My first fish was an Illinois canal bluegill, and my first fish on the fly was a Yellow Breeches brown trout. Although the bluegill piqued my interest in nature and outdoor activities, that brown trout was a catalyst that was to be measured a lot larger than its own twelve inches.

Growing up in Northern Virginia, the trout and bass of that commonwealth, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were where I spent Saturdays and school holidays. After college, I relocated to Pennsylvania to live on some of the best spring creeks in the east (and, as I told everyone, to go to graduate school). I’ve worked for a big fly fishing company, sold rods for a small dealer, done private instruction, and served as director of the premier conservation youth camp in the country.

But it most definitely isn’t just fly fishing. I’m married to a wonderful woman who happens to be my high school sweetheart. She’s awfully patient and tolerant of most of my angling pursuits. I have four amazing boys, and all  love to be outdoors and have shown an interest in things that swim and squirm.

I love my family, fishing, barbeque, civil war history, music, football, and, most of all, Jesus Christ.

I’ve always written, and for years thought about organizing the coherent bits into a website. It’s happened, and I look forward to where it goes.

-Matthew