There's a difference between chasing fish and chasing meaning, and today's guest knows both sides.

From fishing Alaska to rowing drift boats through the canyons of southwest Washington,

today we hear of the journey that didn't follow a usual script.

It took a house fire, a leap of faith, and a whole lot of time on the water.

In this episode, we hear how a

welder turned guide found his place among kings, literally and figuratively. We dig into the gear

to spay transition, what it means to slow down, and why swinging a fly might just change the way

you think about fishing. This is the wet fly swing podcast where we show you the best place

that traveled to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for

that big trip and what you can do to give back to fish species we all love.

Aaronberg's story is proof that guiding isn't just a job. It's a calling, earned through a lot of

work and perseverance, both on the water and at home. Whether you're thinking about drifting the Winoucci, chasing silvers up in Alaska's tundra, or watching a king salmon grab a mid-swing fly on the togiak. This episode's got a little bit of everything for you. If you want to check in with our guest, Aaron Berg, you can find him at forestroadoutfitters.com and on Instagram at the same name. All right, let's get into it. Here he is, Aaron. How you doing, Aaron? I'm doing great. How are you? Good, good. I'm looking forward to this conversation because you're kind of near kind of my home waters. And we also connected up in Togac this year. Togiac River Lodge. We had,

I didn't actually fish with you, but we chatted there a little bit and connected with Jordan and all that. So we're going to talk a little about the Togiac operation up there. We're also going to talk about some of the rivers you fish down in southwest Washington. I know the Cowlitz and Nguanucci or a couple of those, so we're going to talk about that.

And the cool thing is that you fish, whichitz and Wainucci are a couple of those, so we're going to talk about that.

And the cool thing is that you fish, which is unique, is you do a lot of gear fishing. And I think a lot of, which I've done as well, we've got about, you know, my guess is half of our audience probably does some conventional fishing as well. Although we talk a lot about fly fishing, there's a good crossover. So today we're going to get your background and get a little bit about that.

Does that sound good to you?

Just kind of dig into both fly and gear. Yeah, I'm swinging both ways. All right, good. Yeah, and I think that we had Jordan on here, we talked about his transition into Spain. And it was a pretty passionate episode because you could hear it in Jordan's voice about how, you know, just that transition getting into it, what it was for him. And so we'll get a little bit of that on you as well. But before we get into all that and get into maybe some tips and tricks on catching steelhead, maybe Chinook, what's your background fishing? Have you been doing this forever or you just get into it? How's that look? Yeah, I mean, I've been fishing since I was old enough to get into a car seat.

Yeah. Literally, my dad took me fishing the first time. I was probably about five days home from the hospital. But that's just what we do. I mean, hunting fishing is what my family does, what I've done forever. It was always something I wanted to make into a career, but I've got a family and for the longest time wanted to be responsible.

And, you know, the nine to five job was what paid the bills and get everyone fed and stuff.

So I didn't really know, uh, I didn't really know if this was an option.

When did you find out, like, I'm sure you saw some guides out there, but when did you feel like

it was an option? Um, probably 20 Probably 2021 was the first time.

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