Like many of us, AJ grew up chasing king salmon with his dad, brother, and family friends on Lake Michigan. His professional path in the sportfishing industry began in 2016 when he took the step of first-mating on boats up and down the Lake Michigan coast. Since then, he's fished out of nearly every port.
His next step was obtaining his charter captain’s license in 2022, where he was able to captain several vessels from Holland to Muskegon. In the fall of 2023, he purchased the “TOO EZ”, a 27’ Cherokee Sportfisherman, thus charting a new course in the industry. He's thankful to have been able to learn from a number of great captains along the way and says that, "I hope I can one day be that wealth of knowledge to pass down to the younger generations, like it was passed down to me".
His favorite place to fish is affectionately called “the mud” - AKA, the dirty plume of water at the mouth of the harbor. His go-to baits are Stinger spoons. Tangerine is always on the divers, a pair of Dolphins on the chute, Mixed Veggies on one outdown rigger, and Jordos on the other outdown rigger. On the boards, he runs 50-100 coppers on each side. The 50s will be rigged with a Red Pepper and UV Mandarin. The 75s feature a UV Helmut and a UV Blue Freaking Veggies. And the 100s typically have more of a “big king” spoons, like blue and green Stinger Stingray patterns. And don't sleep on a Nitro Glow Twister in the mornings.
