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First of all, thanks for doing this Joe!

You are welcome! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to let you know a little bit about myself and the great things we have going on at Why Knot Fishing!

Could you tell me a little about yourself? Where you’re from or where you’ve lived? Your family?

Of course.  I am originally from West Hartford, CT, and currently live in Salem, Ma where I settled after graduating from Endicott College.  I grew up, fishing of course, but also very dedicated to sports with Football and Lacrosse being my two primary sports.  I ended up playing lacrosse for four years at Endicott College, and it wasn’t until after I graduated that I got back into fishing and got REALLY into fishing!

When did you first start fishing?


I was first introduced to fishing on a family vacation to Canada.  My grandparents always went to a place called Twin Oaks Lodge in Ontario, and it is there that my mom first gave me and my brothers our first fishing rods.  We grew up fishing mostly in freshwater fishing in ponds around West Hartford having a blast catching tons of Largemouth Bass, Perch, Sunfish, Pickerel, Crappie and Catfish.  We took a couple trips to the saltwater and mostly did some surfcasting with bait and lures, being lucky enough to catch some Stripers, Blues and Sand Sharks.

And how did you get into fly fishing?


I got into fly fishing thanks to my good friend Brian Malchoff and my Uncle Mike Albert.  Brian grew up fishing with me and my brothers in CT, but when he went to college he stayed as into fishing as sports.  He got into fly fishing, and started guiding in Alaska (Still is at Wild River Guides – I highly recommend checking them out).  He always tried to get me into it by inviting me to their yearly Thanksgiving trip to Upstate New York for big trout on the fly.

It wasn’t until my Uncle gave me my first saltwater fly rod, and I bought a reel from Brian, that I got into it.  That summer I got my first stripers on the fly, and then finally joined Brian on their trip to Upstate New York.  And it was all happily downhill from there.

What’s your favorite fish to chase with the fly rods?


This is a tough question.  In general I pursue Striped Bass more than anything because I live right on the water in Salem Harbor, so I thoroughly enjoy chasing and catching Stripers on the fly.  I also love catching big Trout on the fly in Upstate New York.  Any fish on the fly is fun, but I would have to say False Albacore are currently my favorite on the fly.

This Summer I had the opportunity to fish in West Palm Beach, FL during my trip to ICAST, and I was able to hook up to some HUGE False Albacore on the fly.  They call them “Bonita” down south, and consider them a trash fish, which is the complete opposite of their outlook in New England.  I am still pursuing my first Northeast Albie on the fly – and I can’t wait!

You do a lot of saltwater fishing, both spinning and fly. Focusing on the fly gear here, what’s a good outfit you’d recommend for someone looking to take up saltwater fly fishing in MA (or New England)?

I use 7, 8, 9, and 10 weights for my inshore saltwater fishing.  The 7 and 8 weights I  typically use in the earlier season when the fish tend to be smaller.  The 10 weight I like to have when throwing large flies on sinking line. And the 9 weight is what I tend to use the most.  I would set your eye on a 9-foot 8 or 9 weight rod to start.  And I would shoot for a large arbor fly reel with intermediate line.  There are lots of different brands out there, and many are great, but my favorite set-ups are my 8-weight Aubut fly rod with Cheeky Mojo 425 reel with Intermediate line, and my 9-weight Orvis Helios 2 with a Cheeky Boost 400 with sinking line that I tend to throw primarily from the boat.

What are some of your go to flies for the surf?


I like clousers and deceivers in olive/white, white, chartreuse/white, or olive/chartreuse/white, or natural bait colors like mackerel or squid.  Sometimes in the summer the stripers up by use get very keyed in to small bait, so having very small sand eel flies to match the hatch becomes much more important.  My favorite fly is a large white Hollow Flyeye.  The movement in the water is second to none and have noticed the big bait = big fish analogy at work.  (My business partner Matt got his personal best 41.5″ on the fly this summer on the same fly.)

What’s the biggest difference, in your opinion, between fishing for trout and fishing in the salt?

That’s a good question.  There are obvious differences for sure, and there are definitely many similarities as well.  I think the biggest difference for me is the size of the fish.  I love fishing for trout and hunting them in small creeks or big rivers and getting the right drift or the right swing, and there are certainly some huge trout you can catch that are a blast.  But every time I am fishing in the salt you never know if that 40″ striper will be behind that next rock, or swim in front of you on the tide swing.  That potential for that big fish makes it just as exciting every time we go out.

Let’s talk about Why Knot Fishing for a bit… What is WKF and how did you come to start it? 

Why Knot Fishing is a team of passionate and positive anglers focused on the future of the sport through practicing Catch and Release, conservation of the environment and the fisheries, and support the Take A Kid Fishing philosophy.  As I mentioned I didn’t really get into fishing until after I graduated college.  I stayed on the North Shore after graduating and started trying to figure out the best ways and places to fish. My teammate from college introduced me to his friend Matt Zimmermann who was also from Connecticut and also just graduated from Endicott and loved fishing just as much as I did.  We fished together all the time for two years, Matt had the name Why Knot Fishing, and during one of our trips to Upstate New York, I asked him about the idea of trying to make something out of Why Knot Fishing.  What that something was, we weren’t sure, but we had made many great connections locally on the north shore and with some great fishing companies, and wanted to expand our network of fishing friends and add some exciting to the fishing community.
We launched in May of 2014 with a Fishing Season Launch week and Launch Party with no clear direction, just a website where we would share our fishing stories and continue to connect with as many other passionate anglers as we could, and continue to get more people into the sport!

Going into 2015 we ran our first series of Fishing Meet-Ups once a month in the winter called Why Knot Wednesdays where we gathered during the off season to talk fishing and meet other anglers.  We had different themed nights with Saltwater Fishing, Freshwater Fishing, Fly Fishing, and Kayak/SUP Fishing.  We then repated our Fishing Season Launch Party into the summer.  2015 was an exciting year for us.  We partnered with local Hobie Kayak Dealer Little Harbor Boathouse to run Kayak Fishing Events and Charters, and I also had the opportunity to run a Kayak Fishing Kids camp which was a blast!  We also ran two successful catch and release tournaments with our Southern Maine Striper Derby, which is for fly fishing only from shore, and ran our Fall Run Striper Classic which was for all anglers spin and fly from shore and boat.

2016 was another great year for us.  We continued with the Why Knot Wednesdays, making them bigger and better, and our largest Fishing Season Launch Party.  We brought on a third partner Jay Campbell, who loves fishing like us, and has many years of business knowledge and wanted to help us continue our positive direction.  We revamped our website and expanded our team around New England and the Northeast and down the east coast with our regional Team Captains who have helped to be the local experts in their areas and connect with local team members.

And we are now moving into 2017 ready to make it our most exciting year yet with the release of our official team membership! We have always been an unofficial and loosely organized team, but now with the official team membership people can connect within our web and mobile app, track their fishing in a fishing journal to become better fishermen, and connect with other anglers.  Team members will also have the ability to access discounts and giveaways from our great supporting companies.  Team members will also have access to local events and tournaments.

The best part about it is we have been and always be dedicated to what we were when we started.  Being passionate and positive anglers, looking to help other anglers get into the sport and have fun fishing!

You guys run a bunch of tournaments, some of which have fly fishing categories (from boat and shore), and one of which is fly fishing only. How have the tournaments been? Specifically the latest one in Maine?

The tournaments have been great for us!  We love being able to gather people on a day or two days and bring a fun competitive atmosphere.  They are all low barrier of entry and aimed to be fun and a great opportunity to wins some great prizes!  The fly-only, shore-only one-day tournament in Maine was modeled after the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament in Cape Cod.  We had such a blast at their tournament we wanted to continue to spread that fun atmosphere to other areas.  That tournament is also teams of two competing for the four longest fish, so it requires teamwork to get the job done, which is a fun aspect in a tournament atmosphere.

Why Knot Fishing is running another tournament this month… could you talk about that for a minute ?

I would love to!  Coming up this Friday September 23 through Saturday September 24th we are running our 2nd Annual Fall Run Striper Classic.  This tournament is on Boston’s North Shore and you can fish from Boston Harbor to the Merrimack River.  Anglers fish for the total combined length of their two best Stripers in one of four divisions (Spin – Shore, Spin – Boat, Fly – Shore, Fly – Boat)

A cool wrinkle on this tournament is that there is a “virtual” launch, so instead of checking in on Friday night, anglers can head right from work to the water!  We e-mail everyone on Thursday night of the tournament the identifier to be printed out and laminated, or taped, or put in a ziplock bag.  Then on Friday at 5:55pm we e-mail out a code to be written on the identifier so anglers can’t fish before 6:00pm.  An angler has to take a picture of the fish with the tape measure clearly visible.  All scorecards are due by 6pm at tourney headquarters which for this tournament will be The Onion in Beverly, MA.  We have an after party and awards for all participants and their friends and families.

There are also other fun prizes like Biggest Fish, Smallest Fish, Biggest Bluefish, Most Bizzare Catch, and a Social Media prize.  And every angler gets a captains bag and a raffle ticket.  So you don’t even need to catch a fish to win.  We have $1,000’s of dollars worth of prizes and raffles from great companies like Costa Sunglasses, YETI Coolers, Buff USA, Cheeky Fishing, XtraTuf Boots, Cortland Line, Capefish Co. The Fly Pack, East Coast Flies and many more!

Currently we do not have many fly entries in either division, so you have a great chance to win! (and for reading this post on this great blog you can get your entry for $28 instead of $35 by using code “futureoffishing” at check out!

Finally, you guys at WKF care a lot about getting kids fishing, and conservation. Why are these so important to you?


They should be important to everyone!  Kids are the future of fishing, and if you don’t practice conservation then there will be no fish left for our kids to catch.  I used to be a Camp Counselor and 4th grade teacher, and taking kids fishing is just fun.  The more people we get into the sport and enjoying the great outdoors, the more people we will have that realize how important it is to protect.  And going out and fishing and enjoying outside is good for everyone, and especially kids.  It teaches them patience and persistence and lets them make great life long friendships.




Is there a way viewers can contact you?

I would love to talk to anyone and everyone about all things fishing! Please feel free to call me at 860-402-5903 or email me at jo*@wh************.com.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be interviewed. I hope a few of you will be able to join our tournament and/or learn more about Why Knot Fishing and become a part of the team.

Tight Lines!