2008 – 2018

Given all of my other duties, my guiding in the Keys was just for Mission Lodge guest and their friends (aka. future Mission Lodge guests). Moved back out to Oregon in the summer of 2018.

Never hold a Tarpon like this, unless you want your nose broke. I survived this early encounter, but I know a few of the legends with great stories of blood and chaos.
Prior to the big freeze of 2009, we kind of took these giant Bonefish for granted. Kind of. Not really. Ten pound fish regularly swam a lot of the flats, with the occasional, well educated, mid-double digit fish like this showing up to either humble you, ruin your day, or the stars aligned and it became your personal best. Stew Apte has the twin of this one mounted and sitting on his coffee table in the Keys.