Top 10 Moments and Memories of 2023

#10 – Perdido Key Combat Launch

It’s rare that summer affords me a break from bustle of work. As a result, time away is generally limited, and I rarely take advantage of the fishing opportunities offered around my parent’s home near Pensacola.

After winning tickets to attend the Triple Tail Classic (in nearby Fairhope, AL), however, we decided to take advantage and scheduled a weekend visit to the beach in the midst of the otherwise chaotic summer season.

While fishing was not the primary intent of the trip, I had my 9-wt in tow, and, after observing countless crashing birds early Saturday morning, a plan was hatched. With my father’s assistance, I’d drag a kayak to the beach at first light Sunday and combat launch for a morning of beyond the breakers fly angling.

What followed was an absolute blast as a mix of ladyfish, spanish mackerel and other species laid waste to my Clouser’s minnow.

#9 – Alabama Bass

Alabama’s Redeye Bass have been on my bucketlist since first reading Ben Roussel’s blog posts on the topic a number of years ago. So when the opportunity to spend a weekend targeting these small, endemic members of the genus Micropterus arose in early September, I jumped at it.

Joined by fellow RSFF angler, Robinson Almeida, we spent two days bouncing between four drainages in pursuit of these beautiful fish.

While neither of us succeeded in completing the slam (3 for 4 isn’t bad), it was an amazing weekend that saw me add five new species to my life list.

#7 – RI Striper

A trip to Rhode Island has been a highlight of my spring fishing in recent years. Generally, these trips have been centered around The Mayfly Project’s 25 on the Fly tournament. However, with no tournament slated for May of 2023, Jake and I elected to head south for our annual spring fishing trip.

Instead, Rhode Island was saved for the fall with Striper as well as the fall Albie run topping my to-do list.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature often has something to say about best laid plans, and I found myself flying into the path of Hurricane Lee as I made my way north in mid-September.

#5 – An Impromptu Sleigh Ride

In May, I found myself visiting my parents as I prepared to help post the GCCFFI Gulf Coast Classic. Maedbh and I had fished the channel the evening prior catching a number of Silver Perch, but had not landed anything of substance. Friday morning, however, as I sipped coffee and prepared to head to the Classic, I spotted one of my father’s resident Black Drum feeding along the edge of the dead end canal my parent’s home.

I’ve yet to get any of these “Big Uglies” to take a fly in the four years my parents have lived here, but instinctively set down my coffee and reached for the nearest fly rod.

As it so happened, that rod was my wife’s 6-wt rigged with an 8-lbs Tippet and size 6 Clouser. When the drum inexplicably took the fly on my first cast, I found myself in an unexpected situation with line tearing off the 6-wt as the drum sped back down for the canal.

Shouting for a kayak, my father came running with the one kayak that was not in storage – a child-sized Wilderness Systems sit on top that I had brought along as a gift for my nephew. Committed to making a go of it, I slid the kayak into the water and hopped in for a ride.

For the next 40 minutes, I found myself being towed around the neighborhood as my wife and father hopped fences and ran through neighbor’s yards attempting to capture the scene.

In the end, the fish proved too much for the light rod and I eventually conceded defeat, unable to lift the large fish.

Popping the tippet, I made my way to the Classic with a story to tell.

#4 – The Classic

During the latter half of 2022, Ben Roussel of Mountains to Marsh and I were invited to join the Board for Fly Fisher International’s Gulf Coast Council (GCCFFI). Among the various items on the Board’s docket at this time was planning and preparation for a 2023 Festival dubbed the Gulf Coast Classic.

Slated to take place at Gulf State Park (Gulf Shores, AL) in early May, the event would be a first of its kind festival for the region and would include two days of tying demonstrations, speakers and casting instruction along with a Catch-Photo-Release Mixed Bag tournament and a showing of the F3T Film Tour.

Perhaps a larger undertaking than the Board initially imagined, the project turned into quite the undertaking but, despite some inclement weather on day 1, turned out to be a great inaugural event with the support of some great regional speakers and a variety of sponsors including Orvis, Bajio and On the Fly Magazine among others.

#3 – The Tamiami Trail and South Florida Exotics

As mentioned above, my April visit to south Fl marked my second visit to the region in as many months. The first came in early March as Maedbh and I took advantage of an opening in our schedule as she transitioned between jobs.

Intent on targeting exotics across the region, we spent four days working our way from urban canals to the Tamiami Trail in pursuit of everything from Florida Largemouth and Snook to Peacock Bass and Snakehead. While we didn’t succeed on all fronts, it proved a trip to remember.

In a first for us, the trip provided us with the opportunity to collaborate beyond the confines of this blog as my travel narrative and Maedbh’s images found their way into the spring issue (p.80) of On the Fly magazine. A fun project, its a process we hope to repeat as time allows during the years to come.

#2 – A Tarpon at 100

As I began to focus solely on fly fishing these past five years, I decided to it was time to also begin tracking the species I had landed on a fly rod. While I had kept a similar list in my youth, it was long forgotten and, after landing five trout species in the summer of 2018, I decided it was time to restart the process.

The list grew slowly those first few years, but, after an exceptional 2022 campaign, I found myself toying with the possibility of hitting triple digits by year’s end.

As it turns out, those spring visits to Florida did just the trick, and I found myself sitting at 98 species as Maedbh and I prepared to visit Key West for her birthday in late September.

A non-fishing trip, I packed my 8-wt with the hope that a few minutes could be allotted each day. And, after a Bar Jack brought my count to 99 early in the trip, I was committed to hitting 100 before we headed home.

#1 2023 FFI Fly Fishing Skills Education Award Recipient

In early October, I received a call on my cell while helping out in the front office of my lab one afternoon. It was a Colorado area code, and I answered anticipating a conversation with a client who lived in the region. 

Instead, the voice on the other end of the line was Tilda Evans of Fly Fishers International. She was calling to inform me that I had been nominated for, and would be the recipient of, FFI’s 2023 Fly Fishing Skills Education Award.