I was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 3/24/51 and moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1953. I was a member of the Fort Lauderdale swim team from 1962 to 1966 which led to a love of snorkeling on the reefs of Fort Lauderdale and was the beginning of an obsession for saltwater environments. In the early 60’s I began pier fishing at Deerfield Pier where my father and I would regularly catch Kingfish, Cobia, Mutton Snapper, Bonitos, Barracuda, Jack Crevalle and even my first Sailfish.
     From 1967 to 1969 I attended Stranahan high school in Fort Lauderdale where I began my wrestling career. During that time I was a district, county and state champion. I believe this is where I began my love of not only competing but often winning which carried over to my fishing career. In the 70’s I got my first open fisherman and in 1977 I entered my first Sailfish tournament. I placed in the top ten of the prestigious Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament. The very next year I won the Fort Lauderdale Billfish Tournament and introduced Goggle Eyes (a baitfish) to tournament fishing. Now these baits go for one to two hundred dollars a dozen during tournaments. I repeated as champion in 1979 and was second in 1980.
     In 1980 I changed my career from land surveyor to Key West fishing guide, which is the major leagues of guiding. In 1980 I married Doris Oblak, who would be my fishing tournament partner for the next 20 yrs. During this time we would win the Women’s Master Angler title in the prestigious South Florida Metropolitan fishing tournament and we would also win the Texaco Keys Classic 5 times, 2nd place twice and 3rd place twice. Add to this having two sons Matt, 4/19/84 and Clay, 6/25/87 and it was a full 20 years. During this time I also set 65 world records and counting.
      Some of our notable world records are the first Tiger Sharks (4 in total) ever taken on Fly. The largest fish ever on artificial, a 564 lb Tiger Shark on a 15 lb plug. Twice setting 4 records in one day. I began Bluefin Tuna fishing in the mid 1980’s at that time the largest tuna ever taken on stand up tackle was one of 366 lbs, I was the captain of 31 tunas caught on stand up ranging from 501 to 1200 lbs. In 1990 I became involved with Edey & Duff Lmtd. And helped to design the Conch 27’, an open fishing center console boat, that is quite simply the most popular boat w/ guides in the keys. In 2001 I won the Drambuie on Ice Key West Marlin Tournament with my 15 year old son Clay as the angler and good friend Bob Niemi as Mate. This means I’ve won tournaments in the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s. I have guided all these years at Oceanside Marina and I am currently doing a popular talk show about fishing and the environment on WFFG Keystalk Radio AM.