Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
2026 is in full swing and so am I! The new year brings a lot of moving parts, and they all are good positive things. I like to be busy and there’s certainly no shortage of work to be done.
A lot of people probably don’t know this, but I have three jobs: I work for my title sponsor, Safe Haven Avian Group developing new business and maintaining the safety programs so we stay complaint to do work for the Fortune 500 companies we serve. I’m also the owner of Pulse Fish, and the business has grown exponentially in the last year and shows no sign of slowing down. Lastly, I fish the NPFL, which takes a lot of work to stay competitive, but it’s also a lot of fun so that most of the time it feels like more of a vacation than work.
January is always busy on the Safe Haven side because there are lots of new compliance protocols and there’s invariably a lot of catching up to do after the holidays.
The fishing tackle business is no different. A lot of dealers run down their inventory at the end of the year because some states charge an excise tax on inventory. That makes January wide open for us as we’ll have dealers place large orders and expect them quickly, which is how we’ve always operated—shipping them quickly. I keep a good bit of inventory in Q4 of every year just for this January rush. Also, with all the rapid growth I’ve had my daughter working several days each week filling orders, making baits, packaging, and keeping things organized. I also have a great friend (Ron) who packages stuff for us. Ron has been a lifesaver through all this growth.
Getting ready to fish the NPFL this year has been wide open in its own way. Wrapping up new sponsor partners, designing my truck, boat, and jersey, and rigging my new boat— a Falcon F21 Predator. Trent Palmer at Sonar Pros Electronics had a conflict on the date I was supposed to have mine rigged, but he’s sending me all the goodies to wire things up right. I’ve rigged a few boats over the years, and it’s been kind of fun doing this one.
Everybody sees us out there on tour doing our thing and I’m sure some think “It must be nice.”
Well, truthfully, it is. What a blessing from God to be able to get up every day and do what you love.
What’s the saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life?” That’s how I feel! I hope the rest of the NPFL tournament field feels that same, but we each have a different story.
The 2026 NPFL Championship on Smith Lake is coming up in February, It’ll be here “before we know it,” and I’ll be ready!
Tight Lines!
Todd Goade – Angler Profile
