Networking With Other Anglers - Fishing Is A Universal Sport For All

(Keith Eshbaugh, ShesSoFly-Sherri Russell, Paul "Coot" Williams)

A few months back, I wrote and article mentioning how the sport of fishing can open many doors and opportunities within an angler’s life. This article simply proves that fact. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, tall or (in my case) short, there is always something in the sport of fishing that works for everyone. There are so many different techniques and types of fishing and so many different species of fish to seek out. No matter where you live or travel, fishing seems to be an easy and familiar topic to strike up a conversation and meet new people. There are many fishing social sites on the internet for people to join and meet other anglers as well.

About 3 months ago, I joined a fishing social site called www.GetReeled.com , North America's Largest Fishing Social Network, and became friends with anglers Keith Eshbaugh and Paul “Coot” Williams.

Keith Eshbaugh, is the owner of Dutch Forks Custom Lures in PA. He makes his living selling confidence to anglers through his artistic skills with an airbrush. After more than 16 years on the professional walleye tournament trail, Keith has recently retired from competitive fishing and found a way to utilize his two art degrees to fulfill the needs of anglers across the country.

You can read more about Keith’s custom lures in a recent article published by http://www.crankbaitcentral.com/FeatureArticles/Creating-Crankbait-Confidence-via-Custom-Colors.html. You can also meet Keith and see his lures in person at these 2010 fishing sports shows: Butler Fishing Show - February 13 & 14th, 2010 - www.butlerfishingshow.com and the The Columbus Muskie Show – February 25 through the 28th - www.ohiomuskieshow.com

Paul “Coot” Williams is a tournament angler and family man. He lives south of Oshkosh Wisconsin and has been married for 20 years to his wife Kathy or Mrs COOT sometimes refered to. He has one daughter, Jessica and one son Aaron, both are great kids and he could not ask for much more. His wife puts up with him and all the fishing that he does and he I loves her for that!!!

Coot sells Interchangable Bait Systems, Artificial Lures & Live Bait Rig Systems. Over 1,000 Unique Presentations. All of Coot’s products are GREAT FOR WALLEYE - NORTHERN PIKE - MUSKY - BASS - SALMON - LAKE TROUT. You can visit Coots website for more product and contact information at www.CootsLures.com

We recently all traveled to the Worlds Largest Muskie Show in Chicago IL to meet each other in person. We were all excited to meet one another and I could not ask for nicer new friends. It was a neat experience because all three of us have fishing knowledge in different areas and great ideas that will benefit other anglers in the future by working together - one really cool project we are going to work on will benefit breast cancer.  Keith is also involved in my Alaska fishing contest, he will be creating custom lodge lure patterns for McDougall Lodge that will benefit many anglers that will visit McDougall lodge in Alaska in the future.

Keith made me a really cool custom “girly girl” she’s so fly lure and Coot gave me one of this custom Bait System Kits and gave me a short lesson on how they work - I can't wait to try them out. I look forward to fishing and networking with both of them in the future, especially since I have only fly fished and never lure fished, which I want to learn more about.

While I attended the Chicago Muskie show, I also met many more new friends as well. I also learned many valuable techniques and tricks for Muskie fishing. I have never Muskie fished before, but I have plans to fish with Keith and Coot in the near future. The cool thing was that I did not realize that some anglers fly fish for Muskie and that excited me.

(Me and my fishing friend Crystal)

(Left to Right - Randy, Crystal, Me, Keith and Mike from http://www.muskietrain.com/)

I can’t emphasize enough how fishing is such a great sport to meet awesome people and there are countless places to travel to fish whether you fly fish or lure fish. I will never quick fishing until I physically just can’t do it anymore….I think I am truly a female fishing junkie - at least my friends back home tell me this...LOL.

Muskie Tips and Tricks - Videos from Muskie Hunter Magazine