Chris Wittman grew up fishing every second he could. He never thought of becoming a fishing guide until he became one in 2000. This was the same year The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush and President Clinton, which was a financial engine that was designated to save the Everglades. Invaluable clean water is paramount to insure the future of wildlife, birds and fish, and regain its lost prominence. The Everglades is one of our countries most...

Kyle Holt is Taylor Creek Fly Shop’s head guide, whose favorite saying is "Fish Hard and Die Rich.” Having been raised in Springfield, Illinois, Kyle became heavily involved in fishing, hunting, and trapping the "flatlands" surrounding his home. As fortune would have it, Kyle's family decided to take regular vacations to Rocky Mountain National Park where he hooked his first browns, rainbows, and brookies - subsequently becoming hooked himself. In 1983 Kyle packed up all of his worldly...

Dan Lahren was born in the great western town of Livingston, Montana in 1955. When he was in 7th grade the local fishing icon, Dan Bailey, gave him a fly rod which cemented his life long love affair with fishing and the local waters around the Yellowstone river. Between the ages of 3 and 10 his family traveled often and he found himself in eleven different schools. At the age of 12, he was living alone in the Murray hotel, downtown Livingston. His parent’s marriage had crashed. The railroad...

David Denholm has had a voracious life in big game fishing. It all began when he caught his first Marlin when he was 12 years old. Denholm has traveled the world seeking the largest Swordfish, Marlin and Tuna, and at one time was one of the most prolific anglers in the the fabled Avalon Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island. He has experienced first hand what many great writers like Zane Grey and Hemingway wrote about, finning swordfish and giant bluefins over the white sand in the Bahamas. He’s...

Steve Herter is one of the most passionate people I’ve ever meet. Humorous, smart, adventurous, ingenious… Herter checks all the boxes. I’ve been in the elk woods with him and watched him empty the Yampa river with flies only Steve could design and tie. He is world class with everything he engages with. He has led one of the most varied and successful lives of an outdoorsman I know. Aside from developing three of the top ten lodges in North America from the ground up; Elk Trout Lodge, Elk...

Conway Bowman is known for many things, but for me he’s defined by passion. He’s crazy about his two boys, Max and Jackson, and his wife Michelle, who give him the base to seek out and pursue the unknown. He’s a fish hunter, and a good one that many people are aware of, specifically pioneering Mako shark fishing on fly in San Diego, minutes from his home. Adventure has no limits, and when discussing Bowman the conversation will take you deep into a fishing life well traveled. As host of three...

It’s all Tom McGuane’s fault… He’s the culprit who gave Robert Redford the book! Redford loved it, and his film, “A River Runs Through It” indelibly changed everything about fly fishing. Most offensive has been the amount of people around the world we’re now seeing on every body of water. Good for them, actually. Fishing is one of the most important, life changing things we could ever allocate a great amount of our lives to. The down side is the pressure on the fishery, whether it be...

Similar to many of our guests, Capt. Brandon Cyr is not only engaging and kind, he’s a giant of canny fisherman. And what does that exactly mean?Well, it means you know a fish's next move before it does. You know where you have to be 10 miles away with the perfect tide building in an hour. You can only understand these moves after you’ve dedicated your entire life to catching these particular fish of Brandon’s passions, tarpon, bonefish and permit. Being a fourth generation Conch helps, but...

Richard Black is that man that came a long as a young kid and changed what fishing greatness looked like. At 17, while still in school studying for his degree in marine biology, he had his captains license and was already out-fishing most of the seasoned professionals. His wow factor was real. Richard refined his craft at a blistering speed. His fishing dexterity became legendary; he could fish the gulf stream and the reef as well as the the flats around his home near Islamorada. He is...

The greatest permit fisherman could possibly be a man you’ve never heard of. He’s a man that has caught over 260 permit by himself either out of his kayak or wading. Jay Grant never had the funds to hire guides or mentors. He dissected the tides and popular permit flats from Key Largo to the distant flats west of Key West all on his own. He has struggled much of his life with alcohol and drugs and even spent some time incarcerated. There, he learned how to wood work which gave him some money...

Ian Slater is one of the most likable people you’ll ever meet. He grew up with a massive desire to win at whatever he pursued. His busy life eventually filtered down to hockey and fishing. It was an equal balance until his college years when he gave hockey everything, and a few years later a professional career became a reality. While playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs farm team he sustained a bad injury. When he was recuperating, he decided he wanted to reinvent himself and pursue a life in...

In 1959 when Castro was on the eve of taking over Batista and the future of Cuba was unknown, Florida’s fishing intelligence would soon hit pay dirt. Over the next six decades many of our premier guides, anglers and commercial fishermen were descendants of the mass exodus from that small Island only ninety miles from Key West, including our guest today, Albert Ponzoa. Albert was born later in Miami in 1962. He was the only male in the family, but as he says his two sisters have his fishing...

In 1953, Carl Hiaasen was born in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. A period of time when kids could hang out in wooded areas chasing things that kids chase. Many days were spent on bikes with fishing rods, well before the boom of growth. Their fun house would soon be transformed into parking lots and buildings, a solid reason for his irreverent thoughts. He and his best friend, Bob Branham, soon learned how to navigate around Biscayne Bay chasing their beloved bonefish. “Carl always wrote," said Bob,...

Captain Steve Kilpatrick grew up with a cane pole and a .22… Hunting and fishing has always been his life. I first meet this likable man in the late 80’s when I was fishing the fabled flats of Homosassa. He has always been impressively kind, and when I called to talk to him about the day he and his angler Jim Holland jr. caught the 202.8 pound world record behemoth, he was really excited about hosting us in his home. Remember this is an important fish. This fish is the greatest tarpon ever...

I am always intrigued by the big blue water world and pelagic species that swim there and perhaps it’s because I am not an avid offshore guy. Sure, I know about the standard tactics, rigging, and the general vicinity on where to fish, but when you speak to someone as in tune as Ray is - the typical fish talk quickly escalates to something much more fascinating. On today’s podcast, Ray conducts a master class on very interesting topics from bait handling to hook up ratios and everything in...

Dr. Lloyd Wruble is a successful, retired oral and facial surgeon by trade, and one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. He’s a soft spoken man with a passion for fishing, not just fishing, but backcountry, Everglades fishing in South Florida. He has fished the nooks and crannies of the Everglades for decades. It’s a labyrinthine waterway of creeks, black mangroves, bays, cypress trees, pines and sable palms that weave in and out and around forever and ever. Inside its world of salt and...

Bill Bishop grew up the way we wished we all could, in the woods surrounded by nature, with a supporting, loving family. Over the course of his life, Turkeys and Tarpon would became paramount for his adventurous heart. His father had a lease where family and friends hunted deer and gobblers. At a young age it was soon obvious, Bill was born a hunter & gatherer at heart. He learned how to speak to the birds like no one else. Bishop was extremely gifted with everything he touched. Not too...

Huey Anthony Cregg hit it big in the early 80’s with his band named "Huey Lewis and The News." Many of their songs went large on the Billboard hits, but you can’t get any bigger than the bands #1, Grammy winning song, "The Heart of Rock and Roll!” In 1984, his “Sports” album was a number one seller, a year when Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Prince were all over the airwaves and MTV was in its prime. Huey is 72 now - He was traveling, singing, and performing 75 shows a year until 2018...

Few have seen the evolution of tarpon fishing in the famous Boca Grande Pass as Frank Davis. In the early 1960’s, his family moved there and as far back as he can remember his Dad used to take him tarpon fishing. Pass fishing for tarpon began in the late 1880’s and by 1910 Boca Grande was booming. Over the next hundred and thirteen years Presidents, athletes, and movie stars were there to capture this prized fish and a photograph of a dead tarpon hanging next to them. In his teenage years,...

Benny Blanco is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but under his skin, his blood runs hot. In 2015, his life pivoted becoming a devout conservationists after Florida Bay lost over fifty thousand acres of his favorite fishing grounds. These grass flats were decimated by a large algae bloom cause by poor water quality and lack of fresh water. Joined at the hip with Captains for Clean Water, Blanco has been hand in hand with fellow guides and anglers alike on the footsteps of Tallahassee...

At 74 years young, George Copeland still has the fire in his belly to chase the snook tide late into the night. As a young man of 8, he found a passion that would drive him deep into the fishing abyss. On his bike, similar to Steve Huff, he'd race around Ft. Lauderdale looking for snook and tarpon that would regularly be found in Tarpon Bend, New River, and all the canals in the center of a rapidly growing town. He would soon partner up with buddy, Steve Kantner, and spend much of his time...

As a fifteen year old tenderfoot building boats, Ansil Saunders would’ve never believed he’d one day become a national hero. Stemmed from Scotland, his extended family of boat builders would eventually build the most sought after bonefish skiffs on an Island in the Bahamas. Five generations later, Bimini’s Saunders was not only working with local wood to build skiffs, but he too started to guide and eventually became legendary by catching the all-tackle world record 16 pound bonefish (which...

At 49 years of age, Russell Kleppinger has found himself as one of the all time greats in the tarpon fishing world. He was consistently catching around a thousand tarpon a year before he stopped counting. Last year in 2022, he caught three fish over 200 pounds. (based on measurements) Fishing was all he can remember thinking about. When he was five days old, his Dad ran the family to the Bahamas. His Dad was a terrible fisherman who ran aground all the time on the inside flats of Biscayne...