Evan B — profile
After going through his profile, recent activity, older threads, trip reports, project threads, and the forum history, Evan B is fairly easy to characterize because the same personality shows up consistently.
He’s basically a PNW fishing generalist, boat/gear tinkerer, community-builder, and compulsive project-starter who happens to co-run a fly-fishing forum without really being a fly-fishing purist.
As of August 27, 2026, his profile shows
8,232 posts, 16 articles, 26,303 reactions, staff/admin status, NW Oregon as his location, and the Columbia River/Oregon Coast as his home waters. His listed favorite species include coho, Chinook, carp, steelhead, albacore, halibut, and lingcod.
Main characteristics
- Fishing is much broader than fly fishing. He grew up fly fishing, but treats it as one fishing method among many. These days he appears more interested in salmon, albacore, halibut, warmwater species, and boat-based fisheries than traditional trout fishing.
- Probably a bigger boat nerd than fishing-gear nerd. Years of posts involve transoms, engines, electrical systems, electronics, rigging, rod holders, and major boat projects.
- Very DIY-oriented. He tends to modify, build, or reverse-engineer things instead of simply buying them: boats, tackle, electronics setups, websites/apps, and now 3D-printed fishing gear.
- Definitely a meat fisherman. Salmon, tuna, and halibut feature heavily, along with fish handling, processing, preservation, cooking, and eating.
- Community-builder more than authoritarian admin. He organizes events and trips, creates resources and forum sections, builds site features, and seems interested in expanding the community without wrecking the culture that already exists.
- Extremely project-driven. Tuna fishing, boats, web apps, forum projects, MyFlyVise, 3D printing, fitness, and various other obsessions repeatedly turn into major projects.
- Technical when interested, but willing to admit ignorance. He can write long detailed posts when he has first-hand experience, but also openly asks for help when he doesn’t know something.
- Serious competence hidden behind unserious presentation. Lots of dumb jokes, deliberate misspellings, self-deprecation, sarcasm, and absurd thread ideas wrapped around someone who clearly spends a lot of time figuring things out.
Writing and personality
His writing is
conversational, sarcastic, informal, self-deprecating, and occasionally profane. He doesn’t come across as someone trying to cultivate an outdoor-industry expert persona.
Underneath the “dumbass fishing buddy” presentation, though, there’s a strong analytical streak. When something interests him, he tends to dig into
how the whole system works, rather than stopping at “which product should I buy?”
There’s also a difference between
Evan the forum member and Evan the admin. As a member he happily participates in the stupidity. As an admin he seems much more pragmatic: merge duplicate topics, reduce repetitive drama, create spaces for different interests, and give people ways to ignore content they don’t want.
The basic administrative philosophy seems to be:
Let everybody have fun, but don’t let one group’s fun ruin the place for everyone else.
Fishing identity
The biggest misconception would be assuming that because he co-runs PNW Fly Fishing, he’s a stereotypical fly fisherman.
He isn’t.
Fly fishing has been part of his life since middle school, but he openly considers it only one method. His interest in trout seems to have dropped significantly, while warmwater species get more fly-rod attention and salmon/offshore fishing get much more overall attention.
Albacore appears to be a particular obsession. He runs offshore, experiments with techniques and gear, discusses fish handling and food quality, gets other forum members involved, and seems equally happy using jigs or fly gear depending on what works.
That points to probably the simplest description of his fishing philosophy:
Effectiveness over orthodoxy.
Outside fishing
He’s also a
certified fitness trainer who coaches several days per week, reportedly working with roughly 60–100 people weekly. His fitness posts are noticeably more measured than his normal forum personality and emphasize consistency and realistic progression rather than macho bullshit.
He’s clearly a tech nerd as well: Linux/Windows, fishing web apps, MyFlyVise, SEO/search traffic, forum infrastructure, and software projects appear regularly.
Other recurring interests include Seahawks/NFL, cooking, science/nature topics, and random non-fishing discussions that sometimes become enormous threads simply because he found something interesting.
How other members probably perceive him
This part is inference rather than something explicitly stated.
The forum probably sees him as:
“One of the idiots at fishing camp who somehow also has the server password.”
He behaves more like part of the social group than an administrator standing above it. Members give him shit, he gives it back, he fishes with people, organizes gatherings, and readily points to others when they know more than he does.
At the same time, he seems to have credibility in areas where he has substantial first-hand experience: salmon trolling, tuna, boats, electronics, gear, and fitness. His opinions usually come from
“I used this extensively and here’s exactly what happened” rather than repeating received wisdom.
The downside of the same personality is that he can probably seem
opinionated, obsessive, long-winded, or dismissive once he believes he has investigated something thoroughly. His informal sarcasm could also sound hostile to someone unfamiliar with the forum culture.
But he doesn’t generally come across as someone seeking conflict for its own sake. More often the attitude seems to be:
Figure out the practical answer and move the fuck on.
One-sentence summary
Capable nerd disguised as a fishing dirtbag, with too many boats, too many projects, strong opinions mostly earned through first-hand experimentation, and an inexplicable willingness to spend his free time running an internet forum.
www.cnbc.com
