This is jack heaven!

Alright already! I will update my blog. I can't tell you the amount of emails I get from people wondering what I have been up to since I have not been updating this blog. For everyone that has been wondering where I have been, I have been fishing! This is my busy season and finding extra time to download photos, edit them and then try and come up with something creative to write about is hard to find. Trust me I am not complaining, I love it when I am busy, there is no other place I would rather be then on the water putting people on fish. I am going to keep this mostly to a photo posting since most of you don't read this anyway. A couple quick highlights from the last couple weeks and if I left you out I apologize, everyone I fish with is worth mentioning.

To start, I had another chance to fish with Michael Katz and his son Joey. Joey is 14 years old and is autistic. I think everyone should take a lesson from Joey. There is no one I fish with that can compare to Joey's attitude, not only does he get super excited about the fish that he catches, he is equally as happy and understanding when one gets away. We had a great day with big jacks and tunnies but, the most memorable part of the day was when Joey lost his tunny that we had worked so hard to catch and all he said was, "everyone has to have a story about the one that got away." That sums up Joey. Thanks for giving me the pleasure to share the boat with you guys.

I also had a chance to spend four full days fishing with Stefan and Silva Schuller. They came all the way from Germany just to fish for the giant jacks that we have off our coast. Stefan is one of the editors for Global Angler, a German magazine that covers fishing from around the world. Global Angler has been great to me, they have featured me in many articles and have published lots of my photos. I actually get a handful of clients from Germany and Austria because of the exposer they give me. Europeans are crazy about jacks and to sum up the trip I will leave you with the words I continually heard from Stefan, in his German accent. "This is jack heaven!"

I guess you get the idea, fishing has been pretty good lately.

Keep checking back and if nothing has changed that just means I'm fishing!

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com/
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing

A long over due report

I have been very busy with my real job as a fishing guide and have been slacking on my duties as a writer and a photographer. So I will keep this short and sweet. I had a great opportunity to fish with Pat Ford for a couple days. On day one I guided Pat, and Paul Heatherington, the Oakley rep. It was a very windy and overcast day, seems to be par for the course this spring. I still managed to find a few daisy chaining schools of jacks and a couple huge mats of bluefish. Pat only took a few shots because the lighting was real bad but it was still a great day for all. Paul and everyone at Oakley has been so good to me so it was nice to treat Paul to a day on the water.

Day two was the morning after the film tour and not only did I have Pat on the boat but I invited Dave Teper from World Angling, the makers of the night's most popular film "Drum" and my good buddy Scott Cormier from Southern Angler. We were greeted to north winds but decent sea conditions. The game was on, we found multiple schools of jacks and Pat got plenty of photos. Dave is a great angler and I am really glad I was able to share with him one of my favorite fisheries. Who knows maybe we will do some filming one day, for all of you that have done the jacks with me I am sure you would love to revisit those memories. All the photos with this post were taken by Pat Ford, he did a great job as always and I can't wait until I have him on the boat again. I have more reports coming up with some of my photos and also about some of my favorite people, so stay tuned.

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com/
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing

Big Night in a Small Town- Fly Fishing Film Tour Stuart, FL

Thanks to Sam Root for the photos, I was too busy to even think about taking pictures so you saved me Bro.

What started out as small talk of a private showing for friends turned into the biggest tour stop in Florida. About two months ago I was talking on the phone with my friend Mike Holliday and the conversation came up about the film tour that The Drake bought from AEG. At the time the talk was cheap and I hung up the phone and headed to the shower after a long day on the water. As I stood scrubbing that days stink from my body the thought of bringing the tour to Stuart filled my thoughts and the second I got out of the shower I called Mike back and said let's do it! At the time we really did not know what we were getting ourselves into, we thought "Dude, we buy the rights to have an independent showing, rent the Lyric, and show it to friends." You can already tell at this point I had no experience with putting an event together. Friends, sure we have friends but enough to fill the Lyric? This is when the work started, first getting accepted by the tour as an independent stop, nailing down details with the Lyric, finding local sponsors and last but not least spreading the word. As all of you know I worked hard at spreading the word! It all went off without a hick up and the first day tickets went on sale we sold 100 seats and by show time we had over 300. 

I may be a bit bias but I thought the show went perfectly, the biggest complaint I heard was that the theatre was a bit hot and I think I was the one doing most of the bitchin'. I told everyone there was going to be loads of giveaways and for those of you that were there, I guess I can say, "I told you so!" 

I am going to use this as another opportunity to thank everyone that gave us stuff to give away. I apologize if I forget someone. Starting with our local sponsors, Crowder Rods (an 8wt.), Maverick Boats (hats), Bug Slinger Fly Gear (shirts, hats) Southern Angler (gift certificates, shirts, decals, fly box) Oakley (polarized shades), and Master Repair, a huge THANK YOU. 

Other contributors were, Shadow Graphics (shirts and an incredible original tarpon painting) Salt Life (hats, and shirts) Buff Headwear (what else Buffs) G Loomis (tackle bags, hats, shirts, decals) Scientific Angler (fly lines, fly boxes) Salty Shores (shirts, hats) Pat Ford (signed book) Whites Tackle ( fly box, hat, shirt) Ole Florida Fly Shop (fly box full of killer flies) Patterson's Saltwater Flies (flies) Stuart Flyfishing, (that's me if you haven't figured it out yet, micro fibre shirts, decals) and finally Hatch Fly Reels (a 7 plus fly reel!!) I am sure I forgot someone and I really apologize if I did but there were so many giveaways that I lost track. 

I would also like to thank Pat Ford for his slide show and also spending 2 days on the water with me. Be on the look out for my up coming post. I would like to thank Rick Murphy for taking the time to come to the show, we all know Rick is one of the biggest names in the industry and rightfully so. A huge thank you needs to go to Dave Teper from World Angling not only for showing up to the event but for sharing an exclusive look at his permit film. I had the pleasure of taking Dave fishing today and I can truly say his is a great angler and a better guy, thanks Bro! Not to mention, their film "DRUM" was a crowd favorite. Thanks to the guys at The Drake magazine and all the film makers. 

I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of people that took their time to come to our event. We had groups from Atlanta, Ocala, Orlando, Fort Myers, Miami, Vero, Melbourne, Palm Beach, Boca, Fort Lauderdale, Naples. Hell, Rob and his wife Lisa drove in from Illinois so Bug Slinger could be represented! So thank you to all of you that made the trip. I would like to say thank you to all my friends, and clients. Like there is a difference? Right about now is when the music starts to play and everyone starts thinking okay dude, get off the stage! 

I want to close by saying, "See ya next year!" 

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing