“I wanted to be a student of a new game and carve my own path,” he remembers. This ultimately inspired him to call his GM two days before training camp, informing him that he wasn’t coming back, and instead was going to work for The Angling Company - a premier fly shop in Key West, where he took on a part-time job folding T-shirts. “Going through injuries can really beat a person down and I was pretty burnt out.” That summer, Ian spent several weeks of his recovery time challenging himself on the flats of the he Keys. “I wanted to work in a field where I could get better with time and effort, one that would give me that same feeling I had playing hockey as a kid,” he remembers.
One summer, after suffering a bad injury, Ian began thinking about life after hockey. There, he fished on the side during the offseason. It was during his college summers that Ian rediscovered his passion for water above 32 degrees:ĭuring trips home to Florida, Ian began to explore and rediscover the Indian River Lagoon in his childhood backyard, fly rod in hand.Īfter college, Ian played professionally with the Toronto Maple Leafs' farm team out of Orlando, Florida.
He was drafted into a junior league in the Midwest during his sophomore year of high school, and after three years, accepted a scholarship to Western Michigan University. Hockey dictated a lot even back in his high school days - as the game took him from Florida to Indiana, and then Wisconsin. But Ian has always strived for maximal command and agility on the water, just as he once did on the ice.īefore Ian was consumed by a true love of chasing fish, angling took a back seat to sports for much of his early life. After that, it’s a very quick turnaround back to permit because we’ve got the Del Brown tournament mid July - and the new IGFA Permit Invitational in October now.” Throughout the year, this breadth forces Ian to be nimble and perform under additional constraints as a guide. And then, regardless of how good the permit fishing is, I’m turning my energy to tarpon because we’ve got The Golden Fly in May, and the Gold Cup in June. “And then, if I haven’t been permit fishing yet, I’m gonna dive deep into permit because The March Merkin tournament comes up quick. “It starts with the Cuda Bowl on Super Bowl Weekend, so the better part of January I’m prepping for that,” he explains. Ian has competed since 2018, and the tournament calendar is now baked into his fishing plan for each season. The tournament season is long and runs for most of the year, forcing guides who participate to incorporate tournament prep into already stacked schedules. Add into the mix tournament rules, time constraints, prizes, and pride - and the task of targeting these wary fish in shallow water becomes all the more daunting. The Florida Keys’ flats fishery is by no means easy, and, to succeed, guides must consistently and seamlessly coach their anglers through highly-visual, heart-palpitating shots at permit, tarpon, bonefish and other gamefish that frequent the area for its rich, aquatic ecosystem. Now, as a top flats fishing guide in the Florida Keys with a competitive tournament record from the poling platform of his skiff, Ian has shown an incredible knack for coaching his anglers to perform on the bow of his boat under high pressure. “I really wanted to be a student of the game.” Throughout his hockey career, Ian developed his skills under the guidance of many coaches, a process that exposed him to a wealth of insights on teaching tactics and coaching styles. “I was totally eaten up by it and excited - always looking for a way to improve,” says Ian.
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