Jako Lucas: Arapaima Fishing in the Amazon
Jako Lucas is a South African-born fishing guide and the founder of Capt. Jack Productions who travels the world chasing exotic species on the fly. He joins me to talk about arapaima fishing in the Amazon, the tackle and techniques required for the world's largest scaled freshwater fish, and the logistics of mounting an expedition into remote jungle.
Capt. Jeff Malone: Fighting Big Fish, Drag Control, and Rod Technique
Capt. Jeff Malone is a full-time charter captain who runs two boats year-round and teaches anglers proper fish-fighting technique. He joins me to break down drag control, the lift-and-reel cadence, palming the spool, and how to prevent tip wraps, the fundamentals that decide whether you land big fish like tarpon or lose them.
Dr. Kevin Stone: Why 80% of Knee Replacements Are Not Needed
Dr. Kevin Stone is an orthopedic surgeon and pioneer of biologic joint repair who argues that the vast majority of knee replacements are not needed. He joins me to explain the strict criteria a replacement should actually meet, the biological alternatives he has refined over decades, and why resting an injured knee often makes it worse.
Alyssa Amos Clark: Accomplishing a Goal Without Getting Overwhelmed
Alyssa Amos Clark is an ultra-endurance athlete who ran 95 marathons in 95 days and set the fastest known time on the Pinhoti Trail. She joins me to share her framework for accomplishing huge goals without getting overwhelmed, how she breaks the impossible into manageable pieces, and the mindset that carries her through.
Richard Black: Florida Keys Tournament Secrets and Black Fly Charters
Richard Black is a Florida Keys guide and the owner of Black Fly Charters who has built an exceptional tournament record by mastering the entire Keys fishery, from upper Keys tarpon and permit to lower Keys backcountry, Flamingo, and offshore. He joins me to talk tournament strategy, seasonal patterns, and why knowing the whole Keys chain is the edge.
Debbie Hanson: Peacock Bass and Topwater Secrets
Debbie Hanson is an award-winning outdoor writer and angler who specializes in chasing peacock bass in the South Florida canal system. She joins me to break down why summer into fall is prime time for these warm-water fish, how to read canal structure, and the topwater cadence and retrieve strategies that trigger explosive strikes.
Ryan Martin: 2x World Champion Boxer on Mental Toughness and Fishing
Ryan Martin is a two-time world champion boxer known as @BlueChipBoxer who brings championship-level discipline from the ring into his fishing pursuits. He joins me to talk about how the mental preparation that made him a world champion translates to saltwater fishing, a fish catch that changed his perspective on conservation, and why the same visualization techniques that helped him win titles now help him land trophy fish.
Lee, Seth & Joel Wakefield: Saltwater Heart Fishing and Building Community
Lee, Seth, and Joel Wakefield are three brothers from the Philadelphia area who created Saltwater Heart Fishing, a fishing social media brand built to help anglers enjoy fishing more. By day they run a family custom cabinet shop, and in their free time they fish the Jersey Coast and Delaware River while building a network of fishing friends up and down the East Coast. They join me to talk about balancing the woodworking business with content creation, the techniques that work on their home waters, and the philosophy behind helping other anglers connect.
Geoff Arias: How Tough Times Can Refine You or Define You
Geoff Arias is a commercial construction professional in Fort Lauderdale who was diagnosed with ALL leukemia his senior year of high school and beat it after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. He joins me to talk about choosing to let tough times refine him rather than define him, the Make-A-Wish fishing trip he took with me to the Florida Keys, and the values of resilience, work ethic, and gratitude he is passing to his three kids.
Pete Erickson: Fly Fishing Team USA and the Competition Mindset
Pete Erickson is a member of Fly Fishing Team USA, a Great Outdoor Games champion, and an old friend and former roommate of mine from our early guiding days. In this episode he joins me to talk about the competition mindset, why his best tournaments are the ones where a French or Czech angler beats him, how a small group of us came out of one area to dominate fly fishing television, and the art of a craft that never stops moving.
Billy Davis (Melton Hill Bill): Reservoir Bass and Musky Tactics
Billy Davis, known as Melton Hill Bill, is a Tennessee fishing guide who spends over 200 days a year on the water chasing bass and musky on Melton Hill Reservoir. In this episode he joins me to share how he got noticed through Larry Dahlberg's The Hunt for Big Fish, the leap of quitting his job to guide full-time, and the reservoir tactics he has dialed in from fishing nearly every single day.
Mike Counihan (NoDonutsHere): A Cop's Take on Fitness and Night Fishing
Mike Counihan, known online as NoDonutsHere, is a New York police officer who built a following around fitness and the outdoors. In this episode he joins me to talk about staying in shape on a punishing schedule, why he fishes alone at night far from everyone, how he protects his gym time around long shifts and a long commute, and the gratitude he finds out on the water under the stars.
Dr. Mike Simpson: How to Stay Honed After 40
Dr. Mike Simpson is a physician and the author of Honed, with a nontraditional path into medicine and a blunt message about aging. In this episode he joins me from Central Texas to argue that while aging is real, the slow decline most people accept is a societal default, not a destiny: why mindset is the first and most important step, how to mitigate the effects of aging instead of giving up, and what it takes to stay honed well after 40.
Matt Smythe: Poetry, Place, and the Future of Outdoor Writing
Matt Smythe is a writer for Free Range American and a lifelong bowhunter who thinks deeply about poetry, place, and the craft of outdoor storytelling. In this episode he joins me to talk about a short film he was part of that played five festivals, why some families pull the plug and move to the mountains, the patience that comes from years of bowhunting, and where outdoor writing is headed in a world of fast content.
Todd Bumgardner: Training Your Body for the Backcountry Hunt
Todd Bumgardner is a strength and conditioning coach with fifteen years of experience and the creator of the Human Predator Pack Mule, a training program built specifically for backcountry hunters. In this episode he joins me to explain why most hunt-training misses the mark, why holding still and moving slowly are harder than people think, how to prepare for the pack-in and pack-out, and how he went from studying to be a teacher to coaching hunters to move like predators.
McDojo Life: Exposing Fraudulent Martial Artists Online
Rob is the creator of McDojo Life, a social-media platform that exposes fraudulent martial artists, fake masters, and con men in the martial arts industry. In this episode he joins me to explain what a McDojo actually is, how a single question sparked the whole project, how he learned to make people part of the conversation instead of just handing them proof, and how calling out frauds became his full-time job and a coming documentary.
Bouncer Smith: How to Set Your Drag for Saltwater Gamefish
Bouncer Smith is a legendary Miami charter captain with more than five decades on the water. In this How 2 Tuesday episode he sits with me in his Miami apartment overlooking the ocean to walk through exactly how he sets the drag for saltwater gamefish: the 20% rule with a hand scale, how the drag changes as you raise the rod, when to back off during a blistering run, and a chain-link-fence trick for learning what a properly loaded rod looks like.
Chad Mendes & Chad Belding: Turning Outdoor Passion Into Business
Chad Mendes is a former UFC featherweight title contender, and Chad Belding is the founder of the Banded waterfowl brand and host of The Fowl Life. In this episode they join me together to talk about turning a lifelong outdoor passion into a real business: how Chad Mendes built Fins & Feathers after retiring from fighting, how the two Chads partnered up, the relentless sports-show grind, and what makes an outdoor business partnership actually work.
Allan McCoy: Hook, Line & Heroes and Taking Veterans Fishing
Allan McCoy is the founder of Hook, Line & Heroes, a nonprofit that takes military veterans dealing with PTSD out on the water to fish. In this episode he joins me to explain how the organization started, why his father — a D-Day veteran — shaped the mission, why his team calls every veteran alumnus every single month, and how a simple fishing trip can give a struggling veteran something to look forward to.
Zach Bitter: 100-Mile World Records and How to Fuel for Ultra-Endurance
Zach Bitter is an American ultramarathon runner and former world-record holder for the 100-mile run and the 12-hour run. In this episode he joins me to break down what it actually takes to run for 100 miles and longer: how he fuels with a low-carbohydrate, fat-adapted approach, how he built metabolic efficiency over years, how he manages the mental side of ultra-endurance, and how an everyday athlete can apply the same principles to go farther than they think they can.
Jonathan Moss: Building The Captain's Log TV While Guiding Full-Time
Captain Jonathan Moss is a Florida fishing guide and the host of The Captain's Log TV on Waypoint. In this episode he joins me to trace how he built a family-friendly fishing show while guiding, teaching, and raising young kids: the Cuban grandfather who fled Castro and set the family work ethic, the years he played guitar in Orlando restaurants to fund his first skiff, why he left teaching to guide, and how he keeps a TV show, a guide career, and a growing family all moving at once.
Chris Avena: Building American Outdoor News
Chris Avena is a longtime outdoor industry figure, the founder of the digital magazine American Outdoor News, and the creator of the SeeMeHunt social network. He joins Tom Rowland to talk about building outdoor media brands, why he bet on digital over print, and a lifetime spent across hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.
Michael Lawrence: How an Out-of-State Angler Can Fight for Florida Water
Michael Lawrence is an angler from Kentucky who became a grassroots advocate for Florida water conservation after hearing about Everglades restoration on a podcast. He joins Tom Rowland for a How 2 Tuesday on how anyone, even from another state, can educate themselves, join the cause, and make a real impact on Florida water issues.
Dale Luganbill: Goliath Grouper Debate & Tampa Bay Water Crisis
Dale Luganbill is the host of the Full Scale Podcast, a fishing and outdoor lifestyle show based out of the Minnesota and Wisconsin area. He joins Tom Rowland to dig into the goliath grouper harvest debate and the Tampa Bay water crisis, two issues at the intersection of fishing, conservation, and management.