Steve Fickes
Executive Producer

Steve was born near Seattle in 1965 and grew up enjoying the many outdoor opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. A 4.0 high school GPA and a love for pheasant hunting brought him to the Palouse country of Washington, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Washington State University with a B.A. in business administration. The summer before his senior year at WSU, Steve took an opportunity to work at a fishing lodge on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, owned by the father of a fraternity brother. Always a fisherman, this "one last fling" before entering the real world would stick in Steve's mind. The real world turned out to be an entry-level position with a large public accounting firm in Seattle. Rush hour traffic, suits, and office politics dominated his eight month accounting career and when April 1988 rolled around, he resigned his position and headed north to Alaska, beginning his guiding career.

During his time in Alaska, Steve has been approached many times to impart his wisdom to the television viewing audience by acting as guide for a TV show. He has appeared on ESPN, ESPN2, TNN, OLN, and the Travel Channel. Show credits include Fly Fishing the World, Great Outdoors, and North to Alaska, among others.

Over the last 15 years, Steve has averaged 130 days a year on the water and 45 days a year in the field. He is tenacious in his do-it-yourself mentality, and has never bought a guided hunt nor paid to access any land. The only fishing guide he has ever booked was on the Quinalt River in Washington, where one can only fish with a registered Quinalt Indian Reservation guide, (which, by the way, he says is well worth it)

When asked recently to sum up our show concept, Steve said, "I envision floating a river someday and having someone float by and say 'Hey, you're the Unguided Sportsman'. I will reply 'No, you are…I just get to do it on TV'