Transcript
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 828: The Ranger Angler (Quinn Hollingsworth)
In this episode: fall fishing on Florida's 30A, a rapid-fire round on everything from Brock Lesnar to redfish, jumping out of airplanes as an Army Ranger jump master, Brave Water Solutions training veterans and first responders, and chasing redfish, black drum, permit, and big jacks along the Emerald Coast.
00:00 · Cold Open
Tom Rowland: If you want everything you need to take care of your boat, StarBright's got the solution. It's called boat care in a bucket. That's right. One three and a half gallon bucket packed with essentials, vinyl bright, deck cleaner, marine polish, a wash mitt, hull cleaner, and boat wash. That one kit will keep any boat clean and protected, but that's just the start. I also use StarBright's salt off, which is incredible for rinsing salt off after a day on the water. Their brushes and cleaning products work just as well on your RV and patio furniture and anything else that lives outside. It is a company that gives back. That's one of the things that I really like about StarBright. StarBright supports marine conservation through Project Sea Safe, and that means a lot to me personally. You're getting performance and purpose. Visit starbrite.com. That's starbrite.com, and get your boat dialed in for the season. From The Seychelles to The Keys, I trust Nikon binoculars to find fish fast. Visit nikonusa.com and upgrade your line of sight. I thought I was covered, but I wasn't. HH Insurance showed me that my old policy did not cover The Bahamas or nighttime navigation, two major gaps that could have cost me a lot. Jake and Landon fixed it fast. They know charter policies better than anyone I've ever worked with. Call (727) 498-5551 or visit hhinsgroup.com and tell them Tom Rowland sent you. Trusted enough to go with me to The Seychelles, my Danco pliers are a staple in my kit. Check out dancopliers.com and build yours today. What's going on, everybody? We've got a great guest for you today, the ranger angler, Quinn Hollingsworth. We're gonna talk about fishing in the 30 A area, fishing around Santa Rosa Beach, Destin area. He is a guide there that has a great guide service. I've fished with him before myself. If you're gonna be in the area, you definitely wanna look him up. He's also a former ranger, and he is doing some great work with my friend, captain Scott Brown to get service members, not only out on the water, but also to show them how they can establish a career in the outdoors. So great conversation with Quinn today. If you want to support the podcast, there's a lot of ways that you can do it. It. We really, really do appreciate you listening to the podcast. Sharing the podcast with others is one way that you can help support the podcast. If you hear something on this or you're gonna go to 30 a and you listen to this podcast and you got a buddy that goes to 30 a all the time, pass them over this podcast so they can hook up with Quinn. If you like what you hear, share it. If you also want to support the podcast in a financial way, the best way to do that is to get the best coffee in the world delivered to your door. Go to blackriflecoffee.com. Use the code blast off 25. You can get a 25% discount on the first month of the coffee club and all kinds of other stuff like a awesome Yeti mug. Make sure you use the code blast off 25 because that's how you get the best discount that they offer. Alright. Onto the show with the ranger angler. Here we go.
03:13 · Meet Quinn, the Ranger Angler
Quinn Hollingsworth: What's up, guys? This is Quinn Hollingsworth, AKA the ranger angler, and you're listening to the Tom Rowland podcast.
Tom Rowland: Quinn, the Ranger Angler. Right on. I'm glad to have you on the podcast. How are you doing, man?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Hey. Appreciate it, Tom. Good to see you again. I'm super stoked to be here.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Well, you had an awesome day of fishing, around the 30 a area when I was down there visiting. I got to go out fishing with you and and my friend, Chip. It was a great day, man. Have you been fishing a lot lately?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. So, we fish, of course, as fortunate would have it. I'm fishing with Tom Rowland, and we get a 30 degree temperature drop overnight. So it was, an unusual cold front for our for our day fishing, but I had a blast with you. You know, conversations were priceless, and I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Kinda from there, kinda swung right into, you know, summertime fishing, and all the kids are out of school, so everybody's vacationing thirty a. So it was go go go go go, pretty much from April all the way up until Labor Day, you know, typical tourist season. But super grateful for all those people that come and visit and come and fish with me because, you know, that's how I make my living. Man. But, yeah, a lot of fishing. Finally finally settling down a little bit. I've got a lot of October booked up, you know, coincided with fall break. So I'm excited because fall is my favorite time of the year to fish up here, fall and spring. But fall definitely is like our Super Bowl efficient, so excited to get out there.
04:44 · Rapid-Fire: This or That
Tom Rowland: Alright. Well, we're gonna learn all about what happens in the fall here in just a minute. But before we get started, gonna, go through the hot seat, which is, a series of questions that, Yep. Are simple questions. Either or or whatever you prefer and, the first thing that kinda comes to your mind. So you're ready to go?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Let's do it.
Tom Rowland: Alright. East Coast or West Coast?
Quinn Hollingsworth: East Coast.
Tom Rowland: Early fishing memory or trip that made you a lifetime angler?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Fishing Mosquito Lagoon growing up with my granddad. I can't pinpoint one, but that's that's where it was.
Tom Rowland: Nice. East Coast of or West Coast Of Florida?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Long time ago, I would have said East Coast, but live on the West Coast. I'm gonna say West Coast now.
Tom Rowland: Okay. Spinning rod, conventional, or fly?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Spinning.
Tom Rowland: Insure or offshore?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Insure.
Tom Rowland: River or lake?
Quinn Hollingsworth: River.
Tom Rowland: Would you have a reptile as a pet? No. Me either. Coffee, tea, or energy drink?
Quinn Hollingsworth: I'm a go sugar free Red Bull.
Tom Rowland: Okay. Mountains or beaches?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Beaches.
Tom Rowland: Favorite military movie?
Quinn Hollingsworth: It's a tough one, but I'm gonna have to say Black Hawk Down.
Tom Rowland: Nice. Good choice. Winter Olympics or Summer Olympics?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Winter Olympics.
Tom Rowland: K. Going out on a limb here to to to see if you are a wrestling fan. Favorite professional wrestler of all time?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Favorite professional wrestler of all time? I'm gonna have to say, like, Brock Lesnar.
Tom Rowland: Yep. That's a good one. Also, possibly favorite amateur wrestler of all time, Brock Lesnar.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. He was good.
Tom Rowland: Alright. Sunrise or sunset?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Sunset.
Tom Rowland: Best catch in your career?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Best catch in my career, over 50 inch redfish that I got a 86 year year old marine Corvette on. So that was my one of my most memorable
Tom Rowland: And 86 year old marine Corvette catches that fish?
Quinn Hollingsworth: We hadn't caught anything slow day. He, I had, you know, bottom of the ninth, and I throw out a popping corn with one big shrimp at this point. It immediately goes under, and, he, he he fought it like a champ. It was really a team effort, but, yeah, it was it was pretty special.
Tom Rowland: Fantastic. A movie that always makes you laugh.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Movie that always makes me laugh super bad.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. It does. Text or calls?
Quinn Hollingsworth: I'm a call guy.
Tom Rowland: Last book you remember reading or your favorite book?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Last book I remember reading was well, I'm gonna go favorite book, which is Last Time of Ekins.
Tom Rowland: Nice. Rock country or other?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Country.
Tom Rowland: K. Instagram or Twitter?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Definitely Instagram.
Tom Rowland: One thing you're afraid of?
Quinn Hollingsworth: One thing I'm afraid of heights, believe it or not.
Tom Rowland: I believe it. Office friends or parks and rec?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Definitely the office.
Tom Rowland: Me too. One piece of technology you rely on heavily other than your phone.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Other than my phone, piece of technology other than my phone. I'm gonna have to go computer.
Tom Rowland: K. Favorite fish?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Redfish.
Tom Rowland: Android or iPhone?
Quinn Hollingsworth: IPhone.
Tom Rowland: Audio, paper, or Kindle for books?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Audiobooks.
Tom Rowland: Chocolate or vanilla?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Chocolate.
Tom Rowland: Fishing with clients or fishing by yourself?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Fishing with clients.
Tom Rowland: One piece of advice that has served you well.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Treat every day like it's your last because you you never know when you're gonna go.
08:41 · Snakes, Heights, and Real Fears
Tom Rowland: Boom. Right on. Alright. You cruised through that, quickly. So, some interesting answers. Nothing that took me by surprise. I don't know. You seem like maybe you might have a snake for a pet. I don't know. Not me, though.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Not not me, man. I don't know. I you know, I've I've seen them. I've seen plenty of them. I've handled them and, you know, but I just you know, some people get those pythons and they just start growing and growing and growing. And I'm like, man, that's, probably not not up my alley.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. My neighbor in Key West had a, python that he had this long cage on the on on the fence, which was this tiny little basically, the the cheapest fence you can possibly get. Not not necessarily particle board, but, like, the cheapest
Quinn Hollingsworth: Right.
Tom Rowland: Fencing material you can get. And there was this big big cage on the other side of this thing, and my kids are tiny at the time. And he had about a about a 12 foot python in there.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Oh my gosh. And I
Tom Rowland: was just like, man. I don't I don't know, man.
Quinn Hollingsworth: This seems to wrap you
Tom Rowland: up. I I know. So my answers would be, would you have a reptile as a pet? No. And one thing you're afraid of, snakes. So Yeah. I'm not gonna have one.
Quinn Hollingsworth: I I'm afraid of snakes. Yeah. Too. So I mean, I like, I'm not,
Tom Rowland: like, toe I I guess I am afraid of snakes, but I don't know if that would be my first answer. I would probably say heights too.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Like Yeah.
10:08 · Jumping Out of Airplanes as a Jump Master
Tom Rowland: So when you're so you're a former ranger, and Yep. You you didn't you, jump out of airplanes?
Quinn Hollingsworth: All the time. Yeah. I was a jump master. You know, I'd send my guys out the door. But, I'd be sitting here lying if I didn't say every time the air force opened up that door, we were riding the helicopter to jump. You know, my heart was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But, I think it was a good thing though because it kinda always kept me on point. I was always told, you know, if if you're, you know, you get lackadaisical up there, that's when things go wrong. And so I think having that healthy fear really kept me on point. But, yeah, I hated jumping out of airplanes. Scott Brown, you know him as well. He hated it too. A lot of guys hate it, but it's just you gotta do it, man. Yeah. And you're not gonna chicken out in front of all your buddies. So
Tom Rowland: Did you, do you think it's different, like, when you look out of an airplane and you've got a parachute on and you're ready to go and and you're in that situation versus, like, going to have you ever been to one of those buildings in New York or one of those places where the it's, like, got a leaning window like this and you kinda lean out there a little bit? Do you know you know what I'm talking about? Do you find a difference in the yeah. Well, that scares me to death. Like, that really, really, I mean, it it, like, puts me super on edge to to do that. I don't know why. But I think it and and I've never jumped out of an airplane, but I wonder if there's a difference between, like, the feeling that you get from from like, you say, you know, you're always getting kind of you know, you you feel it when you're about to jump out of an airplane, But then you get there, and you're in a situation where you just a second ago, you were just walking around, and then you look out over there, and it's like, woah. Like, do you feel a difference in those kind of two situations?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. You know, they're kind of, but I still feel like that in the pit of my stomach. You know, you look out and you see, like yeah. I have may have a parachute strapped to my back, but I'm still, like you know, I feel like my heart's in my stomach sometimes. And I'll tell you what really bothers me is if you go to, like, a big hotel, you know, whatever, thirteen, fourteen story hotel, and you get up out on the balcony and you put your hands on the balcony, you lean over, you look, and it feels like kind of like light aluminum. And I'm like, man, you know, if what my kids were up here or like, what if this thing were to break? And I kind of get that same feeling. So, yeah, I think just heights in general, Tom. I mean, it Yeah. It they just kinda both do it for me.
12:33 · Travis Pastrana's No-Parachute Skydive
Tom Rowland: Did you see that video recently of, Travis Pastrana jumping out of their out of a airplane, no parachute, and he's jumping out with with, you know, four other people or whatever. Man, that guy
Quinn Hollingsworth: just Yeah.
Tom Rowland: He did it so so calmly and effortlessly. Like, it didn't even seem like he seemed more comfortable without the parachute. Like, I don't what it how is a guy like that wired?
Quinn Hollingsworth: He is a wild man. You know, I mean, obviously, with all the stunts he does on dirt bikes and everything else, I mean, he's probably, you know, obviously a risk taker. But, man, I don't I don't know that I could jump out without a parachute. We we better have to do, like, about a thousand rehearsals on that thing before I even have a slight bit of comfortability. But I did see that video. I remember thinking, like, gosh. So many things could go wrong here. But, he did it, and, yeah, linked up with his buddies, and they strapped him up and landed safely.
Tom Rowland: They did strap him up, you think? Like, because he jumps out, and he is he's not wearing anything. Like, I mean, he No. Shorts on or something, but he and then, you know, he does a couple of flips. He goes down Yep. And they they come and get on top of him. And then that's not last us. Then it then it, like, backs way off, and you see the parachute open. But I would think, like I don't know. I would think that if you, like, were gonna do that, you would have a harness on, and then you would get in there, clip, clip, clip, clip, and you'd be good. But he had nothing on. So what he had to, like, put something on as he's free falling, you think?
Quinn Hollingsworth: I think of what the way I saw it was the guy got, kind of on top of him, and I, you know, you you're right. It does pan out, but I if I'm pretty sure that they had strapped him up, but he didn't have, like, a pre rigged No. You know, chest rig where they could just click pop in and and get them. So, yeah, I may have to go back and look at that video. I just remember thinking that is insane.
Tom Rowland: Man, I'm just thinking, how hard would that be to put something on like that as you're free falling? I mean, the only the only comparison I can make is trying to put a rain jacket on when you're when you're running, you know, on plane. That's not easy to do. I mean, the thing's flying everywhere.
Quinn Hollingsworth: You know? You're trying
Tom Rowland: to get your other arm in there. I mean, that is, like, not not easy to do. But, anyway, that guy is he's a he is he's a maniac, I guess, but a a controlled maniac. You know? Like, like, he he seems to only take risks that he's comfortable taking and understands, but I don't know. He was down in The Keys, and, I guess he jumped off a building in Miami. He was doing something in The Keys, and then he went up to Miami, and he he base jumped off something and and broke broke his leg or something. I don't know. I mean, he's gotta have a lot of injuries. I mean Yeah.
15:27 · Fifteen Years in the Army, Injuries, and Ranger School
Quinn Hollingsworth: I'm I'm sure I got a I got a ranger buddy, Steven Travers. He does, he does a lot of, like he'll get a lot of base jumping or real big, you know, bridges, and he jumps out and, You know, let's parachute go at the last minute, and I'm just like, you're wild, man. But, yeah, definitely a lot can go wrong, and I remember yeah. I think Travis broke his legs or something. It was it was pretty wild.
Tom Rowland: He looks like he's doing fine now. The miracle of modern, modern technology and and surgery. Like, that's incredible that you could you could rebound from that and, and be able to keep doing it. How long were you in the military?
Quinn Hollingsworth: So I was in the military, just shy of fifteen years. I, medically retired. I, you know, had a few injuries that would require me to be on some certain medications and, where I was at in my time, in my life. They offered me a medical retirement, and, yeah, I I decided that that was, you know, kind of my best course of action. I've been gone a lot with my family. So, yeah, just shy of just shy of 15.
Tom Rowland: What, what was the decision making process for you to get for for you to go to the military? What what how at what age did you kinda decide that it's something you wanted to do?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. So I joined a little bit later. You know, I was I was in high school when nine eleven happened. Obviously, a lot of guys, you know, felt felt the urge and need to to to serve after nine eleven. And and I did too, but, I decided I was like, hey. I'm gonna go, I wanna get get some knock some college out first. So went to college, for a couple years down in Central Florida. Didn't really pan out. So, you know, I think I enjoyed hanging out with my buddies a little more than I liked studying. So, kind of dropped out of college. Always knew I wanted to be in the military. My granddad served in World War Two. I had an uncle. He was a special forces in Vietnam. So I said, man, you know, let me give this military thing a shot. You know, I asked for the shortest active duty contract they could give me. And, yeah, did about three years. I said, man, I'm pretty good at this. And, yeah, you know, joined Ranger regiment early on. Didn't really know what a Ranger battalion was, to be honest. You know, some kids come in, they're like, I'm going to be a Navy SEAL. I'm going to be a Green Beret. I'm going to be a Ranger. I was just like, hey. I wanna serve. I wanna pay off some of this college debt. And, yeah. When I got when I was in basic, Ranger recruiter came in and kinda did the overview and, I decided, hey. I wanna if I'm gonna do this, I wanna be with some of the best guys on the ground. So joined Ranger Regiment, and, rest was history.
Tom Rowland: That's awesome. Two of my two of my, son's friends just went through Ranger School and, successfully passed. And, Jacob, you know, shout out to Jacob and and James. James is, a little further ahead of of Jacob, but he just went through SEER too, and then, he is, on his way to being a a weapons specialist. And, what a cool, road that is to for the weapons specialist. I didn't realize what you what all you have to do, but, basically, you have to Yeah. Like, understand every weapon there is. It's incredible. Yeah.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. They, they train on all the different weapons. It's, that's that's really cool.
Tom Rowland: You know? Yeah. So that is a that is a very challenging road, the like like, what you did and what they're doing now. Because I'm I'm learning from them, like, they're you know, they they would come and work out at my place and everything all through high school, and and, both of them are just they're they're they're the right kinda guy.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Cool.
19:26 · How Fishing Came Into His Life
Tom Rowland: But, yeah, that's that's cool. So, and then where does the fishing, come into play with was was that something that you I mean, you mentioned that you fished with your granddad in Mosquito Lagoon growing up. But where where where, like, did you kind of, circle back to fishing after your military career or, like, like Jamie Caldwell, like, it was something that you did on every every break?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. That that's a great question, Tom. So, you know, kind of backtrack a little bit. I grew up in East Central Florida. So probably, like I just tell people Orlando, people don't know about Geneva or Vito or that area. But, you know, I was about twenty, thirty minutes from, Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River area. And I grew up fishing with my dad and my granddad just inshore. We'd fish on little canoes and little John boats and, catching trout and redfish. So it was something that I just grew up doing. It was just normal for me. If I wasn't, fishing, I was surfing, so I was just like a little salty kid. I just loved anything to do with the saltwater. So, you know, I I joined the army. I've always said, like, god's looked out for me because I've I've been I was able to be near saltwater my entire military career, which is hard considering we're a land based organization. But being in first ranger battalion in Savannah, I was right by the the ocean and all the saltwater in shore creeks that run through Savannah in the low country. So got a boat after, you know, a couple deployments. I would I would just land land fish, you know, up into the creeks catching redfish and trout. But I think after, like, my second or third deployment, I got got a little skiff, and started fishing. And so if I wasn't training or I wasn't deployed, I would come back home and I would go fishing. And I think that was, like, kinda my outlet for to decompress. And I still loved it and, you know, I had my son with me. I had my son very early on in my army career, and, I would take him fishing. Or if not, I'd take other ranger buddies. And, yeah, it was just kinda like my way to decompress, and it was like I'd be on deployment. You know, I'd be in Afghanistan reading Florida Sportsman or, you know, streaming saltwater experience, getting hyped up, getting ready to go. And I'd get back and I was on it. You know, obviously, spend some quality family time as soon as I get off the plane. But when it was, when I had some free time, I was on the boat and I was chasing trout and redfish. And, you know, the Lowcountry fishery is just incredible. Really enjoyed fishing there. Completely different from what I was used to growing up, especially, you know, Indian River Mosquito Lagoon. Then you go to the low country where you can you know, you're chasing flood tides. You got a 13 foot Yeah. Tide swing. So it took a little bit to figure that out, but really enjoyed my time there. Beautiful area and fishery. So, yeah, I love it.
Tom Rowland: That flood tide fishing where the fish get up in that grass is is really one of the coolest things. I've experienced that with my friend Perry Peace. It's right out of, Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Yeah. And, it's like, that's just the the the ultimate for what I've seen of the fishing in in in that type of area. And what happens is if if you've never been there, the tide gets up so high that it covers over this Spartina grass, and the redfish go to a place that previously was dry. And they are up there in this grass, and you are literally walking through this ankle deep grass, and you can see them tailing. And you throw in there, and there's a ton of grass to to navigate. And if you can get your fly to not get hung in that grass and and present it in a way that it it looks like the fish or or for the fish, they they feel like they found it instead of it just crashing in on them. You can get one of the most incredible bites, like redfish biting on the surface on gurglers or or, you know, shrimp flies or whatever, but that is literally one of the coolest fishing situations. Like, you you you when you're doing it, it's like, this is a place that a fish shouldn't be. Like, they they shouldn't Right. Just just a couple hours ago, this was dry mud. Yeah. And now this fish is up here just just happy as it can be, but it's not gonna it's a very fleeting thing. It's not gonna last very long. And if you pick the wrong spot and there are no tailors up there, you probably missed it for the day because there's not gonna be a lot of resetting, because the tide moves in and out so quickly there. I love that, though.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. It's it's just like you said it, man. A couple hours earlier, this place was completely dry, and then that tide comes in. And those redfish are coming in chasing those little fiddler crabs or mud minnows. And, yeah, you they got their backs out of the water, and they're just facedown. And it's you kinda gotta experience it. You know, there's a lot of guys doing a lot of cool videos, a lot of great anglers up in that area, but, and, you know, which they give you a great perspective on it looking at it video wise. But until you experience it, it's it's something it's definitely something to be seen. Yeah. Like you said, it it's it's awesome.
24:38 · Brave Water Solutions: Training Veterans and First Responders
Tom Rowland: So tell me about what you and and Scott are doing, as far as taking, veterans and and other people from from your community fishing.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Absolutely. Great question, Tom. So, obviously, Scott Brown, you know him well. He was on your podcast. Green Beret combat diver. Kinda me and him met through social media years ago, probably, like, seven years ago. That's goes to show, like, the power of social media. And, we ended up linking up, and we became really close friends and started fishing a lot. And, you know, I was transitioning out of the military. He was doing the same. We both had our love for fishing, so we were like, hey, man. Like, we were just fishing one day, and we were kinda brainstorming. And we we thought of Brave Water Sky Service because for a lot of, like I don't wanna say it's the status quo for, like, former special operations guys getting out of that military, but a lot of those guys are either gonna get their MBA or they're working working for a Fortune 500 company or a contracting company. And we were like, hey. Let's, what if we show these guys because we both got our captain's license. What if we show that there's another outlet for service members when they're transitioning out of the military? You know, you don't gotta you can pursue a career in the outdoors. So we kinda came up with a plan, and we we started Brave Waters Guide Service, where basically we'll take transitioning service members, we'll mentor them, you know, help with their captain's license. And, you know, once once they get established, we'll have them guide kind of under us, to get their feet wet, you know, maybe for a year or two. And then if they wanna keep guiding with us, hey. Great. If not, then they kinda go and do their own thing. But we're there to to show them how to do it and show them how to do it the right way. And, you know, we also looked at it like how, you know, in ranger regiment or special forces or any any soft community, you kinda, like, specially select and train people. It's not really for everybody. So we were we were we're looking for, like, a certain type of person, you know, and nobody's excluded, but you kinda gotta fit that that mold, that we're looking for. And so that was over a year ago we started that, and it's kind of slowly morphed into Brave Water Solutions, which is another subsect of our company where we're providing maritime training, to, you know, law enforcement, DOD, search and rescue. Scott comes in with a lot of his combat diver experience, and he can teach a plethora of information because we basically said, hey, man. We we got a lot of info on a lot of this maritime stuff, but we're not using it. And so just through the right connections and a few people, we've been able to land a contract, you know, helping out with maritime navigation, search and rescue. Scott's more on the VBSS, you know, vehicle board search and seizure type side. But, yeah, we we offer guide service for transitioning service members, and then we also offer, to DOD law enforcement, you know, whoever needs it, search and rescue, maritime navigation, things along things along that nature.
Tom Rowland: That's really cool. I didn't know about the Brave Water Solutions. How long has that been going?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. That's a that's a that animal is kind of, like, morphed pretty fast over the past, I'd say, six months. But me and Scott have put a lot of work into that, and, we kinda found that there was a a need within the industry. And, again, we have a lot of knowledge, in that area, and we thought, hey. Let's not let this knowledge just go to waste and see if we can help people out. So, yeah, it's it's been been pretty good.
Tom Rowland: So the the organizations or agencies or or people that need that type of training, is that gonna be mostly in Florida? Are you finding that anywhere on the coast or even on, inshore freshwater lakes? Like, what where where is the need?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Great question. So right now, we're kind of just looking around Florida right now. And like I said, we we have already landed a we've gotten a contract, and, it's gonna be Florida based local to this area. But anything on the water, you know, it could be a huge lake a huge lake in South Carolina. It could be, you know, somewhere where there's a a dam or nuclear power, anything like that. Any anything on the water, you know, we're not trying to pigeonhole ourselves into, hey, just bays and tributaries, estuaries. But, really, we wanna be able to provide that training to anybody who's on a boat, who is doing something, whether security, etcetera. But any any body of water, you know, we're we're willing to branch out.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. That's that's pretty cool. Like, you would think that, like, the the water agencies like the coast guard and the FWC and all that, they probably have some of their own training, but I don't know. I mean, are those are when do they look for specialty training situations like like that, for for their people?
Quinn Hollingsworth: They do. There's a lot of grants out there for that. And, you know, me and Scott have been plugged in with a lot of the law enforcement community. And, basically, you know, they do a lot of in house training, but they're also open to, hey, having guys come in, teach a certain leach, aspect of maritime operations. And so, yeah, there there is a need out there for it, you know, and sometimes it's easier for them to outsource that type of training. But, yeah, you know, they like you like you said, there there is some of the in house training that goes along with that, but, you know, we feel that we can provide a certain capability, above and beyond just your regular train a trainer type of situation. Yeah. So it's it's the needs out there, and, yeah, we're beating down that door.
30:30 · Guiding Regular Anglers on Florida's 30A
Tom Rowland: Yeah. But beyond those two things, you just take regular people fishing too. Right?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Correct. Yep. Yep. We're doing that too.
Tom Rowland: And so tell me the area that you that you typically fish or where if someone was coming to a certain area that you would be somebody that they might call or Scott or both all of you. Your your whole service.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so me and Scott live about, like, fifteen minutes away from each other. We're up here in the 30 A little north of the 30 A area. Choctawhatchee Bay is really kind of like our our main, base of operations. Scott's going to Port Saint Joe though, you know, Apalachicola. I'm more efficient local here. And again, we still both have our own guide services going on at the same time. So, you know, he's he's got a trip right now. He's out on the water with Push A Good Insure, and I got a trip this afternoon with my ranger angler fishing charters. And, so we're we're we're fishing in these areas. But if somebody wants to come fishing with Brave Waters, likely you're gonna encounter Choctawhatchee Bay, which is, again, kind of encompasses 38 Santa Rosa Beach, and then you got Destin out to the West, then Fort Walton Beach. But we're more on the eastern portion of the bay, but we we really encompass the entire bay, Chunkahatchee Bay.
Tom Rowland: That area is man, it's so popular, and so many people go there. And it's so nice too. I mean, man, those beaches there, the beaches in that area are the the whitest, cleanest, nicest beaches I think I've ever been to. One other that would be really close would be Naples. Like, the Naples Beach, that one is like sugar. Like, it's, like, so the the the sand there is so fine. And it's, like, up in your area, it's just a little coarser sand, but still just amazing. Like, that those beaches are those are some of my favorite beaches I've ever been on.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Oh, yeah. It's, it's beautiful up here. I'm so blessed and fortunate to call this place my home. You know? Like you said, the water they they don't call it the Emerald Coast for nothing. The the sand is amazing. The water is sometimes, you know, I'm like, man, maybe I should take a trip to The Bahamas or something. And but then I look out in my own backyard, and I'm like, man, the waters looks like the Caribbean. It's beautiful. And, you know, it's it's just such a beautiful area, and, you know, it's really popular. I think the secret's out. I think you know, you asked locals twenty, thirty years ago about thirty a, and they're like, man, there was cows on the beach. There wasn't there wasn't anything over here. And it's really kinda blown up over the past couple decades. And, yeah, you know, people just love this area. So secret's kinda out, but but I don't blame them for wanting to come here.
33:09 · Where to Find Brave Waters Fishing
Tom Rowland: One thing I always forget to do when when I'm talking to somebody and they start talking about what they do and where they go is is is people have to wait until the end of the podcast to find out how to get in touch with you. So I don't wanna do that now, but I I do wanna do that now. How does somebody if they wanted to come if they were going to the 38 area and any anywhere, Santa Rosa, all of that stuff, even all the way over to probably Apalachicola. I would imagine they could call you or Yeah. Or Scott, but how would they get in touch with you or Brave Waters? Yes.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Great question. So, Brave Waters Fishing on Instagram, Facebook. We also have our our website, bravewatersfishing.com. Myself, I have rangeranglerfishing.com. You can find me on Instagram at the ranger angler. And, yeah, that's usually the easiest way, Facebook, Instagram, and just Google. If you just Google Ranger Angler Fishing, one of those will pop up, and, same with Brave Waters. So, yeah, appreciate you letting me plug that in, Tom.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. I mean, people are they're always I I get so many emails like, who should I go fishing with here or there? And, eventually, I'm gonna put all the people that I've had on the podcast on a single page, where people can go back and listen to the episode and then
Quinn Hollingsworth: Oh, grateful. Yeah. Then they
Tom Rowland: actually have all their contact information, because you could I mean, a lot of people are using it as a resource. But tell me about tell me about the fishing, in October. In the very beginning of of the podcast, you you were talking about how the fall is the Super Bowl of your fishing and what you look forward to all year long. Tell me about what's getting ready to happen or what is happening right now as we're talking in the very beginning of of, latter September, the first part of October. What what is getting ready to happen, or what's happening in your area now?
35:03 · Fall Fishing and Big Schools of Redfish
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. So, again, you know, like I had said earlier, it's it's my favorite time to fish, and it's really our Super Bowl efficient here in the in the bay. So come fall, we get a really big push of big bull redfish. And I'm talking you could have schools of hundreds, just orange backs sticking out of the water, and they're just going after Minhaydon. But they're coming out of the ocean, coming into the bay to spawn, and they spawn all all through the fall. And so they're so hungry and ferocious eaters. And, you know, again, like I said, it's not uncommon to see a 135 inch to 40 inch redfish
Tom Rowland: Just backs
Quinn Hollingsworth: out of the water.
Tom Rowland: Just like the one that's pulling me right there. You see that one?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Right?
Tom Rowland: My son caught that one in Louisiana. Same kinda deal. Fall fall fishing, big giant school, but that's that's awesome. And you see bird activity and, and then your water is clear, like, super clear when that's happening. Right?
Quinn Hollingsworth: It is. Yeah. For for the most part, depending on the winds and, you know, the direction of it. But, yeah, the water's fairly clear, most of most of this time of the year. And and my kinda tactics that I use in the fall is I got a lot of plugs tied on top of water, maybe a few big swim baits. And usually, I just get my clients in the boat. We take off. I I'll kinda make big circles around the bay, and I'm looking for, you know, those birds just diving because those birds are diving, eating the menhaden. And usually, when those birds are diving on those big schools of menhaden, you're gonna find those those big schools of bull redfish. And, they're so you know, they're eating so much and and just in such a feeding frenzy. I'll motor full throttle, like, you know, all the way up to them. Just kill the engine. I tell my clients, hey, get up on the bow of the boat and then just start pitching into them. And it's usually it's not uncommon to have three, four, you know, hooked up at the same time. It can get a little chaotic, but it's it's really run and gun type of fishing. I love doing it. And for a client who's never caught a redfish or never experienced catching a redfish, it's it's really a special time. I always joke. I say this time of year, you could throw a Coke can out there and they'd probably eat it. It's this this certain time of year, you know, you had mentioned Louisiana. That's why I'm kinda mentioning Louisiana as well. This is the only time I say, hey. I feel like we're on kind of on par with Louisiana. Outside of fall, definitely not. There's no place like Louisiana. It's it's one of the best red fisheries I've ever experienced. But in the fall, it's it's pretty pretty darn good here.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. Man, I gotta experience that with with you guys one time because I I'd I've seen the videos, and I just just haven't been in that area at that time of the year to to see it. But the videos that I see on Instagram and other places, just amazing. Are you able to stay on those schools for very long, or do they kinda push up and go down like our our tune up or other things that we have? It seems like kind of a fleeting thing. You might catch one or two or hook up four, and then they go down. And where do they go? You I mean, sometimes it's hard to find them again, but what what's your experience on staying on them or finding them again?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. That's a great question. Well, there's that kinda depends on a couple things. I don't blame you know? Hey. All all the guides, we're all trying to put our clients on the best fish. And if we're in, like, a pretty populated area and that those bull redfish start busting, it depends. If there are seven other guides, which I'm friends with all the guides here, so it's not a knock on them. I I love all the all the folks that fish here. We kinda all just motor up to them and everybody start we kinda, you know, beat the heck out of that school. But usually everybody's hooked up. We get we get them to the boat. They may stay up for, you know, three to five minutes, then they're gonna go down. And then it's back to, you know, getting the binos out, hope hoping that they come back up. But they're not gonna stay on the surface more than a few minutes if it feels like an eternity when you're fishing them. But, yeah, you know, depending on how many how many people are picking off that school is gonna really determine how long they're gonna stay up and and how how long you'll see them up there. But usually once they go down, you can find them again. And it's just a matter of, you know, running and gunning, you know, which way they're moving. Head they're head knees, they're head west. It's kinda you know, like like I said, I'm friends with a lot of the captains here, and we kinda have a group chat going and, hey. School moved to the east, so many 100 yards or, hey. They're off at this point. This time of year, we're kinda all helping each other out. You know, we want everybody to eat. So, yeah. We it's kind of a team effort, but, yeah, they they will go down, and you just gotta find them again.
Tom Rowland: Now does doesn't that same activity happen right along the the beach in certain areas? Like, I don't know about your area, but it seems like some of the videos that I'm seeing, it just looks like they're they're just right off the beach. I don't I mean, that's the way it looks to me, but I don't know. I've never been there to do it yet.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. A lot of the Destin guides I'm friends with a lot of Destin guides, and, they'll get them right off the beach, just in huge pods. And, you know, you're they're picking them off crystal clear water. And, yeah, same thing happens off the beach. I I really tend to rely more to the base since I'm on the far eastern portion. You know, the base roughly 40 miles wide. So for me to get out the pass and go out the beach, it's a decent run. So I don't really do that that much. But, yes, you can get them off the beach, and you can get them in the bay.
40:36 · Chasing Black Drum
Tom Rowland: Man, nice. That sounds so that sounds awesome. I'd love to see that one day. Yep. And then you also fish for black drum a lot. Right?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. I do. Yeah.
Tom Rowland: We've been seeing more black drum in, in Flamingo and some of the other areas that that we fish, and they're even a they're even a, a species that is is included in in a tournament. So Really? Always yeah. In the Herman Luxaire tournament, you can catch all these different species, and then you can either catch a black drum or a black bass. One of my best fishing memories, I've ever had is that Rich and I, we caught every species in this tournament except for, a bonefish and one of those two species. Right? So black drum or black bass, which is a large mouth bass, a freshwater fish. And on the second day of the tournament, we had to go out, and we didn't know how to catch a black drum. Like, we don't we didn't see him very often, and when we did see him, we didn't pay any attention to him. And here we are in a competitive situation where we could win this tournament, and you feel kinda silly because, like, you've seen black drum a lot, but when the if somebody says, okay. Go catch a black drum now, you're kinda like, oh, man. I don't know. I think we're gonna strike out here. So we, ended up catching a bonefish and a largemouth bass. That's how we that's how we ended up winning that tournament that day. Wow. Which to me was, like, those are you know, I grew up in Tennessee catching largemouth bass, and then a bonefish was this exotic species that I didn't that I had no experience with when I got down to The Keys, and I was learning all about it. And it just seemed like they were so far apart. But when you look at the Everglades National Park, you can catch a bonefish and a large mouth bass in the same day.
Quinn Hollingsworth: But Yeah.
Tom Rowland: It's it's cool. But I wanted to talk to you about the black drum, because we're we're we're, you know, trying to figure out we're seeing them more, and we're paying attention to them, and we're catching them some. But I wanna be better at catching them. How how what's your, strategy with the black drum? How what kind of situations do you find them in, and what what do you what what are your tactics to that you use to catch them? And the ones that you're catching are way bigger than the ones that we're seeing, But I think that's I think that's common that the further north you go, the bigger the fish get. Fish are are often the biggest in the northernmost portion of their range, which is interesting. I don't know that if you've had that same experience, but that's certainly my experience.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. No. So, yeah, the black drum, I wouldn't say they're you know, every trip I'm catching black drum, but I do know how to target them up here. And a lot of the black drum that we're catching, some of these fish are, you know, 15, 20 year old fish. And they're, you know, they're like their cousin redfish. They're where they're they're not you're not gonna see them up on the school of, like, a 100 black drum. You know, you may see a a decent sized school of black drum, but I don't really sight fish for black drum. That's more of kind of a waiting game. You know, I had a client two days ago. She caught she fished me last year. She caught couple huge black drum, and then she caught another huge black drum. But the way I target those guys, Carolina rigs with a piece of shrimp. You know, it could be a stinky piece of shrimp, live shrimp. And I'll I usually find them around structure. So we have a lot of there's some rock pilings on the eastern portion. We got some river mouths, that I'll target. But I usually find them in that, like, murkier water kind of cruising around the structure. And the way I do it is just kind of a waiting game. I'll throw a Carolina rig out with a piece of shrimp. It's nothing fancy, but those black drum got a really great sense of smell. And I've found that if you, if you get that, you throw out enough lines and you just let them sit and kind of marinate for a little bit, those black drum are usually going to find that, that piece of shrimp or, you know, even heck fish bites if you don't, you don't have live shrimp. They'll eat it. But usually around structure, like I said, and and kinda some of those little little river mouths that we have over here, that's that's where I'm usually finding them. And super fun fish to catch. You know, It's mixed opinion out there on the big ones. They'll say, oh, it feels like you're reeling up a kettlebell. But I I've I've had quite the opposite experience. I've they I've had some really good fights and good runs on light tackle with those bigger black drums. So I enjoy catching them. Yeah.
Tom Rowland: Yeah. They seem they seem like a good target. You know, and a lot of people do, sight fish them also. Like, they Yeah. And I've seen them in Louisiana. And a couple times, I saw them in Louisiana, and, you know, the the the person I'm fishing with is just like, nah. We're not catching those. Like, we're fishing all artificial and everything, and and Yeah. They're just like there's just you can sit here and fish for them all you want, but they're not gonna they're not gonna bite, which I found Interesting. Kind of an interesting challenge. Like but we're also Yeah. We're also, back in those times that I'm thinking about, we're we're we're pre fishing for a redfish tournament, and anything outside of fishing for a 27 inch redfish is a waste of time at that point, which is one of the things about tournament fishing that I don't like is that I don't think that there is a waste of time in fishing. Like, now I I look at it, I'm like, yeah. I mean, it it'd be a great experience to learn how to catch those. I mean, they're a fish. They eat. They're obviously big. You could figure out how to catch them. And but, you know, when you're when you're a tournament red fisherman, the last thing you wanna do is is catch a a 25 pound black drum and have to fight that thing for a while because every second that you're fighting that, you're not finding the the tournament winning redfish. So, kinda glad that those days are over for me, and I can explore new, opportunities like the like the black drum. I wanna I wanna fish in places where I can sight cast for them and and, learn how to catch them better. But I I think that it does come down to their sense of smell from what everything that I've heard from from everybody that I've asked lately, and and that is the kind of the common thing is that, you you know, throw out a shrimp or something that they can find. And that seems to be the thing too is that they need to be able to find it rather than crashing it into their, you know, like a permit. Like, you put it you you don't necessarily want a permit to to you don't wanna throw it so far out in front of a permit that that they just kinda happen upon it. You want them to see it kinda falling. And there are other fish that Yeah. That you, that that's the idea is, like, you want it to you want them to kinda, discover it, but in a way that it's not like all of a sudden it's right in their face. It's like, it's just kinda falling in the corner of their eye. That's, like, that's the idea. And, but it doesn't seem like that with a black drum. I mean, from and I I'm no black drum expert by any stretch of the imagination. This is probably the out of all the species we have in the Florida Keys, it's the one I encounter maybe the least. So I know the least about black drum. That's why I'm that's why I'm asking. It's it's just, you know, what what common approaches are to them.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. No. Absolutely. And I and I get it. You know, circling back to what, you know, you enrich in your tournament days, you know, there's significant significant amount of money on the line, and it's like, I've tournament fish locally here, and I know, like, man, the eye on the prize is that 27 inch redfish. And, you know, you're so honed in on that. You know, that's that's all that matters. And and I never really thought about that way. You know, you said spending, you know, five, six, seven minutes when every minute counts in a tournament, you're pulling in a big old black drum. Yeah. I could see where that would be, you know, a little bit frustrating, or you wouldn't be able to appreciate it as much. But, yeah, you know, up here, I'll be honest with you. I can't say that I have caught a black drum on artificial. Is there guys here that are probably doing it? Yeah. They probably are. But those black drum, they're they're just so slow moving until you hook up to them, and they're just kind of waddling along. You know, you'll see them just when the water's clear, just kind of just moseying along the rocks, you know, trying to get pull stuff out of there. And that's kind of how I said, man, they're kind of just slow moving. This is the kind of the general area I keep seeing them in. Let me throw something stinky Carolina rigged. It's easy if the client, you know, hasn't fished a ton. You know, you can kind of shoot the shit for a little bit with your client and just kind of wait for wait for them to hook up. But, yeah, most success on shrimp or fish bites or, Carolina rig. That's that's how I do it up here.
49:16 · Permit Showing Up in the Bay
Tom Rowland: So you got redfish, black drum. I caught a largemouth bass with you. What else what yeah. What other, what other fish or or what other things go on at different times of the year for you? Are you fishing for other species, or or what what does the year look for like for you? How do you break it up? Like, you mentioned the fall is the Super Bowl, but what happens the rest of the time?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. So good great question. You know, I I think it's your whole myriad of your regular inshore species minus, you know, once you get to Central Florida and South South South, you're catching snook, which I wish we had snook. I've had a couple buddies catch some juvenile snook up here. Really? I have not. It's, it's funny. You know, I've even had buddies catch permit up here in the Bay. It's like, man, are these fish lofts? Like, I don't know. It's it's really weird. It's it's not an everyday occurrence, but Like, in shallow times.
Tom Rowland: Up there in the bay, they're catching permit?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yep. Yeah. And It's not every day.
Tom Rowland: Do they when when they're when when you have a catch like that, are they fishing for another fish? Like like, are they red fishing and they catch a permit, or are they pompano fishing, or, like, what what what's the most common kind of way to run into a permit up there?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. I I've known them just to be red fishing.
Tom Rowland: And so they're, like, sight fishing red fish or just throwing out shrimp on popping corks or something like that? Both. Really. Both. Really.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. But, usually, the ones that I've seen caught, they've been, you know, just just fishing with shrimp on the bottom and catch the random permit. And, you know, again, I don't want to, I don't want to pump it up like it's a once a, once a week thing or something, but every now and then you'll see a guy and he's like, got a permit. And we're all like, wow.
Tom Rowland: Have you ever seen any big permit caught like that?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Nothing huge. Nothing like what you guys are catching down there. They're usually smaller ones. And then like I said, juvenile snook, which I'm like, I don't know how they're up here because it gets pretty cold up here.
Tom Rowland: But,
Quinn Hollingsworth: yeah, I don't know. I don't have the answer. I'd like to maybe talk to biologists about it. Maybe they can answer it. You know, you have a lot of good good biologists and scientists and stuff on your podcast. So Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to pick their brain on why.
Tom Rowland: Well, I mean, who knows? I mean, I think that when the when the water's warm, you'll have, fish move move north, but, you know, once they hit a cold front, they they either die or get pushed out. Yeah. And so they're not gonna establish themselves as a as a resident population. They're gonna be more like moving through there because they they just can't handle the wintertime temperatures up there, or maybe they can. Who knows? I don't know. But, I mean, there there's there's a lot of different, different fish that when we when you find them, it doesn't seem like something that could be a target species. Like, for us, it would be bluefish maybe. Like, in the in the keys, we would see bluefish occasionally, and and I would just think, well, that's it's just kinda weird. They must be just moving through. But as you see it year after year after year, then you start thinking, okay. Well, it is at this time of the year, and it is generally in this type of a place. So on a nice day, I'm just gonna run through there and see if I see any bird activity or whatever. And sure enough, you leave the dock and you have something tied on with wire and everything. You're like, okay. Well, we could come across bluefish today. So they act you've learned enough about these different species to where it's actually, like, you did actually target those. Like, I could see how Yeah. You know, if you if you paid attention to those random permit catches and you're like, okay. Well, we're gonna be red fishing, this way, but we're also gonna have a rod out just on the bottom. We who knows? We could catch a permit. And then if you did that Yeah.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Great point.
Tom Rowland: If you did that, like, three three years in a row, well, you're the resident permit expert up there,
Quinn Hollingsworth: I guess.
53:06 · Big Jacks and Mixed Schools
Tom Rowland: Yeah. But I I don't know. It's it's it's kinda fun to to have any sort of kinda different species. What about big jacks?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Oh, buddy. Yeah. So that's a that's a great point. And that, you know, you would ask me kinda what we target so fall. You know? You can you can target redfish around here, and I'd say I'm you know? I don't wanna say, like, I'm a subject matter expert on Redfish, but if you look on my Instagram, most of my pictures are Redfish or Blackdrome. It's kinda just I I I know how to target them. And I always tell people, like, a Redfish is a Redfish, whether you're in, you know, the Upper Keys, Lower Keys, or you're in North Carolina or you're in Texas. Like, they kinda all do the same thing. You just kinda gotta adjust your how you're gonna target that fish. And so I I feel like I know redfish pretty well. But, redfish, trout, Spanish mackerel. And then in the summer, just like we get those big schools of redfish in the fall, we get huge schools of jacks, and those are so fun. I love catching jacks. You know, clients love catching them. And the jacks that we get up here are massive. You know, I remember catching them growing up in East Central Florida and they'd be, you know, 20 inches maybe. But these jacks up here are freight trains. We call them Choctawhatchee tunas up here. And so I've always got a top water plug, tied on in the summer. And they do the same thing. You'll just see them busting at the surface, motor up to them. They're usually in a feeding frenzy. Throw that topwater out there and just start ripping it as hard as you can in there in that school. And it's usually fish on and, super fun to catch.
Tom Rowland: Do you see the jacks and the redfish mixed together sometimes?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Sometimes. Yeah. This summer, we had a school of about, like, 50 to 60 reds that we would see kinda every now and then mixed in with that school of jacks because they're all feeding on those mending. And, you know, so it's not uncommon to see a school of reds mixed in with school of jacks.
Tom Rowland: Both of those species are literally apex predators. I mean Oh, yeah. A school of redfish is going to eat everything that is in front of it, but a school of Jacks could even be more aggressive, and they have a little bit better mouth structure for for, eating like menhaden and stuff like that. I mean, a little bit larger teeth. They have got those crushers in their throat. They seem to be a little more aggressive. They got the the fast swimming tail rather than the Yep. Than the, you know, the I don't know what you call that. The softer soft ray tail like a like a redfish or a bass or, you know, that that seems like a a slower fish. Even like a grouper has kind of that where you have, like, a tuna, a jack, a bonefish, a permit. They have that forked tail, which typically is a faster fish, and a jack is
Quinn Hollingsworth: Right.
Tom Rowland: Probably faster than a redfish, I guess. Maybe at least on a
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah.
Tom Rowland: At least on a a a longer stretch. A redfish might be like, that tail structure and the way that a redfish is built seems to be, like, more of an ambush kind of thing, like a large mouth bass, a grouper, those type of fish. So maybe on a short little little, you know, four feet could probably match a jack, but I think over a 100 feet, a jack is gonna probably be much faster, which is kind of interesting to see them together. But, I mean, where they're gonna be where the bait is. Right? Like, they're gonna be
Quinn Hollingsworth: Absolutely.
Tom Rowland: They're gonna be where the bait is, but I love those big jacks. I think that is.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. They're fun. And it's like you said, you know, the I you know, the fork tail, they're just they're just designed in over thousands of years probably. You know, they're just they're very aerodynamical and just packed into, like you know, they're little freight trains. So, not little, but they're they're big freight trains.
Tom Rowland: So what's a big jack up there? What what what I mean, like, if you were to see one, could you see one twenty five pounds, 30 pounds?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. You could. Absolutely.
Tom Rowland: Wow. That's a great time.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Absolutely.
Tom Rowland: That's a great one, man. Yep. And what time of the year does that happen? Fall?
Quinn Hollingsworth: That's that's summer. Summer. So yep. And which is a good fallback because summertime fishing up here can be a little bit slower. You know? It's hot. The fish are getting lethargic. So kind of if the redfish aren't cooperating, you know, we got Spanish mackerel in the summer. We got jacks that we can target. So it's a good it's a good fallback. But really, really in the summer, we're probably I had a buddy yesterday. He got into some, but we're we're gonna see them start to move out once we once we get a good cold front.
57:36 · Cold Fronts and Year-Round Fishing
Tom Rowland: Uh-huh. And then what happens with the cold front? Does that stir up other fish that you're fishing for?
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. So, you know, like, anything, pre front fishing, if I know that a cold front's coming through, I mean, obviously, you got your barometric pressure dropping. The fishing fishing's good. So fall's good for trout. You know, we don't get those big gator trout like Peter Deeks is catching, you know, over in, like, Mosquito Lagoon or Indian River, but, or South South Florida. But, you know, the trout bite can be really good, pre and post front, here. Same with the redfish in the fall. So
Tom Rowland: Right on. So you're fishing pretty much all year round. You got an incredible tourism area right there.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah.
Tom Rowland: You got and you've built these different services up for for all these different things, man. Sounds like you really got it going on. That's awesome, man. Good job.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Appreciate it, man. Thank you.
58:29 · How to Book a Trip
Tom Rowland: Yeah. So, if you wanna go fishing, with Quinn, he's told you how to do it. Look up the Ranger Angler all over the place. That's your that's your that's your handle on pretty much all these different social medias, I think. And, and the Brave Waters Brave Waters God Service. If if a serviceman is interested in that, like, what what's the protocol there? Like, if if there's somebody listening that is like, that that's me. That's what I wanna do.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. That's a great question. Shoot me or Scott Brown. Again, like Tom said, Ranger Angler. Shoot me a DM. My you can find my phone number too on on social. Same with Scott. Scott said push it good inshore. You know? He's the, he's the co business owner. Just shoot us a DM. Give us a phone call, and we'd be glad to kinda discuss further.
Tom Rowland: Awesome, man. That's great, man. I love to see you guys doing that. That's that's really a great opportunity for so many different people.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Yeah.
Tom Rowland: Alright, Quinn. That's awesome, man. Thanks for being on the show today. I really appreciate it. I look forward to getting down to that 30 a area again, and it as, as I did before, as soon as I get down there, I'll give you a call or beforehand because you'll be booked up if I if I just give you a call when I get there. So I'm gonna make sure I do it beforehand and, book some time with you, and and we'll go fishing again. That'll be awesome. Maybe it won't be a 30 degree drop this time.
Quinn Hollingsworth: Hopefully. Fingers crossed. I appreciate your time, Tom. Yeah. I had it. It was great catching up with you. Great seeing you again. And, yeah, I really appreciate the opportunity.
Tom Rowland: Alright. That's it. Alright. We'll have another guest just like Quinn, the ranger angler next week, so make sure you tune in. And that's it for this week. We'll see you later.