About & contact

The outdoors has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My family were avid bow hunters who even ran a gun and archery shop, and I spent summers in Colorado with my uncle, fishing Horsetooth and Eleven Mile. At 12, he and my dad took me to the San Juan below Navajo Dam, and that was it. My uncle, a rod builder and fly tyer, set me up with my first gear and fly boxes, and I've been hooked ever since.

Then my teenage years hit hard. Multiple family members were battling cancer, and I fell into addiction while my parents were at a loss for how to handle it. Shortly after my 17th birthday, I entered treatment in Utah: three months of wilderness therapy, where I relearned how to slow down and take things day by day, followed by nine months in a residential program. I moved back home to Arizona at 18 and haven't touched hard drugs since. Sadly, not everyone I was there with was as fortunate as I was, and some lost their battle with addiction. My family went through it right alongside me, which is why families have a place here, too.

My 20s have had their own battles, with alcohol and with my mental health. Every time I feel myself slipping, I know the first thing I need to do is grab my rod, head somewhere my phone can't ring, and spend the day back in touch with nature's slow pace (and maybe catch a big ol' brown while I'm at it).

I moved to Colorado at the end of winter in 2025 to chase fly fishing and started at AvidMax shortly after. I wouldn't be who I am today without all those days alone in the mountains and by the water, and I feel blessed to share that with others, whether you've fished for decades or never picked up a rod.