We have a number of guides that work for the Ely Fishing Guide Company. They are the best of the best! You feel like your in the right boat when you spend a day with our guides. The Ely Fishing Guide Company has been in business since 1998. Our guides have decades of professional guiding experience in the Ely area and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Our guides each spend well over a 100 days of year guiding customers, and when they are not guiding they are out fishing and exploring on there own. Our guides fish as a team, this is a unique advantage for our customers. You not only get to experience the knowledge and skill of your guide, but all of the guides combined! We are able to keep our customers on fish by sharing information on fish locations. All of our guides are independent contractors and are independently insured and licensed to operate in the BWCAW by the U.S. Forest Service. We set the standard for the most knowledgeable and professional guides in the area.
Rob Nelson - owner/guide
Rob Nelson on the left with long time customer Bill holding a nice Basswood Lake Walleye.
Rob is the owner of the Ely Fishing Guide Company LLC. For 30 years he has lived in Ely Minnesota and for the past 25 years he has been a professional guide in Ely, MN and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He has a passion for fishing. His best catch ever was his wife Ginny who he first met on Basswood Lake! Rob and his wife Ginny have two beautiful daughters Siiri and Sadie. He truly believes he has the best job in the world. People and fishing are two things you have to love in order to be a successful guide and well, he loves them both! He prides himself in the number of repeat customers, some have been coming for 25 years. In this business, that says it all!!
Captain Eli hill - Guide
Eli Hill with a nice walleye!
You know you're in the right, qualified and experienced hands when fishing with Eli Hill. Eli has acquired his United States Coast Guard Captains license. He has been fishing in the BWCAW area his whole life. Fishing is his life and he does it well. When you fish with Him, you will have plenty of laughs as well as fish in your boat. During the school year He spends his time as an Industrial Tech teacher. This allows him time for his true passion in the summer months, fishing. Eli has been a professional guide in Ely, MN and the BWCAW for 20 years. He spends every chance he gets in the pursuit of fish.
Mike stark - Guide
Mike Stark with his Mom holding a nice Northern Pike!
Mike Stark has been a guide for the Ely Fishing Guide Company in the Ely, MN and the BWCAW Since 2007. He is a very skilled fisherman as well as a very qualified guide. His patience and knowledge of fishing is unsurpassed among his pears. He is very laid back and patient and will make safe and comfortable decisions that will allow you to maximize your catch and enjoy your day. He will provide you with expert and skilled techniques and strategy to allow you to catch the fish of your dreams. Mike has extensive guide training in his previous job at the Outward Bound base here in Ely, MN. Mike previously guided canoe and sled dog trips in the BWCAW and is a certified Wilderness First Responder. He is now a professional full time year round fishing guide. In the summer, Mike's real passion, is putting customers on big walleyes. He is obsessed with fishing and you can tell after spending time in the boat with him. He has built up numerous repeat customers who come from all over the country just to fish with him each and every year! That says it all
Cory peterson - Guide
Cory Peterson helping his happy customer with her Big Basswood Lake Northern Pike!
Cory is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and he has lived in the Ely area since college and his true passion is for the outdoors, especially when it comes to fishing! He is a very talented fisherman and he can target any species, but his true love is the walleye. Over the years he has built up a solid knowledge base of tips and tricks to put fish in the boat. Cory has previously worked eight seasons with the US Forest Service where he spent a lot of his time in the BWCAW. Cory has been a full time professional Guide for the Ely Fishing Guide Company LLC. for a decade. When he is not hunting or fishing you can find him working on his homestead which includes a timber frame home and garage and a cord wood house that he built. Nothing makes Cory happier than being out on the water fishing and sharing that passion with others. Customers constantly remark at how patient and knowledgeable he is and they like his witty sense of humor. He has numerous repeat customers that request him each year, so book him early!
CAMERON NEGLEY - GUIDE
Cameron Negley the Smallie guy.
Cams Most proud professional accomplishment to date is he guided his customer to the Minnesota State record catch and release Northern Pike that was caught on Basswood Lake in 2021. Cam grew up in the Northwoods in Babbitt MN and as a kid he spent countless hours hunting and fishing the Ely Area and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He has always had a passion for hunting and Fishing and it was his calling to become a Full time Fishing Guide for the Ely Fishing Guide Company LLC. His customer service is second to none and He has enjoyed teaching his customers some of his tricks for finding fish and they always enjoy spending time in the boat with his cheerful personality. Besides Fishing His hobbies are Moose shed hunting and Winter lake Trout Fishing. His customers always comment on how great of a day they have with Cam and he can really put them on the fish. He is starting to build up some great repeat customers who request him each year. He takes a lot of pride in his ability to find and catch fish in adverse conditions.
TROY VEGA - GUIDE
Troy Vega With a Nice Basswood Lake Walleye!
Troy came to live in Ely with his family as a young kid. He grew up fishing in Ely MN and His dream was to Become a Boundary Waters fishing guide. He took a job in high school working At Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitters bait shop and retail store and learned the area and bait and tackle and Outfitting business. He took that knowledge along with the customer service skills he learned working for one of the area’s best Outfitters and has applied it to his Guiding career. He has guided numerous overnight Boundary Waters canoe trips and has become an avid outdoorsman. He has honed his Fishing techniques and now has become a full-time professional Fishing guide for the Ely Fishing Guide Company LLC since 2015. He is constantly fishing and Camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and one of his hobbies is to go winter camping and of course fishing. He has spent up to a month out camping in the Boundary Waters in the cold winter in search of Lake trout and endured the extreme temperatures and conditions. His customers frequently comment on how patient and knowledgeable he is and they request him again on their next trip Oh and yes, he has a knack for finding fish!
PETER JOHNSON - GUIDE
Peter Johnson and his daughters with a big Walleye!
Born and raised in Ely, Peter has 19 years experience as a wilderness guide and a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Environmental Studies from Bethel University. He has spent the last 11 years actively involved in wildlife art (2019 North American Champion Taxidermist, 2019/2018 State Champion). He and his wife Tara moved back to Ely in 2008, after some time away, to raise their two daughters (Madeline and Olivia).
Peter is now a full time guide in the summer and winter and is passionate about fishing in the northwoods. He is a true student of the game. He loves to try new tactics and to venture to places were others may not in the search of any species of fish. He has a knack for finding them and wont stop until he does. Although he really catches his customers some big fish, he seems to get the most excited when he gets into a school of perch!