Growing up in the Texas Hill Country on Lake LBJ and going out to my father’s property on the Llano River kicked off my fishing addiction as far back as I can remember. I remember going to our hunting lease in Utopia, TX, and eagerly anticipating getting out of the deer blind to run down to the Sabinal River to catch whatever fish I could find.
Growing up on the water, it was hard for me to leave it for any length of time. In fact, through college, I worked on Lake Travis for a Marine Construction company building and maintaining anything from marinas to boat docks, and would often fish throughout every lunch break while hoping the boss wouldn’t discover me.
After turning 20 years old, fly-fishing became my first-love. And not having a single friend who was remotely interested in trying to this new venture, I learned a great deal of the sport the hard way, but have sense stumbled across many amazing friends in the fly world who have helped get me where I am today.
I started guiding the upper Guadalupe River in 2019 while running the oldest fully-operating barbershop in Texas (located in Comfort, TX) and tying flys on my slow days. Many of my clients would ask, “Where are you going to go fly-fishing?” I would graciously respond, “Just down here at the river.” After providing them with a casting class or two, many of my clients would then float the river with me and land fish they never knew they could catch on a fly rod. Around that same time, I started chasing redfish down in Baffin Bay and Seadrift with one of Bay Flats own Joe Sneed, not at all expecting to fall in love with the coast and all it’s potential. Needless to say, we moved down to the Texas coast in 2021.
When I’m not helping my amazing wife wrangle our two wild boys. I enjoy sneaking off to a flat and chasing those elusive 30-inch speckled trout on the fly. I think I’ve finally met my match!