W
hen I was 11 years old and
rabid with fishing fever, I would
violate the family’s lightsout curfew once a week to view the angling
exploits of a man who called himself Gadabout
Gaddis, a.k.a. The Flying Fisherman. Each
week, the grandfatherly Ol’ Gad would board
his single engine piper Cherokee, head to the
skies, and touch his floatplane down on some
remote water filled with a rotating line-up of
abundant and obliging fish.
Gad lived the dream life, I reckoned, and
I thought that no man could extract more
outdoor adventure from his time on earth.
Decades later, I met Patrick Sébile and learned
different. Much different!
Sébile, face and founder of Sébile Innovative
Fishing (Pure Fishing), has amassed a mix of
angling variety, travel, adventure, invention
and success that boggle the mind and titillates
the imaginations of anglers everywhere.
His angling exploits are celebrated on every
continent but Antarctica but, curiously, less in
North America where he has chosen to make
his Florida home.
Let’s start with the numbers.
He has caught fish in 64 countries, not to mention the countless states, provinces and other
regional localities within them.
He holds 360-plus official world, national, and
state records.
Arguably the world’s most innovative tackle
creator, he has designed more than 300 lures,
many of which are marketed worldwide or
slated for future launch.
At the European tackle show EFTTEX 2015,
he notched his 16th major award for tackle
innovation for his latest lure, Spin Glider,
scheduled for European release later this year.
As for his proudest total, Sébile has documented catches of 741 distinct fish species.
An Enchanted Life
If that sounds like a charmed life, the worldly
Frenchman would heartily agree. Still,
hopping continents to generate fresh fish
stories and international tackle trade has
not come without cost. The relentless globetrotting has taken its toll on body and soul. For
years he felt like a man without a home, and
his travel log has validated the emotion.
In 2010, for example, he logged 300 days away
from “home,” wetting lines in 56 countries.
Since moving to Florida several years ago and
setting some semblance of roots there, his
“home” life has taken a turn for the better -relatively speaking.
“I traveled only 160 days this past year,” he laughs.
“So, yes, you might say I am settling down!”
In quiet moments, he acknowledges the
sacrifices of the life he has chosen, which has
left him little time to court a wife and build a
family -- two aspirations he continues to hold.
Still, the waters have been vast and the
adventures hearty, and, before you well up
with sympathetic tears, well, just think of all
those fish!
A Unique Fishing Life
Patrick Sébile grew up in Villenave d’Ornon
near Bordeaux. His father died when he was
nine, and fish and fishing helped to fill the void.
Even at an early age, it was clear that he was a
fishing prodigy, not only able to catch fish with
uncanny ability but to conjure new ways to
catch them, too.
He started hopping continents early, too.
Shortly after his 18th birthday, he travelled
Fishhound Mag | Page 14