Living the Fishing Dream with Carter Andrews

Fishing guide Carter Andrews has made his passion his work

ROAM

Fishing guide Carter Andrews is living the dream—he’s made his passion is his work. Carter gets in nearly 300 days of fishing annually and helps protect hundreds of species. “Most people go on fishing vacations. My life is fishing,” says Carter, a TV host who practices catch-and-release fishing. “Whether I’m fishing the trout streams of Wyoming or the oceans of Panama, or just a farm pond in Tennessee, that’s my release. That’s the place I belong.”

“My favorite fish is the next fish. That being said, a blue marlin is hard to beat.” —Carter Andrews
Photograph courtesy Carter Andrews

The Motivation

Most people go on fishing vacations. My life is fishing. Fishing is so much more than a pastime or a little bit of work. It’s a way of life. Whether I’m fishing the trout streams of Wyoming or the oceans of Panama, or just a farm pond in Tennessee, that’s my release. That’s the place I belong. I love them all equally, the same.

For me, I don’t think I really had a choice. I didn’t see any other way that I could run my course of life without fishing being my work and my passion.

Photo courtesy Carter Andrews

The Beginning

I think my dad was probably the first person that introduced me to fishing, but the most influential guy in my early years with fishing was a guy named Dr. John [inaudible 06:03]. His son was a friend of mine in pre-school. We became friends, and I started fishing the lakes of Tennessee with them. That’s where my obsession started.

Photo courtesy Carter Andrews

The Places

Fishing has taken me all over the world. I’ve spent time in Russia, on the Arctic Circle, at the southernmost point of Argentina and Tierra del Fuego. I’ve fished Africa and Australia, Central and South America. I’ve fished almost every state in the United States.
That’s the nice thing about fish. They live in all of our water, in all of the oceans. I can find a fish to fish just about any place I go.

I can’t really think of a specific spot that I’d like to go fishing that I haven’t been to before. But I can tell you one thing–I’d like to go back to all of the spots that I have fished.

Photo courtesy Carter Andrews

The Greater Issue

Fish all around the world are suffering. They’re suffering because of the influence of man. Whether it’s mining operations, deforestation, pollution, commercial fishing, or over-harvesting, man has affected so many things in our world today. And our oceans and waterways are being affected daily, which is a direct impact to all of the species that live there.

Photo courtesy Carter Andrews

The Gear Kit

I have a lot of gear kits, depending on where I’m going and what I’m fishing for. If I had to have just one basic kit;
– eight-weight fly rod
– a couple dozen flies
– some leader and tippet

I can catch a lot of fish just about anywhere, with that. Whether I’m fishing freshwater or saltwater, or fly fishing or conventional tackle, it’s all about having that rod in my hand, and really just feeling the tug on the end of the line.

Photo courtesy Carter Andrews

The Good Life

I am really living the dream that a lot of people have. I travel, I fish. My passion is my job. My family travels with me. And when they don’t have the opportunity to travel, I come home and I get to spend time on the farm with them.
Right now, we have about 45 animals on the farm. We feed them together every day that I’m home. We collect eggs from the chickens. We have foals. And my girls are learning responsibilities about taking care of not just themselves and one another, but about taking care of other beings.

We’re a huge part of that, and that, I think, provides us with a unity that a lot of families aren’t able to have. That’s the good life.

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