Nick Cheskey is the host of Saltwater Underground, now in its

sixth season on ESPN2, Discovery Channel, Sportsman's Channel,

and Waypoint TV. He's one of the most versatile anglers in the

country — a guy who grew up fishing, surfing, and ice skating

on frozen Jersey swamps, and who pioneered surf shark fishing

on the Northeast coast before anyone else was even trying.

In this conversation, Nick and I catch up after three years and

cover a lot of ground — from saltwater rivers freezing over in

central Jersey to thresher sharks hunting with their tails to

prehistoric megalodon teeth in freshwater streams. This one goes

everywhere, and I loved every minute of it.

Some of the moments I found most meaningful in this conversation:

- Nick describing the first night he ever tried surf shark fishing

in 1998 — paddling bunker bait out on a surfboard in the dark,

alone, and having a thresher tail come whipping out of the water

right next to him

- How thresher sharks actually hunt — corralling bait with that

massive tail and using it like a weapon, which is unlike anything

else in the ocean

- The species showing up in Jersey waters that have no business

being there — tarpon off Cape Cod, cobia inshore, pompano in

the surf, and Spanish mackerel everywhere

- Nick's obsession with fossil hunting in New Jersey freshwater

streams and finding a Hell Pig tooth that nobody had ever

pulled out of Jersey before — 15 to 30 million years old

- A real conversation about the future of fishing media, social

media's effect on spot burning and content quality, and why

both of us think the pendulum is starting to swing back toward

expertise

00:00 Introduction

01:30 Three Years Since the Last Episode — What Nick's Been Up To

04:00 Ice Fishing Saltwater Rivers in Central Jersey

08:30 Growing Up Ice Fishing and Hockey in Frozen Jersey Swamps

13:00 Saltwater Underground Season 6 — ESPN2, Discovery, Waypoint TV

17:00 Filming Five Episodes in the Florida Keys

21:30 Sheepshead, Redfish, and Species Recolonizing the Northeast

27:00 Tarpon in New Jersey — Cape Cod Catches and the State Record

31:00 Surf Shark Fishing: How Nick Pioneered It in 1998

38:00 Thresher Sharks — How They Hunt and Why That Tail Is Deadly

44:00 The Great White Situation Up and Down the Coast

50:00 Fossil Hunting in Jersey Freshwater Streams

58:00 Finding a Hell Pig Tooth — 15 to 30 Million Years Old

1:04:00 Blood Worms, Sand Worms, and $35 a Dozen

1:09:00 The Saltwater Sportsman Seminar Series with George Poveromo

1:13:00 Social Media, In-Person Events, and the Future of Fishing Media

🔗 Watch Saltwater Underground:

YouTube → Saltwater Underground with Nick Cheskey

🔗 Connect With Nick Cheskey:

Instagram → @NickCheskey

YouTube → Saltwater Underground with Nick Cheskey

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#NickCheskey #SaltwaterUnderground #SurfSharking #TomRowlandPodcast

#SaltwaterExperience #ThresherShark #JerseyFishing #FossilHunting

#SaltwaterFishing #NortheastFishing

Texas outdoorsman Kyle Gemas shares raw lessons from his Alaska mountain hunts—from crawling through claustrophobic alders in the Wrangells to covering 85 miles over 10 days in the Brooks Range for Dall sheep. Kyle breaks down his Leukotape foot care system, how 15+ tarpon tournaments prepared him for backcountry suffering, and why he's pursuing the North American Grand Slam of wild sheep.

Monty Burke writes about the best of the best — college football coaches, saltwater fly fishing legends, and the obsessed individuals who reach the top of whatever they pursue. In this episode of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Monty breaks down what Pete Carroll got right at USC that he couldn't pull off in the NFL, why Steve Huff at 80 years old is still one of the most fascinating people in fly fishing, and what the relationship between a great guide and an elite angler has in common with a great coach and his players. They also get into AI and why Monty thinks the removal of friction — of doing hard things — is one of the worst things that could happen to a generation trying to find purpose. Honest, wide-ranging, and the kind of conversation you'll still be thinking about the next time you're on the water.

George Poveromo — host of "George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing" (26 seasons), Saltwater Sportsman columnist since 1983, and founder of the longest-running fishing seminar series in the country (39 years) — joins Tom for a conversation about building a career in the fishing industry from the ground up.

George shares the story of how buying a Mako instead of an Aqua Sport changed the trajectory of his entire life, the three-piece suit that landed him the Saltwater Sportsman gig, Mark Sosin's career advice that still holds up 40 years later, getting speared in the rear end by a sailfish, the shark population crisis in South Florida, and why AI-powered fishing forecasts are already here.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - George's First Industry Job: The Miami Billfish Tournament

3:30 - First Story Sold to Outdoor Life for $300

4:10 - Joining Saltwater Sportsman in 1983

5:00 - Mark Sosin as Mentor

6:50 - The Embarrassing Boat Show Seminars That Started It All

7:55 - Launching George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing (Year 26)

8:30 - The One Mako Trip That Changed Everything

10:55 - Pivotal Career Moments

12:30 - The Three-Piece Suit Interview at Saltwater Sportsman

15:40 - Mark Sosin's Advice: Never Take a Staff Position

17:00 - Building the Seminar Series Business Model

19:30 - How Technology Changed Seminar Attendance

22:00 - Peak Seminar Years and Tying Alice Cooper

24:00 - Stage Fright vs. Food Court Seminars

28:30 - COVID Pivot: Televised Seminar Series Hitting 1M+ Viewers

31:00 - 2026 Plans: TV This Year, 40th Anniversary Tour Next Year

33:45 - Studio vs. On-the-Water Production

35:00 - Finding Cameramen Who Don't Get Seasick

36:30 - The Sailfish That Speared George in the Rear

42:30 - Tom's Mutton Snapper Bacteria Scare

48:30 - FADs, Technology, and Modern Offshore Fishing

51:15 - Electronics Evolution: From LORAN to Bathymetric Charts

52:30 - Generational Shifts in Fish Populations

56:50 - The Shark Population Crisis in South Florida

1:04:00 - Conservation, Access, and the SHARK Act

1:08:00 - AI in Fishing: Ross Fish and Ocean Forecasting with Simrad

1:11:00 - Can AI Replace Fishing TV Hosts?

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🎧 LISTEN ON:

🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tom-rowland-podcast/id1317802830

🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LMwExvuYKzGQOCbghndXh

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🎙️ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-tom-rowland-podcast-136412962/

👤 CONNECT WITH GEORGE: Instagram @georgepoveromo

👤 CONNECT WITH TOM: @tomrowlandoutdoors

#TomRowlandPodcast #GeorgePoveromo #SaltwaterFishing #Fishing #FishingTV #Sharks #OffshoreFishing #SaltwaterSportsman #Conservation #OutdoorLifestyle

Abby and Jack from Casting for Care tell the true story behind the foundation—an offshore marlin hookup that turned into a full emergency in seconds. Tourniquets made from sheets, boat-to-boat radio calls, firefighters onboard, and a medevac… it’s the kind of situation you never think will happen to you until it does.

We talk trauma kits, offshore safety prep, and the mission they’re building to support captains and mates after catastrophic injuries—and to help the whole community be better prepared.

If you liked this episode, share it with a friend, rate the show, and stay tuned for more unfiltered conversations.

🔗 Visit Casting for Care’s Website – https://casting4care.org

📘 Free Resources:

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Mike Holland is the creator of the MINDBODY Energy Movement — a daily practice that blends movement, breathwork, and mindset into a simple system you can do anywhere, with zero equipment. In just 8 months, Mike went from posting on a personal account to building an audience of nearly 900,000 people, all around one mission: help people take control of their health and live life on their own terms.

In this conversation, we talk about why movement is medicine, why breath is the bridge between mind and body, and how discipline compounds the same way money does — one small decision at a time. We also get into what Mike’s doing with ManyChat, why he wasn’t charging anyone while it was blowing up, and how he’s building an app to turn this into a real community.

Some of the moments I found most meaningful in this conversation were:

The simplest reframe that changes everything: you don’t have to do it — you get to do it.

Why breathwork can unlock performance (and how it keeps you calm even when your heart rate is high).

Movement + rhythm = clarity — the way your brain settles when your body gets in sync.

“What you consume is what you become.” Not just food — information, people, and energy.

The real goal isn’t followers. It’s a million people taking ownership of their health.

📘 Free Resources:

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#MindBodyEnergyMovement #Breathwork #Discipline #Mindset #MovementIsMedicine #TomRowlandPodcast #SaltwaterExperience

Fish Like Mike — is a former PE teacher and varsity hockey coach from Buffalo, New York who built a massive audience by doing what he genuinely loves: getting outside, learning the woods, and telling the story like a buddy would. He started fishing in high school with a cheap kayak and a GoPro duct-taped to a hockey stick… and years later, he made the big call to step away from a “safe” career to go all-in on content, travel, and the freedom to fish on a Tuesday when nobody’s around.

In this conversation, we get into the real stuff: the grind of teaching + coaching + building content on weekends, the moment he knew it was time to rip the band-aid off, why Instagram views don’t pay like people think, and why those “little creeks” in New York might be one of the most underrated fisheries in the country.

Some of the moments I found most meaningful in this conversation were:

How he built his entire audience with almost no “fancy” gear — just consistency, curiosity, and telling the truth on camera.

The mindset shift from “posting videos” to “building a business” — and why reputation matters more than follower count.

The possum video lesson: when your face is on camera and you teach like a friend, people stick around.

Great Lakes tributaries that can give you a 5-pound smallmouth and a 30-inch “steelhead” in the same day.

Leaving teaching wasn’t about money — it was about freedom, time, and not waiting until retirement to live the life.

📘 Free Resources:

📺 Subscribe for More Unfiltered Conversations

📱 Follow the Show:

#FishLikeMike #Fishing #GreatLakesFishing #Steelhead #SmallmouthBass #TomRowlandPodcast

As saltwater anglers, we've all dealt with the ugly reality of bottom paint. You spend six figures on a beautiful boat, only to have someone slap what looks like an "ugly wig" on the hull. Then you're paying divers constantly to scrape it clean, dealing with toxic chemicals leaching into our fishing waters, and repeating this expensive, environmentally damaging cycle every single year.

Sam Root is a content creator in the fishing industry and a key part of the team at Pure Fishing — one of the biggest fishing companies on the planet. We go way back (forums, early DSLR days, the first years of Saltwater Experience), and in this conversation we get into what’s actually changed in fishing media… and what hasn’t.

We talk about the death of gatekeeping, why attention spans are getting weird (3 seconds or 3 hours), why polished “commercial-looking” videos often underperform, how AI is already changing photo/video work, and the wild travel stories that remind you fishing is fishing — whether you’re in the Everglades or 30 hours from the nearest runway.

Some of the moments I found most meaningful in this conversation were:

The gatekeeping is gone — and that’s a blessing and a whole new kind of grind.

High-end production can actually hurt performance because people can smell an ad in half a second.

New product hype sells… until it doesn’t — credibility is what carries the long game.

AI is powerful, but the “soulless” stuff gets blocked fast (and I’m with him on that).

The Everglades might be the best “short trip” fishing on earth — but the sharks have changed the whole release game.

00:00 Introduction + “Apollo Beach Sam”

🔗 Visit Sam Root’s Website – [custom link]

📘 Free Resources:

📱 Follow the Show:

#SamRoot #PureFishing #FishingContent #SocialMediaMarketing #SaltwaterExperience #EvergladesFishing #GT #FlyFishing #AIEditing

When I started the Tom Rowland Podcast, I never imagined we’d hit this milestone… and definitely not with a lineup like this.

To celebrate 1,000 episodes, we put together a best-of conversation reel featuring some of the most impactful guests to ever sit down with me:

Bill Dance – The legend himself. We talk about joy, longevity, and why fishing is still fun after a lifetime on the water.

Michael Chandler – UFC superstar. Discipline, doubt, and what it really means to bet on yourself when the lights are brightest.

Monte Burke – Author of Lords of the Fly. The obsession, history, and culture behind chasing truly giant fish.

Michael Waddell – “Bone Collector.” Family, faith, hunting culture, and how to stay grounded when the cameras turn on.

Chris Fischer – Founder of OCEARCH. Great white sharks, conservation, and why wild places still matter.

These aren’t just highlight clips. They’re the moments that stuck with me long after we stopped recording – the stories, one-liners, and mindset shifts that changed how I think about fishing, work, family, and life.

The real Bill Dance behind the bloopers and the TV fame

How Michael Chandler turns fear into fuel before he walks into the Octagon

Why Monte Burke thinks certain anglers cross the line from “interested” to “obsessed”

Michael Waddell’s take on raising kids, building a brand, and still loving the hunt

How Chris Fischer and OCEARCH are using science and storytelling to protect the ocean

If you’ve listened since the early days: thank you. If you’re new here: this is a great place to start.

🎣 Subscribe for more conversations about fishing, adventure, mindset, and becoming harder to kill in every area of life.

In this 1000th episode, you’ll hear: