YETI Presents Engler

I had a dream as a kid. I told my mom the only thing I wanted to do was hunt and fish anytime, every day, whenever I want. That's the only time I was ever happy. My dream came true. Hunting fish every day, whenever I want. High school was pretty rough. I was always pretty shy, always real insecure about being around people and got teased a lot. I spent a lot of time alone. My relief of my pain was just kind of escaping to the outdoors. The pike here have such sharp teeth. You get anywhere near them, they'll cut you. They got teeth in their gills. Some places you can get away with monofilament, but not here. Wire is the necessity. You gotta have it. I love fishing for a fish that I'm not sure I'm going to catch. I don't know very many people that are willing to go out there and make 2,000 casts or whatever it takes to maybe catch a fish and maybe not. Big northern pike didn't get big in this lake by being stupid. They're so hard to catch. People that are in love with this pike fishing game are not doing it for the numbers. Oh, there we go. Wow, that's a big fish. That's awesome. No, don't go under there. Don't you bite me. Yeah, man. Isn't that awesome? You know, I've caught a lot of them. I've caught thousands of those fish, but even after that many fish, I still get the shakes. That's why I keep fishing for them. And that whole mayhem, a line going everywhere, fish going under the boat, splashing water in your face, trying to bite your hand off. You gotta love this, you know? In a lot of ways, I like to see other people hook that fish. Watching people fish is almost as much fun as hooking that big northern myself. I'm still fishing when I'm guiding. I love guiding. I enjoy it. I've been fishing the Rio Grande Valley for about 46 years. My mom and dad brought me up here when I was an infant. My clients, they know the drill. Put the boat in, float down the river. We're throwing dry flies and catching fish on dry. Seeing other people be successful because of what I can show them. I'm like, okay, well, I impacted somebody's life. That's Kansas Club from Sneaky to Sours. Yeah, no, Kansas Club runs from... I have a roommate, a young guy, Les, up-and-coming guide, real hungry. Took him under my wing. He does nothing except tie flies and fish. Period. He wanted to learn and get way better. His goal, basically, is to be as good as he can be. First met Mark when I first moved out here to guide in 2007. He was at the bar. Someone told me he had invented the WD-40 midge, and I thought that was badass. He had a pretty intimidating mullet. Finally, I went up and introduced myself, and, you know, I was just some young punk kid, but I had all kinds of questions. His reputation was the crusty guy who's seen it all, who catches more fish than anyone, the boat you don't want to be behind, the guy who's going to get them no matter what. Yeah, I don't think the average fisherman or even fishing guide understands what it takes to be a Mark Engler. I mean, he sacrificed pretty much everything in his life for fishing and hunting. Three ex-wives, none of them liked me fishing, not one of them. My third wife, everyone thought, you know, it's a match made in heaven. That was a hard one for me. I do have a girlfriend. If you ask her, she'll say I'm in two relationships. So, you know, I'm kind of walking the tightrope there. I've had a few people caution me that I could turn out like Mark Engler if I'm not careful. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.