Alaska / Washington Salmon, Steelhead & Halibut Fishing Guides, Charters & Lodging

King, silver, sockeye salmon - Rainbow trout - Steelhead - Halibut - Ling Cod and more on the Kenai and Olympic Peninsulas

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Some more of our "Blasts from the Past" and other favorite things to do!

Hole-in-One at Harbour Pointe Golf Course, Mukilteo, WA.

Corey at the Grand Canyon.

Fishgal with our friends Jim & Shelli during one of our Reno trips!

Bob & Corey at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium for the Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Bob with a 'snowbeard' at Snowbird, Utah.

Enjoying UW's 34-24 win over Purdue in the 2001 Rose Bowl.

From Bob's teen-age years ... hunting grouse on the breaks of Hell's Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border.

What About Bob?

Hi, you may have been wondering who this Bob fella is? That's me to the right, getting a kiss from my pup and hoisting up my daughter's first salmon!

I grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon (just south of Portland). I've had a fishing rod in my hand most of the time since I was old enough to walk, that's over 40 years now! I seem to recall that I learned to run dad's boats about the same time I learned to ride a bike.

Of course, many of our regular visitors to the site and guests of our operation know that Corey and I were married on the island of Aruba in January of 2005.

We had the addition of our first new family member in early January, 2006: our yellow lab, appropriately enough named Rainey. Anglers aboard my driftboat in Alaska will probably get a chance to meet her as she normally rides along every day with us.

It was just a few weeks earlier that we found out that we were also expecting a new family member in latter 2006, this time of the two-legged variety.

Rowan (yes, named after what Daddy does) was born in August of 2006 in Soldotna. A true bundle of joy, she has added a whole new dimension to our already hectic lives.

I began fishing the rivers of the Forks, WA area in 1987 while attending the UW ... I alternately bleed purple/gold and sometimes black/red (I'm a lifelong Trailblazers fan too). It didn't take but a few years of fishing these rivers that I decided that Forks would be home and the ball (pardon the pun) got rolling.

Offering my first river trips in 1991, it was a part-time affair at first to earn a little extra money while finishing school at the University of Washington. In 1994, I took the plunge and began running Piscatorial Pursuits as a full-time job. I now spend the fall, winter and spring months on the Washington coast, then work the months of May through August in Soldotna, Alaska. We also spend about a month each fall between our fisheries chasing steelhead in British Columbia. A cross between vacation and R&D, it's a nice break for the family to spend some time together with friends that we don't get to see much of the remainder of the year. All in all, between guided trips and my 'play fishing', I spend close to 300 days a year on the water looking for either salmon or steelhead.

Although fishing is my first love, guiding is my business - and like any successful service provider, I know that providing excellent customer service is the number one priority. Top-notch service is the number one objective of our operation. This isn't to say that I've forgotten why most of my clients have hired us: to help them catch fish. Incidentally, we're pretty darn good in that category too, in fact, we believe that our clients' success rates are amongst the best around.

I'll probably never win an award for being the world's funniest guide, but I'll get a few one-liners in, and I do love to listen to yours. With decades of experience and a formal fisheries background, I will try to tell you as much about the rivers, the quarry, our techniques, the surrounding area, and sights along the river as you'd probably wish to know.

I've taken on some new sort of job-related duties over the past few years. In addition to the owner / operator of Piscatorial Pursuits, I've served as past V-P and am current President and Webmaster for the Olympic Peninsula Guides Association. For the last few years, I have also been the Freshwater Editor for Salmon & Steelhead Journal and write a column for each issue.

Nowadays, I spend most of my time on the river, but I also make time for a little duck hunting, destroying my arch enemies in some Facebook games, planning our annual 'warm' vacation, and spending time with Ro-Ro, Rainey, and Corey (aka Fishgal) ... please note: these items are NOT mentioned in any particular order! Since the team finally lost the status of perennial cellar dwellers in the mid-90's, we've also become rabid Mariner's fans and try to attend at least one home stand each spring before heading north to Alaska.

Speaking of Fishgal, you probably ought to meet her too. In all likelihood, you'll talk to her on the phone when booking your date - she handles most of the office work, the less than glamorous part of guiding business.

With a love for the outdoors that rivals even mine, her knowledge and expertise in helping you plan your trips will outshine 99% of the office staff in the industry. She grew up in the Kenai, Alaska area and her side of the family resides there, ... in fact, we think she is related to roughly half  of Alaska's entire population ... but she now winters in a slightly warmer locale with me on the Washington coast.

Throughout our website, you'll see plenty of pix of her ... she makes a pretty good backdrop for all of those BIG fish that she seems to catch!

Thanks for stopping by the site, perhaps we can learn a little bit about you in between strikes on the river ...

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