Diaries of a Lodge Owner
by Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network · 156 episodes
SportsWildernessSociety
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.
Latest episodes
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31 min
Episode 155: A Lodge Owner’s Final Thank You To The North
The hardest part of life in the North isn’t the weather, the long days, or even the problems that show up at the dock when you’re already running flat out. It’s realizing you can’t…
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51 min
Episode 154: What Happens When You Stop Chasing Perfect
A lure that pops, walks the dog, and then dives a few feet under the surface sounds like marketing, until you hear how it was actually built. My guest Steve Waters takes us from a…
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1 h 51
Episode 153: Sell The Experience
A great business can fail for a painfully simple reason: the owner forgets what they are actually selling. Sitting on the island on the Upper French River, we talk with Michael Sca…
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59 min
Episode 152: A Three Cent Part Cost Me The Fish Of A Lifetime
One violent headshake, one flash of a giant’s eyeballs, and then the hook comes flying back at us. That’s the kind of moment that turns a regular day on the water into a permanent…
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1 h 14
Episode 151: The Fish I Still Think About...
A muskie over 50 inches on a rod that holds about 30 feet of line sounds like the start of a disaster, but for me it becomes one of those rare nights that never stops replaying. I’…
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1 h 11
Episode 150: A Fire Captain’s PTSD Recovery Through Fishing
The hardest part of emergency calls isn’t always the chaos you can see. Sometimes it’s standing beside a wife, a son, or a loved one who’s begging you to fix the unfixable. Fire Ch…
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56 min
Episode 149: Running A Lodge In The Dog Days
The dog days of summer aren’t just hot weather, they’re the point in the season when a fishing lodge gets squeezed from every direction. When the heat hangs on, the days feel endle…
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1 h 28
Episode 148: How To Become A Fishing Guide
The fastest way into a fishing guide career is not a perfect resume, it is getting yourself into the right lodge and proving you belong there. Around the table at Two Rivers Lodge,…
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1 h 21
Episode 147: Life Behind The Guideboat Wheel
A fishing guide’s job is not just finding fish. It’s reading people, managing pressure, and turning a tough bite into a day your guests will still talk about on the drive home. Aro…
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34 min
Episode 146: I Return To Guiding To See If I Still Have It
You can own a lodge, hire great guides, and still feel your confidence wobble the moment you step onto a dock where nobody cares about your past. At Two Rivers Lodge, I’m back in t…
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51 min
Episode 145: How To Reboot A Remote Fishing Lodge Without Burning Out
Lodge season does not “start” so much as it hits you all at once. Early June brings that first real wave of guests, the scramble to reopen cabins and docks, and the reality that Mo…
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20 min
Episode 144: Grief, Gratitude, And The Lessons Dad Left Behind
He wasn’t flashy. He didn’t say a whole lot. But he always had my back and that kind of fatherhood changes everything. After losing my dad just days ago, I sit down for a raw, pers…
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59 min
Episode 143: Rookies On The River
A thousand-foot gill net can hold a whole day’s worth of truth about a fishery and Paige Drew has lived that reality on Lake Superior. We sit down with Paige and Caleb Johnson, two…
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1 h 14
Episode 142: A Lodge Owner’s Playbook For Weather And Growth
Spring at a Northern Ontario fishing lodge can feel like two different worlds at once. We’re watching flood water threaten roads and docks around the French River and Lake Nipissin…
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1 h 24
Episode 141: Lake Simcoe Ice Fishing Recap With Hotbox Huts
The best ice seasons are not always the ones with the most chaos, they are the ones that run smooth from first hut to last pullout. We’re back with Donny Crowder of Hotbox Huts to…
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1 h 42
Episode 140: We Can Train The Nervous System To Handle Modern Life
Your body already knows how to come back to centre. The problem is we rarely give it the right signal, long enough, often enough, to override modern stress. We talk with Spencer De…
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1 h 01
Epiosde 139: Late Ice, Shifting Plates, And The Hard Work Of Opening A Northern Lodge
Spring up north doesn’t arrive politely. It shows up when the ice starts talking, when a route that was open yesterday is suddenly blocked by a drifting plate, and when a lodge own…
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1 h 32
Episode 138: How Joe Robinet Built A Bushcraft YouTube Legacy
One mistake can end a survival challenge. One accident can erase weeks of memory. One loss can change the shape of a whole family. We’re joined by Joe Robinet, a Canadian bushcraft…
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1 h 11
Episode 137: How A Remote Fishing Lodge Gets Spring Ready
The season doesn’t start when the first guests arrive. It starts when you look at snowpack, water height, and a dock system that can swing by feet, then decide how you’re going to…
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1 h 31
Episode 136: How Tracking Jig Colours Led Me To Unlock Muskie Patterns
What if your walleye box held the key to your next muskie? We sit down with veteran multi‑species guide Patrick Tryon to unpack a hard‑won breakthrough: when walleyes get picky, th…