“When I was in law school I began writing for fly-fishing magazines, and that blossomed into a side career as a travel and outdoor writer. I was actually the Southeast Field Editor for Fly Fisherman magazine during the first several years of my insurance defense practice. I still regularly submit to American Angler, Fly Rod & Reel, The Drake, Flyfish Journal, and some regional non-fishing publications such as Arkansas Life. I also run a website and a popular podcast, which you can see over at www.itinerantangler.com/about.

“These days I’m a partner at a litigation boutique in Alpharetta, Georgia, called McMickle, Kurey & Branch, but I continue to write and travel globally in my ‘writer’ capacity on a regular basis. Writing—especially writing about fly fishing—has taken me to Brazil, the Bahamas, Mexico, Montana, and most recently to Patagonia and Iceland.

“Modern fly fishing is not what people think; the days of tweed ghillies’ hats and bamboo slowly unrolling casts that sparkle in the sun aren’t exactly over, but that has become a kind of hipster nostalgia niche within the sport. Modern fly angling culture really has more in common with big wall climbing, snowboarding or whitewater rafting. The bleeding edge of the sport is in traveling to the most obscure places to catch fish which have never yet seen a fly, ideally native ones. Busting a trail through an Argentinian estancia, flushing coveys of quail en route to a secret stream that isn’t even on the maps yet in search of huge brook trout—that’s what really hooks people.”