The founder of the “Definitive Guides” to California outdoors, award winning author Chris Shaffer has spent the last decade of his life exploring, investigating and documenting more than 1,500 lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and waterfalls throughout California. The California native is a graduate of Cal State Northridge and Crespi High School in Encino.

Shaffer has taken an active role reporting on and photographing California outdoors. Currently in print, The Definitive Guide to Fishing in Southern California,
The Definitive Guide to Fishing Central California, The Definitive Guide to Fishing in Northern California and voted book of the year by the Outdoor Writers Association of California in 2004, The Definitive Guide to the Waterfalls of Southern and Central California, will be joined by The Definitive Guide to the Waterfalls of Northern California in the future. A former LA Times sportswriter, Shaffer is currently working on several other outdoor related titles. More than 1,700 of Shaffer’s photographs have been printed in newspapers, books and magazines worldwide.

Shaffer’s work extends far beyond the book business. Aside from running a publishing company and writing books, he is a regular guest on California Sportsmen radio with Sep Hendrickson, Northwest Wild Country Radio with Joel Shangle and other local radio shows. Shaffer also is a columnist and regular contributor for Fishing and Hunting News and The Sportsman’s Series, Salmon & Steelhead Journal, Salmon, Trout & Steelheader, Fish Alaska Magazine, Game & Fish and a freelance consultant for the California Department of Fish and Game and Pautzke Bait Company.

Shaffer has performed seminars at Fred Hall Fishing Shows in the past and is a regular speaker and host at International Sportsmen’s Exposition shows. Shaffer also is a full time product tester for several companies in the fishing industry including Sea Eagle, Panther Martin, Luhr Jensen, Pautzke Bait Company, Rebel, Bomber, Yakima Bait, Silver Thread, Heddon, Cotton Cordell, Megabait, Optimum, Castaic Soft Baits, YUM, Pistol Pete, Smithwick, Castaic Soft Baits, Costa Del Mar, Excalibur, Creek Chub, Lowrance, St. Croix, Thomas Buoyant, Canon, Sep's Pro Fishing, Shasta Tackle Company, Powell Fly Rods and Lamiglas.

A member of the Outdoor Writers Association of California, Outdoor Writer Association of America and Western Outdoor Writers, Shaffer also contributes to several newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Daily News, Fish Taco Chronicles, Ojai Valley News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Florida Game and Fish, Oregon Game and Fish, Washington Game and Fish, California Game and Fish, ESPN.com Outdoors and Outdoor California magazine.

Shaffer's expertise as a freshwater fishing expert has taken him to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, Yukon Territory, Canada, Ireland, Kitimat, British Columbia, Everglades National Park and countless destinations in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. Shaffer has caught and released more than 37 species of freshwater fish in North America