Hey everyone!

Know it has been awhile since my last fly-fishing update: needless to say that this has arguably been the busiest year of my life to date. Currently, I am studying abroad in Florence, Italy and have not had as much time as usual to go fly-fishing or keep the website updated.

However, there is some news and updates that I do wish to share in order to keep the site active and running for 2015!

To begin with, I did end up winning the first month and the FIRST QUARTER of The Drake Magazine’s Big Year Contest! Needless to say this was a pretty huge accomplishment/moment in my fly-fishing career, and there were many memories made doing this. Overall the contest improved my abilities immensely, in that I was able to adjust techniques to catch fish that were not expected (i.e. tripletail, freshwater drum, walleye, and countless of other fish). In the coming month I will be attempting to catch a Wels Catfish on the fly rod here in Florence, Italy, so I will make sure to update the site with pictures and stories whether or not success is reached.

Although I am having quite the experience of the lifetime here in Europe at the moment, I cannot wait to get back home this summer and get back to fly fishing for carp in Texas, and possibly tarpon fishing in Costa Rica.

– Joe Petrow