I’m deep in the catch-up game at this point, getting through a relaxed fall without deadlines of writing these reports in order or as quickly as I can. This report goes back over a month to the middle of October, when I went to Miami to fish as Roger Fernandez’s guest with Steven Tejera. If…

On Friday I spent the day with Joe Skrumbellos. We intended to fish for permit, given our respective obsession with their local population, though each of us acknowledged the time of year (and our desire to have some actual fun) by bringing a barracuda rod. We headed out in the morning, fishing a small piece…

Over the weekend the Sugarloaf Showdown wrapped up. Kat and I again fished with Doug Kilpatrick in this tournament, one that’s become a fun break from the seriousness of things like the Gold Cup and the March Merkin. I will add, however, that like most tournaments in the Keys it’s becoming more and more competitive.…

Last month I traveled to the Everglades, once again with Steve Huff in pursuit of the six. As usual Chad “Chadillac” Huff joined us, completing what has become the most recent team iteration. We had three days scheduled to fish, and I drove up the night before as usual. As crazy as the idea of…

I’m aware that I haven’t posted much recently, and for those of you that have been checking in I really appreciate it. I’m working on a lengthy report from my time with Steve and Chad, during which we came perilously close to catching the 6 lb tarpon record, and I’ve been doing some fun fishing…

After the time spent in pursuit of a permit on two pound (before the trip that finally caught it), I had a pair of days booked with Ian Slater. We were interested primarily in catching permit, and I brought along a few guests for the two days. The first was my wife, Kat, with whom…

This report is from last week. I’ve got a few to catch up with, though this report (as some of the readership may already be aware) concerns itself with a pair of days that came to a particularly stunning conclusion, and as such, I wanted to get it down while things were still fresh in…

At the beginning of this month (I know, I’m behind in these reports) Chad Huff came down for a few days as part of our now annual 2lb permit fishing attempt with John O’Hearn. Chad came down a day prior to the three we had scheduled with John, and Kat and I went out with…

After I returned from Icast, the annual measuring festival of social media superstars at which I’ve been convinced I need to appear, I had a few days to catch up at the shop before John and I started on Sunday to formulate a plan before the tournament started on Monday. We ran a few of…

Before I took the trip to Icast, I spent a pair of days fishing with John O’Hearn. We were originally supposed to be joined by Jason Schratwieser for both of them, but he was only able to make the first of the pair. These were to be our only real prefishing days prior to the…

At the end of June the 2018 Gold Cup wrapped up. It’s the biggest of the tournaments of the year, and is certainly the crescendo, and for many not the proper end, of tarpon season. There is one major tournament left this year, the Del Brown Permit Tournament, which will take place in the middle…

The Hawley finished last week, and it was a great tournament to watch from afar. Three teams entered in to the last day with 12 releases–Captain Brian Helms and Rand Holstead, Captain Rob Fordyce and Julian Robertson, and Captain Paul Tejera and Steve Ward. When the smoke cleared after the final day of fishing Julian…

Earlier last the week I finished up fishing in the Golden Fly Tarpon Tournament. John and I have both been working hard at what we were intending to do during those three days, and the fact that the fishing was impossibly difficult gave us a chance not just to flex our new hardware but our…

Earlier last week I spent a day as Adam Tondu’s guest on Lenny Leonard’s boat. Lenny is one of my closest friends and someone who’s company I enjoy immensely, and Adam is someone that I met first through the shop when Lenny was bitten by a lemon shark and couldn’t make their booked days. Adam…

Last week I fished with Ian Slater for a pair of days. Our goal was to tarpon fish, and while we had everything we needed to do this the weather worked to keep us from success. The two days we fished were the windiest within a windy week, and the gusts felt like they howled…

After the two days with John boy, I was invited to fish for a day with Drew Delashmit as a guest of Ted Margo. I’ve always enjoyed fishing with Ted, and part of the point of this trip was for him to test drive the beast skiff with an eye towards an eventual purchase of…

It’s a fine thing to be booked with a great guide on two fantastic weather days, and as much as I fish it’s still a surprise when the weather lines up with the days I’ve got scheduled. Earlier in the week the weather had been poor, cold and windy; by the time John and I…

Last week I fished for two days. The first was with Ian Slater, and we set our sights on tarpon. With the upcoming tarpon tournaments and my recent re-tooling of fish fighting, I was interested in getting the new boat on the water and us attached to some faces. We started early and had a…

After the facepunch that was detailed in the last report I had an opportunity to spend a few days fishing with a number of different guides and friends/family. Last Tuesday I fished with my mother, Vicky, and Aaron Snell. Wednesday last I fished with Howard Davis on our annual day together with Ian Slater, and…

After the March Merkin I traveled to Everglades City to fish with Steve and Chad. In my last six scheduled trips north I’ve been lining up quite closely with some far-from-perfect weather, and this trip was sadly no exception. We’ve kept ourselves occupied by snook fishing and some brief looks for tarpon on those trips…