15 July of 2015, the date my website EsoxOnly was born. After many years of absence in the fishing industry ”online,” I decided it was time for a return. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to return, but only with a decent name, and having some subjects to talk about. Back in high school, I had a similar concept, with a couple of sponsors at the age of 12, but time flew out of my hands, and I just couldn’t keep up with the pressure of continuing anymore. Pike fishing, is probably one of my most passion styles of fishing that I have done over the years, so it was just logical to go forward back online in this direction. These days with the ever-growing pressure on the water pike fishing has been a little bit on the back burner and other styles of fishing that I used to do a lot in the past have sneaked in between, but still, the passion continued and inspired me going forward.
Sunset is the Best time to be on the water and feel everything just fade to black… Alone casting into the sun!
Back in the day, social media wasn’t as hot as it is these days, and good quality information was found in books. Still today this is the case, and I remember also searching on YouTube for quality films from overseas. One particular film struck my interest, and it has been this exact movie that inspired me to take the route I’m on these days. pike and muskies are very much related, only in Europe nowhere to be found, unfortunately. yet I was inspired to continue my saga on several styles that worked overseas, and a different approach has always worked wonders for me back in the day. and still, it makes a clear path of how I continue my drive to chase monsters every single time. the one big fish mindset has always been there and it will always stay this way. To the thrill of hunting giants is just something else, and although it is nice to catch smaller fish to fuel the fire in yourself now and then, for me, it just doesn’t work that way. I need to have a drive, I need to follow a passion, and my passion is EsoxOnly!
Mike Keyes if you are reading this, you know who you are! and it was this exact video that pushed my thoughts back in the days to start my website. Real quality hardcore fishing from the water, how it should be, and how it should always be. for me, Mike Keyes is one of those individuals who made a difference in North American Musky Fishing by always delivering quality content, raw quality content, and showing how it is. A grind, one that we must embrace to push forward. I have implemented many of Mike’s techniques in my everyday style of fishing and it has changed the game for me. Starting up raw, with trial and error, fishing the Musky style way for Pike, and it delivered me BIG TIME!
A summary should what Mike’s company Keyes Outdoors is all about:
Musky.. or… Muskie? However you spell it, we can all agree that this fish, the fish of 10,000 casts, is a fun fish to catch and release.
For the past 25 years Keyes Outdoors, LLC has grown to one of most watched, most viewed and respected musky fishing TV Series in the world.
Why? It’s all about the adventure off the beaten path and into the unknown, raw muskie fishing adventures. Whether from land, small wild unknown rivers or as big as it gets, the great lakes, we are on the hunt.
Our style is not a scripted produced TV format. Keyes Outdoors, LLC is more like “FISH ON”… in the moment… guerrilla-style film making at its finest. The perfect mix of a fast-paced fishing action with breath-taking scenery and super cool new musky fishing destinations.
Our goal is to educate our viewers on new techniques, new equipment and new technology that has helped us become more successful at what we do… hunt big muskies!
Fast forward 10 years later a lot has changed. Social media has taken over and these days it is all about showing off. Likes, views, and who catches the biggest, and catches the most. But for me, this is not how I want to follow my passion, and also isn’t the way passion should be about. This website was born out of pure dedication, and pure passion for what fishing, and the fishing industry to me is all about. great times on the water, meeting up with like-minded people who share the same passion, feeling that glow inside that whatever you are doing is what makes you the person you are, and more. for me, predator fishing has always, and always be a lifestyle, a piece of mind, a way to express myself. the grind, the tough days, the long days out, hundreds of hours for nothing, all for that one single reward. holding something in your hands that only dreams can make a reality sometimes, but dreams are destined to come out one day, and if they do, I’ll be right at the start where I need to be!
Networking has always been a natural thing for me, and I count myself lucky to be fishing for so many world-renowned brands. Brands that I looked up to when I was a child, the great people behind these companies I can now call ”Friends” as in the end, we are all in the same boat together and meeting like-minded people with the same fire inside and passion is what truly makes the fishing industry so special. it is the time cherished on the water together, the memories made, and doing it all over again. Over time you will develop a certain skill and your tacklebox is full of baits. I am glad to say that my tackle box is as full with baits, as it is with great anglers that I’ve met over the years that I can now call friends from all parts of the world that I’ve never thought I’d cross my part with in any way ever before!
Meeting GREAT people is what this industry is all about!
Going forward I hope to share more articles and quality writing about things that you can take great advantage of in the on and off-the-water experience that will help you to find that same fire inside you that burns in all of us, and what makes us go to the water every single time, and that the time being spend never gets boring, but always will keep the dreams waiting, one by one, just around the corner, just after every cast…
Magic awaits after every cast! Stunning Swedish Nature
Yours truly,
Christian Drost
