows everything about a camera. He talks about the apertures, he talks about the apertures, he talks about the lighting, he talks about all the technical stuff and then he talks about composition. So we knew right off the hop that Vova was our guy. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So on that note, vova, can you just tell us a little bit, and I don't even really know the story. How did you get your start in cinemography and cameras and where did that passion begin?
Speaker 2:Yeah, first of all, thanks for the nice words. I really appreciate that. But I think our product is a cooperation of great, beautiful, knowledgeable people of Fish and Canada team, so shout out to them.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Vova.
Speaker 2:Thank you, vova. And yeah, I think Fish and Canada team is like an apple, in the sense that every next season should be the best season ever made, so I'm trying to make it happen, kind of. Yeah. Yeah, speaking of me, so I'm from Ukraine and I was interested in filming and flying drones and all that stuff since my middle school, I think. So I started filming all the events at school just for my friends, buddies, etc. And that slowly transitioned to me picking up and academy of culture in my hometown and where I got my bachelor's and then master's degree in cinematography, and so from there I just had my little production company in Ukraine and we used to make all kinds of videos. So that's the short story.
Speaker 3:What did you shoot, Vova, when you were in the videos?
Speaker 2:So when I was studying, I tried pretty much every genre out there and I soon realized that weddings and all the kind of events isn't really my cup of tea and so I went more to the corporate work. So I used to film videos for companies, about companies, about their services, products, youtube stuff, like all the commercials kind of stuff. Yeah, it's more was leaning to that commercial kind of note. But me, being a motorcyclist, I really love to take videos from my trips and do like little mini documentaries and all that. So I was like I used to do some documentary filming there as well, so I had experience in that. And so when the war started in 2022, I had to flee because of that and I was very fortunate to be outside of Ukraine because they wouldn't let males leave. Yeah, so I did all the documents and I came to Canada in 2022. And I was fortunate enough to apply for a job for the opening of camera operator and editor at the Fish and Can Show and got hired and been working since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so were you present for any of the war at all?
Speaker 2:No, so the story is kind of weird. So I again I'm pretty fortunate that that happened I went on vacation, so I went snowboarding to Georgia for 10 days and I should have came back on the 25th of February 2022 and the war started on the 24th. So essentially essentially I was woken up by my dad calling me at 5 am, saying that okay, we hear explosions and so the war began. So that's how it started, wow.
Speaker 3:Were your parents still in Ukraine when the war started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was probably one of the worst parts of it, because I really couldn't directly help them and you feel kind of that, you can't Helpless, yeah, you can't do anything.
Speaker 2:And I couldn't get back to Ukraine because one of the ways to get from Georgia there is through Russia, which is no way no go, and the second one was through Turkey, like around the Black Sea, essentially Because all of the air tickets were the flights to Ukraine were canceled and all of the tickets to Europe were sold out for like three days, I think, up front. So, yeah, so I just I was sitting constantly on my laptop and my phone trying to find out okay, what's the latest news, where are the battlefront right now, where's the enemy and how can I help my parents, my friends, because everybody I'm from the eastern part of Ukraine and it's probably my hometown is the second largest town in Ukraine and it's 30 kilometers from the border of Russia. So it got struck one of the first. What town is that? It's called Kharkiv. It's a city, it's well over 1.5 million people and, yeah, it's right on, essentially on the border with Russia. So the situation was pretty sketchy.
Speaker 1:No doubt had you, were you ever present for any kind of military activity that went on like that in your lifetime.
Speaker 2:So the whole military conflict started in 2014 in Ukraine when Russia originally annexed Crimea Peninsula and started like the proxy war in the east part of Ukraine. So I was kind of around that military activity but bombs weren't exploding in our hometown. So I used to film some military videos for the government and I remember, like when you're filming, just like a tank shooting to the some bush couple kilometers from you and you feel that kind of fear, like this wild fear inside you from that thing and it was shooting away from you, but you imagine you being on the other side of that thing, right, and it, like it, just terrifies you from the core. Yeah, from fear from the core. Yeah, right, so I can think how it might feel, but I was fortunate enough to never really experience it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's and well, I couldn't put my. I couldn't imagine that, and I can just imagine the force of a tank blast and the feel that you get in your chest and the basic, the base vibrations that you feel, and to be on the other end of that is ridiculous. Now, you did visit back there. Well, you stayed in Poland, but your parents were back there. What does your town look like now?
Speaker 2:So it's getting hit pretty much every day, really, still, yeah, no kidding, wow, yeah, so I'm pretty sure that probably two-thirds of population have moved out of it, because right now, russia began new offensive on my hometown. Uh, ukrainian troops are holding pretty good, but uh, yeah, I think anywhere from five to 30 bombs are being dropped each day on my hometown. Still, yeah, so like it is slowly but surely crumbling.
Speaker 1:yeah, it would rubble, yeah that's uh, that's um, that's tough, like I mean, especially for you here and to be doing a, a job like this and and doing it so well and yet having that in the back of your mind every day you know, I mean, I'm doing everything that I can to protect my family.
Speaker 2:So when the war started in like five days, I managed to um prove to them that they have to leave because my parents are retired they're, they are like 65 years old both of them, and so they had their nice home outside of the town. They had a car, they had like all the amenities, everything, and they didn't want to leave, like they Of course not. Yeah, they were like they were saying like we can't, there is like my car and like all of the stuff, and they were sitting in the basement for like a week. And then I just tried to convince them is that if the bomb drops on the actual house, that doesn't matter if you're there or if you're not In the basement or wherever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so yeah, I managed to kind of break that barrier in their minds and, yeah, they took my car. They took just essential documents, belongings, a couple of my cameras and just move out and I met them on the border in Slovakia and where are they now? So they're now in the Netherlands for the last two and a half years since the war pretty much started and I'm very grateful to European Union and Canada as well for support that has been provided, just that they allowed people to stay over that 90-day period that typically tourists are allowed to stay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, like I mean, can you guys imagine and all of you out there listening. I mean, can you guys imagine and all of you out there listening to work hard all your life and then retire and having built a life in your home and being ready to enjoy it, and then having all of that taken away?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's insane.
Speaker 1:That is.
Speaker 3:You know it's For war For some idiots, warmongering thoughts, whatever reasons. Yeah, that's insane, that is. You know it's For war For some idiots, warmongering thoughts, you know, whatever his reasons are. Yeah, I mean, what a moron. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That it's tragic, like I mean, and you would feel anger and resentment over the whole thing.
Speaker 3:you know and never know if you're going to get back to what you've built by the sounds of Wo was the city man, it may never get. You know, it will probably will never get back to what they built, or it will take a long time. Yeah, if it's getting bombed 20 times a day, that's just ripping it apart.
Speaker 2:There are a couple of points to do that whole thing. First of all, I'm never expecting people to understand what, like, ukrainians, are going through and you, frankly, cannot understand I, and I really wish from the bottom of my heart that you will never understand that right, it was like yeah, yeah, well said before that war, when I was reading news and I heard about another conflict in the middle east or something and I was thinking, okay, they always have something going on there and I couldn't understand how it's like there.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden, in a couple of weeks, that starts and it just catches you off guard completely. Of course. Yeah, and first of all, you cannot prepare for that and you cannot really understand, without going through it, how it's like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure. That's yeah, and why just the why of it?
Speaker 2:all right, it makes no sense, it's zero sense, yeah, and the thing that, okay, you can build up a city, you can restore a city, probably when the war hopefully ends, but the change that has happened with people, you cannot roll back.
Speaker 1:For sure. And then imagine the people that just said you know what? Fuck you, I'm staying Because there's still people living in your hometown while this is all going on, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my hometown, thankfully, isn't the worst spot to be in. There are smaller towns with like 50,000 people population and stuff that are completely destroyed, and yet people are managing to stay there. There is not a single intact building, but there are still some families that are just I'm not living Like they don't want to evacuate whatsoever.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:And that's a mentality on its own, and you know you could never know how that feels, right, but it's an incomprehensible thought and my heart goes out to all of those people out there, just like you, vova, and you know it's a thought that really doesn't cross my mind a lot, because you know we're here, we're doing all of the things that we do here and have never come close to experiencing anything like that, and I think that's wonderful, and even with myself it's been sometimes hard, because some people are essentially especially Ukrainians might be asking like, okay, why are you in Canada just chilling, filming a fishing show or whatever, and not like in your country in the trenches and stuff?
Speaker 2:But it is a really hard mental dilemma that you can't really be right or wrong there. Yeah, because you know, guys, that I'm a vegetarian and I can't really harm an animal and I'm really grateful that you guys really seen the fish and all that stuff, really grateful that your guys really seen the fish and all that stuff. And I don't really want to be put in a position where I need to decide whether I should kill a human being or I'll be killed. Yeah, so that's why I'm not there. Wow.
Speaker 1:And I totally respect that. Yeah, and for good reason, and I thank the good Lord that you're here with us, because it's where you're meant to be, right, like it's the fact that you're here and the way that it worked out. This is your path, and don't ever feel bad about that, and I don't know how you would deal with it and how you feel, but, um, I'm grateful and I wouldn't have made a different decision myself.
Speaker 2:Um, so that you know, I'm I'm just grateful that you're here yeah, yeah, and I'm grateful for people who are supporting refugees that are coming out of Ukraine, and I'm also grateful for the people who stand up for the country and protect Ukraine right now as well. Yeah exactly, and me, being here, I'm constantly trying. I have a lot of friends who are constantly gathering some money to buy drones or buy some ammunition, bulletproof vests, boots, all kinds of those stuff that you can send there. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a great. You know what, if you're doing that, vova, we should almost do something to help that too. Something to help that too, because I, um, I feel that, um, for for you, for me to help you, that's something that I would be interested in, for sure. Um, now I have a question um, did you have any mandatory military military training in ukraine as a youth?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, technically you should go to like the. I think it's a year and a half of mandatory training in Ukraine. But if you get, if you're studying, you have like that grace period where you can kind of postpone it. Gotcha. But right now, with all the situation, recruitment is really high and just regular civilian people it Gotcha. But right now, with all the situation, the recruitment is really high and just regular civilian people are getting drawn into the army without any consent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no consent, that's mandatory. Conscription is what that is If you're between well, I don't even know if there's any age restrictions 25 to 60, I believe, or 55, something, yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, that and that's a scary thought too, Like I mean, and it was something that kind of scared me when I was a kid, because, you know, you hear about all of that stuff with wars that have happened, Correct, yeah, and my grandparents well, my grandfather and my grandmother both fought in the Second World War and that's something that it was like that you just any able-bodied person was required to. You're going to war.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, my grandfather too. I got great pictures of him as he returned, you know, with all his gear on and all that stuff and they go wow.
Speaker 1:And those people are changed forever. I remember my grandfather. He used to drink a lot at certain times but when he got drunk, you know, with his war buddies and actually he fought with my grandmother's brother. That's how my grandmother met my grandfather. She was stationed in Africa and had another family at that time but her young son was killed, was run over by one of the trucks or whatever, and her husband at the time was a casualty of war and she was a nurse and my grandfather was one of the people in Poland who were. He was put into a concentration camp by the Germans and somehow escaped.
Speaker 1:I don't even know the story, while the one thing I do know is he said he lost all his hair overnight while he was there. He was bald as a cue ball and as a young kid and I've said it before on Diaries I asked him when I was old enough to understand. You know, like back in those days it was GI Joe right, and people actually shot at people and you know it was a real thing and I knew that my grandfather. And when he got drunk I'll finish that thought that's the only time that he would kind of talk about it. And I remember asking Gramps. I said, grandpa, did you ever kill anybody? And he looked at me with a look I'll never forget. I can't even describe how it was, but there was love in that look because I was just a little kid and he knew I didn't understand any of it Because I was like, um, it was all because of GI Joe and everything.
Speaker 4:I was like it would have almost been cool for me at the time if he, if he had a said oh yeah, I got all I was.
Speaker 1:You know, I was GI Joe, Right. And uh, he picked me up and set me on his knee and he said Steph Joe, I shot at them and they shot at me and that's all he ever said to me. But those people will be changed forever and the PTSD and all of the effects of war is so far reaching and it's just a tragedy the way that it happens and unfortunately, I'm not sure that the human race is capable of not having war, unfortunately, but it's just one of those things. So, On a different topic, Vova, I'd like to ask you, when we're putting think about a theme, or do you have the meeting for the theme, or is it just something that unfolds?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when we're getting back from the shoot, I'm going through all of the footage that we have, I log it, describing all the shots, all the fish that we got, and then, pete and Dean, they give me a script with some of the notes of the fish that I should put attention to or put into the show and the order of those fish and yes, and voiceover for the main parts, for the opening, for, like, middle sections and the closing of the show. And yeah, from there I have all of the shots and I start constructing all the shots and I start constructing all the show and when the first version is ready, I show it to the guys. They make edits, I do those edits and that's how it's getting built.
Speaker 1:So when you're out there shooting more than anybody that I've been involved with it seems like you have a plan in your mind, at least for the shots. Because we need you, you have. You say, hey, we got to get this shot, or we got to put the drone up, or we got to do this. Is there a kind of a formula that you use? Uh?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I've learned that in school, in the school. Yeah, so there are certain structure and certain shots that, as a cameraman, first of all, you need to think as an editor, like you need to be a couple of steps forward and you need to plan ahead and, okay, thinking that if you're talking about a certain point, I need to get a shot of that point, either after you finish talking or sometime after that either after you finish talking or sometime after that. So I'm getting coverage of all of the points that were covered and were mentioned during the on-cameras and stuff. Plus, dean does a great job of giving ideas in the outlines, like general shots that we need to cover, like lodge highlights of the certain area, etc. So I'm getting all of those and, yeah, I'm just using some editing rules, picturing the shots that I need to get in order to get nice variety of them so they look good at the final product.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I'll tell you one of the things that Wolva said there and anybody listening the best cameramen that Angelo Reno and Pete have ever worked with have been editors as well. I'm no offense to straight camera guys, but editors that shoot they think differently. Like Wolva says, they put it together in their head. I need this. I need that Some shooters like we've had, some shooters that are just maybe inexperienced cameramen, not the really the real good ones know what they're, what they're to get for a shot list or whatever, but the other ones they just sort of shoot this, that and then they get back and you see the stuff that shot. Well, it changes the story.
Speaker 3:It's sometimes impossible to edit. Yeah, it changes everything, so the best camera operators are editors. They think like an editor. It makes a big difference, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there are a couple of different approaches to editing and one of the rules that I'm using is, like it's been around almost a century, it's just a certain number of rules. They are called rules of the comfort editing, so the viewer doesn't feel distracted when the shot change. There are different approach to editing which is popular on YouTube or social media right now, where essentially there is no rules. You do whatever you want, yeah, and you just try to get attention from as much attention from the viewer as possible, but then it becomes almost unviewable after like five minutes of viewing those harsh cuts or controversial lighting and stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 3:When I first saw the YouTube style of jump cuts, which I what's a jump cut, pete? So a jump cut is where? So what we would do is we would, let's say, I have to say the alphabet A, b, c, d, e, f, I get all the way to the Z. Great, that's a good shot. Let's say I'm doing A BF. Oh, pete, shut up, do it again. So you do it again. You get it right. You know what I mean. You have to get the scene right.
Speaker 3:Jump cut is ABC, and then they cut DEGF. They just keep jumping, like it's just a harsh cut that carries on and doesn't flow, and doesn't flow. It's a saw it. I thought what the fuck is this? How can people be putting this on? And other people are watching it because it was horrible for, especially for editors Like whoa, these guys are creating art and that style is just, it's almost lazy. You know what I mean, but it's caught on so well and and now I'm I'm used to watching it.
Speaker 3:I watch YouTube all the time and it's uh, it's just a normal thing to do. Now is these jump cuts. It's hard to explain. When you watch YouTube, you see all these cuts. What are they cutting? You know, when you see all these little cuts, it's the same scene. It's me sitting here talking, talking, cut, talking, talking, cut, talking, talking, cut. There's no zoom in, zoom out. Change the scene, change this. It's just. It blew my, just a normal thing to do. And a guy like Vova? He probably just cringes when he sees that, but you know, he's an artist.
Speaker 2:I mean in classical editing you need to do a cut at a different shot. So, for example, if you have a wide shot, the next shot should be like a close-up of some sort. So, it feels natural and you as a viewer don't feel that shift. Yeah, but jump cut is essentially cutting from like medium shot to medium shot.
Speaker 4:There's no change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there is no change, and so yeah, but as my master of a course used to say, there is no such thing as wrong. That's right. No such thing is wrong. Is that works as a format, as just workflow, it can be used. I wonder who the first guy ever did that.
Speaker 5:YouTube. I remember the early YouTube ones. It was like I feel like it came from like an inexperience in editing. Yeah, maybe you might remember, like Philip DeFranco and those guys. You remember those guys on YouTube. They were like these early like newsy, like pop culture-ish type YouTube guys. Vova on YouTube. They were like these early like newsy, like pop culture-ish type YouTube guys, like early in the YouTube days, and they did so many jump cuts but they were putting out a video a day, yeah, and they were just like guys in their basement. They're just throwing it out there.
Speaker 5:They're probably editing on like iMovie and they're just chopping it out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, technology, they didn't care about the art of it, the beauty of it, right, or what made what you're supposed to do, as Invova says, when they taught it like that, because when we make mistakes, if I was to do that A, b, c, d, e, g, f they say A, b, c, d, stop cut. Then Invova zooms in on the face and says okay, go ahead, works together. It's like, oh, they're doing that on purpose, so it's just a way of hiding it. Better, I guess. Or making a better, a different product, I guess you'd call it so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all of the jump cuts, they originated in music clips originally. So all of that editing that doesn't really convey with the traditional rules started in music clips because you have only like three to five minutes Music videos.
Speaker 3:Music videos Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you have that format of like three to five minutes and you need to grab the viewer and hold them and you need to cut as much as possible without really using those rules.
Speaker 3:Right, I got you. I can picture that actually so interesting Now.
Speaker 5:I find it like I actually don't mind the jump cuts, but it's getting a bit like it's hard to watch sometimes with how fast things cut now Because people's attention span I feel like they need. Like you know, if you're on TikTok or Instagram or whatever, you're used to something changing every 15, 20 seconds and now you're seeing like long-form YouTube videos. Even in our industry, like the fishing stuff is like cutting like that. It's almost hard to watch.
Speaker 3:I honestly I'm watching some of these guys on YouTube now and I think they're jump cutting on purpose. I think they're doing good on cameras perfect, flawless and they're jump cutting to stay with the style. I honestly think that's happening because these guys are very good on camera. They're really good and I think they're actually making it that look, that feel. So I don't know if it's true or not, because I've never seen their edits or their originals.
Speaker 1:I don't like it. No, but to that point I think there's people growing up in a generation where they don't even watch TV anymore.
Speaker 3:My kids don't watch TV.
Speaker 1:They haven't seen me in 10 years, the only editing that they see is in movies and television shows on Netflix and things like that. But I really enjoy the way that the Fish in Canada show is put together and I've always said that it is the best edited fishing show on the planet compared to everybody else. Well, that's nice to hear. The post-production on these shows is insane. Ang has told me that from you know Field, which what we're doing now to the final product on the Global Television Network. There's roughly 1,100 hours per 30, well, 22-minute episode.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that. Do you know? Did you know that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, yeah, all of us probably.
Speaker 3:We're leaving out another element too, and that's Joe. He's the online editor. So Vova does what DeVova said he logs everything, he throws it into the computer and then we write the script. We go over the Cat TV and say, okay, that fish worked out that one. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Bova takes his magic and puts it. All this you call it a rough cut, but it's not. It's a first edit. And then Joe takes it. Joe, our Gorskowski, our main editor, our online editor. You call him our final guy. And then Joe pretties it up, does all the interstitials, the Garmin hotspots, color correction, all the color correction.
Speaker 3:Like I said, it's a day. I think it's a day or maybe not a day, but he's got to correct every shot that comes out. Now, on a shoot like this right here, if the lighting is consistent, that's one thing, but maybe we shot one day and we had to finish the next day and the lighting was different and that, and Joe's got his hands full on all that. There's a lot of work in that final edit and on all the transitions and everything and all the name keys that go on. He does all that stuff too, so there's a lot of work in there.
Speaker 1:Well, and not only that, the one part of the hours that we're talking while we haven't talked about yet is travel. Like think about all the travel.
Speaker 2:I mean everything starts with pre-production, like think about all the travel. I mean everything starts with pre-production, so long before we even start shooting, or even booking trips. We just start pre-production, the show, figuring out the lodges, figuring out the location stories, and then it goes to that production period and then the post-production.
Speaker 1:So just think about how we're competing against people on YouTube. Well, we're not really competing against them, but those guys have no overhead and none of this.
Speaker 3:Not compared to what Ang puts out, for sure Pine Post Productions puts out, that's for sure. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 3:Some of these big YouTube guys like Dean was talking about. There's some of those guys not in the fishing industry, but those guys that are huge, aren't? They Don't? They have a full editing team and all that stuff, because they're Outside of our industry it's a full business.
Speaker 5:Yeah, these YouTube like what's the one Jordan used to be obsessed with Linus, tech Tips or whatever Right. I feel like they have like a whole studio and stuff.
Speaker 2:In.
Speaker 3:Vancouver, yeah, they make millions of dollars and all that, too, on it. But there are, like, let's look at the since we're talking about it like Jay Siemens. He does a beautiful job of a YouTube fishing show, whatever you call it a production or whatever. I think Jay Vova you've probably seen Jay's stuff. Yeah, I saw that Like it's not the usual jump cut, jump cut and all that stuff. He has great photography. He has great, I think he does color correction. It looks like his end product looks really good. It's very much different than a lot of the YouTube stuff out there that you see. So there are guys out there that are really putting a lot of effort into the start to finish of it too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again, youtube has different requirements other than TV, so TV product needs to follow street guidelines. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, closed captioning and Just the picture quality and color grading and a whole bunch of technical specs that Joe puts up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a different product.
Speaker 3:That's huge. It doesn't happen on YouTube at all.
Speaker 1:In every angler's heart lives a fishing paradise With stunning scenery and wildlife on a trophy, multi-species fishery, having outstanding accommodation and a food experience to die for. They treat you like royalty, tailor-making a package that works for you. Nestled in northwestern Ontario, nordic Point Lodge is that paradise, and Will and his team can't wait to show you a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service. So follow your heart. Book now.
Speaker 6:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right.
Speaker 3:Every Thursday, ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio.
Speaker 6:Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 3:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 7:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 6: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 Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.
Speaker 5:To scientists.
Speaker 7:But now that we're reforesting and laying things free, it's the perfect transmission environment for line fishing To chefs. If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 6:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 8:Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Back in 2016, frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 9:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 8:Thus the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
Speaker 9:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 8:The Ugly Pike podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 9:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 8:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:So, listen, I think I probably could answer this question for these guys and we may have talked about it. But, vova, I would like to know, since you've been with the show, what has been your favorite shoot and why.
Speaker 2:From your perspective? That's a super tough question. Each shoot is kind of special to me because each shoot is a different challenge between the weather or the travel, or forgetting travel, or forgetting beer something like that yeah in the fridge. Uh yeah, but I mean, I'm just fortunate that I get to travel throughout canada and witness that and experience this beautiful country, meet beautiful, wonderful people along the way, and I'll say that each shoot is memorable in its own way for me. Wow.
Speaker 1:There you go. That's a great answer. Yeah, I was going to say it's as generic as you can get.
Speaker 3:But it's pretty safe, but it's pretty good, it's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Like. What about your first experience with the bugs?
Speaker 2:Oh, Hmm, I think my first experience with the bugs. Oh, hmm, I think my first experience it was on our second shoot and we went to Hidden.
Speaker 5:River.
Speaker 2:Hidden River, yeah, hidden River, oh my God, and I think it was the worst bug season in Ontario, as a whole.
Speaker 5:I've rarely seen anything like that. And, pete, you even said the same thing, which is crazy coming from you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah and it was the very. The pièce de résistance was that boat launch and we were taking the boat out and the guy and the lodge owner who'd been there for eight years, he said holy fuck, this is the worst I've ever seen. This. That's all he said and Boba's sitting on the boat just looking at him disgusted, thinking why did I get here? What is going on in?
Speaker 1:my life. Well, I remember I talked to. Edge about it and he said geez, I don't know. I don't know if he's going to want to do this anymore.
Speaker 3:He had a rain suit that lasted about two shoots because it was covered in musk all. He covered his rain suit so much in musk all it ate it away almost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wrinkled. Oh my God, I almost drank musk all in the morning.
Speaker 5:Yeah, drink it through your pores and you went to bed with those coils beside you. I woke up and blew a house.
Speaker 3:He almost killed Dean. One night I was getting smoked out in bed. Yeah, that's right, and Bova had his door closed and those coils and we said Bova, you can't do that.
Speaker 4:That's not good.
Speaker 3:That's toxic. I hate these fucking bugs, I that bug.
Speaker 1:That's not good, that's toxic. I hate these fucking bugs. I know, and I didn't have the pleasure of being on that trip. Compare that to the Quance Lake bug.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was. You know what I would say. Quance was probably worse. Yeah, it was worse because we had the horsefly, deerfly aspect in there too. The mosquitoes and black flies were bad, which was what we had at Hidden River. We didn't have the other stuff, right. So Hidden River was just mosquitoes at night and black flies to the day is what that was and it was bad. But Guant's added those horsies and deersies in there, so that made it worse for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, to throw this out there, maybe you might come up with a a great, uh, a great shoot. But for me, like you said, all of the shoots are are wonderful, but from my perspective, um one of my most memorable shoots uh was um bc and out at um northern rocky'sodge with hers, and that was when Ange had his heart attack in 2019.
Speaker 3:What was on that now? No, he wasn't on that one.
Speaker 1:No, that was Jordan, that's right, and I had been talking with Ange and I had done shows with him at Chaudière and I had just sold the lodge and I had begun, I'm going to say, working with Fish and Canada on a fairly regular basis, but I wasn't really slated to be on camera for a lot of them. It was one of those things that we had talked about easing into, but unfortunately Ange had his heart attack and all of a sudden it was you and I, pete, that's right, and I think we did about seven shoots together that year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we did a lot?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did, and it started right from. I helped Craig the fellow that bought the lodge, craig Purcell open up Chaudière and I left that and we went straight to Pointe-à-Barrel and shot that first show. But in that same year I had never been to BC and I remember flying into Vancouver and then there was two more flights to get there that's right, prince Albert. And then there was two more flights to get there that's right, prince Albert. And then Prince George, maybe Dean Prince George, then Fort St John.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Prince George, then Fort St John, and then we got on the tour bus and out there, but the just being and at that point I had only experienced, um, uh, float plane flights once in my life and uh, that shoot, um, it's on, uh, moncho Lake, the, the lodge, but uh, there was lake trout or something in it, but uh, the the feel that I got was it's just basically a, a landing pad for the planes.
Speaker 3:It's a landing pad for the, a landing pad for the planes and cottages for Urs's lodge. You know what I mean. It's a place that we sleep.
Speaker 1:And even, yes, yeah, like I mean. And every day, we got into a plane and flew to a different lake, and it wasn't over the Rockies. In a lot of cases it was through the Rockies. Oh yeah, earth's like to do that, didn't they? Oh, and there were times where the you know, I was thinking, when I was looking out the window, that a real stiff breeze would push us into the rock face.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You could see mountain goats and we flew over a glacier and the one lake. You remember the one goats and we flew over a glacier and the one lake. You remember the one lake that we stopped at and Urs just backed the plane up onto the shoreline and we got out with hip waders.
Speaker 3:He does that all the time. That's what he does. He backs her in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and going into that, we flew over this glacier first and I remember looking down at the lake we were going to but I didn't know that it was that lake and thinking to myself, wow, that's a pretty little lake, but it was right in the crotch of two mountains and it didn't even look.
Speaker 1:I didn't think it was the one because I didn't think you could get there. And we banked across the side of the one mountain and then come down through the gut, and for people that haven't been in a float plane before, they come down quick, like especially and obviously it might not be the same for, and it's not for every situation, but when we went into that lake, I had the pleasure of sitting in the co-pilot seat at that point and, um, we had to have been going out the water at a 45 and um we were heading, we were heading East because it was the morning and the sun was in in our, in our face and um, the the water on that lake was flatter than piss on a plate, like I mean, it was a mirror, yeah, and I remember thinking to myself I don't know where the like the sky stops and the water starts. The reflection was ridiculous and coming down it was such an awesome and shit scared feeling yeah drastic drop right.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 3:They have to. On the smaller lakes, they have to do that.
Speaker 1:For sure. But that really wasn't what scared me. It wasn't the drastic drop, it was I don't know where the ground is, and Urs pulled it right down and he landed that plane so smooth that I had to ask him if we were on the water yet.
Speaker 6:That's how good he is right, oh yeah yeah, that's how good he is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then back the plane up. We walked off the pontoons. There was a wee creek there and the lake was awesome. It was like a grainy, pebbled rock beach and in the waders we got out to just above your knees, right around your thighs it was a fast drop.
Speaker 3:You can't get out too far. At one point you could get out a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was what I was going to say. I mean, you walk out onto this ledge and the water was so clear that you just see it disappear into nothing. And we were bombing spoons I forget what we were using as far out as we could and then pulling them back, and then the fish would swim kind of right around the front of us and around our feet, and it was an amazing experience. Oh yeah, that was cool.
Speaker 3:We never aired that. We have that footage and we never aired that. Yeah, really Did not make a show. No, wow, it's still in the vault right now. Oh, we should put that on YouTube. I know it'd be nice. We got Dolly Vardens, we got rainbows. I don't know if we got Lakers in there too, or not, but we definitely got Dolly Vardens and rainbows in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and they're beautiful fish too.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that was a great shoot. That was a really good shoot, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. That's was my first shoot really where I went. Yeah, I just got hired and in five days I was in BC another watch, yeah, and I just remember standing there and it's been like three months since I fled the war and stuff and I was thinking to myself okay, is it real or like it's happening with me or not, because the scenery is beautiful and the fishing is great and the wildlife.
Speaker 3:You got to see all that wildlife there. Yeah, wizens and moose.
Speaker 1:The hot springs did you get to see the hot springs? Yeah, we went there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was really cool. That's nice too, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it makes. It made me feel real good, peter, especially to share the experience with you.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, buddy, I have that effect on my buddies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's nice. The other experience from that or the other memorable point at that shoot for me was about the second flight. It was before I got the front seat and I remember sitting in the back and Urs is about the same age as Ange and I think we were in an Airbus.
Speaker 3:So they're a fairly large, like eight seater. He's got a twin otter. Was it the yellow one or a turbot? I think it was the white one.
Speaker 1:I think it was the white one for this one, it was the caravan.
Speaker 3:Oh, the caravan.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, Anyway, we're flying through the Rockies and the thought crosses my mind. You know, Ann's just had a heart attack and Urs is the same age. Steve's told me this story a hundred times. Oh yeah, I don't know if Pete remembers it or if he just remembers me telling it to him, but I'm looking around the plane and Jordan's in there and I know Jordan can't fly nothing. And I know that I can't fly nothing, so I'm thinking well, Pete's been in planes a lot.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and I leaned over to.
Speaker 1:Peter. I said hey, pete, if Urs has a heart attack can you fly this plane. And you looked at me and you said hey, pete, if Urs has a heart attack can you fly this plane. And you looked at me and you said, fuck, no. So then I looked you in the eye and I said well, I guess it's up to me and I'm watching Urs like a hawk and he's flipping switches and he's got his headset on and he's spinning wheels on the side of the chair and he's working his feet.
Speaker 1:And I looked at you after about 15 minutes and I said, peter, we're fucked we're gonna die yeah yeah it's funny, the, the, the stupid things that go through your mind. Yeah right.
Speaker 3:yeah, he's one of the best pilots that we've ever flown with. We've and I have flown with a lot of pilots and I'm not gonna say urs is the best because we've had some great ones. Ant and I have flown with a lot of pilots and I'm not going to say Urs is the best because we've had some great ones, but he definitely is in that top five of all time for sure with, you know, float planes. Yeah, he's so good. Yeah, he really is meticulous. He does everything by the book, which we never see. He's the only one that does that. And then he is. Yeah, his ability to fly that plane, land that plane, do what he does with it is just beyond comprehension.
Speaker 1:I bet you he's logged a lot of hours.
Speaker 3:Yes, and he logs them all too. He writes every one of them down. Yes, you know.
Speaker 1:He's good. Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. So while we're here, dino, you're fairly new to fishing Canada as well, and you're young and you watched the television show for years and love the whole fishing. I'll call it genre, for lack of a better term. But what was your most memorable moment so far?
Speaker 5:I have a few. I mean everything's kind of related to just being part of this. Like, my first one was Hidden River, the one Vova talked about. That was my first ever one and when I got hired my original job description wasn't to be on like even involved in the show. I was involved with like writing scripts and writing articles, but mostly managing the website. Yeah, so I was. I knew, like just because I knew I wanted to, that I would eventually get to the TV side, but I wasn't expecting it to happen so quick.
Speaker 5:So Hidden River was the first one I got sent on the road and I was just like camera assist, so just like helping Vova out and like carrying stuff. Yeah, pretty much as much as I could do. But I remember that was the first time, like the kind of pinch me moment where I was watching pete because it was only me, pete and vova and wasn't on that one and thinking like like this is the guy I used to watch on tv and now I'm I'm watching it from behind vova. Yeah, like to watch, like to watch live, and I remember it was the the first small mouth. Pete caught in like this little channel and he just like instantly turned and did an on camera and I was like that's exactly what I see on TV. It was so cool to see, like it was like watching the show live. So that was like the first like pinch me moment I had.
Speaker 5:And I and I still do, like every time I I'm on the boat or, you know, in the office, even at times, or on the road, like try to be like this is like crazy that I'm here at times. Or on the road, like try to be like this is like crazy that I'm here, um. But the other time is, honestly, in Northwest territories this year, um, I got to do a fly fishing segment with Ange, but it was the first time he ever, I think he introduced me on camera. He said new hosts of the fish in Canada show and I was like like, just like mentally, I was like, wow, that is crazy to hear.
Speaker 5:That was the first time I heard it said. And then to be there with Ang and catch a fish on camera and it was just so crazy to have that happen. And then this one will stick in my head forever To be on camera hosting with Pete and you behind the scenes and for me to get miked up in the morning instead of you guys, and even when I dropped you guys off to drone and I'm out in the boat. It's just a crazy experience. These ones will stick with me for sure.
Speaker 5:And you kicked the shit out of the lake trout, yeah, and to actually catch them. You were on fire.
Speaker 5:That was the thing with the Northwest Territories. It's one thing to get the call to go on camera, but every time so far I've been lucky that I've been called on to do something. It seems to. I seem to be able to catch fish somehow, which is crazy because I do go out all the time and get skunked. It's like pure luck, but it kind of feels like maybe, like it's meant to be a little bit or something, because it's crazy, it works. It's worked out both times this year that way.
Speaker 3:You know what? That's a perfect example and I'm not going to stroke anybody's back here or whatever. It's a perfect example of team effort, like us guys in the boat today and all that Dean's shooting, but we're all working together saying, okay, this and that and the other, we're looking for fish, we're doing all that. So it's like buddies out fishing too like that, and same with Steve.
Speaker 3:you know, throw a suggestion out there, hey, good idea, you throw it, and all of a sudden, boom, that works too. So it's a good team effort going on there too. That's for sure. You're not out on the lake. It looks like you're out on the lake by yourself, but obviously people know there's a cameraman at least out there, and hopefully sometimes you with you too, and you know it's not. It doesn't always work out that way. A lot of times Bova and I are on the, on the boat by ourselves and all that and and uh, you know it's, it's working, no matter how you do it. But you gotta, you guys did a great job. Man, I'll tell you what you guys you.
Speaker 5:You fit in. It was good.
Speaker 3:It's not easy. I've told you that. I'll tell everybody that again and again and again. It ain't easy.
Speaker 1:Well, and the one thing that I will throw into the mix here and this time it is heartfelt because you know when you're out there, and I'll back up just a touch because I want to articulate this well. I want to articulate this well Pete Bowman and Angelo Viola are truly as genuine as you see them on TV. They really are, and I had the luxury of meeting you guys long before my show to air days on the last call back in 2004. And then, staying in contact really with you, pete, I would always kind of throw a phone call out once, twice a year over those seven, eight years before I bought show-de-air and have a little chat because I was doing it, because I really liked you and it was cool to know a TV celebrity.
Speaker 3:And we always had laughs. Yeah, absolutely, the conversations were pretty funny, I have to say 100%.
Speaker 1:And that is exactly what I wanted to say is they were conversations by real people, and just the fact that you guys have become some of my best friends on the planet makes it so much easier. And now I'm going to finish my first thought, when I want to say this genuinely, because we joke about it all the time, like I mean, I tell Peter that he's the best and I love him and everything else you know. But we're talking about why things work on the Fish and Canada show and a lot of times it's not that easy because people go out and get skunked all the time.
Speaker 1:I run a fishing lodge for 10 years and that was the battle that I fought constantly, where people going out and not catching fish, and even with guides sometimes like I mean, knock on wood, we always had a shore lunch, but you know I ate drum for a shore lunch once, right, and it wasn't bad. But, peter, you sell yourself short with the knowledge that you have in the boat and your working knowledge of the way that patterning happens and the instinctual changes that you make without even thinking. Like there was one moment during this episode or during this shoot where something happened and I was sitting in the boat and I said I said to Vova and Dean sitting in the back Pete, jump up, and we were going to do something. And he did something opposite and I said, oh, I love when Peter Bowman goes rogue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you did say that.
Speaker 1:If you look back at the film I'm 90% sure it was on your big fish oh, probably. Yeah, I'm sure it was. Yeah, and it's those little things that you make, those decisions that you make in the moment that are instinctual, that help with the way that these shoots go. I'm confident in saying that and I don't know whether it's just the confidence of having you with us or Ange with us, but I know the reason that the show goes the way the shows go and we 99.9 times get a show. We always joke about how hard it is, but it always happens. It always happens because you and Ange are some of the best anglers and most knowledgeable people in your trade in the country and, arguably, on the planet. I'm blushing right now. Yeah, I know you are. I can feel the heat.
Speaker 5:He put a waypoint on the map today without even looking and it was in a random spot, like just like throwing darts at a board, and we went over there and it was loaded. It's in the most random spot on the entire map.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And you were saying I was just throwing darts. Yeah, and I said to you I said I'll fish any dart that you throw.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:You know, what boys?
Speaker 3:my whole key to my success and I think all you guys know, even Vova knows it is that I still need to learn more. I have to learn more. Fishing is my life and that's the bottom line. You know my family and all that stuff, but as far as hobbies, job, everything else, what I want to do fishing is my life and I want to get better at it. Still, you know what I mean my age. I have to get better.
Speaker 5:I have to learn more. The biggest thing to me is like, like not to pump your tires too much. But it's so crazy how you're like. You know you've, you've done all you've done. You're in the hall of fame and everything, but you'll listen to advice from like an 18 year old kid at a lodge, absolutely, and learn something from that guy. Oh yeah, like that's just so impressive, like it. You don't. You don't take any advice or any Intel or any tips or anything for granted at all.
Speaker 3:No, I suck it all in boys.
Speaker 1:I try to absorb it all for sure well, and and for me too, like, uh, I, um, both of you make me feel comfortable and good and help me with with confidence. Um, because when I, when I bring ideas and thoughts to the table, when you and Andrew shooting, or we're shooting, and like I mean, it started and, and what I'm talking about is patterning, Um, those, I, I didn't think that I was a good patterning angler. I, you know, mechanics are mechanics, Like everybody I'm not going to say everybody, but you can take.
Speaker 3:Steve might be the only guy that we know that can take a bait from 120 yards and put it right up on the shore and into trees and not even attach to his line, and never find it again.
Speaker 1:Never find it again, never fight it again. Sorry, one of your twitch mates is gone yeah, don't worry, buddy, I'll pay for that.
Speaker 1:I'll pay for that. But, um, just the the dean was talking about quantum leaps and and things like when he, when he started here for me, that quantum leap, uh it, it kind of um, uh, pat tryon uh was one of my guides and we would, we do our guy yeah, he's great and we do our annual fishing trip and uh, for muskies and and we've been working on patterning them and talking about them and really it's. You know, we do a lot of trolling and it's a lot of I'm gonna call it dreaming and but I never because I was the lodge owner, I was an angler and I'm I'm pretty good mechanically, like I can flip and I can pitch and I can cast and I can use just about every bait out there. But it's the other side, the mental side, that I really felt that I wasn't good at. And just to kind of start doing that with Pat and talking about things.
Speaker 1:And I found that on that body of water, the Upper French, even though I was the owner and didn't fish a whole lot, I was getting a ton of information from a lot of different areas, from the guests, from the guides, from everybody, and we would go out. And Pat is technical. Oh, I love his passion man, he's knowledgeable and he's got a thirst for knowledge that is second to none. And I just, you know, when I went out with Pat, in the first little bit I was just the co pilot, you know, put me on the front and point to where you want me to cast or I'll change the baits and we're good. But I started, I found that when Pat would be talking about things like you know, bait and this and that, and I'd, oh, you know, I remember um, um, uh, one of the guests I don't even remember who it is, pat but um, there's the same bait and I've seen it. Um, back in in this area, and then we would go and investigate.
Speaker 1:And this brings me back to being on the boat with you guys. I don't feel like I'm a dummy or I don't feel like my thoughts are glanced over, because I'm not. I haven't been doing this for a lifetime, like you guys, and I did find out that you know you can do it. And those thoughts come to your mind and that's the key, it's the partnership, it's feeling like you're helping, right, yep. And then, once that passion grows, then all of a sudden, like even now.
Speaker 1:It happened this week with the LiveScope. I've always thought about it and everybody's moving that direction and I know the technology is powerful and really I saw a lot of technological changes through Pat because he was always on top of things with side scan and looking at it, but I never really got to use it. Even up into this point I've not used it because I'm typically shooting with yourself or Ang, especially you, like I mean, you are on that shit, like why would I run a LiveScope when Peter Bowman is in the boat and just to have that base knowledge and to start to see it now I didn't need it before this trip and now Now I need it. You're going to get it, aren't?
Speaker 3:didn't need it before this trip and now.
Speaker 1:Now I need it.
Speaker 3:You're going to get it, aren't you? Now, yeah, it's a done deal. Stevie's getting a live scope set up. It's a done deal.
Speaker 1:I love it, so you know, thank you for that. Oh, thank you buddy, thank you, because there's not many people like that and I'm one of the people that has dealt with a lot of people in the industry just like you, and there really are no other people that are like you guys. Well, thanks bro, that's very nice, that's a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Very nice to hear.
Speaker 1:And on that note, unless you guys have anything that's really really interesting, that would keep me out here a little longer with the mosquitoes- I'll end with right back to where we're sitting right now, at Lake Ababaca Lodge Highly recommended, okay?
Speaker 3:If you're a smallmouth or a lake trout angler and just love catching lots of fish and you like a nice establishment with all the frills, this is the place to be. Check it out. That's all I'm going to leave you with, and the box is one of the best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're not that bad. Compared to some places that we've seen. They are that bad and Peter's wafting a nice big fat cigar smoke around.
Speaker 3:That's one of the nicest cigars I've ever had right there Nice. It's called 20 Acre Firms.
Speaker 1:Whoever, it's a Florida cigar we bought it down at ICAST and it's wonderful. That's nice. Well, listen. Thank you, Peter Bowman, Thank you, Dean Taylor and thank you, Vova Babushkin. I really appreciate it, and especially you, Vova. I know that you were when I first asked you to join me on the podcast. It was a hard no, and I knew I would hug you enough and get you on here.
Speaker 5:He's being held hostage here.
Speaker 1:Exactly. No, it was amazing and thanks for I learned a lot about you, because we don't really get a chance to talk like this a lot. Last night, vo was like you guys fish all day and it's 10 o'clock at night and you're still talking about fishing.
Speaker 3:That was a comment on the drip right there. We all looked at each other and started laughing.
Speaker 1:That's funny, oh yeah. So thank you guys. I really appreciate it and I'm sure the thank you guys I really appreciate it and I'm sure the Diaries family out there listening appreciates it, and I just want to remind all of you. First of all, thank you for listening and getting to this point and don't forget to head over to fishincanadacom and enter the free giveaways. We always have wonderful things there and the store now, and if you like Diaries of a Lodge Owner, get out there and leave comments and like and Dean. Is there anything else that people can do?
Speaker 5:No, If you can subscribe to the YouTube channel. We're putting a bunch of stuff on there now. That's kind of what we're focusing on right now. Fish and Canada YouTube yeah, the Fish and Canada YouTube channel we're putting a bunch of stuff on there now.
Speaker 3:That's kind of what we're focusing on right now. It's the Fish and Canada YouTube. Yeah, the Fish.
Speaker 5:And Canada YouTube channel, but we're getting our podcasters involved there. Antonio has some cool stuff going up there. We're going to hopefully have some extras with Steve on there.
Speaker 1:Lord knows, we've got lots of footage from these outtakes.
Speaker 3:I'm kidding the blooper's real. Oh yeah, and another thing I'll throw in is our podcast network.
Speaker 2:So I mean the Outdoor.
Speaker 3:Journal, radio Podcast Network with Diaries, with Outdoor Journal, with.
Speaker 4:Eating Wild.
Speaker 3:Under the Canopy Untamed Pursuits. What am I messing? I think you hit him.
Speaker 5:Ugly Pike, ugly Pike.
Speaker 1:Sorry Frankie, Chris, Sorry Frankie. And it's great it's one of those long-established podcasts I've yet to try their light beer.
Speaker 3:I want to try their light lager.
Speaker 1:I have to try that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they haven't sent us any.
Speaker 3:I know I have to try it. I was looking for it. I couldn't find it, but I'm going to get some, don't worry. Well, we know people.
Speaker 7:Yeah, it a great name Last Light Logger. Yeah, it's perfect. Yeah, so listen. Thus brings us to the hog.
Speaker 1:Since the day I was born, sharing the North with all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems, yeah.
Speaker 7:What brings people together more than fishing and hunting? How about food? I'm Chef Antonio Muleka and I've spent years catering to the stars. Now, on Outdoor Journal Radio's Eat Wild podcast, luis Hookset and I are bringing our expertise and Rolodex to our real passion the outdoors.
Speaker 9:Each week we're bringing you inside the boat tree stand or duck blind and giving you real advice that you can use to make the most out of your fish and game.
Speaker 7:You're going to flip that duck breast over. Once you get a nice hard sear on that breast, you don't want to sear the actual meat. And it's not just us chatting here. If you can name a celebrity, we've probably worked with them and I think you might be surprised who likes to hunt and fish. When Kit Harington asks me to prepare him sashimi with his bass, I couldn't say no. Whatever Taylor shared and wanted, I made sure I had it. Burgers, steak, anything off the barbecue. That's a true cowboy. All Jeremy Renner wanted to have was lemon ginger shots. All day, all Jeremy Renner wanted to have was lemon ginger shots all day.
Speaker 8:Find Eating Wild now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry 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 4: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.