South Park, Colorado and Tomahawk, Wisconsin Fishing Guide Todd Martinson

Teacher Todd the Fishing Guide, is in fact, a longtime classroom educator and coach who turned his inherent gifts for connecting with fish and with people into a successful seasonal business that began over 5 years ago. Currently, Teacher Todd spends the school year teaching High School Spanish by day, and guiding anglers just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado on the weekends and summer months. He also ships off to Wisconsin for 3 weeks in late May/early June guiding avid anglers for huge Smallmouth Bass on the many river systems near near Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

 

It all began way back when 5 year-old tossel-haired Todd dove head first into fishing on Lake Nokomis, entranced in a daze by those summer days spent on his home water near Tomahawk. The allure of catching fish and communing with the pleasant surrounds of nature caused him to discover passionate bliss early on.

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Once he passed the elementary requirements of catching panfish and trout by using nightcrawlers as bait, he began to seek instructions from the bass the northern. They educated him, as he cast expensive lures into trees and underbrush and came up empty. By the age of 14, with plenty of experience, the fisherboy was rightfully fascinated and satisfied by the feverish pace with which he was gifted at catching fish!

 

Of course, this discovery required his folks to abruptly put into family law that he must purchase his own lures! This helped young Todd understand the costs that accompany a fisherman’s life. So, it could be said that having to pay his own money to lure fish served as the impetus to Todd becoming the most efficient and accurate caster north of highway 8 near Tomahawk by the time he had reached the ripe age of 14. He has not stopped casting and catching fish for over the forty years since, and since fishing is in a sense his very identity, Teacher Todd the Fishing Guide, has gone on to become a Master Fisherman!

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From high school on whenever Todd had free time, he went fishing by himself, with friends, or with family.  They all knew that Todd knew where the fish were hiding, because he took the time to let the fish teach and guide him. After finishing up his college credits at UW Oshkosh, Todd was introduced to fly fishing.  What started out as a fun activity rapidly grew into a passionate pursuit that stretched from the Midwest all the way out West. Those travels finally landed him in Bend, Oregon, where Todd truly began his adventure as a fishing guide for hire.

 

For three years in Oregon, Teacher Todd the Fishing Guide put clients on some of the greatest Brook, Brown, and Rainbow that lived in the waterways of the great state of Oregon   His favorite guiding experience were the limited weeks in late March were he guided his clients to monster Bull Trout on a local lake near Bend, Oregon.

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Many clients, happy clients, returned once per year to their trusted Fishing Guide. As is the case in any matter of life, all good things come to an end sometime. And so, the Bend adventure came to a close, and Todd needed to return to the Midwest to get grounded in reality and carve out a career as an educator. It was near La Crosse, WI that he returned to his career, naturally, as a classroom teacher.

 

During the school year, Teacher Todd taught Spanish with passion, and coached the Boys basketball team with vigor. When the snow thawed that first spring, and the waterways re opened, he rediscovered and reimagined his Fishing Guide Services, journeying the Wisconsin River system that finally led him right back home to where it all began; they river systems near Lake Nokomis in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

 

It was at this time that the fisherboy turned student of fish turned master fisherman and guide, had developed his preferred method of topwater presentations for Smallmouth Bass. This allowed for clients to see fish absolutely explode out of the water to devour their next meal-- the lure on the line of his reel. It has become such a fascinating experience that clients began to request his services over a year in advance just to experience this phenomenon of nature!

 

Clearly, Teacher Todd the Fishing Guide genuinely enjoys sharing what he has learned about all things fish over the past 40 years. Sometimes he gets more excited than his clients when THEY catch these massive fish!  Being a trained educator, and by nature a people pleaser, he is able to give guidance in a friendly and understandable way, which inevitably leads to a very enjoyable day on the water.  All of these experiences on the water and with the fish led him to earnestly pursue his business, to where it stands today as a success with hundreds of clients spread throughout the world.

 

Now in Colorado Springs during the school year, he has chosen to expand his business to include Ice Fishing, and recently received his Colorado Outfitters License while going through the process of obtaining special use permits to guide about an hour west of Colorado Springs on some of the best the high mountain reservoirs in the country!  

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