Category Archives: Friendships

Adventure, Film, Friendships, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon Fly Fishing Guide, Social Media, Stories, Tiller, Travel, Whipray 16

Off season

Actually filmed during 2019 MLB Spring Training , Orvis just released a short vignette profiling Rick Porcello and his love for fly fishing.

Rick and I have been sharing the water together in Mosquito Lagoon and SW Florida for around eight years, so when he asked me to come down to help by running my skiff in support of the effort, it was an easy yes.

Working around his daily workout at Fenway South, we managed to spend a fair amount of time in the afternoons and evenings on the water.

My skiff makes a cameo appearance in the back half of the video.

Here is the result of David Mangum & Cavin Brothers work behind the lens.

Thanks to Simon & Tucker from Orvis for taking good care of me while I was there!

Adventure, Catch & Release, Explore, Friendships, Lifestyle, lowcountry, Skateboarding, Skiff, Skiff Dog, Stories, Travel

Up & Down in the Lowcountry

There is something about Charleston… The entire place has a vibe about it that is unmistakable. It’s the kinda of place where everyone is welcoming, happy and looking for the good in every situation.

After working the first half of the week in Washington, DC it was a welcome place and change of pace to wind down the week and ease into the weekend.

My family loves the place as much as I do, so they welcomed the chance to meet me there.

The next few days were spent eating, skating, fishing, drinking and being merry.

This is what Good Clean Livin looks like:

While we were there we made sure to get our yellow lab, Cabo, a session with Bre Williams. She takes amazing photos, check out her latest work on Instagram or click here.

Adventure, Aviation, Bahamas, Bonefish, Catch & Release, DIY, Explore, Friendships, Lifestyle, Stories

Flying Below The Radar

For a couple of years, I would get a call from time to time to fly right seat over to the Bahamas with a good friend who was working in South Florida as a charter pilot.

We would take folks over for the day and while they did whatever they were there to do, we would harass the local bonefish on the “airport flat”.

Getting there and back was also a lot of fun.

Get out there and seek adventure, even if its just for a day, or a few hours!

Act Locally, DIY, Explore, Flybrary Project, Friendships, Lifestyle, Space Coast

The Flybrary Project

In February 2019 I was minding my own business, gassing up my skiff and slapping a couple of stickers on Pump 1 at the Oak Hill Sunoco (The Meth Lab), when I noticed an old strip of double sided foam tape that was stuck in the middle of the sticker collage. My first thought was to scrape it off to make room for more stickers. As I contemplated it, I looked in my Whipray’s aft locker and saw a fly box laying there and decided to stick a couple of clouser minnow flies on it instead. I posted a story on my Instagram profile, @saltbum, offering them to a good home.

Over the next few weeks, the two flies disappeared and miraculously, new ones appeared from other fly anglers who frequent the store. After visiting Castaway Customs to order fly patches for the Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast, I stuck a 239 Flies patch on the pump to see if something a little more formal would inspire even greater participation.

We later talked about the number of stickers that had been accumulating on the gas pump as well as the addition of the fly patch on an episode of Tailer Trash. Thats when it really started to take off.

Carl Granger and I needed fuel before heading out to watch one of the rocket launches that frequently happen here along the Space Coast and while we were there, we posted another story featuring the fly patch with the “Need one, take one – Have one, leave one” mantra that is often associated with a cup of pennies alongside a gas station cash register. During the next podcast, the term Flybrary was used for the first time to describe it.

We sent a couple of our new Tailer Popper fly patches to our good friend Ben Sittig in Colorado so he could put them up, creating the first two Flybrarys outside of Florida. When he did, he posted a story on his Instagram and the response was HUGE.

Since then, the Flybrary Project has taken on a life of its own, creating a sense of community and a positive vibe within the fly fishing community nationwide. Flybrary Projects come in all shapes and sizes. The spirit of the movement is to create a community of sharing and collaboration amongst anglers. get out there and found a Flybrary in your neighborhood.

Trailhead Flybrary
Mobile Flybrary
Riverside Flybrary
Riverside Flybrary

Learn More about the Flybrary Project by reading about it on Fly Lords. Click Here

Adventure, Catch & Release, Explore, Friendships, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Space Coast, Stories

Guide’s Day Off: Tanner Severt – Fly Fishing Mosquito Lagoon

I’ve known Tanner for years.  He’s been in love with Mosquito Lagoon since before he was able to drive.  Years ago, his parents would drive him over to Oak Hill so that he could explore and fish the area from a Gheenoe.

There is no doubt he’s developed a vast knowledge of Mosquito Lagoon in that time, but what strikes me most about Tanner, is that he is always seeing more.

The last time we spent time on the water together was around Thanksgiving and as always, we had a great time and shared in the joy of giving a few redfish a quick ride in the skiff.

When planning to fish this time, our expectations for good weather was high.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the weather guessers got it wrong.

The calm winds and clear skies we were expecting were actually a fresh breeze from the NNW coupled with thick clouds.

The first area we chose to fish had decent water clarity and a bit of visibility tight along the shoreline.  As we poled along we spent time catching up on the latest happenings.  Its times like these that I cherish the most about a day on the water with a good friend.  Life’s normal distractions fade to the background and the topics of the moment are of our choosing.  They are typically something fun, upbeat and positive.

A redfish appeared along the shoreline, hovering along, over the sand  as it silently searched for its morning meal.  Tanner was the first to see it  and with a calm and deliberate clock position and distance had me focused on the prize.  My first cast landed precisely where it should to set up a crossing pattern between fish and fly, but while in mid flight, the redfish’s attention had been peaked by something else and after it had turned to inspect the distraction, it had reversed course,

Before being able to adjust to the change, the distance between the fish and the skiff had shrunk to inside of 30 feet.

Sadly, my accuracy at that range was horrible and the open loopy cast I attempted smacked the redfish right on the head and it was over.

Shortly after that failed attempt, we made a decision to try another area in hopes of changing our luck.  One redfish per mile of shoreline wasn’t really cutting it…

Despite the fresh breeze, we elected to fish open water over a well known bar to take advantage of better water clarity.

Tanner had hopped up front to give it a go and off we went.

The overcast skies were beginning to break up a bit and blue sky was peeking through at times.  As one of the breaks in cloud cover streamed past, the sunlight illuminated the light sandy bottom as if stadium lights had been turned on.  It was all we needed to expose a lone redfish that was swimming parallel to the skiff 45 feet away.

Tanner let fly a back cast as soon as the fish was seen and a couple of twitches of the fly were met with a flaring of gills that signaled success.

As I staked-off the skiff, we saw flyline turn to backing as the fish tried to make the county line in an effort to escape.

It didn’t.

mosquito lagoon fly fishing guide

We spent the next hour or two meandering to the south exploring a large flat where we saw several tailing fish, but I was unable to coax any of them to eat my crabby offering.

Eventually, I relented and offered Tanner the bow again and resumed the role of pushing.

What was once a cloud covered sky had morphed into a nearly cloudless sky and the brightly lit result had given us hope for even more opportunity.

We transitioned back to shorelines and eventually found another unsuspecting redfish that became our focus.

Tanner worked through a couple of presentations and soon was tight again.

The entire stalk and resulting hook-up was accomplished with a simple low whistle and nod, as I was on the phone with a client when the fish appeared.

I wrapped up the call just in time to hop down and snap a couple of pictures to memorialize the event.

space coast fly fishing guide redfish mosquito lagoon

We wrapped up our day on the water a little while later and headed back in.

I’m always thankful to have spent time on the water with Tanner, he’s one of the nicest folks you’ll ever meet.

If you’re ever looking for a capable guided to lead you to a successful day on Mosquito Lagoon, you’ll do yourself a favor booking him for the trip.

 

Adventure, Catch & Release, Conservation, DIY, Ethics, Explore, Film, fly fishing, Friendships, History, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Podcast, Social Media, Space Coast, Stories, Tactics, Tiller, Travel

– Ben Sittig Is A Huge Fly Fisherman – I’m A Huge Fly Fisherman Too

Recently, I had the good fortune to spend a few days on the water with my good friend, Ben.  As always, I picked him up at the Orlando International Airport and within an hour or two, he was tight on a redfish. Its become quite the tradition for us.

Ben is working on a new YouTube project and it was a “work trip” for him, so it seemed fitting to put him on the back of the skiff.

Here’s the result of that effort to get him up to speed with a push pole.

I’d say he’s well on his way to becoming a regular Pusherman.

In addition to stabbing a few fish in the face, we spent time talking about more technical issues like the following:

Make sure to follow Ben on his new YouTube channel, Huge Fly Fisherman, more content is on the way, including conservation issues facing Mosquito Lagoon.

Ben will also have his writings about the state of conservation efforts in Mosquito Lagoon featured in This Is Fly magazine very soon, check it out.

Stay Huge!

 

Adventure, Catch & Release, fly fishing, Friendships, Lifestyle, lowcountry, palmetto state, redfish, Stories, Tiller, Travel, Whipray 16

Why Firsts Are The Best:

Recently, the family and i loaded up and headed north to Charleston to meet up with other friends and attend an annual social event hosted by Flood Tide Co.

I’ve been friends with the founders of the lifestyle brand for years and it makes going to the event more like a family reunion.

While in Charleston there are a multitude of amazing places to eat, drink and generally enjoy yourself.  We made sure to take full advantage.

The first that is referred to in the title came for my friend Marc.  He had never fished a flooded spartina grass meadow for tailing redfish, so it was a priority to give him a shot to cross off a bucket list item.

Despite being windier than most would like, we found a couple of kindred souls willing to brave the gale and swell on the Wando River on Friday morning.

We powered through sporty conditions as the wind and tide worked against each other, stacking up chop that at times made me wonder why we had ignored the small craft advisory.

Once we made our way far enough up the river, leeward shorelines welcomed us.

Marc took the bow of my skiff and we started our search.

His wonder and excitement was palpable.  It was truly special to see his wonder and amazement as we pushed along over a meadow that had only hours before been high and dry.

We finally spotted a redfish tailing and maneuvered into position for a cast.  The ending was less than favorable thanks to a “trout set”.

With a mistake behind us, we found another fish and began what would turn into a 8- 10 minute game of cat and mouse as the fish would appear and disappear in the grass, moving along in search of prey with zero clue as to our presence.

The pace got a bit frenetic as the wayward redfish moved steadily towards us.  Casts were going long, wide, short; pretty much everywhere they could without being in the “spa” they needed to be.

In response to my suggestion; “hit it on the head…” Marc’s fly dropped by the fish’s left eye, maybe 3 inches away.  The response by the redfish was a definitive surge to inhale the crab.

And, just like that, Marc had his first Lowcountry redfish on the fly.

We had a hard time wiping the smiles off our face the rest of the day.

Firsts do that to a man.

 

 

Adventure, fly fishing, Friendships, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, Podcast, Skiff Dog, Space Coast, Stories, Tiller, Whipray 16

Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast

I’ve been maintaining a weekend retreat along the shores of Mosquito Lagoon now for going on 14 years.  Its where I retreat to unwind and spend my days on the water searching for fish.

Its from that little slice of heaven where friends and I hang out and record our experiences and thoughts about life,  fly fishing, drink beer and smoke meats.

If you’re inclined to enjoy shooting the shit at a fly shop or on the water with like mined folks, you may enjoy our podcast, Tailer Trash Fly Fishing.

 

Its hosted on Soundcloud and is available via iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

Find it here:  Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Podcast 

Between episodes you can keep up with us on Instagram.

@tailertrashflyfishing 

 

Adventure, Catch & Release, Conservation, Friendships, Lifestyle, Mosquito Lagoon, National Parks, Space Coast, Whipray 16

Tailer Park Turtle Patrol

I recently had the pleasure of getting on the water with Michael Marco to chase redfish in Mosquito Lagoon. It had been quite some time since we had last fished together, so we were overdue to spend some time on the skiff.

 

Like me, Michael spends a good bit of time on the road logging what we like to call “windshield time”. I was cruising northbound on Interstate 95 and had decided to call and check in to see how his new Skimmer Skiff was coming along and found out he was actually in the area for a day or two, so we quickly hatched a plan to capitalize on the opportunity to get on the water.

 

When he arrived in the early evening a good number of thunderstorms were just beginning to fire off and drift through the area. After watching the radar for a while, we accepted the reality of having to cancel our evening patrol plans, but quickly pivoted to dinner plans at the local, Goodrich Seafood.

 

There is no doubt when you roll through Goodrich that the food will be fresh and the beers cold, so we made the short drive there and had a feast.

 

After returning home, we put out a call to fellow Fly Fishing After Dark Podcast members Avery and Cameron to join us for some beers. Once they arrived we spent a few hours catching up and telling lies.

 

Michael was freshly back in town from a trip to the former Soviet Union where he and his father had spent a week fly fishing for taimen. Other than a very scant few details to peak our interest, he kept stories of the adventure to himself so that we can bring him on a future episode of the podcast to reveal them for the first time. Based on the couple of nuggets he did share, I can’t wait!

 

The next morning we made the two-minute trip to the landing to launch the skiff as the sun was breaking the horizon over the eastern horizon. Surprisingly, we ended up finding redfish sparse, despite the cooling rains the evening prior. The handful we saw while Michael was up, were of the prissy variety for which our home waters are known.

 

As we prepared to pole off of a flat to fire up the engine and scoot across the channel, we spotted what we at first thought was a hawksbill terrapin. As we poled over to take a closer look, we were both shocked to see it was actually a Florida Box Turtle that was swimming, albeit slowly, across the skinny flat separating two islands. We scooped the obviously tired dude up and gave him a skiff ride with the plan to release him later.

Michael insisted on poling the next flat, so I got the chance to fish for a bit, which was great.

 

We eventually found some more agreeable fish and I was rewarded with a nice redfish that ate a well placed fly before it could even be stripped. The redfish literally made a hard U-turn and inhaled the fly that had dropped six inches away along its right side. It was the kind of eat you don’t forget.

fly fishing saltwater

We exchanged ends of the skiff and worked for a while to get Michael a fish, but despite some epic casts and even a follow that we both expected to end in a hook-up, we had to end the day before we tallied a second fish.

 

Work was calling for us both and more importantly, Michael had an appointment he needed to keep, the delivery of his shiny new Skimmer Skiff.

 

As we idled towards deeper water preparing to run back to put the skiff on the trailer, I saw what I thought was a crab trap buoy. Moments after looking at it, I saw a head pop up and realized it was a turtle of some kind.   Turns out, it was another Florida Box Turtle! We scooped him up too and gave him a lift back to the Tailer Park along with his smaller cousin who had already been chilling with us.

male box turtles

Both of the box turtles were set free to roam the neighborhood shortly after getting back to the house.

It was great spending time with Michael, and without a doubt it will be a trip I wont forget, not just because of the great redfish moment, but also for the unique opportunity to encounter two box turtles swimming in a saltwater estuary.

 

Fly-fishing never fails to deliver great friendships and amazing experiences. I’m looking forward to hearing the full taimen story, getting out on Michael’s new skiff or some other adventure that leads us to amazing places.