Half Day Fly Fishing

My grandfather taught me how to cast a fly rod at a very young age. I got a little taste of trout fishing in my younger days on vacations out west. After a heavy bout with drug addiction that nearly took my life several times, I moved to Carbondale, CO to sober up. I was reintroduced to fly fishing and became obsessed. Some might call it a cross-addiction, but I'd take fly fishing over heroin any day of the week. I was on the water any free moment I had. I managed to turn the obsession into a career when I landed a job running a fly shop at a 5-star hotel in Aspen, CO. I managed all of the bookings for the shop and started guiding 3-5 trips per week on days when we had overflow.

After 3 summers running the fly shop I decided to make a career change and accepted a job as a Public Relations Manager for Backbone Media. I continued guiding a few fishing trips on weekends and 18-months later I accepted a job as the hunting marketing manager for YETI. I packed my belongings and moved back to my home state of Texas. I spent the next four years traveling all over the world networking with guides and outfitters.

As a former guide and as an outdoor marketing professional I have a tremendous amount of respect for guides. A respect for the elements and conditions they endure. A respect for the connectedness they have with their environments, and a respect for the trust their clients place in them. And mostly, a respect for abandoning the comfort of a desk, air conditioning, and a corporate lifestyle to pursue the most honest and authentic lifestyle one can choose - one spent outside.

I'm now a co-founder in a new business that seeks to empower guides and outfitters by taking my learnings from the last 6 years as a brand marketer, and applying those same tactics to guides and outfitters. I believe the world would be a better place if more people experienced nature and connected with wildlife.

AnyCreek is the guide's guide to the digital world.