Home Town and Waters: Clarkesville, GA. The northeastern corner of Georgia has a large diversity of species to chase with a fly. In my back yard, I have endless miles of trout rivers, as well as a diversity of warm water species. I cut my teeth guiding for trout both wade fishing a floating, and still do a fair amount, but now I focus much of my time around the warmwater scene. We are fortunate to have some incredible river fishing in our area, but my two favorite species would be striped bass and shoal bass. The shoal bass is a very unique black bass species with a very limited range, and qualify as a true bucket list fish. They are a beautiful specimen, and have all qualities a sport fish should have. Throughout the year, I can be found chasing either striped bass or shoal bass from my G3 jet boat, or my Smithfly raft.

·      Mastery Titan Long: Often times I find myself casting a wind resistant fly, and I need a line which will deliver the fly to the target with ease. The Titan Long allows my to make pinpoint cast to the target, yet the longer belly aids in on water line management. This line is a must have for any warmwater angler!

·      Sonar Titan Clear Tip Intermediate: This line excels when I need to fish the middle water column. I tend to prefer fishing lighter flies as they cast easier, and have a much more realistic action in the water. The Sonar Titan Taper Clear Tip allows me to cast flies with ease, while also effectively placing them in the strike zone.

·      Sonar Sink 25 Cold: Sometimes you just have to get down and dirty. When the water is cold, or the fish are feeding near the bottom, it is important to be able to get your flies down quick and keep them there. In river fishing, the fish can often be found in small buckets in the river, and being able to get your flies into the strike zone quickly can be the difference between catching fish, and going home empty handed.

Where would you most like to fish in the future?: I have a few destinations on my radar, but I think the one I would like the most would be the Amazon.

·      I caught my first trout, at a young age, with an Eagle Claw rod, Martin Reel, and a bream popper. Wasn’t aware of how to fight it with the rod, so I just threw it on a sand bar and wrangled it in with a hand lining technique.

·      I have been known, during my sleep, to shift to sleeping sitting Indian style on the floor next to the bed.·      I met my wife while shopping at the super market. She had a case of wine and a cart full of TV dinners, so I knew she was single. I bumped into her cart with mine, which was filled with local craft brew and dog food, as a way to strike a conversation. I just knew she would see the bag of dog food and it would catch her attention. I mean, who doesn’t love a dog? I may have been a little aggressive with my cart bumping, as roughly 50 cans of Green Giant green beans crashed into the aisle. She looked at me as if I had done something wrong. After some small talk, she agreed to give me her number. I later returned the dog food, as it was just a decoy.