ABOUT

My fishing background started in the backwaters of Florida’s Panhandle. As a kid, I dreamed about fish, laughed, and even cried over them. I’ve plotted, planned and schemed against them. I’ve chased them, and they have chased me. I’ve photographed thousands of them and written a million words about them. And, yes, I’ve even caught a few along the way. I was obsessed with fish until they somehow became my living.

After graduating from Auburn University in 1993 with a degree in communications, I moved back to Tallahassee, Florida and started a lawn care business, hoping to fish as much as possible. 

Initially, my fishing passion centered on professional bass fishing. I spent most of my 20s competing as a co-angler in BASS and FLW events. While traveling the pro circuits, I discovered a couple of things that would define my future. One, landscaping and bass fishing don’t mix: planting petunias while bass are on beds is the epitome of frustration. Two, pro fishing circuits were brimming with dozens of untold stories about man and fish. Fishing tournaments blend two of man’s basic inclinations: the desire to fish and the desire to compete. These elements have rendered some of the most awe-inspiring stories of sacrifice, determination, risk, loss, heartbreak, humor and heroics that would rival any storyline in mainstream sports. In addition, pro fishing circuits provided a rare front-row seat to anglers’ obsessive quest to understand fish and the evolution of better ways to catch them.

For some reason I felt these fishing stories needed to be told. I was convinced if people better understood exactly what fishing pros go through to pursue their passion, it would help grow the sport of professional fishing – a rather ambitious assumption on my part. Fueled by that notion, I sold the lawn equipment in 2000, purchased a camera, computer and plenty of notepads and hit the pro circuits to write and photograph the side of pro fishing few ever see. 

While mining those unique stories, I have been fortunate to share a boat with many of the world's top bass pros. Eventually, my freelance work appeared in the pages of BASS Times, Bassmaster, FLW Outdoors Magazine and many other magazines and websites, including the popular Japanese publications Basser and Tacklebox.

By 2003, I was covering numerous fishing tournaments, mostly for FLW Outdoors. In time, I became their top freelancer, eager to cover any fishing tournament they conducted, including redfish tournaments, which led me to inshore and nearshore coastal fishing.

By 2006, tournament fishing of all types had reached a feverish pitch. I traversed the country many times a season, documenting the feats of the latest and greatest in fresh and saltwater. At that time, I also obtained a USCG captain’s license.

In 2008, I ventured into the world of Web-based video production to bring tournament coverage and cutting-edge fishing techniques to viewers in a more real-time way. The result was a daily “Reeltime Report” during the events, which gave viewers an idea of what storylines were developing on the water. 

In 2011, I had the unique opportunity to work as a field producer at the first Major League Fishing Cup, filmed on Lake Amistad in Texas. At the time, I had no idea that MLF would eventually start the Bass Pro Tour and also acquire FLW. With that, I became an on-the-water reporter for the Bass Pro Tour and a studio analyst for the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals.

I am fortunate to have been immersed in tournament fishing’s golden age when it happened. The fishing education has been invaluable and irreplaceable. I have learned a tremendous amount about the act of fishing, the people of fishing and the business of fishing, especially the role that original content production plays in outdoor media. Engaging an audience with stories of fish and the anglers who pursue them never gets old.
By 2021, I began to notice the culture of professional bass fishing was beginning to change fast. As a result, in 2024, I wrote a book entitled Egos, Logos and Fishing Prose to examine how the sport of professional bass fishing has changed so much in the modern era.

Photo Credit: Tim Wynkoop