Pro-Staff

The KB Custom Tackle Pro Staff represents more than just our products. They represent what we believe in as a company.

We select anglers who share our passion for the outdoors, respect the fisheries and communities we’re a part of, and bring genuine experience and knowledge to the water. They are guides, seasoned anglers, and passionate fishermen who put in the time, know their fisheries, and aren't afraid to try something new.

Just as important as who they are on the water is who they are off of it.

We’ve chosen people we genuinely respect. Good people who support others, represent the fishing community well, and share the values behind KB Custom Tackle. Being a great angler matters, but being a great person matters even more.

Our Pro Staff help us test new ideas, provide honest feedback, push our tackle to perform better, and share their knowledge with the fishing community.

Most importantly, they represent KB Custom Tackle with the same values we built this company around:

Family. Integrity. Innovation. Hard Work. A Love for Fishing.

Buzz Ramsey

Trout, Salmon, Steelhead Fishing Expert & Big Game Hunter

Buzz Ramsey is considered an iconic sport fishing figure. Inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and holding the IGFA line-class-record for 9 years for his 30+ pound steelhead from the Thompson River in 1984, Buzz built a successful career developing and field-testing gear for Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes anglers. Buzz shepherded numerous innovations in his 45-year career when working for Luhr Jensen, Pure Fishing and Yakima Bait, largely retiring from this successful body of work in 2020. In early 2021 Buzz joined Team TGF (The Guide’s Forecast) to bring our sport fishing community more valuable insight and strategy on how to CATCH MORE FISH. Along with his contributions to The Guide’s Forecast, he will continue to write his monthly column for Northwest Sportsman Magazine and make regular posts daily on Instagram and Facebook adding to a legacy of informing the sport fishing community in all things outdoors.

buzz.ramsey

@ramseybuzz

Mike Kelly

Mike Kelly’s Guide Service

Since becoming a guide in 2012, Mike has spent his time helping his clients pursue salmon and steelhead across the Willamette Valley and up and down the Oregon Coast. He adjusts his area of operation to give his clients the best possible chance of success, so in the fall you’ll find him on the Siletz, Siuslaw or Umpqua rivers chasing fall chinook with an occasional late season trip to the south coast if the conditions permit a visit to the Elk or Sixes. During the winter he focuses on steelhead, floating the Siletz in his Clackacraft drift boat or running the Umpqua system in his Willie jet sled. Come spring, he pursues spring chinook on the Umpqua and several Willamette tributaries, before spending the summer on the ocean when the weather allows, catching coho and chinook. Come spend the day with Mike and Bandit the boat dog.
Website

@featherskelly

Danny Stonedahl

River Chrome Guide Service

Danny has been fishing and guiding in the Pacific Northwest since he was 3 years old. From his first steelhead on the Skagit River at 9 years old, to his first day captaining a boat in the ocean off the Washington coast at 15, he has continued fishing since as a career and way of life. Danny starts his year guiding steelhead in Forks, WA January through March. From there he travels north to guide steelhead on the Situk River in Yakutat, Alaska. Afterwards, he spends his summers fishing the Washington Coast out of Neah Bay for Halibut, Lingcod and various other species. He then ends his year with a lengthy fall salmon season fishing Puget Sound rivers, with a primary focus on Skagit River Coho, then transitioning to coastal fall salmon trips in Forks WA through December. Although he uses a variety of techniques for certain conditions and seasons, Danny specializes in float and jig fishing steelhead, and twitch and spinner fishing for coho salmon in the rivers in the fall.
Website

Bob Kratzer

Anglers Guide Service

Robert “Bob” Kratzer brings more than 38 years of professional guiding experience to the water. Born and raised in Washington, Robert spent his early years camping and fishing throughout both Eastern and Western Washington. Under his father’s guidance, he learned to wade small streams while targeting rainbow and cutthroat trout. As time passed,
however, his passion for salmon and steelhead quickly grew. Consequently, once he could drive, he fished nearly every river he could reach.
Eventually, Robert moved to Forks at the age of 22, where he built Anglers Guide Service into one of the region’s most respected operations. For decades, he has guided clients through fall Chinook seasons, winter steelhead runs, summer fisheries, and powerful sturgeon battles. Even so, what truly drives Robert today is teaching. In fact, he finds more joy in watching clients succeed than catching fish himself. Because of that mindset, he constantly refines techniques and stays at the forefront of salmon and steelhead fishing.
Outside of guiding, Robert spends time with his family hunting Washington blacktail and Idaho whitetail deer. Meanwhile, he remains fully licensed through the state and U.S. Coast Guard, insured, and trained in first aid and CPR.
Website