Meet our team

David Korsch caught the fishing bug young during the odd fishing trip for trout, bottom fish, and salmon. By the age of six, every summer (and most weekends throughout the year) were spent at the family’s cottage in Halfmoon Bay, and fishing became an obsession. Hundreds of hours each year were spent in pursuit of Chinook and Coho salmon, and a vast knowledge of their habits and movements was being created as angling skills were honed.

In 1986, at 22 years old, David began his professional guiding career. He was hired by the fledgling “Vancouver Fish-on Guiding Services”, operating out of Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver, as a summer job while he finished up his last years at the University of British Columbia. During the following summer, David decided to continue guiding for “Fish-on” while attempting to find a permanent job. His degree in Forest Resource Management, with a heavy emphasis on stream rehabilitation and fisheries, had very limited job opportunities during the late 1980’s, and most potential jobs would have required him to move to the interior regions of British Columbia - away from his saltwater salmon fishing.

David continued to guide for “Fish-on” during subsequent years while continuing to look for his ideal permanent job. During the spring of 1990, after four years of guiding for “Fish-on”, the operation was absorbed by Sewell’s Marina. David bought his first boat in order to join Sewell’s fleet of charter boat owner/operators, and “Predator Charters” was born.

A member of Shimano’s field staff, David is presently one of Vancouver’s most experienced saltwater guides. his many thousands of hours guiding in the area, and his attention to detail has made David one of Vancouver’s most consistently productive charter skippers. David also works with Fisheries and Oceans Canada tagging any released Chinook, and he began collecting a DNA sample from each fish (released or retained) in 1998. He is pushing Fisheries to begin a Chinook DNA study in order to help get a better picture of their migration and growth patterns, so he began collecting the DNA so the raw data will be there if they decide to begin the study.

“Predator Charters” operates year round, as the winter is David’s favourite time of year to fish personally. The winter Chinook fishery takes more knowledge and skill in order to be consistently productive, hence he finds successful encounters with winter Chinook more rewarding.

Being a real student of what drives salmon to feed, having a background in fisheries management, and a desire to unravel all the intricacies of the winter fishery, David began a detailed analysis of his catches. Since 1990, he has recorded very specific information about all salmon caught aboard the “Predator” - especially Chinook. This catch data and analysis is located in “Catch Records”, and any serious angler will find the information very interesting as tide, moon phase, and barometric pressure results will have applications world wide.