An interview with Capt. Greg Bowdish

The Sol y Luna
Kayak Fishing School

An Interview with Capt. Greg Bowdish Saltwater Fly Fishing Guide and FFF Certified Fly Fishing Instructor Originally appeared in “The Nautical Mile” magazine.

NM: When did you first start fly fishing?

GB: I was first introduced to fly fishing by college friends on farm ponds around Athens, Georgia in the late 1980’s. It really all started with the fly tying. My friends were fly fishing and tying flies and because I didn’t have a fly rod, I started tying flies and attaching them to spinner baits and spoons and catching largemouth bass with them. I guess I was pretty intrigued with the idea of creating your own lures and flies and I eventually got my hands on a used fly rod.

NM: You must have learned pretty quickly.

GB: On the contrary, I was truly awful for a very long time. My friends were all extremely talented fly casters, but not the best at teaching. This had a twofold effect on me. First of all, my idea of what an average fly cast should be was much farther than what it should have been and, secondly, I flailed away with out a clue of how to reach these lofty expectations. Why I stuck with it I’ll never know.

NM: But you did . . . .

GB: Yes, I did and eventually I was able to cast decently enough where my friends actually allowed me to pull my fly rod out when we fished together. Because there were no fly shops close by and I had no TV, my only exposure to the sport for many years was the time spent fishing for bass and trout with friends. I didn’t even know you could fly fish professionally until one of my friends announced one day after college that he was moving out west to become a fly fishing guide. I thought he was out of his mind.

NM: And you eventually followed the same path.

GB: Yes, but I didn’t take fly fishing seriously until many years later. After college I worked for UPS. The money was nice, but the work was intense and robbed me of the peaceful afternoons I used to spend fly fishing. I made up for this by being a weekend warrior not thinking twice about buying a plane ticket and flying off somewhere crazy for the weekend with the intention of fly fishing. I did fish a little, but I usually ended up goofing off, sightseeing, and jumping into whatever crazy adventure came my way. Costa Rica was my favorite place to go, but I also spent a lot of time in Florida and eventually became intrigued with saltwater fly fishing. After ten years with UPS, I finally decided that I owed it to myself to live close to the ocean and spend more time doing what I liked best. They didn’t allow transfers, so I up and quit and headed to Florida.

NM: Did you become a fishing guide right away?

GB: No, actually I was very reluctant to go down that road and ruin my hobby by making it a business. I did get very interested in boat building, however, and worked for Action Craft for quite a few years. As I started meeting other fly anglers here in Florida, I was often told that I should consider guiding. Eventually, people started calling me out of the blue wanting to fish with me and I soon learned that helping someone catch their first redfish, snook, or tarpon on the fly was as fun as catching one myself, so I finally bit the bullet, got my captain’s license, and made it official.

NM: What’s been your biggest fish on fly so far?

GB: There have been quite a few big tarpon, but I think without a doubt the fish I am proudest of was a 13lb largemouth I caught on fly in a farm pond in Athens, GA. I was in a float tube when I hooked it.

NM: That’s a big bass!

GB: That’s a huge bass. I have caught a lot of eight, nine, and ten pounders on fly, but that fish was a genuine hawg! Of course I let her go, but I think she would have been a world record on fly at the time.

NM: Do you ever get to fish with your old college buddies?

GB: Yes, whenever I can. We are all so busy these days that it is hard to get together as much as we’d like. That friend of mine who went off to be a fishing guide all those years ago is Frank Smethurst who just won the OLN Masters of Fly Fishing Competition and another friend of mine named Bill Oyster is now making some of the finest bamboo fly rods in the country.

NM: Sounds like a lot of fly fishing talent came out of Athens, Georgia back then.

GB: “Yes, there must have been something in the water.”