#42: April Vokey: The Wild Life Behind Anchored Outdoors

<p>April Vokey has spent 25 years building a life around fishing. She decided to pursue professional fishing at 18, started her first business at 21, guided for steelhead in British Columbia, created the television series <i>Shorelines</i>, launched <i>Anchored with April Vokey</i>, and built Anchored Outdoors into an education platform and community for anglers.</p><p></p><p>In this conversation, April takes us from landing a 300-pound arapaima in Guyana and having 32 spines pulled from her foot to the winter steelhead obsession that became her career. She also explains how a 2008 head-on collision forced her to rethink life and business, why motherhood changed her relationship with risk, and how discarded television interviews led to <i>Anchored</i>. We also resolve two important questions: whether wet jeans are secretly flattering and how many introductions stand between me and Liam Neeson.</p><p></p><p>Subscribe to Longfire for more stories worth gathering around.</p><h3>Show links</h3><ul><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@longfireco" target="_blank">Watch Longfire on YouTube</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/longfire/id1851467002" target="_blank">Listen on Apple Podcasts</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2IGYfTSYNvsD96UjUqqCJt" target="_blank">Listen on Spotify</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveseger/" target="_blank">Connect with Steve Seger on LinkedIn</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/longfireco/" target="_blank">Follow Longfire on Instagram</a></li></ul><h3>Guest links</h3><ul><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://anchoredoutdoors.com/" target="_blank">Anchored Outdoors</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://anchoredoutdoors.com/premium-insiders/" target="_blank">Try Anchored Premium Insiders</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://theworldthroughyoureyes.com/" target="_blank">The World Through Your Eyes</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anchored-with-april-vokey/id951475911" target="_blank">Anchored with April Vokey</a></li><li><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/aprilvokey/" target="_blank">April Vokey on Instagram</a></li></ul><h2>Chapters</h2><ul><li><b>00:00</b> Rapid Fire: Wet Jeans, Campfire Dinner, and Liam Neeson</li><li><b>02:37</b> A 300-Pound Arapaima and 32 Spines in Guyana</li><li><b>06:07</b> Turning a Life in Fishing Into a Business</li><li><b>10:40</b> The Salmon That Started Everything</li><li><b>13:36</b> Why Winter Steelhead Became an Obsession</li><li><b>18:31</b> Learning to Guide Before Google Earth</li><li><b>20:46</b> Surviving a Head-On Collision</li><li><b>22:38</b> The Injury That Forced a Business Pivot</li><li><b>25:01</b> Saving the Stories Television Had to Cut</li><li><b>27:31</b> Canada, Australia, Motherhood, and Risk</li><li><b>32:19</b> The Dean River Run She Should Never Have Attempted</li><li><b>36:10</b> Starting Over and Facing an Uncertain Next Chapter</li><li><b>37:45</b> Anchored Outdoors and <i>The World Through Your Eyes</i></li></ul>