My Perspective on Things, Fishing and Beyond

I want to make this newsletter memorable and worthy of your time and support

So I’ve been adjusting to my new life as a consultant and content marketer for a bunch of brands in the fishing industry. I’ve been helping some new brands get going with content marketing efforts on their new launches, website SEO and more while also helping some well established brands extend their reach and audience with some new initiatives. It has had me hopping busy lately.

It’s work I truly love, and in this new chapter of my life, I’m being very selective on the companies I work with and align myself with. Because I want to feel good about the people I work with, and I want it to be for people I genuinely think highly of and want to see succeed. These are brands that are not just in it for the money but want to make very good outdoors products at a value that respects the consumer’s hard earned dollars.

But that has taken me away from my personal writing the last few weeks. I’ve been writing so much for companies, doing audits and proposals and still writing op-eds for Wired2fish on tough topics like catch and release and what’s going on in pro fishing right now that I haven’t had any free time to write here. But I have more than 15 topics cued up here for the Current Fish Newsletter that I want to write and get out to you, so I’m rapidly trying to catch up.

I am going to share some of the topics on my list below and get some feedback before I proceed further here. I want this to be worthy of your time. So I want the reads to be interesting, time-worthy, entertaining and educational. I will obviously lean into the detailed fishing pieces a lot. So far I’ve been laying a groundwork for systems of fishing, so I can then expand into the really granular details of how you can figure out fish at different times of the year, for a multitude of species like bass, crappie, bluegill and trout.

But beyond that I’m wanting to share intersting experiences and stories that I think you will enjoy and also find useful outside of just knowing how to catch a fish. I’ve been in the fishing industry for 20 years and seen and heard a lot and been involved in a lot behind the scenes. I’d like to pull back the curtains so to speak and share some personal insights around a career in the fishing industry, media, and beyond.

One of the topics I wanted to share was How I Made a Million Dollars in Fishing. I know that might sound pretentious, but I’m hoping it’s more of a blueprint for folks on how to make a great living in the fishing industry. Truth be told the number is closer to $2 million now. I think that number gets people’s attention but it’s realistic if you think about a path. Not saying writing has to be your path, but I think the insight will help you find your own path of success if that interests you.

I’m certainly not a multimillionaire, but I think the point of this piece would be to share insights on how I grew my skillsets to leverage my work to help not only a lot of anglers, but my company and the companies that worked with us. And how that made my contributions valuable to them, to the industry and angling community, and to me and my family.

My content over the years has sold millions of dollars of fishing and outdoors products to the masses. I’ve taught generations of anglers to catch fish better. I have tried to be absolutely genuine in everything I do. And I care more about my personal credibility than any amount of money I could make. Meaning I don’t write about things I have not had a long experience with, and I don’t write about products that I have had bad experiences with.

But I have a ton of fishing and personal experience stuff in the hopper, and I’m wanting to understand better what you like and would like me to focus on. I guess at this point I’m torn about what people want from me. Do they want my personal perspective on things? Or just teach them some better fishing tricks and tips to catch fish better?

I got such an overwhelming feedback on my piece about the Changing Landscape of Professional Bass Fishing, and since then, a lot of people have been asking for more of my perspective about things in fishing and my experiences over the years because apparently I have a unique take on things and can articulate it well in a way that is relatable to a lot of people. So I feel inclined to do that more for folks since more people are asking me to.

But I want to be sure that is what you signed up for. I’m of course going to share a ton of fishing stuff I have in the hopper, but want to mix in some perspective pieces and old stories over the years, like drawing Rick Clunn in the Bassmaster Tour on Table Rock back 20 years ago and my first experiences being around him before I got into the fishing industry and how that experience was one experience that shaped my path. This would have been around 2003 I think. So a lot of history there.

Here are some of the topics I have queued up for you. Let me know what you think and which ones you want to see first or more of. Any and all feedback is welcome. I’m here to be of maximum service to the angling community that supports my writing. So you all tell me what you want and I will focus on those things for you.

TOPICS TO COME ON CURRENT FISH

• How I Made a Million Dollars in Fishing

• Get Off the Beaten Path for Better Fishing

• Chase the Seasons in Fishing

• My Thoughts on Nice Fishing Gear

• Related to the Anchor (a matter of perspective)

• The Case to Go Fish Your Bucket List Now

• Why a Bobber and Bug Catches More Panfish Shallow

• Master Your Retrieves for Bigger Panfish

• Why You Need to Plan a Fish Camp

• Split Shot is Your Ace in the Hole

• Tying Your Own Bluegill Bugs and Flies

• Master Euro-Nymphing Like a Pro

• An Afternoon Float on the Little Red River

• Where to Fish for Bluegills in High Water

• Learnings from the KDFW Black Bass Summit

• The Best Places to Find Big Bluegills and Red Ears in the Fall (video)

• Trout Fishing Hair Jigs - The Secret Weapon

Let me know what ones you like and want to see first and if this list sounds good to you.