Oregon Outdoors with Dennis Dobson

An internationally recognized fishing expert and guide, specializing in salmon, steelhead and sturgeon fishing, Dennis is a veteran of twelve seasons of full time guiding in Oregon and Alaska. He is also a noted outdoor writer, newspaper columnist and outdoor educator. His popular instructional clinics cover subjects ranging from fly fishing for summer steelhead and fall chinook salmon to elk and turkey hunting, and from secrets of successful sturgeon fishing to bow hunting techniques. He is also currently at work on a fishing/murder mystery novel and a collection of short stories detailing his experiences as a guide.

Dennis maintains certification as a state of Oregon fishing and hunting guide and US Coast Guard Master Mariner, IBA/IBEF Master Hunting Instructor, ODFW Hunting Safety Instructor, IGFA/Fenwick Fly-Fishing Instructor and ODFW Survival Skills and Orienteering Instructor. He is also a member of the pro staff teams for Gamakatsu lines and hooks, Abu-Garcia/Ambassadeur reels, North River and Fenwick Rods and Berkley products.

About Dennis Dobson

Raised by uncles who were guides and outfitters, Dennis tested the field skills they taught him during six years in the US Army's elite Special Forces, including three combat tours in Vietnam; the harshest classroom of all. Dennis has further refined these skills and techniques through a lifetime of fishing, hunting, writing and teaching.

After leaving the Army, Dennis completed college in Japan (eventually earning Bachelors Degrees in Political Science and Journalism and a Masters Degree in Media Communications) and worked for five years as a correspondent for Reuter's, a British news service. For the next fifteen years he worked as a reporter, editor and publisher for news organizations such as the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, the Oregon Journal and the Cody, Wyoming Enterprise. He also built and published three community newspapers and worked briefly as a radio announcer.

Throughout his career Dennis published freelance hunting and fishing articles in a variety of outdoor publications ranging from Fly Fishing The West to Outdoor Life and Sports Afield. In addition, he has written television scripts for such shows as Cagney and Lacey, Hill Street Blues, and the Cosby Show. After more than five years of writing his own syndicated weekly outdoor column, Oregon Outdoors, for local newspapers in the Willamette Valley, Dennis took a leave of absence to concentrate on building his growing guiding business.

A licensed guide and outfitter since the late 1970's, Dennis at first guided on weekends and vacations for, as he puts it, "Christmas money". In 1990 he began guiding full time. Dennis now manages to spend his entire year either in the woods or on the water by guiding anglers for salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and trout and hunters for upland birds, and deer and elk. He has also guided anglers for salmon and trout in Alaska for a dozen summer seasons as well. In addition to being a respected guide and noted outdoor writer, Dennis is also a certified in bow hunting, hunter safety, survival, orienteering and fishing instructor. He has also been consulted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and sits in the Board of Directors of Oregon Anglers, a political action committee dedicated to lobbying for sports anglers.

An accomplished and popular instructor, Dennis' fishing and hunting clinics are regularly featured by the Oregon fishing Club, at sporting goods stores, sportsman's shows, state and county fairs and other public venues. He also regularly conducts a wide range of private clinics for hunting and fishing organizations throughout Oregon and Washington.

Dennis maintains certification as a State of Oregon and U.S. Coast Guard licensed guide, IBA/IBEF Master Hunting Instructor, ODFW Hunting Instructor, IGFA/Fenwick Fly-Fishing Instructor, ODFW Survival Skills, and Orienteering Instructor. He is also on the Pro-Staff teams for the Oregon Fishing Club and Gamakatsu Hooks.