Tom Rowland

Thomas Turner Rowland, Jr, (born August 19, 1968) is an American television host of Saltwater Experience, Saltwater Game, Fitness Truth, and other productions. He is also an entrepreneur, fresh and saltwater fishing guide and athlete. He has received numerous awards including the Inaugural ESPN Great Outdoor Games Gold Medalist in fly fishing.
Rowland began his guide career in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as a drift boat flyfishing guide for trout. Several years later he began guiding in Key West, FL. He is one of few anglers and guides to have guided and competed at the highest levels successfully in both fresh and saltwater.
Tournaments
To further his career, Rowland began competing in Florida Keys Tournaments like the Redbone Series. Achieving quick success, Rowland then began to compete in bigger opportunities including the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, the IFA Redfish Series, and the ESPN Redfish Cup and ESPN MadFin Shark Series.
Television
Rowland's first opportunity on television was Shaw Grigsby's One More Cast which aired on TNN Network. Rowland took Shaw Grigsby fishing for barracuda and the phone rang for months with people trying to book trips with him. Seeing the impact of television, Rowland became more interested in other opportunities. In 2000, he participated in the Inaugural ESPN Great Outdoor Games in Lake Placid New York and placed second in the Flycasting event and won the Overall Championship by beating his longtime hero, Doug Swisher in a tiebreaker. and Location X, giving him much needed experience and a clear picture of how he might produce his own show one day.
Saltwater Experience
Saltwater Experience was originally conceived on a long road trip from Venice, Louisiana to Key West, Florida after Hurricane Charlie had made a direct hit on the island of Key West. Rowland and Rich Tudor were fishing the IFA Redfish Tournament in Venice and Tom’s Wife and children were in Key West as the hurricane hit the island. The family remained safe, however, the experience rocked Rowland and he decided never to leave his family for a fishing tournament again. On the way back to Key West, Rowland and Tudor discussed how they might be able to maintain the extensive sponsorship that they had developed while not having to travel away from home. Rowland leveraged his experience on over 30 other shows to have the confidence to launch into the television production business. His show, Saltwater Experience very popular right away as it appeared on The Outdoor Channel in 2004. He co-hosts the show with Rich Tudor. In the second year of Saltwater Experience, they expanded their distribution to the OLN network and had a companion show running simultaneously on ESPN2 called The Saltwater Game. Saltwater Experience has run for 14 years and has appeared on OLN, Versus, NBC Sports, Sportsman Channel, Pursuit Channel, Sun Sports in Florida and Waypoint TV. Rowland has written for many publications but now focuses his writing on the blog at Saltwater Experience.
Into the Blue
With the success of Saltwater Experience, Rowland and Rich Tudor began SE Multimedia and started a second series focusing on offshore fishing called Tailwalker in 2008. Tailwalker starred friend and Hawks Cay Fishing Guide, Capt. Scott Walker and debuted on NBC sports. The show was popular at first, but in the second season included Capt Steve Rodger of Key West and a change in the name to Into the Blue and found a chemistry that fans particularly liked. Into the Blue has been running since 2007 and has appeared on Versus, NBC Sports, Sportsman Channel, Sun Sports and Waypoint TV.
Sweetwater
SE Multimedia produced a third series called Sweetwater in 2014 to focus on the bass market and brought in two-time Jr Bassmaster Classic Champion, Joey Nania and College Bass standout, Miles Burghoff to host. Sweetwater appears on NBC Sports, Sportsman Channel, Sun Sports and Waypoint TV.
Fitness Truth
As a side passion project, Rowland produced Fitness Truth in 2010. Fitness Truth documented the workout group that Rowland hosts in his driveway free of charge to the public. Rowland found CrossFit early in 2008 and was fascinated by the underground fitness culture. Beginning in his backyard in Key West, Rowland worked out alone, but found camaraderie and competition online through various message boards including CrossFit.com. Rowland built a gym in his garage and quickly drew a large following of fathers to it. Fitness Truth followed the guys workouts and adventures for two seasons and appeared on Sun Sports, Universal, Tuff TV and many other networks. Reebok and Reverie were both major sponsors of the show. Rowland also worked with CrossFit to star in a six-part documentary about the early years of the CrossFit Open called "Taking on the Open" with Jessica Pamanian.
Waypoint TV
In 2016, Rowland and Rich Tudor watched as television ratings declined to the lowest numbers ever and digital views began to grow rapidly. They looked for a solution to their needs but did not find any digital distribution platform that would help them. They connected and created Waypoint TV, which is a digital streaming platform for hunting and fishing content. Waypoint is available as an App for all iOs and Android devices, a website and an OTT platform for Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, and Smart TVs. The platform is built for producers to maintain the relationship with their sponsors and offer them a business model that will allow them to continue to produce high quality outdoor content with or without conventional television. Waypoint currently has 60+ producers and 2000 titles available for free to the consumer.
Early life
Rowland was born Thomas Turner Rowland, Jr on August 19, 1968 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to parents Judy and Tom Rowland. His father is a former mayor of Cleveland, Tennessee. He attended Bright School from K-6 and then The McCallie School from 7-12. Tom participated in just about every sport at one time but his favorites were competitive water-skiing, racquetball, Swimming, and Martial Arts, however his favorite sport was Wrestling. He placed 4th in the State of TN while wrestling for The McCallie School at 138 pounds in 1987.
After High School, he attended the University of Alabama.
Yellowstone
While still in college, Rowland applied to and was accepted as a room attendant for TW Services in Yellowstone National Park.
The Guide School, Jackson Hole Wyoming
The following summer, he attended the Bressler Outfitters Guide School in Jackson, Wyoming and was hired by Joe Bressler as the lowest level employee called "The Swamper". Rowland learned from the bottom up and learned how to care for guests.
Trout Guiding
Rowland worked for Bressler Outfitters on The South Fork of the Snake River, The Teton River, The Green River, The Snake River, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park for seven years.
Key West Guiding
Rowland moved to Key West in 1993 and began accumulating hours and experience necessary to acquire his Captains License through the USCG. He spent a year on the water learning before taking his first paying customer even though he was able to get his Captains license much faster. Peter Corbin was Rowland’s first paying customer and they caught 2 permit on fly. Soon, Tom was booked more than 150 days a year. After winning a few tournaments and achieving television fame, Rowland was able to fish over 300 days a year with paying customers.
Relationships
Rowland married Cynthia Pate Rowland on January 20, 1996 and has been happily married ever since. Tom and Cynthia have 3 children who were all born in Key West, FL. Turner Rowland, Hayden Rowland and Hanna Rowland.
Tom has 2 sisters, Laurie and Julie and parents Judy and Tom Rowland.

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