About Mat

 

Yup, you guessed it, that's me in the photo. I grew up in the speck of a state known as Rhode Island, never more than a 15 minute drive from the salty shores of the Atlantic ocean. As a youngster, there was no pond, river, lake, creek or muddy puddle I wouldn't test, if I thought it might hold a fish. The tannic, somewhat polluted river behind my house, the Saugatucket, was my most frequent, consistent and beloved babysitter.  When a change of scenery was needed, I'd hop on my bike, rod precariously in hand, and furiously peddle my way to any place offering a day of fishing. By 16, I was on the road to an addiction to fly fishing worse than the Kardashians and plastic surgery. 

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Your phone number is 415 – San Francisco. How'd you become a guide? After 20+ years in design, branding and art direction, I had an expanding waistline, a growing distaste for urban life and a need for change. I turned to the sport I love and a stint at guide school. I put steps in place, checked boxes and flipped a career 180.  It's worked out and I never lose sight of the fact I'm lucky. The cat was cool with the career change, so there was never any domestic trouble. 

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Some people ask me about the name, Fish Tramp. Am I a fly fishing floozy? A guide of low moral character and suspect motives? No. I guide as Fish Tramp because, I struggled with reading as a kid. A few of the books I liked were Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Their characters were carefree travelers, unbound and curious. As a newcomer to the state, impromptu, unplanned, fly fishing adventures took me around California, showed me new places and gave me a sense of complete freedom – like Tom and Huck. Every trip is still an adventure and every fish I help a client catch, still excites me like that kid riding his bike around town, thinking of the day and fish ahead. 

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Sincerely, Mat