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Saltwater Fly Fishing Video

I don’t know what I enjoy more about saltwater fly fishing, the variety of species I pursue or the cast of characters I meet during the pursuit. Saltwater fly fishing is still relatively new in many respects. The saltwater fly fishing legends like Chico Fernández and Stu Apte helped to define the sport of saltwater fly fishing; hence there is a wealth of knowledge as it relates to species like bonefish, permit, tarpon and places like the Florida Keys, Belize, Bahamas etc.. I live in Maine and I make fly fishing trips a couple times a year to places like Mexico or the Florida flats or the Florida Everglades; but those are not my home waters and those are exotic trips for me. I am amazed at all the fly fishing opportunities that my buddies down in Florida have available to them. Exotic fish such a bonefish, tarpon and permit are only a bike ride away. Through Flies and Fins, I have been fortunate enough to expand my personal fly fishing network in way that boggles my mind. I feel blessed for the fact that when I go to Florida, I have friends like Dave Tepper of fliesandfinssouth.com, to share with me their networks and intimate knowledge of the fisheries they know so well. With that said, I often notice that when I travel to these type of “exotic” saltwater fly fishing destinations that the fly fisherman whom I am fishing with know

very little, if anything at all, about my home salt waters. I often find myself saying, “Yah man, we got some pretty killer stuff available to us. Catching hard tales from foot, chasing bluefin Tuna in shallow water, spanish mackerel, stripers, bluefish, blue shark, mako shark and more.” They typically respond with “Really?” I then say, “Yah man, you gotta come to the Northeast and try fly fishing for some tunoids from foot or boat. Pursuing albies, bones (bonito) and bluefin tuna when they are feeding on top is killer! Also, the stripers are amazing because we fly fish for them in so many types of environments such as open ocean surf, estuaries, rivers, salt ponds, flats sight-fishing … so many possibilities” They seem genuinely intrigued but conversation usually goes back to big tarpon, bonefish, permit, snook, marlin or whatever type of amazing species we are targeting in their back yard. So, I was super excited when Dave Tepper called me one day and said, “Dude, I have been down here in Key West fly fishing for Permit and shooting some film with Will Benson and a bunch of other Florida guys. We are having a big film release party in Key West at some movie theatre and we’d love for you to supplement our “Permit” film with a short film of some of the stuff you and your buddies do in the salt water.” So, I was psyched because I said to myself “This is an opportunity to really show what we do up here in the Northeast.” This is an opportunity to show “the world” that some of my saltwater fly fishing buddies like Ed, Alex, Mark, Mike etc.. are amazing fly fishermen and the guys like Ken Abrams that paved the way for them and me are legends too. So, hopefully the “Permit” film was a success for the boys in the keys and hopefully this little “Flies And Fins Saltwater” teaser that was shown was well received. It includes some fly fishing footage from many different locations; but the first 2 and a half minutes focus on Northeast saltwater content in an effort to highlight and show some of the fly fishing we do up here. In many respects there are many similarities between Northeast saltwater fly fishing and anywhere else. In other ways, what we do is somewhat unique to the Northeast. Whatever the case, all I know is that I love Northeast fly fishing and the salty characters I’ve met on Northeast beaches, flats, break walls and boats are some of the funniest, fun and best guys I have ever fly fished with. My most memorable fly fishing memories are somehow related to the Northeast Saltwater and the cast of characters I have met and continue to meet along the way. The only thing that could be better than last salt season, is next season.