Steve the has had ties to the Baldwin area and Pere Marquette River for most of his life. He has been guiding primarily fly fisherman with some spinning in the mix on the Pere Marquette River for well over two decades (3 come spring of 2022!
) and guides in Alaska during part of the summer as well as hosting trips along with his business partner John Karakashian to destination locations like the Bristol Bay area of Alaska, Patagonia Argentina and Ambergris Key (San Pedro) in Belize.
He served on the board of the Pere Marquette Watershed Council for many years until John joined the shop as co-owner and took over that role representing BBT. After the hand off of that particular torch he took a seat on the board of the Pere Marquette Chapter of Trout Unlimited for a time and continues to hold title of Treasurer to the Michigan River Guides Association as he has for the past 28 years. (Since 1993)
He makes his home in Baldwin Michigan where he is a founder (est. 1996) and co-owner of Baldwin Bait & Tackle (The Fly Shop @BBT), The premier fly & tackle shop with guides and lodging (Motel BBT) in this area of Western Michigan catering to the Pere Marquette and surrounding rivers, lakes and streams.
A couple of quotes from some previous world wide web entries that sum it all up:
“I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world! I’ve been co-owner of the shop since ’96, guiding since ’92 and I enjoy all of it now even more so than I did when I first started. Perhaps that’s because we become better at what we do the longer we do it, but I prefer to think that I’ve just become even more fond, if that is possible, of a job that’s sole purpose is to bring smiles to other peoples faces and a little joy to their journey in this life! Just think about that for a minute, I mean really, really think about it… I get to be a memorable part of all of those lives! How awesome is that?!?! Pretty awesome I’d say…”
