Rob Endsley is a husband, father, charter captain, radio host, and iconic Northwest outdoorsman. He grew up in a serious fishing family and had his captain’s license by age 23, quickly earning a reputation as a top guide in the San Juan Islands and Skagit River system. As Washington’s Chinook and steelhead populations began to collapse in the early 2000s, he looked north to greener waters.
Craig, Alaska, offered all a Northwestern saltwater angler could want: remote location, tight-knit community, epic angling, and no cruise ships. Rob had found his second home. That bond was strengthened all the more when a twist of fate turned harm into hope. On a blustery, rainy day in August, a client’s hooks pulled from a coho salmon’s mouth and straight into Rob’s left eye. He was immediately blinded. Back on shore, the clinic said he needed a med-evac to the nearest hospital in Ketchikan. As he waited on the floatplane dock, a vision in a summer dress floated into his awareness. “I forgot all about my eye,” Rob said.
He married her not long after. Rob and Nicole went on to grow their operation in Craig to include a lodge, multiple boats, and many repeat clients. Their two young daughters, Emma and Ava, now play a leading role in entertaining guests and the community at large.
Many Washingtonian hunters and anglers likely recognize Rob from his voice alone. For 14 years he co-hosted The Outdoor Line on ESPN Radio, bringing outdoors information and advice over the airwaves. He’s continued to engage in and advance outdoors media with creative camera angles (like a GoPro on a downrigger ball) and as an ambassador for brands like Grundéns and Browning.
The Endsley Family spends the cooler months in Gig Harbor, Washington, not far from many folks on the Lindell team. So, we hatched a plan to meet him in Craig this spring and test the mettle of our watercraft together. Mark Fritzer, Frank O’Neil, and Sam Lungren ran our shop 41-foot Lindell Yacht from La Conner to Prince of Wales Island in only two and a half days. They barely had time to unpack before Rob wanted to run around the outside of Noyes Island to troll for kings.
Over the next week they did a lot more salmon fishing, as well as jigging for bottomfish and setting pots for shrimp. In a stroke of good fortune, they were invited to join Tlingit Natives Mike and Heather Douville setting traditional hand-carved Náxw hooks for halibut. And they explored into some of more remote reaches of the Tongass National Forest in search of the Northwest angler’s (and Rob’s) Holy Grail: native spring-run steelhead.
We hope you enjoy the first installment of our ongoing series, Lindell Stories, our film about Rob and his best attempt to test the rugged capabilities of a Lindell Yacht. We hope it inspires you to go make a Lindell story of your own.
