Mike Baxter

Mike Baxter

Sportfishing Captain, Salmon fisherman, Conservationist, Radio Host

Captain Mike Baxter is unique among California outdoorsman as his experiences run the gamut from ocean charter boat captain, commercial salmon fisherman, radio show host, creator and organizer of a major fishing event in the Central Coast, board member of the Monterey Bay Salmon and Steelhead Project, outdoor writer, passionate angler of varied fish species ranging from steelhead to bluefin tuna to swordfish, and dedicated hunter of wild boar. He is constantly living the legacy of a sportsman and teaching and recruiting others to be good stewards of our natural resources.

Baxter started commercial salmon fishing with his father, and at the age of 19, he wound up working the decks on San Diego long-range boats on the Royal Star and Royal Polaris on trips up to 23 days. 

He attained his 100-Ton Masters Captain’s License and started running charter boats at the age of 21 out of Santa Cruz for ‘Shamrock Charters;’ eventually running the well-known Wild Wave, a 70-foot sport fisher with a capacity of 49 passengers.

His passion for steelhead has taken him along the Pacific Northwest where he spends as much time in the winter and spring on the Olympic Peninsula in search of giant steelhead. He has mapped and learned to row his drift boat down these rivers and has caught and released three steelhead well over 20 pounds. 

He enjoys pig hunting, and he has captured several trophy boars including two over 300 pounds. An aficionado of bluefin tuna, he has landed several over 200 pounds along with an Opah over 100 pounds on rod and reel. 

Baxter has been in pursuit of a swordfish for over five years, hooking and lost three, before recently ending his quest with fishing partner Jason Young with a 322-pound swordfish off Nine Mile Bank outside of San Diego. He dedicated thousands of hours to reach this quest.

Baxter started, produced, and hosted the ‘Let’s Go Fishing’ radio show through KSCO in the late 1990s and ran the seasonal show for 13 seasons. He obtained his own sponsors along with writing and producing their custom ads. He also wrote for the local Paper Press Banner, Western Outdoor News, and other publications.

In 2004, Baxter envisioned an affordable fishing tournament to provide Central Coast anglers an option during the slower winter season, and this spawned the Sand Crab Classic Perch tournament. Along with Allen Bushnell, he organizes over 30 volunteers and 300 participants, and dedicates all proceeds from the annual event to the nonprofit Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBSTP). 

Baxter has been a Board of Director with MBSTP since 2006, donating his time and attention to capture wild brood-stock steelhead for production of juveniles. He recruited crews to man a trap 24 hours a day until the goal was met, allowing 30,000 juveniles to be released in the San Lorenzo River. He also assists with various other projects including the annual spring release of 200,000 Chinook salmon off the Santa Cruz and Monterey wharves.

Baxter is both a passionate outdoorsman and contributor to the future of the sport.

BOB SIMMS

Considered to be a legend by those in Northern California who have listened to his information-packed radio program, Bob Simms speaks for the sportsman in one of the most important markets in California ... Sacramento. As, that's where public lands policy is made.

Bob Simms has been reporting about the outdoors on radio, television and in print for over 50 years. The Bob Simms Outdoors Show on KFBK-1530AM (5 - 8 a.m., Sat.) has been on the air for 32 years and is the top-rated radio program in its time slot in Northern California, exclusive of the Bay Area.  

Simms is an advocate for the sportsman and woman, keeping public lands agencies accountable for their practices. He is a voice for wildlife politics, defending hunting and fishing as a revenue-producing, environmentally friendly resource management tool to policy makers and lands agency managers based in Sacramento.

His show is a forum in outdoor sports and recreation with sportfishing skippers, guides, outfitters, marina operators, hunters, retailers, public lands managers and sportsmen able to voice what's happening and, more importantly, what should be happening. 

He advocates for them and for the resource, speaking a lot about wildlife, conservation and stewardship and he looks out for sportsmen. When Simms learned that the soldiers guarding Saddam Hussein's palaces and their many lakes and ponds had no fishing gear, he arranged for loads of rods, reels and tackle to be shipped to them. 

Bob not only speaks outdoor sports, he lives it. Simms travels the breadth of California when he's not on the air, to experience the outdoors and meet the people who support it. An accomplished outdoorsman who is self-taught, he's mastered every type of fishing and hunting and knows every corner of California. Simms is so familiar with the backwoods that he's often able to recite who owned a given ranch and the history of the location.

It's no coincidence that the International Sportsmans Exposition in Sacramento is attended by tens of thousands of enthusiastic outdoorsmen and women, each year. Bob Simms' positive voice for outdoor sport and recreation has generated strong regional public support.

LARRY GREENE

Posthumous

To thousands of California anglers, 4:55 a.m. Monday through Saturday was a special time.  That's because for nearly 20 years the late Larry Greene's extremely popular “Fisherman's Forecast” radio show was broadcast through KCBS 740-AM out of San Francisco. 

 The highly informative program covered fishing reports for much of California and southern Oregon.  If fish were biting anywhere along that 1,000 mile axis, Larry let you know exactly what was going on.  Anyone who ever heard that show can never forget its parting line: “That's the 'Fisherman's Forecast'; I'm Larry Greene.”

 Larry's passion for sharing the joy of fishing went beyond radio.  His angling knowledge was made available through numerous books, countless magazine articles in regional and national publications, as a mentor, and as an instructor where he taught introductory and advanced fishing classes for over 10  years at Skyline Community College in San Bruno.

 And for close to 20 years Larry was Master of Ceremonies for the annual International Sportsmen's Exposition in San Mateo where he introduced featured seminar speakers to their audiences, and served as a de facto “Ambassador of Fishing” as he patrolled the show's aisles, conversing freely with exhibitors,  celebrities, and “Average Joe” show attendees alike.

 A champion of fisheries conservation, Larry was a huge supporter of the efforts in establishing United Anglers of California.

 Larry's angling expertise was garnered from almost 50 years of fishing practically every mile of both fresh and saltwater environs in California, plus adventures in several US states.

Larry died in 2002 when on special assignment for KCBS-TV2 as a cameraman off the coast of Iran when the U.S. Navy helicopter he was riding in crashed. Greene was covering U.S. servicemen serving in the Middle East.