By Joel Dickey

All Photos by Joel Dickey

It’s 5:30 a.m. and my alarm pierces that beautiful thing, called sleep, which all guides miss so much this time of year. I jump out of bed and I’m quickly reminded I’m not 25 anymore.

My joints pop and crack and muscles, that I didn’t know I had, ache. However the weather is calm and adrenaline soothes my body better than Advil ever would.

I jump into my clothes, give my sleeping wife a kiss and head to the fridge for my morning Mountain Dew, hoping that the caffeine will clear the fog, left from only 5 hours sleep.

Off to the dock. I only have another 100 consecutive days left until my next day off. Why do I book so many consecutive days?

I guide for the greatest gamefish in the world. I guide for tarpon and I don’t want to miss a single second of it.