Watch Video:Florida Fly Fishing
This fish tale, video and tune is really two stories in one. The first story is about a recent fly fishing trip to Florida with my good friend Boz. Asalways, it was a great trip! We did many of same things that I have been doing for many years on my Florida fly fishing trips. We fished the Tamiami trail and plucked some snook out of some of ‘our’ honey holes. We met up with our long-time friendMarshall who lives in Naples and fishes the trail regularly for Tarpon. He dialed us into some new Tarpon flies and new Tarpon spots. We met up and fished snook lights with my long time friend joe-m,Joey’s dad, who first introduced me to snook and tarpon, the Tamiami trail and fly fishing theFlorida Everglades region many moons ago. Dave Teper wasn’t home and able tofish with us, as he was working on a fly fishing film in Louisiana with Will Benson. So, weconnected with him by doing the next best thing and stopped into his home fly shop, Mangrove Outfitters. We bought some fly tying materials, flies, a hat for my son, the newest copy ofThe Drake Magazine and shot the breeze with mutual friend and owner Tom Shadley. We also did some new stuff that we had never done before!Raul Montero, who Dave Teper fishes with in Biscayne, lined us up with Joe Gonzalez for a killer day of bone fishing on the offshore flats! Throughout the entire trip we, did what we always do, and kept in touch with many of the guys in our crew who weren’t with us and they fished vicariously through us; wanting to know all the details of every day of fishing. Emails at night tokory,Alex,Greg andEd, quick calls towaterwhippa and joey, text message updates toAustin and so on and so forth. Also, coincidentallyJason Curry, happened to be in Florida and we met up with him to fish for ½ a day. So, I was telling my friend John fromRail Riders about this new fish tale and video that boz was editing for us and we were really happy with. I was telling him about how boz and I re-recorded the “Flies And Fins” tune to use with the video and then I realized something very cool. I have always loved fishing andmusic. They have always gone hand-in-hand with me for as long as I can remember. My guitar and music is sometimes more important on a fly fishing trip than my fly rod. I don’t claim to be good at either fly fishing or music and I may very well suck at both. But, being “good” is not the goal and not what I like about my fly fishing and my music. Fly fishing and my music both offer an escape for me and a way to express myself. So, when sitting down to write this fish tale, I realized the bigger story here is the story of Flies And Fins. The song actually came before the name of the website; as this website started out as a blog as a sub-domain of another site. So, the song is what inspired the name of this website. And, when Boz and I re-cut the song, and I sang the lyrics again it amazed me how the lyrics made perfect sense to me 6 or 7 years ago and they still make perfect sense today. I realized that the song initially inspired the website name back when the blog had a couple members and maybe 20 unique visitors per week. Fast forward through 6 years, thousandsposts,fish tales,videos, pictures,tunes, chats, 4481 members (and growing) from all around the world, Hundreds of thousands of unique visitors and countless trips that I have been on and lived vicariously through others. Now, the song still makes perfect sense but the big difference is that the website inspires the song. And what inspires me most about the website is the people. Flies and fins is not really just a website. It’s not really about tarpon, bonefish, snook, steelhead, tuna, stripers or any fish. It’s not about the bestvideo or the best writing or the best fly fisherman. It’s not about any 1 person or any 1 thing. It is about an unsaid but universally felt passion and common perception of fly fishing amongst all of us. All of us 4,481 members “know” each other and even though we live in different parts of the world and may or may not have actually met – we all “get it.” And, when new people visit the site; they either “get it” or “don’t.” And there is no in-between. And, every time a new person joins and becomes a member and submits a fish tale or adds value to our forums by asking for help or legitimately interacting with us and helping us … we all say to ourselves, “There is another person who gets it.” So, thank you to each and every one of you who “get it” and for helping to keep my passion for fly fishing and music alive. I sincerely hope that Flies And Fins has somehow in some way provided you with some sort of inspiration at some point. When I look at all of the people and all of the fish and all of the places everyone has been to and the things that everyone has done – whether its in their local stream or far way exotic places; I am more inspired every day. And, I am inspired most not by any 1 fish or place or trip or skill or accomplishments. I am inspired most by the universal and undeniable passion that we all have for fly fishing.
Great read. It is amazing how fliesandfins has grown over the years. I can remember submitting my first fish tale when I lived on the east end of portland maine in an old apartment. It has been a fun ride and I look forward to seeing new memebers fish tales and sumbitting new ones myself. Best to all who make flies and fins a great fly fishing outlet when we cannot be doing what we all enjoy.
The video and music mixed perfectly with the story all 3 had a common quality or feeling to them. You should have titled this story the great escape! That’s what I would have called it. There is no particular part of fly fishing thats better than another what we like about it is what makes it more than the sum of it’s parts. It is what it is. But you know that, you photographed it, sung about it and wrote about it.
Just clicked on the underlined names and places, sweet! You get added info when you click, like it!
Excellent fish tale, excellent video and so very true, great work! It is for sure the passion that brings us all together and inspires us and allows us to share something special that makes us happy and keeps us alive!
Very cool fish tale Jeremy. I don’t think I could make it through a day without at least checking in on this site. It’s amazing how the site has grown. I remember first finding it while doing a search for Maine fly fishing. I remember it starting as a site that primarily discussed the great fishing in Maine. Then all of the sudden it took off big time to national and now international levels. I would have missed out on a lot of great experiences if you never created the original blog. Looking forward to all the new tales and experiences that the future has in store.
jeremy, Thanks for being my friend. Its been quite some time since the first time we met on the beach 6 years ago. Throughout these years there have been a lot of ripped lips and well earned good times. Your video shows a lot more than most viewers could even understand. Not the fishing, but the iced coffee to marshall’s car shot, or the little black fly getting tied, then faded into the trail tarpon’s mouth… Sorry I couldn’t be there.
Dave, without your friendship and the friendship of our whole crew – I am not even sure that I would fly fish all that much. For me, its all about “the total story” of all of us and the continuation of that story being part of the story that continues to evolve and change and get more dynamic each and every day. You are so right. I can remember the day we first met in Naples, Florida and you showed me that Snook spot and we had a blast casting poppers to Jacks and Snook on the incoming tide. Then you came to Maine and fished with me for a week (one of the best trips ever), then steelheading with whip and everyone a few times, then the trips down there with you and kevin and all your fly fishing friends down there in the back country fly fishing scenece, then we did lots of work together in technology, then we created http://www.fliesadnfinsSOUTH.com for you and that led to you and will benson hooking up and creating world angling (of which I am so proud to be part of “the crew”), and that led to you guys basically redifining saltwater fly fishing video, and that lead to you guys winning the Drake Fly Fishing film tour with “connected” and the our paths continued to grow and intersect and both of us became “connected” through an enormous network of mutual friends and media outlets and fly fishing shops and guides and projects etc.. And, here we are today .. with me still producing my little videos on point and shoot cameras and keeping fliesandfins.com running .. and you producing sick HD films and winning fly fishing film tour awards and both of us working towards the same goal .. being good friends .. staying “connected” through good people and good work and quality content .. and interweaving the complex but very meaningful relationship between Flies And Fins/Flies And Fins South/World Angling… Who knows what the future hold? Doesn’t much matter as we have never known. We just fish our balls off .. keep the energy going .. stay focused on quality content and quality people and stay “connected” through world angling/flies and fins. Its really that “Simple.”
So, I look forward to a lifetime of keeping Flies And Fins afloat, making my little “low def” home grown music with my shitty music , Keeping Flies and Fins real .. and watching you and willy keep amazing everyone with some of the worlds (actually the worlds best) fly fishing film … Like I told you on the phone … Any FILM that you and willy ever do will always get top billing on Flies And Fins and FLies and Fins is happy to be your “Theater” to show the fly fishing world .. the amazing talent and stuff you guys do in the salt. Period. Friends for life bro.
PS. Maybe next trip to Florida me, you and willy can get a chance to make a few casts .. (but only if the Holman Brothers are there to pull us out of any jams we get ourselves into:)
Peace bro! Tell the whole crew that I say hello .. can’t wait to see all the new film from Louisiana .. but get your asses back to Florida would ya, so we can FISH!
Nice to see you actually have a talent…..You are a much better singer/songwriter than you are an angler….
Bear — do I Ed and I need to come down there again and pull you off those flats and out of the skinny water into the deeper water of the Boca grande or whatever that channel is called .. I mean come on, those permit are just too hard sometimes for a Northeast guy like me 🙂 .. Put the pole down .. start up the motor .. and chase some albies around … when us northerners come down there .. a permit or whatever is nice .. but sometimes anythin’ that puts a bend in our rod is sweet too! that trip we did with you was awesome! it especially is nice having a flats boat that does 70mph when chasing the tunoids .. you gotta drag that thing up here sometime and bring willy, dave etc.. with you .. help me to catch the bluefin tuna in maine .. they are big and FAST (chasing mackerel) .. so 70mph would be nice :)))! .. Anyway, good hearin’ from ya brotha! can’t wait to see some of the film for louisiana that you guys have been shooting (dave’s been telling me all about it and the amazing stuff you guys are getting) … see ya soon in florida .. maybe you can help me catch my first permit! but if i suck to bad, we’ll just slip off the flat, start the motor and chase some jacks!
Jeremy,
I really liked your new video. You are a very talented artist and fisherman and your newest work shows this. Definitely a step up with the tight editing! I can’t tell you how cool it is that you make your own tracks. Dave and I always struggle with the music for our video while you just make your own. Very cool! And you did manage to whack a few fish in the process, which is the best part. cheers.
Will,
Thanks man. That means a TON coming from you. Tell ya what, I got a Simple Solution to get some tracks. You are a killer writer, I read your blog posts all the time. I’ll bring down my piece of S* guitar. Teper has rhythm with all the beats he cuts up on his digital stuff (that’s an art, big time) .. but he’ll have to apply that to bongos. If I remember correctly bear had a guitar at his house and he plays .. and are you kidding me the key west streets are loaded with all sorts of killer musicians playing for a buck or two .. So, we round up the guitars and bongos and the necessary crew members you bring the paper and pen and video equipment (NO COMPUTERS ALLOWED) .. if we have to we’ll grab a street artist of duvaul street for good measure … grab a couple flats boats .. head out to the marqueses and write a bunch of tunes while looking for the first PERMIT that I NEED to catch .. will probably take me a good week or so (or more) .. In which case .. I’d end up with the permit that I have been praying for .. and you and dave would have an entire kick ass album for world anglings next film! … We could call our band “The Marqueses” 🙂 🙂
PS. Would love to take credit for “Tight Editing” .. But my buddy “Boz” (greg bostater) – the guy fishin’ and playin’ the tune with me took all of the content and pieced it together and edited it up. NICE WORK BOZ!
Jeremy and Boz, great to fish with you again down here on the Trail. I see you guys found some new spots too. Thanks again for all the fun times and good songs.
Marshall
Agreed Joey. It is amazing in so many ways. It seems like yesterday that you were living in Maine, prior to moving to Colorado and we were playing tunes down at the bars in portland on tuesday nights, meeting after work to fish for stripers in the salt and/or catching the evening hatch up at shawmut … Lot’s of trips and good times and laughs since those days .. and many more to come!
Greg – you were the very first member of this site back in the days when it was just a blog and it didn’t even have a name .. and back in those days we fished all over maine together .. well, times change and we don’t fish together nearly as much as we used to but we always manage to still get out and make a cast or two .. and you will always be an integral part of flies and fins and a great friend of mine and many others .. after all the “Flies And Fins” tune has a verse that was written with you in mind.
“I fish with an ex-psychiatrist and one day he told me this – the earth will spin into the sun. He says if that day comes it won’t matter what anyone done – pack your backs we’re going to the Margaree.”
Kory – Thanks bro! Exactly how our entire crew feels .. that was evident based on our last steelhead trip and the late night discussion about “the energy” of fly fishing. I like to think that flies and fins is plugged into that “energy” which can be held, explained or defined .. And, with guys like you as part of the flies and fins crew and helping to develop and maintain it and keeping flies and fins ALIVE .. i think we can stay true to ensuring that fliesandfins.com is always about “the energy”
ChrisR .. Thanks so much – and thank YOU. Because, I just looked and you have been part of flies and fins since “May 17 2005” .., So, 4 years .. that’s a long time man .. and to think that after 4 years you still say “I don’t think I could make it through a day without at least checking in on this site” says EVERYTHING. And thank you for bringing so much to the table for flies and fins via some amazing fish tales, great insight and value added advise and questions in the forums and watching out for the integrity of the site and keeping an eye on it.. With members like you who really truly care about this site checking in on it “every day” .. its nice to know that there is a huge network of people looking out for it and protecting its authenticity. Thanks chris!
Marshall – what can I say man .. fishing the trail and ‘your’ tarpon spots without seeing you and paying homage to “the trail mobile” (The K Car With Snook On front license plate and fliesandfins.com sticker on back window) .. would be a sacrilege .. i can’t tell you how killer that K car is .. I was a little dissapointed to hear you would be painting it .. 🙂
tight all the way around guys…especially loved the redux of the tune, definitley a timeless track there. I am so grateful to be part of the community here, all the new places I’ve seen and people i have met is astounding, so true that it’s not about 1 person, 1 fish etc..however, it is about a common passion of the outdoors, fly fishing and all that is wild and free. Quite an evolution over the years here for sure…very cool to have established life-long, meaningful friendships with so many quality people as a direct result of the positive energy that has been cultivated here.
Sick video…nice work.
Thanks Jeremy to have put togeher pieces of our passion, allowing us to share our great time on the water through this website from every part of the world. Thanks everyone involved by their stories and passion to make it so alived and true that it gives me the feeling to be a part of a great community.
Sweet fishing, video and music. Really neat.
Looking forward to the next tale.
excelente video y muy buena musica , felicitaciones ….conoci flies and fins gracias a Alex , es increible que gente de todo el mundo se conecte a traves de internet y encontrar pescadores con la misma pasion
todavia no nos conocemos pero escuche tanto de ustedes que parece que los conociera de toda la vida y el dia que logremos juntarnos va a ser fantastico …donde sea , pero seguro sera pronto .
saludos
Miguel
Bariloche -Patagonia -Argentina
Looks like an awesome trip to a warm place (still frozen from chasing steel). i have only been on this site for a few years now and it’s great to see that this site has grow to quite a “network of people” all sharing a basic interest.
As always thanks for sharing the vid and tune!!!
Right on Alexis .. and what would flies and fins be without so much input from you! and so many years of fish tales from Guadeloupe in the French west indies !! I’m tellin’ ya .. i am gonna make it over there one of these years and catch one of those Guadeloupe bonefish, tarpon, snook or permit … can’t wait! cheers brotha.
Thanks geib — ps .. thanks for the 12 wt! i’ll put it to good use — we gotta get out this year and lace up to a bluefin together .. peace.
Waterwhippa,
I would have to say that you are right at the very top of the core flies and fins crew. Looking back to 2005’ish .. It was you and I that first met via this website and the web of friends and networks grew like a wildfire from there … too many countless fly fishing memories to even count .. countless hours on the phone planning and scheming the next fly fishing trip … from spring striper trips to rhode island, countless trips to all sorts of steelhead river, trout fishing on the delaware, albies on the wall, florida on the trail, the fingerlakes, canada for atlantic salmon, maine rainbows, maine stripers and so on and so forth … you and i have logged many of miles together, ripped alot of lips, have countless mutual friends and share a killer network in the fly fishing world .. look forward to many more years of trips and late nights of laughing with the whole crew in the salt and chasing steel in the great lakes .. flies and fins wouldn’t be what it is today without WATERWHIPPA. peace bro.
PS. get that spey rod fixed — cuz you and i got a bone to pick with those atlantic salmon this spring/summer on the miramichi .. tie up some “shady ladies” and let’s get it done, again.
two can – where is your partner in crime? CHROMEFINDER? .. can’t even remember how many times we have bumped into each other while chasing steelhead … as we have always laughed about .. it seems that wherever we are fishing whether its “out west” ontario or some ‘secret’ stretch of the Salmon river .. inevitably, you and chromefinder are there either already in “our” spots .. or soon to follow behind us .. good luck in 2009 man .. and i know we’ll cross paths on some steelhead river .. tell chromefinder i say hi.
Miguel,
Gracias! La Argentina y la tripulación es una parte increíble de moscas y aletas! Esperemos que este será el año que nos llega a todos los peces en la Argentina. O, tal vez llegará a los EE.UU. con Alex este verano! Como siempre digo, miro con mucho interés para viajar a la Argentina para la pesca .. pero lo que esperamos es que la mayoría de la pesca con mosca con Alex, usted y el resto de la Argentina y aletas Tripulación moscas! Hasta pronto!
Jeremy and Boz, another astounding video. I remember years ago listening to the fliesandfins song the day it hit the site and i loved it, and now its even better with a fresh new sound. great job, i’m downloading the tune on my ipod as we speak.
It is amazing how much this place has changed since I first got here. I can’t wait to see what else emerges as the website grows older! and i was just thinking, not on has this site provided a place for me to feed my passion for fly fishing, but also a place to write and learn. I’m sure I can attribute my good grades in english classes throughout high school from reading and writing on fliesandfins.com
p.s. i loved the shot of that lizard (iguana?) swimming in the water as well. nice work guys.
Awesome
Wow, nothing I want to say hasn’t been said already.
Always appreciate the Fliesandfins videos and good fish tales.
Love this site because it’s more about the lifestyle of fishing and less about all the latest gear. It’s good to see so many anglers appreciating fishing on a deeper level.
You guys have it good in the states… Hopping states, you’ve pretty much got the whole range of fishing at your fingertips – good trout, tropical species, bluewater pelagics.
Make the most of it, and may your rods stay loaded and nodding to the headshakes of big fish.
Austin,
Everyone who has been on this site since the beginning knows the significance of you. Rather than take on some sort of big effort to “save the world” or whatever .. we kind of did something more meaningful and smaller and felt that by positively affecting 1 kids life with fly fishing .. that was something we were able to do. So, I think you were 13 at the time – with an obvious passion for fly fishing and fly tying – you went to TU’s trout camp and all those things .. and then we took you under our wing! Waterwhippa helped you catch your first steelehad, Boz helped you catch your first real nice Salmon on the penobscot, Greg gave you rods and flies, I put you to work during the summers filming and helping with web development work in the fly fishing industry, Jason-C helped you catch the biggest trout out west and so on and so forth. You saw places and caught fish that many might never see and catch. Big stripers on the south side of block island, bonefish, monster brookies, madison river, bighorn river, florida keys, florida everglades, big chrome steelhead and brown trout, rhode island, connecticut, albies, bonito, bluefin tuna trips in maine and so on and so forth ..
NOW – you’re off to college. 18 years old and more interested (to some degree) in chasing girls, hanging out at parties and planning where you will go to college! THAT is how it should be! Of course, we will all still fish with you and look forward to it, always! But, you are entering a new space in life — And, if nothing else, I hope all those fish and places and people taught you more than just being an incredible fly fisherman. I hope you learned a little about some skills and qualities that you will be able to use for the rest of your life. Skills such as the value of a persons character, working hard and earning the things you have. Everyone knows that you appreciate all of the opportunities you had and places you went and things you did . that’s why we took you under our wing in the first place .. and continued to do so all these years. I know that I can say on behalf of everyone who has watched you grow up through all of these years, that if all of those opportunties helped you to enter into “the real world” .. with some valuable and life long skills and .. than it was all worth it! .. Thanks austin.
Thanks!
Piscineidiot,
Thanks man .. and long time no “see”! Good too see ya — hope all is well in Australia! And what would flies and fins be without the Barramundi and Golden Travellay fish tales from YOU. Gotta be honest, befor your fish tale — I had no clue what a Baramundi was .. and now they seem to be the “talk of the town.” So, everytime someone say – “Oh man, I really want to catch a Barramundi!” I am and probably forever will be reminded of your fish tales about fly fishing for barramundi in australia. Anyway man — hope to see many more fish tales from “down under” for years to come and who knows, maybe someday we’ll get a chance to make a few casts together in australia? As, that is a destination that I would be so grateful for the opportunity to fly fish. And, if you ever find yourself in the United States .. I know that many people will be more than willing to help you out .. and, I am one of those people. So, if you ever come to the USA – you know where to find me.
peace bro.
he is still around…. have another drift boat so spring steel will be game on soon. Oh yes i am sure we will run into ya searching for steel. I still trying to get him to go to Maine. I need to float penobscot with boz. I had to back out of the last trip (long story)
Cheers bud, I really appreciate that.
Just returned from a trip to New Zealand and have fallen in love with trout fishing too. It’s a pity that I didn’t land any fish worth taking a photo of. The closest I came was hooking and jumping off a 5lb brown. Ah well… already planning another trip, so next time!
I’d be very happy to help you out if you ever came to Australia. Having a big wet season at the moment, so fishing’s a little limited, but that means that there’ll be lots of wee ones by the end of it.
You know what? I might come to the states at some stage too. Just got to get some money together first.
Catchya soon,
Owen
Yo, I’m still around. I’ve been CRAZY busy at work as of late. Currently wishing for warm temps, Spring Steel and Delaware Drys. I might hit the Eastern Sierras for a fish/ski adventure in the next few weeks. Anyone up for Pyramid?