My adventure all started for me when I was about 7 or 8 and I would visit my Grandma K in Portland, NY. She would take me down to a small brook that feeds into Chatauqua Lake; we 

                        would catch a bucket full of sunfish. I have been hooked every since.

                        After I graduated high school in 1977 I took

                        every opportunity to learn as much as I could

                        and I’m still learning. I believe fishing is an ongoing

                                                     learning experience, over the years we all learn

                        from trial and error, reading, listening and 

observation. I spent most of my free time fishing for whatever was

available at that time of the year, spring time - Crappies, Perch and

Steelhead, summer trolling for Walleye and Smallmouth, fall & winter

Steelhead. Steelhead they are my true passion, back in 1977 I started

fishing for them off the beaches and pier heads, after a couple of

                     years I started to learn the stream fishing, were

                     I met my best friend who helped point me in the

                     right direction (Thanks James). After 5 1/2 years of working in a local

                     factory layoffs lead me to start working on a friends charter boat

                     (Dick Jordan - Blue Streak), which meant downrigging for Salmon and

                     Steelhead, the learning continued. Over the next ten years, splitting 

                     my time between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario,

                     I had the opportunity to work for and along-

                     side some of the best charter captains on

                     the great lakes. We fished out of the ports

                     of Erie, Dunkirk, Wilson / Alcott and Point

                     Breeze. After a year with Blue Streak,

which was part time, I got a full time opportunity with Mike Jonhson - Poor Charlie out of Erie first for Coho Salmon and Steelhead until the salmon disappeared then we switched over to Walleye. After a couple of years of Walleye a small group of captains moved their boats up to Wilson, NY and we started fishing for King Salmon, the learning continued. A few years of that and I hooked up with two part time captains and fished weekends out of

                                   Wilson (Bill Shustick - Front Runner Charters) and

                                   weekdays out of Erie (Norb Lopez - Treble Hook). While

                                   in Wilson Lake Michigan had some tough years so a small

                                   group of seasoned charter 

                                   captains from there brought

                                   their boats to fish out of

                                    Wilson, I had the

                                   opportunity to fish alongside

                                   some of the best from

Michigan including Dreamweaver. Then I eventually started

working for Dan Dietzen (Sea Cin Charters), who still

maintains the oldest captains’ license on Erie or Ontario. We fished the summer out of Dunkirk, NY and the fall out of Point Breeze, NY (docked next to a legend Ron Penna - Buck A Roo Sportfishing). Dunkirk we fished mostly walleye with a few salmonoids mixed in, Point Breeze was Kings, Coho and Steelhead. Working the charter boats still left me time to chase Steelhead up and down our local streams in the late fall through early spring with the occasional trip up to the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY. Throughout those charter years I learned a little from all I came in contact with, most of all Bill Shustick - what's going to work today and from Dan Dietzen - when times are tough never give up on what works best for you.