Aaron Shirley grew up in South-Western Ontario. Aaron is an avid angler who is obsessed for multi-species fishing and spends several days a week on the water. Although none of his family members are into fishing, Aaron started at an early age on his own accord. He developed a high interest in fishing by the age of nine, and purchased his first fishing reel and rod along with a perch coloured Rapala with allowance money that he had saved up. His success at local creeks was instant and his love of fishing only grew from there. He would ride his bicycle miles every day with his fishing rod over the handlebars and lures in a knapsack before and after school to go fishing. It was a common occurrence for Aaron’s teachers to see him carrying a fishing rod and knapsack through the school hallways.

Even as a young man, Aaron spent much of his time devoted to fishing and the outdoors. Shortly after Aaron received his driver’s licence, he joined several local fishing clubs and met many anglers who also shared his passion for fishing. Aaron has joined many fishing groups over the years. Through these fishing groups and the OMNR, Aaron devoted much of his time to help with stream rehabilitation efforts, garbage clean-ups, stocking programs and promotion of fish conservation. Today, Aaron is still active in conservation projects and is heading the Bronte Creek Restoration Project with a friend through the Credit River Anglers Association.

At the age of 29, Aaron’s talent and enthusiasm for fishing the Niagara River and surrounding areas initiated him to start his first business venture under the name of Surely Fishing Guide Services. Word of Aaron’s new guide service and the high success rate for his clients quickly spread throughout North America and after a very short period of time, Aaron became known as a prominent Canadian authority on fishing the Niagara River. Even the veteran US fishing guides looked up to Aaron and learned from his unique style and aptitude that earned him a great deal of respect as an exceptional Niagara based fishing guide.

Aaron became very busy and ran a highly successful guide service for several years in the Niagara region. Public curiosity levels arose as to the reason for Aaron’s extraordinary achievements on the Niagara River. The increasing inquiries from anglers prompted him to start writing articles and take up public speaking to share his techniques for success, despite this information becoming available to his competition.

Aaron quickly grew in popularity, landing him several television opportunities as a guest on many fishing shows and was the subject of articles in popular fishing magazines such as In-Fisherman and Outdoor Canada. With his continued success, Aaron decided to put together proposals for notable fishing tackle companies and successfully convinced them he was a worth while investment.

Even with all his success, Aaron was not completely satisfied, as he had a dream to host a television show of his own. Armed with some exposure and experience behind the lens, Aaron formed a partnership with Barry Pringle to establish a popular television show called Getting Hooked with Aaron & Barry in 2004.

www.gettinghooked.net