Alex Gonsiewski

Alex Gonsiewski grew up in Portland, Oregon, often skipping school to fish the rivers of the north Oregon coast and Willamette Valley. After studying environmental science and ecology at Oregon State University, Alex started guiding. He spent a decade guiding for trout and steelhead for the Deschutes Angler fly shop, run by Oregon fly fishing icons John and Amy Hazel. In 2022, Alex struck out on his own. Two years later, in 2024, he purchased the Hazels’ John Day permit, expanding his guiding operation to include two of Oregon’s most iconic rivers.  

From May through November, Alex now runs trips on the Deschutes and John Day, focusing on trout and summer steelhead. Each January, he heads west to Tillamook, where he spends four months guiding anglers in pursuit of winter steelhead on the coastal rivers of his youth. “The Shack,” his small outpost near the ocean, serves as both base camp and creative space. Whether on the Deschutes, the John Day, or the coast, Alex is rarely without a camera around his neck—always looking to capture the beauty, grit, and fleeting moments of the fishing life. 

For the past five years, Alex has been hosting three or four groups of clients to different destinations around the world. They’ve been to Bolivia, Belize, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Australia. Ask him about the time he and a group of anglers got stranded in Sudan when the civil war broke out...