Were you an artist first or an angler first and when did the two merge?
This would be as difficult to answer as the chicken or the egg question. A strong desire to both fish, and create art seemed to have been inside me before I can even remember. Throughout my childhood, I would draw fish, monsters, portraits, boats, ninjas, guns and knives (I was a typical boy) but the first time I considered myself a fish artist was 5th grade, when I entered the MUCC YOUTH WILDLIFE ART COMPETITION. My drawing of my dads trophy walleye mount, eating minnows took no ribbon home and I was devastated. I enrolled in an after school art class the next month, and worked hard on the fundamentals. I improved rapidly, and the following year I painted a Largemouth Bass eating a frog. It took second place, but more importantly it sent me on a life long journey of being a fish artist.
Judging by your travels you have seen and done a lot but where if your favorite place to be for creative inspiration and expression ?
I really like traveling, seeing the world, and all the exotic fisheries out there. But I can’t help but be most inspired by our own backyard here in the USA. I love spending early mornings out on the flats, in the Florida Keys. The things you see out there are incredible, and yes, inspiring too. The small streams and creeks of Montana also own a big piece of my heart. Watching a prolific mayfly hatch, with the trout and swallows picking them off one by one, that is about as good as it gets.