09/14/2026
Meet Ed Fuhrken, owner of Waters West Fly Fishing Outfitters in Port Angeles and one of the newest Ambassadors for The Conservation Angler.
Ed’s connection to fish started early. Growing up in northern Mexico, he fished bass lakes with his father and made occasional trips to the coast. At age 11, he traveled north to Oregon and caught his first steelhead. Like so many of us, that fish changed something.
For years, fishing had to share space with another life. Ed built a career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, but the pull of rivers eventually brought him back to the water. After moving to Washington, he learned that Waters West, his favorite fly shop, might close if a new owner could not be found. So he made the leap, left the technology world behind, and has owned and operated Waters West since 2018.
Today, Waters West is the Olympic Peninsula’s only fly shop and a gathering place for anglers chasing winter steelhead, Chinook, coho, sea-run cutthroat, and coastal beach fisheries. But Ed’s work is about more than flies and gear. It is about helping anglers understand fish, rivers, regulations, restraint, and responsibility.
At the shop counter, Ed teaches conservation one conversation at a time. He helps new steelhead anglers understand why wild fish matter, encourages careful fish handling, supports the release of wild salmon, and runs a swung-fly-only guide service to honor Olympic Peninsula tradition while limiting impact on the fishery.
Ed is a shop owner, angler, fly tier, conservation advocate, and trusted local voice in one of the most important wild steelhead regions in the lower 48.
We are honored to welcome Ed Fuhrken as a TCA Ambassador.
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