Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 824 is my conversation with Capt. Jonathan Moss, a Florida fishing guide and the host of Waypoint TV's The Captain's Log. We cover a lot of ground — his advice for new guides and how he manages client expectations, the heartbreak of watching Mosquito Lagoon's water quality and seagrass collapse, the damage Hurricane Ian did to the lagoon, and the Lagoon Waterman Alliance, the angler-, guide-, and scientist-led group he helped form, backed by Captains for Clean Water, to fight for the fishery's future.
▶ Watch on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Capt. Jonathan Moss is a Florida fishing guide and the host of Waypoint TV's The Captain's Log. He guides primarily with artificial baits and plastics and has become an outspoken advocate for water quality in the Mosquito Lagoon system. He helped form the Lagoon Waterman Alliance, a stakeholder group of anglers, guides, and scientists backed by Captains for Clean Water, and he has pushed for fisheries management changes with the FWC in his area.
The Lagoon Waterman Alliance is a group of anglers, guides, and scientists Jonathan helped form to protect the Mosquito Lagoon, backed by Captains for Clean Water. He compares it to region-specific waterkeeper groups like the Tampa Bay Waterkeeper on the West Coast. The Alliance's mission is to bring stakeholders together, make their voices loud at local district and FWC meetings, and ensure the next generations have the same fishing opportunities the area has historically offered.
Jonathan describes a heartbreaking decline. Every summer, rains drive runoff, nutrient loading, and sewage into the system, fueling algae blooms that kill the seagrass the fishery depends on. Then Hurricane Ian made it dramatically worse — he says the grass loss was night and day compared to a few years earlier, when the water sometimes looked as clear as the Keys. He is candid that many guides avoid talking about it for fear of losing clients, but he refuses to stay quiet.
Jonathan was pushing for closures on redfish, trout, and black drum in his area, and he is thankful the FWC closed redfish. His reasoning is that closing one species without the others just shifts angler pressure — take away the ability to keep redfish and people pile onto black drum and trout instead. He has attended multiple FWC meetings, including a redfish-focused one whose survey work and results impressed him.
His core advice is mindset: treat the fish as the bonus, go have fun, and whatever happens happens, whether a client has fished their whole life or started yesterday. He talks about reading a client's real skill level once they are on the boat, knowing enough backup spots to put people on fish, and the hard balance every guide faces between family time and chasing bookings.
Jonathan digs into the reality that you are dealing with nature and fish that do not always cooperate. He talks about the pressure that builds when a client is not catching — which tends to make catching even harder — and how he probes a client's actual ability, like asking a fly angler from out of state whether they can double-haul, to set realistic expectations before the day goes sideways.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 824 with Capt. Jonathan Moss is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio. The video version is embedded at the top of this page — press play to watch.
I have fished and loved Mosquito Lagoon, and it broke my heart to watch its water quality and fishery slide. Jonathan is right in the middle of that fight — a working guide and TV host who decided he would rather risk losing clients than stay quiet about what is happening to the water. He is also exactly the kind of guy younger guides should hear from on expectations and the business of guiding. Press play in the YouTube player above to hear the whole conversation.
Jonathan lays out the cycle plainly: summer rains, runoff, nutrient loading, and sewage feed the algae blooms that kill the grass — and then Hurricane Ian came through and gutted what was left. He describes water that once looked like the Keys turning into something almost unrecognizable. It is the kind of slow-then-sudden decline that is easy to ignore until the fish are gone. Listen to him walk through it in the episode.
This is the heart of it. Jonathan explains how the Lagoon Waterman Alliance came together — anglers, guides, and scientists, backed by Captains for Clean Water and modeled on regional waterkeeper groups — and why showing up to local district and FWC meetings is the part that actually moves the needle. If you have ever wondered how grassroots conservation gets organized, this is a real example. Watch that section in the YouTube player above.
Jonathan does not just want one species protected. He explains why he pushed for closures across redfish, trout, and black drum together — because protecting redfish alone simply shifts the pressure onto the others. He is thankful the FWC closed redfish and talks about the survey work behind those decisions. Hear his full reasoning in the episode.
▶ Watch the full conversation on YouTube · 🎧 Listen now
Beyond the conservation fight, Jonathan is generous with hard-won guiding wisdom: treat the fish as the bonus, read your client's real ability once they are on the boat, keep enough backup spots to put people on fish, and accept the brutal tension between family time and chasing the bookings that keep the lights on. If you guide or want to, this part is gold. Listen to it in the episode.
The day after this one, what stuck with me was Jonathan saying he does not care about losing clients over telling the truth about the water. That takes a spine, because guiding is a relationship business and bad news scares people off.
The other thread is hope. The Lagoon Waterman Alliance is exactly the kind of stakeholder coalition that actually changes policy — not a logo, but anglers, guides, and scientists showing up to meetings.
Watch the whole thing in the player above, and if you love the Lagoon, pay attention to who is fighting for it.
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Capt. Jonathan Moss is a Florida fishing guide and the host of Waypoint TV's The Captain's Log. Known for guiding with artificial baits and for his straight talk about the state of Florida's fisheries, he has become a leading voice for water quality in the Mosquito Lagoon system. He helped found the Lagoon Waterman Alliance — a stakeholder coalition of anglers, guides, and scientists backed by Captains for Clean Water — and actively engages with the FWC and local water districts to push for fisheries protection and seagrass recovery so future generations can fish the waters he loves.
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