Jason Marleau Bio

Jason Marleau was born in Sudbury, Ontario and spent his early childhood summers near Killarney Provincial Park at the family owned and operated marina on Tyson Lake. While growing up in Central Ontario, he had the opportunity to experience and enjoy Ontario's great outdoors. Jason was introduced to canoe tripping at an early age and regularly enjoyed summer canoe trips with his uncle into the wilds of Ontario. He owned his first canoe before he could drive a car and continued with the tradition of backcountry tripping with high school and university friends.

Jason attended the University of Ottawa, and after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Jason spent a few years exploring British Columbia and working as a commercial account manager for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. While in British Columbia Jason learned to fly-fish, taught by the hosts of the Sportfishing on the Fly television show, Don Freschi and Grant Fines. Jason continued to learn this craft during his years in British Columbia, while fishing the many mountain lakes and rivers of the Kootenays.

It was in BC that Jason eventually met Russell and Wesley Mussio from Backroad Mapbooks. This monumental meeting not only changed the career path of Jason but has also benefited many outdoor enthusiasts in Ontario and across the country. Jason has written and researched over a dozen Backroad Mapbooks and Fishing Mapbook titles as well as the Trans Canada Trail: the British Columbia Route guidebook. Not only has each of these titles gone on to become a national bestseller, they have also helped thousands of outdoor enthusiasts find that coveted fishing lake or hidden trail.

Jason has explored every province in the country by foot or canoe. Some of Jason's more notable outdoor experiences include winter camping and solo canoe tripping. Jason is also an ardent naturalist with one of his favourite pastimes in the great outdoors being bear spotting. He continues to keep a journal of every bear he has ever encountered since before he was seven years old. A lifelong desire of Jason's is to enter a polar bear sighting into his journal, an accomplishment that he plans to complete within the next few years.