Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 351 is my conversation with author Monte Burke about his book Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World-Record Tarpon. We dig into the five golden years in Homosassa, Florida, when arguably the best fly anglers on earth all chased the same giant tarpon, the lineage that connects legends like Stu Apte, Billy Pate, Tom McGuane, and Steve Huff, and why Monte keeps writing about people consumed by a single pursuit.
Listen now: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · Press play in the player above to watch.
Monte Burke is an author and journalist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He is a longtime Forbes staff writer who also contributes to Garden & Gun and The Drake, and he wrote the New York Times bestseller Saban about Alabama football coach Nick Saban. His fishing and outdoor books include Lords of the Fly, Sowbelly, and Leaper.
Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World-Record Tarpon tells the story of the fly anglers and guides who chased the world-record tarpon, centered on the legendary Homosassa, Florida, scene. Monte argues that for roughly five years the world's best fly fishermen were all in one place pursuing the same fish.
Homosassa, Florida, is where, during a roughly five-year stretch, an extraordinary concentration of elite fly anglers and guides gathered to hunt giant tarpon and the world record. Monte describes it as a moment when the best in the world overlapped in one fishery at the same time, producing both records and unforgettable characters.
The book traces a connected lineage of saltwater fly fishing legends including Bill Smith, Stu Apte, Billy Pate, Tom McGuane, Steve Huff, Nathaniel Linville, and David Mangum. Monte explains how each figure links to the next in a continuum he did not fully grasp until he started reporting.
Beyond Lords of the Fly, Monte Burke wrote Saban, a New York Times bestseller about Nick Saban, the football book Fourth and Long, and earlier outdoor titles Sowbelly, about the pursuit of the world-record largemouth bass, and Leaper.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 351 with Monte Burke is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and iHeartRadio. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
I got an early copy of Lords of the Fly and could not put it down. The book is about my heroes. I used to put in at Sugarloaf right next to Steve Huff and just watch him, trying to figure out what made him different. Monte managed to capture that whole strange, obsessive world on the page, and he did it as a writer who understands obsession from the inside. I wanted to sit down with him and hear how he found this story and what it taught him. Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
Monte argues that for about five years Homosassa held the greatest collection of fly anglers ever assembled in one place, all chasing the same fish. He explains why that window opened, why it closed, and what it was like to report on a scene that has become almost mythic. The way he describes the competition and the camaraderie is the heart of the book. Listen to that section in the player above.
What surprised Monte most was how connected everything turned out to be. Bill Smith links to Stu Apte, who links to Billy Pate, who links to Tom McGuane, on through Nathaniel Linville and David Mangum. He did not know going in how tightly the whole continuum was wound. He walks through that web of mentorship and rivalry in the episode.
From the world-record largemouth chasers in Sowbelly to the tarpon hunters here, Monte is drawn to people consumed by niche pursuits other people dismiss. He makes the case that these obsessions are exactly what give life meaning, and he is candid about his own. If you have ever been called obsessive about fishing, this is the part to hear.
Monte has had a career most writers dream about, from staff writer at Forbes to a New York Times bestseller on Nick Saban. He explains why he kept returning to fishing stories even when the bigger audience was clearly somewhere else, and how he convinced his agent to let him chase this one. Press play in the YouTube player above.
Listen to the full conversation: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · or watch in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
What I keep coming back to after talking with Monte is how much of fishing history lives in the relationships between people, not just the fish. Lords of the Fly captures a world I grew up idolizing, and it does it with real care.
If you love the history of saltwater fly fishing, or you just want to understand why some people give their whole lives to one pursuit, this conversation is for you.
Press play in the player above, or grab Episode 351 on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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.
Monte Burke · Lords of the Fly · Sowbelly · Leaper · Saban · Fourth and Long · Forbes · Garden & Gun · The Drake · Homosassa, Florida · Bill Smith · Stu Apte · Billy Pate · Tom McGuane · Steve Huff · Nathaniel Linville · David Mangum
Monte Burke is a Brooklyn-based author and journalist, a longtime Forbes staff writer, and a contributor to Garden & Gun and The Drake. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Saban about Nick Saban, the football book Fourth and Long, and the fishing and outdoor titles Sowbelly, Leaper, and Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World-Record Tarpon.
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