Break Out with Bad Ash
We can make the outdoors more approachable, more fun, and invite others in when we teach, empower, and share knowledge! Break Out with Bad Ash is a show about Breaking Out of the typical narrative of who a fisher or hunter is. Anglers are women and men, families, and folks of all colors, experience levels, orientations, and creeds. Ashley Nichole Lewis is a member of the Qu
inault Indian Nation, a salmon and steelhead guide, and an American Indian Studies and History scholar. Angling and recreating outdoors is for everyone. For many, access and information that is right for them is not easy to come by— and too often we do not see ourselves represented in these spaces. Ashley Nichole Lewis grew up as a lover of the outdoors. She was born and raised in Grays Harbor Country, but lived on the Olympic Peninsula. Ashley Nichole has been a fishing guide since 2012, and takes her clients on world class tours, fishing the Quinault River and Queets River. Ashley is a proud member of the Quinault Indian Nation, and enjoys fishing private waters that are closed to all except for tribal members and their guests. Ashley credits many to helping her develop her love of fishing, but got her first Quinault experience when her Uncle Robbin Rhoades took her on the Quinault River. Since that day, Ashley spent every opportunity she could returning to the peninsula to explore. If you were to ask Ashley what the Olympic Peninsula means to her, she would say “My first grasp of identity, was when I came to know the Olympic Peninsula. Maybe it is silly to think of a piece of land that way, but it’s the same rivers, beaches and forests my ancestors walked before me. That sense of belonging has never left me.”
Ashley ran her first guided trip as a donation to a local charity. Though at that time she never intended on having a full-time business, from the success of that trip and by word of mouth, demand for fishing trips continued to come her way. Today Ashley spends less of her time guiding, and more of it promoting the health and advocating for Pacific Northwest Fisheries. Before being a guide, Ashley contributed almost ten years to Starbucks Coffee Company, as a business leader. As a younger person with a good career that she loved, the call to do something that enriched her life more so was too strong. Ashley loves catching fish, but her best days of fishing are days spent sharing her experience and love of fishing with someone else. This is why she hosts Break Out With Bad Ash on NBC Sports, and has the YouTube Channel Bad Ash Outdoors. Known best for her enthusiasm, patience, and passion, you can be certain a day on the river with Ashley is going to be exciting and full of adventure.
