Snook on The Fly.

If you’re fishing in the Tampa Bay area, you simply can’t go wrong booking Wade.

A lot of guides will say they specialize in fly fishing and light tackle. Wade brings the goods. He understands how to position the boat based on the skill of the caster. I’m not an expert fly-flinger but I’m not bad either. Wade watched me, figured out where my comfort zone is, adjusted his positioning and set me up for success all while coaching and tending to a less experienced angler in the boat. How he juggled it all I’m not sure, but it is obvious he has the experience and expertise that makes for a great guide.

Bottom line, Wade does everything a great guide should do: He puts you on fish consistently. He gives you the best opportunity to hook them and he does it every minute you are on his boat. He coaches with a steady, reasonable voice and talks the fish up to the gunwale. He’s easy to get along with.

I’ve fished with guides who take time in the first hour catching bait. Some will add that time to the trip, and some will start the clock when they leave the dock. Wade showed up at the dock both days on time with the live well full, so we didn’t waste time or daylight netting snacks for the predators. When you book a trip for a specified period of time, that’s what you get, no BS and no time wasted. During a total of 12 hours of booked trip, I fished almost 10 of them and caught fish at every spot but one. We didn’t stay there long. Time spent moving from spot to spot to follow the tides are part of the deal and Wade even keeps that to a minimum by planning his routes well. By the end of each day, we had a 10-minute trip from last cast to the dock.

Edward Zaun, Barnegat, New Jersey