Zach Diewert
Zach grew up on Vancouver Island and started fishing at the age of 4. Even at such a young age, he curated a path in the fishing industry all on his own. With zero fishing influence from his family, he often had to “drag" his dad to the lake. By the age of 6, he already picked up fly fishing. Through connections from family friends that had access to a remote fishing lodge in Port McNeil, he spent a week at the lodge each year for 8 straight years targeting all 5 species of salmon. Visiting this lodge ignited a true love for salmon fishing, specifically downrigger trolling. During this same time, he convinced his father to add downriggers to his company work boat, which allowed Zach even more time on the water salmon fishing all across Vancouver Island.
Besides fishing, his other passion in life is baseball, which eventually led him to the US playing college ball playing on scholarship. During this time, he found tons of success and won a national championship. Unfortunately, injuries ended his baseball career earlier than anticipated. However, as a silver lining, within 10 days after returning home from college, he was offered a position as a fishing guide at the lodge.
Now, he has spent the last 4 years guiding out of Rivers Inlet, BC. The past two seasons, he has been the lead guide for Rivers Inlet Sportsman’s Club. During this time, he's notched significant guided catches of 46, 49, and 52lb Chinook Salmon. In addition to guiding, he also started his own charter company out of Nanaimo - Big Fish Only Charters. His savviness as a business owner and fishing guide has also lead to social media stardom, amassing hundreds of thousands of views.
Zach has long been a huge fan of Gibbs Fishing gear. He often employs mooching setups, flashers, spoons, teaser heads, and more when targeting salmon in the river inlets. With a go-getter mindset, over 20 years of fishing experience, and just an all-around great guy to fish with, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone more passionate about what they do.
