THE BEGINNING

I have been a fisherman my entire life, from high school to my early 30’s. Admittedly, I was a hardcore fly guy. But back in 2011, I received a conventional bobber and jig rod as a gag gift.
Somehow it made it into the drift boat. Over the following 3 weeks, I landed roughly 45 steelhead. Needless to say, I was hooked (pun intended).
My winters on the Kalama River would average about 10 steelhead to wong flies.
In the winter of 2012, I met a dear friend, Kurt, who introduced me to coon shrimp.
I was leery about using bait, especially bait that can stain your hands! I picked his brain and started curing shrimp on my own.
During the early stages, I ruined my kitchen counters and went through hundreds of pounds of shrimp. BUT, after a year of serious experimenting, I/we were set on a cure.. Or so I thought.
My brother in law is a chemical engineer and said, “I can make that better, let’s talk.”
Approximately 10 months later he gave me precise instructions on curing these shrimp.
In 2014, late spring and early summer, I was catching a ton of steelhead. It was then that a very well known fishing guide approached me and asked for some of my shrimp. I handed him some and he was hooked!
I quickly got the reputation as “the guy in the black freedrifter who catches a ton of fish.”
The word was out. With the help of highly respected fishing guides, great friends, and honest people, we started River City Fishing Products.
Hope you enjoy them.
Thank you!
Somehow it made it into the drift boat. Over the following 3 weeks, I landed roughly 45 steelhead. Needless to say, I was hooked (pun intended).
My winters on the Kalama River would average about 10 steelhead to wong flies.
In the winter of 2012, I met a dear friend, Kurt, who introduced me to coon shrimp.
I was leery about using bait, especially bait that can stain your hands! I picked his brain and started curing shrimp on my own.
During the early stages, I ruined my kitchen counters and went through hundreds of pounds of shrimp. BUT, after a year of serious experimenting, I/we were set on a cure.. Or so I thought.
My brother in law is a chemical engineer and said, “I can make that better, let’s talk.”
Approximately 10 months later he gave me precise instructions on curing these shrimp.
In 2014, late spring and early summer, I was catching a ton of steelhead. It was then that a very well known fishing guide approached me and asked for some of my shrimp. I handed him some and he was hooked!
I quickly got the reputation as “the guy in the black freedrifter who catches a ton of fish.”
The word was out. With the help of highly respected fishing guides, great friends, and honest people, we started River City Fishing Products.
Hope you enjoy them.
Thank you!