My Story
Fishing has always been my number one passion, priority, everything. It started way back at the age of 2 thanks to my father who was also a fishing nut. I've seen photos of myself in a stroller holding a Micky Mouse fishing rod on the banks of various lakes in suburban Long Island, New York. Growing up in New York there was so much to do, but all I wanted to do was fish. Whether it be on the ocean beaches for striped bass, the docks for snapper blues, out on the ocean in my fathers boat, or at the local lake for largemouth bass, it was always so fascinating to me.
I spent my high school and college years in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where I had more than my fair share of stream fishing for trout, lake fishing for bass, panfish and walleye, and ice fishing for anything that could give me a jolt of warmth. Upon graduating from Penn State University for Golf Course Management, I got back to the saltwater off the coasts of New England. This is when I began my double life as a golf industry professional and tournament angling surfcasting junky.
Surfcasting isn’t for the faint of heart
Surfcasting molded me into the angler I am today. It takes a lot of patience, and guts to stand on a boulder for 6 hours in the middle of the night, casting into the ocean repeatedly and getting pounded by waves. It also takes a lot of preparation to have all your equipment dialed in for that moment when a monster Striped Bass finally eats your lure and takes you for a ride. The feeling of that latter moment became an obsession, which drove me to begin competing in surfcasting tournaments, spending 150+ tireless nights a season chasing that feeling to see just how many big fish I could catch.
"boat fish don't count"
That's what us surfcasters would say....but who I was I to kid, I also owned a boat and loved fishing and diving from it. I often took it out to go fill up a cooler full of tasty deep water fish, or put on my spearfishing gear and dive around my rocky surfcasting spots to see what the underwater structure was like. Most of the time I didn't know exactly where I was going to catch fish. I would just read the depth charts, get a feel for how the current moved in the area and combine that with the knowledge of what should be in season to combine for some really amazing trips. Don't get me wrong, I've probably spent more time not catching fish than anybody you know.....but you've got to put a lot of time in to be able to go out and just catch fish at will.
Hello PNW
The story of how exactly I washed up on the shores of the PNW all the way from New England is a story for a long boat ride, but was I sure quick to discover some amazing fishing! While the species were different, the tactics were about the same just on different scales, and reading the water is a universal skill. Needless to say, I quickly began catching my fair share of steelhead and salmon and completely fell in love with the PNW. I began traveling to the coastal areas to fish from the jetties, rocks and beaches, chased sturgeon on the Willamette and Columbia from both bank and boat, all the way to fly fishing for trout on the Deschutes. Fishing out in the PNW made me feel like a kid again and really allowed me to utilize all of the skills I learned over the years to become a more well rounded angler.
There's No Place Like Home
Now I've been fortunate enough to travel all around the world for fishing. From fun fishing in the Keys and the Bahamas to multi million dollar offshore fishing tournaments in Costa Rica and Baja California. But I must say, there isn't a fishery quite as special as what we are blessed with here in the PNW.
Come on an adventure you won't forget
Steelhead and Salmon sure live in some amazing places. Floating down these small tributary rivers will almost provide enough satisfaction without even casting a line, but once you hook into one of these amazing fish you'll never want to leave.
“I'm not an adventurer by choice but by fate”