A long time ago in a universe far, far, away……

I started fishing in ponds locally just like many of you I am sure. One of my earliest memories fishing is a pond down by where my grandfather had a giant garden on Mr. Bill Smith’s farm. Mr. Smith was a kind soul with what seemed like a smile painted upon his face. He and Papa would show me how a dairy farm operated and farm equipment was used. I always had some form of a chore to do before I could cast a line, which I appreciate that lesson still to this day. I wonder if Papa Gomer is still watching down upon me fishing today like he did when I was a kid from that distant garden. Slightly later on in life Uncle Rick aka Big Ricky bought a boat and I would go with him and Papa on Lake Erie. At times my father and others would come along. Big Ricky would have a big bash at the end of the fishing season that was centered around a fish fry. I recall fishing with Papa and Uncle Rick and I would tell Papa after we got the lines set that I wanted to lay down. I would tell him to wake me when a big one was on. Every time we would get a hook up Uncle Rick and Papa would yell FISH ON! I would leap up and without fail I would blast my forehead on the upper doorway to the cuddy cabin. I believe this answers a lot of questions of my mental issues nonetheless. I continued to fish a lot with my dear friend Mike and Jason at Pymatuning Lake in my hometown. I would routinely jump at any chance to go fish in a pond or lake anytime I was invited by my numerous friends that also fished. As we move through this timeline of life, my father bought a boat that we docked in the port of Ashtabula. This later became a monumental move for my fishing interests. I was constantly casting and catching fish in the Ashtabula river and I met some great charter captains in the early 1990’s. Capt. Jerry, Capt. Wayne, Capt. Frank, Capt. Walt, and the other Capt. Frank, just to name a few. All of these meetings came from or related to Dad having a boat in that harbor. I also met my fishing hero at this time, Johnnie. I think my Dad was envious of the way I use to idolize Johnnie. Dad would say “does he walk on water too?” I would travel around being Johnnie’s first mate whenever he needed me and I soaked up so much in that time of my young life. He, Uncle Rick and Capt Frank took me to Lake Ontario to battle salmon. In addition to Lake Ontario I also fished the Niagara River with Johnnie, those were some of the best times in my fishing life. I was so fortunate to be able to fish with these men and learn from them as Lake Erie and Lake Ontario was being figured out from an electronics stand point, in addition to an environmental standpoint. Some of my earliest memories are these old fish finders that looked like a polygraph machine, look at us now, what a change because of technology. Johnnie became a professional walleye fisherman and I was definitely bitten by the bug at the PWT weigh-ins at Fairport Harbor. Johnnie moved out west and Dad sold the boat, those were sad times to say the least and many tears were shed. My mother lived in Oklahoma and when I visited her I learned from my late step father Bill “defend the hill” McGill about being a man, Vietnam, what a song parody was, and how to fish for catfish in rivers, streams, and ponds. Once I graduated high school life got into the way and I became a working man, but fishing always stayed in my heart and soul. Fast forward some years and my mother gave me a bow rider boat in my thirties and I gutted it and turned it into a fishing boat. The thing barely floated but I was back, back on Lake Erie where I starved to be. I was broke as a joke but scraped together some coin to buy a SUV to haul the scow and got some gear. Thankfully because of my friend Eric and the GREAT Craig out at Erie Outfitters I was going to put some fish in the cooler once again. I had a friend by the name “three feet” Pete that would go anytime I would ask, rest easy my old friend, you are missed. Ole Pete was my steady, tried and true for a long while. There was a lot of time on the water after work and some fishing went on but I will fast forward a bit to where I found some friends and started fishing tournaments. I met a couple goons at work and the one bearded fella Jeff had a boat, I ended up driving the boat a lot and continuously put us on fish. We did okay as a team in the multi member divisions a few 3rd and 4th place finishes but I thirsted for more. I teamed up with Ben and we did two man tournaments, along with some multi man ones and our best finish was a 4th place. The thrill of the two man tournaments were something I desired. I hold dear to my heart Ben’s excitement in those moments of success and failure. Again I thirsted for more and I heard about this one chap who was looking for a new partner. This guy always kicked everyone’s ass in tournaments or at least it seemed. I gave him a call and started fishing with him and let’s just say this started probably one of the biggest infamous stories in fishing ever. For that story you will have to book the right charter to hear it in its entirety or listen to the right podcast I have recorded. Yes I am him, I am going to assume that’s why you are here anyway because you want to find something to make fun of me about. If not, I am surprised but overly optimistic for the future with you. I am just a human and I made a mistake, a pretty big one. That mistake or ones like it, have and will get made a lot in this industry, the only difference is you normally don’t hear about it on a global level. Most of what you heard is NOT true, what is true is my passion for making a change in this industry and peoples lives. So lets go make a difference together, I could brag about accomplishments like everyone else but who cares, I can’t die with them. That is a little about me but trust me there is so much more, I’m like an onion and that rhymes with my last name. I ask of everyone that has read this far one request, before you pass judgement on me, talk to me in person or come fish with me. I am just a man that puts my pants on one leg at a time just like you and loves to fish.

Captain Jake Runyan