Chris Andersen grew up in western Wisconsin where he began fishing at an early age. He cut his teeth targeting trout, bass, muskie and Great Lakes ‘Steelhead’. Chris is an adventurer by nature. At the age of 19, he became a fishing guide in northern Manitoba, and later guided in Alaska, Washington State and South America. After 14 years, he hung his waders to work for Sage Manufacturing, where today, he manages guide and outfitter sales. Chris is a familiar and well-respected face in the fly fishing community and enjoys fishing his local waters in Washington State.

Robert Bison was born and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia where he was acquainted with rainbow trout by his father at an early age. He attended the University of British Columbia and concurrently began his career working for the province’s Fish & Wildlife agency with whom he is still employed. He has worked in many parts of British Columbia, and much of the work he’s done has been focused on the anadromous and non-anadromous forms of the species to which he was first introduced. He currently specializes in the assessment of some the province’s most fascinating wild fish populations.

Illustration by James Zerkel

Jake is originally from Colorado. After completing his master’s degree at Colorado State University, he headed to the Pacific northwest with the single goal of chasing steelhead. He landed in Ashland, Oregon and has called the Rogue River “home water” for the last decade. Jake has worked in fly shops, for Native Fish Society as a volunteer coordinator to aid in the conservation of rivers and wild fish along the Pacific coast, and currently works for Fly Water Travel. When he isn’t searching for steelhead, he enjoys interacting with the great outdoors via whitewater rafting, backpacking, skiing and biking.

Jeff was doomed to a life of fishing addiction from the start. At ten, he taught himself to fly fish and tie flies, and was hitchhiking to the river before and after school. By twelve, he bought his first spey rod with housekeeping wages he’d saved by helping his mother manage the Mt. Hood lodge where they lived. He later worked in fly shops, guided in Oregon and Alaska, and managed a bonefish lodge in the Bahamas. Led by his passion for spey fishing, he founded Fish the Swing in 2011, and now owns three well respected guiding programs in Oregon and on the Dean River in British Columbia. He’s also a Patagonia Ambassador and volunteer river steward for the Native Fish Society.

Illustration by James Zerkel

Nate grew up in Bodega Bay, CA, where at only 10 years old, he caught his first steelhead plunking roe in Salmon Creek. He moved to Seattle in 1988 to both fish for steelhead and pursue a PhD at the University of Washington. By the mid-1990s, signs of trouble in steelhead country prompted his growing interest in conservation. He now leads the Salmon Ecology Team at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, and recently joined the Board of Directors for the Wild Salmon Center. His passion for the ocean, salmon and steelhead has always guided his research, service, and recreation activities.

Illustration by James Zerkel

John is the Science Director for Trout Unlimited's Wild Steelhead Initiative. He was raised on the Washougal River where he was first introduced to fly fishing. This interest then led to snorkeling, college, fish-centric research, and eventually, graduate school. John has studied salmonids for the USFS, Hoh Indian tribe, Wild Salmon Center, and for NOAA/NWFSC as part of the Elwha River dam removal project. His research often focuses on steelhead and rainbow trout, and specifically mechanisms influencing different life histories. John has published peer-reviewed manuscripts on anadromous salmonid science and has authored books about fish and fishing. With TU, he uses his knowledge to help educate anglers, identify conservation opportunities, and implement frameworks in our best remaining rivers to ensure that future generations of anglers will have the opportunity to fish for wild steelhead. He continues to live on the Olympic Peninsula with his wife Laurel and their Gordon Setter, Honey. He spends his free time snorkeling, taking underwater photographs, and fishing the rivers of the Olympic Peninsula.

Growing up, Bridget would spend school nights on Puget Sound, braving rain and cold temperatures to fish for squid with her father. After nearly three decades in Western Washington, she remains an avid angler and cold water conservationist. Bridget works for American Rivers, focusing on hydropower reform and federal river protection campaigns in the Puget Sound and Columbia River basins. She is also the president of North Sound Trout Unlimited and has authored pieces in Dun Magazine, The Fly Fish Journal, and Moldy Chum. When her head isn’t buried in a conservation project, Bridget can be found on the river with a rod in hand, or in the mountains on bikes or skis.

Steve received a MS Degree in Zoology/Fisheries from the University of Idaho in 1973. He has dedicated his life and career to studying fish passage and dam effects and fish on anadromous fishes in the Snake River and Columbia River systems. Steve acted as the State of Idaho’s Fish Passage Specialist for three decades, where he represented the State and its fisheries committees. Steve retired in 2003, but immediately began working for Earthjustice as an expert witness in the 2004 Biological Opinion Court Case of the 9th Circuit Court regarding the Endangered Species Act listing of Snake River anadromous fish populations. Essentially, Steve has witnessed the contentious, 45-year Columbia River salmon wars from the trenches. He continues to live on the banks of the Clearwater River and remains an active advocate for Idaho’s fish.

Illustration by James Zerkel

Bob Rees was born and raised in Oregon where he’s been a fishing guide for 30 years. Early in his career, population declines caused North Oregon Coast anglers to lose access to five of the six wild, anadromous salmonid species in the region. This inspired Bob to put more time towards understanding the cause of the salmon declines. He began advocating for improved timber practices on public lands in the Pacific Northwest. His desire to protect Oregon’s wild places continued to grow and today he leads the Northwest Guides and Anglers Association, through which he fights for the recovery of these iconic species for the benefit of future generations of anglers.

Illustration by James Zerkel

Rich Simms is a lifelong angler from the Pacific Northwest with a passion for steelhead since his childhood growing up around the great streams and waters of the Olympic Peninsula. Simms is a founding board member of the Wild Steelhead Coalition, where he saw the need for a focused wild steelhead conservation group. Since then he has helped grow the wild steelhead conservation effort, build a community, and change the trajectory of wild steelhead. Simms was named Conservationist of the Year by Fly Fisherman Magazine and Sage for his unrelenting efforts to conserve wild steelhead for present and future generations. He has served on and donated his time to many state boards regarding steelhead management. Simms’ professional background includes a career in Industrial Design and User Experience. He now applies his creative and analytical thinking, along with a dash of dogged persistence, to steelhead conservation issues.

Marty was born and raised in Oregon and grew up on the banks of the Sandy River. With his dad as an angling mentor, Marty landed his first steelhead at the young age of five. Much of his fly-fishing inspiration came from books, especially those written by such notable naturalists as Roderick Haig-Brown and Bill McMillan. In the 1990s, Steve Kruse took Marty underwing and taught him the art of spey casting. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that all the seelements now manifest themselves as Marty’s unbounded enthusiasm for guiding—backed up byover two decades of professional experience in the “field”—and an almost missionary zeal for teaching others and sharing in the pure joy of rivers.

Mia lives and breathes being on the water. She desired to share this passion with others, and was inspired to become a more proficient angler, teacher of fly-fishing, advocate for new anglers and supporter of fish conservation efforts. In 2001, she was introduced to spey and steelhead by her now rod caddy, Marty Sheppard. Her love for steelhead forged an untraditional but fruitful path that included sleeping in garages and wearing leaky waders to pursue her passion. She became a two-time, spey distance casting champion, opened and operates a guiding outfit, and works to conserve the rivers she loves.

Gray is a second-generation fishing guide in his hometown of Forks, Washington. He has been a leading voice among anglers opting to intentionally reduce their impacts to protect wild winter steelhead. Not only has he been an Olympic Peninsula winter steelhead guide for ten years, he’s spent the summer and fall guiding in Alaska for the past 17. During that time he has guided in Bristol Bay, at a remote steelhead camp in southwest Alaska, and managed a private fishing lodge. When Gray isn’t fishing for salmonids somewhere along the Pacific coast, he enjoys traveling to further fishing destinations. He’s targeted rooster fish in Mexico, Atlantic salmon in Norway, brown trout in New Zealand and red fish in Louisiana.

Dylan Tomine is a Patagonia Fly Fishing Ambassador, father, writer, conservation advocate and recovering sink tip addict, but not necessarily in that order. His book, Closer to the Ground: An Outdoor Family’s Year on the Water, in the Woods and at the Table, was a National Outdoor Book Award honorable mention. He conceived of, and worked as a producer on the feature-length documentary, Artifishal, which has been watched by more than 3 million viewers. He lives in Washington state with his two children and their trusty Labrador retriever, Halo.

Mara Zimmerman is the Executive Director of the Coast Salmon Partnership. She holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Michigan and has dedicated her career to understanding and conserving fishes and freshwater ecosystems. She has worked across the United States and Canada, and even spent a few months on the tundra rivers of western Kamchatka, Russia. She now focuses on the Washington Coast Salmon Recovery Region and river systems flowing to the Pacific Ocean from Cape Flattery to Cape Disappointment. She collaborates with local restoration partners, agencies, tribes and scientists to protect and restore some of the last remaining strongholds of wild salmon and steelhead in the contiguous United States