Guide Letter

Passion Shines Through

As a guide all over Southwest Florida and the Keys, I’ve found fly fishing in saltwater one of the most rewarding sports, and I love to share the experience with our clients.

Snook is my favorite fish to chase with a fly rod–when it comes to committing to eating a chunk of feathers on a string, they are one of the smartest in the game. Tarpon on the fly get all the glory. And rightfully so. I grew up crazy about white tail deer hunting and can only compare it to that experience. Much like a deer, you wait for long periods of time for tarpon to appear, yet in this game of cat and mouse there’s no trigger to be pulled. Rather, you have to coax a 30- 50-year-old swimming dinosaur that weighs upwards of 150 pounds to eat a tiny fly. That’s where the magic is for me: We can communicate with that animal through the materials we have tied onto a bare hook and watch how he reacts. With a perfect cast and with a little twitch, wiggle, and luck, he swims over to it and nonchalantly opens and closes his mouth and moves on. Then all hell breaks loose. He usually has the standing line from the deck of the skiff onto the reel, and is halfway to Mexico before you know it. The experience is simply amazing, and I’m lucky to guide clients in some of the greatest tarpon and snook fisheries on the planet.

Through Eleven we have amassed the best guides–in the best places–to create tarpon magic every year. It’s hard work, both physically and mentally, but when it happens, no words suffice. If it were easy, everyone would do it!