S6, Ep 85: On the Water with Dustin White
In this episode of The Articulate Fly, host Marvin Cash chats with Dustin White about fishing in the Golden Isles of southeastern Georgia and northeast Florida. They discuss the unique aspects of the area, including its tranquility and excellent fishing opportunities, particularly for redfish and tarpon. Dustin also provides updates on fishing conditions back home in Wyoming. The episode wraps up with a listener question about camping and wade fishing locations in Central Wyoming and a shout-out to the local favorite, Boomtown Blast, for its great food and affordable drinks.
To learn more about Dustin, check out our full length interview.
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Speaker:
Marvin: Hey folks it's marvin cash the host of the articulate fly and we're back with
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Marvin: another on the water with dustin white dustin how are you marvin.
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Dustin: I uh have a little bit of r and r happening right now down in the golden isles
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Dustin: so i'm uh feeling pretty pretty darn good how about you.
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Marvin: Yeah i'm just uh sitting here doing what i do been uh been recording all day
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Marvin: but it's all good but you know for folks that don't know the golden isles are
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Marvin: you want to let them know it's kind of of like down and like off the coast of
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Marvin: southeastern georgia yeah.
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Dustin: Yep southeast georgia up to northeast florida
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Dustin: and so uh i mean one of my just absolute favorite
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Dustin: places on the planet and love it to
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Dustin: death and my uh my wife's family is is
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Dustin: is from uh this neck of the woods and her folks have uh have a house down on
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Dustin: on one of the islands so we come down and uh make it a regular uh haunt uh a
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Dustin: few time throughout the year uh if we're lucky and you get to relax a little
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Dustin: bit unwind a little bit fish a bit and uh yeah i enjoy it.
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Marvin: Yeah it's interesting too because the kind of the cool thing about that part
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Marvin: of the world is if you like to fish and you don't like crowded beaches it's
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Marvin: a good place to go because all those coastal rivers yeah they dump a bunch of
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Marvin: silt and people don't like that that are beach people um right and so like you
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Marvin: know the jekyll river kind of keeps Jekyll Island from being completely overrun with human beings.
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Dustin: Exactly, exactly. Yeah, it's definitely a place of tranquility and beauty,
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Dustin: but it's not the Daytona Beach sort of vibe whatsoever. So we love it here.
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Marvin: Yeah, so you didn't have to put your Jaeger Luge in your checked luggage?
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Dustin: No, no, no. Definitely didn't have to do that at all.
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Dustin: Just, uh, just some, uh, some, uh, a pretty light, uh, pack of,
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Dustin: uh, some clothes, uh, fishing rods, reels, some, some, some light tackle like that.
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Dustin: And then, uh, uh, a buck or two to read and we're on our way.
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Marvin: Yeah. So do you want to let folks kind of know about the redfish and the tarpon
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Marvin: bite, or do you want to kind of update folks on what's going on back home?
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Dustin: We can we can do both yeah um that's
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Dustin: the cool thing about uh this area of the country um you
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Dustin: know it's uh one of my i've been fishing this island
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Dustin: now for for close to 20 years um it's
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Dustin: definitely um a a red fish kind of
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Dustin: just epicenter i mean it's just a
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Dustin: killer reds fishery um so you
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Dustin: know whether you uh want to hire a guide uh and
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Dustin: there's a number in the area that are
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Dustin: good buds that i would recommend or diy it
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Dustin: um the reds fishing is is is pretty self-explanatory pretty
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Dustin: basic um and there's there's a
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Dustin: ton of great spots that you can hit um
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Dustin: in either of those formats uh and then
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Dustin: the really cool thing is about this time of year um it's got
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Dustin: the the big migratory tarpon that are
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Dustin: pushing up through uh this year was a a little
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Dustin: bit rough uh in that uh preceding us
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Dustin: arriving here there's a tropical storm and uh
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Dustin: as explained to me by a buddy of mine who's a guy down here really kind
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Dustin: of went a little screwy with the the bait so none of the fish were really out
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Dustin: front uh on in you know kind of ocean side and a lot of the flats and that sort
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Dustin: of thing so a lot of them were back in the those silty rivers uh you described
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Dustin: about but it it is a substantial push of fish and so uh yeah this year a little bit of a bust but.
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Dustin: Have uh just really really fallen in love with this place
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Dustin: and yeah and then there's a ton of other species too so
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Dustin: it's a it's a really cool place so yeah i've been
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Dustin: down here the last couple days um but uh had
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Dustin: uh you know some really productive fishing uh back home in wyoming before we
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Dustin: came down and here in a couple days when we head back i look forward to some
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Dustin: some more productive fishing um primarily uh coming back uh most of my trips
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Dustin: come back are going to to be carping, but,
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Dustin: uh, we did have, uh, and have had, uh,
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Dustin: a bunch of productive trout fishing as well.
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Marvin: Uh, very cool. You were telling me that really the action has been kind of on
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Marvin: the mile, uh, for the most part for the trout front and that there's been a
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Marvin: little bit of flux on the reef.
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Dustin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They, um, they've been raising and dropping our flows, uh, again on the reef.
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Dustin: Um and so that's made things
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Dustin: you know day of can make things uh especially
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Dustin: on the bump when they raise it back up can make things a
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Dustin: little funky uh obviously on the drop uh it might be a little a little funky
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Dustin: at first just for a few hours but can really actually supercharge those fish
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Dustin: um but yeah seems that there's still some some work to do on those valves on
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Dustin: the dam And so that's, as we understand it,
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Dustin: kind of what's led to those changes and fluctuations in the flows.
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Dustin: But yeah, primarily reef has been still PMDs, sallies, and with some caddis mixed in.
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Dustin: Honestly, the last week, you know, I've been on the mile, caddis,
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Dustin: caddis, caddis, caddis, caddis.
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Dustin: Those fish are really really keyed in
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Dustin: on caddis right now and in fairly sizable size
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Dustin: i'm fishing you know size 12s uh
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Dustin: and 14s um you can get by with maybe
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Dustin: some smaller ones but this this fish are really really keyed in
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Dustin: on on pretty large caddis right now um lower sections
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Dustin: and up in the canyon still had some stonefly productivity
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Dustin: but um that certainly is going to be waning um
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Dustin: uh pretty rapidly uh but still
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Dustin: a ton of fish in the system and uh not to
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Dustin: let the cat out of the bag too much but it's been a bit
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Dustin: of a brown trout haven um the this year's been a really exciting year in the
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Dustin: last uh probably two and a half weeks we've seen just a large number of large
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Dustin: browns um that have kind of pushed up from the reservoir into the river uh pretty
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Dustin: you know pretty Pretty early considering,
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Dustin: you know, that we're in July and we've had a pretty big influx of browns in there.
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Marvin: Well, that's pretty cool. And got a question for you from Chris,
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Marvin: and this is kind of an interesting one for you.
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Marvin: He's, yeah, he's planning to come out to your neck of the woods in September,
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Marvin: and he wants to find good locations where he can camp and that it's close to
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Marvin: good wade fishing. Yeah.
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Dustin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. So the gray reefs on the reef itself,
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Dustin: you'll find BLM camping around the Reds or Pete's Draw are two gray areas on the reef.
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Dustin: But if you drop a little bit lower, you have the Trapper's Route section that
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Dustin: has also additionally really, really good camping there on the reef.
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Dustin: In terms of public camping, that's probably your best bet.
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Dustin: Although, if you're able to maybe set up a shop there, but maybe venture other places to wade fish.
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Dustin: Laura, as you get into town in Evansville, there's some really,
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Dustin: really productive wade fishing opportunities there as well.
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Dustin: And additionally, Chris, the mile always has free camping and can see some really,
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Dustin: really fun dry fly action.
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Dustin: As we kind of mentioned a few moments ago, it's always kind of a roll in the
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Dustin: ice whether or not those browns are running into the mile.
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Dustin: But the mile gives you free camping for up to 14 days per site.
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Dustin: No reservations needed. needed uh just kind of
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Dustin: show up first come first serve uh but most of
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Dustin: the mile well it can be a little technical and can be higher gradient um in
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Dustin: the summer by the time you hit the fall uh they'll be at winter flows and it's
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Dustin: it's a pretty accessible wade fish there so you got options on the reef trappers
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Dustin: route section uh but then additionally the mile is going to give you a lot of
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Dustin: opportunities as well to both camp and wade fish yeah.
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Marvin: Well there you go and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly
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Marvin: you can email them to us or dm us on social media you whatever is easiest for you.
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Marvin: And if we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag.
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Marvin: We are drawing for a half a day of fishing with Dustin and Dustin,
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Marvin: as we always do, we want to pay homage to a local restaurant slash watering
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Marvin: hole. What do we have on tap this time?
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Dustin: Yeah, the Sunrise Shopping Plaza slash Bowling Alley did a huge remodel,
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Dustin: and I think they're calling it Boomtown now.
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Dustin: But you and I, Marvin, I think in the fall last year, swung by and watched a
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Dustin: Thursday night football game, had some wings, some good cold drafts that were pretty affordable.
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Dustin: And so, yeah, love to highlight Boomtown and the Sunrise Lounge that's there
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Dustin: because, you know, pretty great drinks, fantastic staff,
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Dustin: and then killer food, too.
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Dustin: So, and it's conveniently nearby where my wife, Jamie, and I live.
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Dustin: So, that gets added points for me.
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Marvin: You only have to cross four lanes of traffic.
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Dustin: Exactly, exactly.
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Marvin: Yeah, the food there is great, and I'm a big fan of kind of rustic bars that have buckets of beer.
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Dustin: Yes, yeah, that's the sort of bar it is. It's a bucket of beer bar,
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Dustin: and we're in July now, so I can't quite recall what the special they were running
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Dustin: then, but I do remember that if there was a football game on,
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Dustin: the wings were only X amounts and the beers were only this much.
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Dustin: So it's a great spot, great staff.
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Dustin: We frequented a bunch and are appreciative of them and their services.
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Marvin: Yeah, it's funny. I think the prices were so good, I thought maybe I was in
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Marvin: an episode of Hot Tub Time Machine.
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Dustin: Yeah, this has to be 1987 prices.
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Marvin: Yeah, it wasn't quite nickel wings, but it was pretty close.
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Dustin: It was pretty close, yeah. I think they were like dime or quarter wing.
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Dustin: I mean, they were pretty affordable wings. So, and again, sauce was great.
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Dustin: Wings were great. Their pizza was fantastic.
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Dustin: My wife and I get it a bunch. So yeah, it's a good spot for us.
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Marvin: Yeah. So, you know, you know, put that on the dance card, Chris,
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Marvin: when you, you come out, when you either, before you head out of town to camp
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Marvin: or when you come back and you're really hungry and, you know,
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Marvin: folks as always say, yo, to yourself to get out there and catch a few tight
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Marvin: lines, everybody tight lines, Dustin.
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Dustin: Tight lines, Marvin. Thanks so much.
Dustin White
Guide
Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Dustin had a rod in his hand soon after he started walking. He spent much of his childhood and adolescence fishing for muskie, pike, and bass on his family’s lake property. Any and all family trips were spent on the water chasing numerous species of fish in both freshwater and saltwater. However, Dustin’s favorite form of angling has and will always be targeting Trout and Steelhead on the fly. Dustin spends his winters guiding for Steelhead on the tributaries of Lake Erie. Dustin is a graduate of Sweetwater Travel Guide School, and he is a proud pro-staff member of a number of the industry’s top manufacturers. He is also the cofounder and director of “Nimi on the Fly,” a nonprofit charity that seeks to promote character building, enrichment, and conservation with youth the sport of fly fishing.
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