Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Captain Ben Wolfe

I was reflecting the other day on how lucky I am to have such a supportive wife and family. Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day, and I’d like to send out a special Valentine’s Day message to my best friend and wife: Thanks for being you, allowing me to be me.

Without her daily support, it would be nearly impossible for me to operate one, let alone two busy fishing guide businesses, Traverse City Bass and Manistee River Salmon. Getting up before the crack of dawn on a daily basis, often staying up late into the night pouring custom plastics, tying spawn sacks, curing salmon spawn or pouring jigheads and drop shot weights normally would come as a heavy price to pay in terms of a marriage.

Thankfully, my wife is understanding. Not only of my fishing obsession, but my break-neck guide schedule. And the fact that I constantly smell fishy! So here’s to my fantastic wife and best friend: Thank you for putting up with me and for everything that you do. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chase & Catch; Loving Every Moment

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Captain Ben Wolfe

I have a confession. I love the chase. As a professional angler, and owner of 2 busy fishing guide services Traverse City Bass Guide Service and Manistee River Salmon Guide Service,

Continue reading →

Best Job in the World!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Captain Ben Wolfe

“Being a fishing guide must be the best job in the world”. I’ve heard this countless times from dozens of customers fishing with both Traverse City Bass Guide Service and my other guide service, Manistee River Salmon Guide Service. Best job in the world? Surprisingly, yes it is! It’s a lot of work, worry and stress, but I find it completely rewarding. I can’t imagine doing anything else, considering that I get to go fishing for a living. Yes, it’s a job like any other, but it’s also a tremendous privilege to not only meet new people on a daily basis, share a boat with them, but also to be outside, doing something that I love to do. Whether I’m fishing Grand Traverse Bays for big smallmouth in waters that resemble the Caribbean, or fishing for king salmon on the Big Manistee River, the scenery is absolutely stunning, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I have been extremely fortunate to be a very busy guide, with guide trips almost every day of the season. And when I’m feeling run down, tired and don’t think that I have the energy to keep going? I just realize that I get to go fishing as part of the best job in the world!

Deep Blue Coffee Company

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Captain Ben Wolfe

There were a few reasons why I decided to start my coffee company, Deep Blue Coffee Company. First and foremost, I love coffee. Or maybe a better way to phrase it is that I need coffee. A lot. And I do happen to love it. In my opinion, there’s no bigger letdown to start a day than to have a lousy cup of coffee. A great cup of coffee, on the other hand, can start the day off just right!

In my life, I’ve been tremendously fortunate, and have been able to fish all over this wonderful country that we live in. And not just fish in tremendous places, but to share that experience with my brother as we filmed a television show spanning my culinary career and my fishing.

One thing that always came up, no matter our location, was that of coffee. In a new and strange town, where could we get a good cup of coffee? Finding a nice coffee house wasn’t usually a problem, but since we were fishing, we were often out on the water well before the coffee houses opened for business. Sure, fast food places have coffee, but that’s not very good, and in many of the towns that we were visiting, this fast food option wasn’t even a choice. Those dinky coffee machines in hotel rooms just wouldn’t suffice, either, not to mention that the coffee itself is always stale and rancid tasting. I even considered buying and travelling with my own coffee maker.

So my thinking was, as I guide every day with my Traverse City Bass Guide Service, why not offer customers the coffee that I’d be happy to drink in my own home. After nearly 6 weeks of testing, tasting and refining working with a local master coffee roaster, the Traverse City Bass Blend was born, and along with it, a viable coffee option to begin each and every guide day. And best of all is the fact that customers can now worry about getting to the boat ramp and not worry about having a quality cup of coffee in a new town.