Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

• Column archive
• Talk fly-fishing

A few weeks ago, I went fly-fishing on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Because of a recent red tide, the area between Sarasota and Tampa Bay has been almost un-fishable until now.

A red tide is caused by super warm summer waters, which grow red sea algae that rob the water of oxygen, causing massive fish kills and a nasty allergic reaction in humans. The red tide was so bad this past year that it impacted Florida tourism and caused some really hard times for professional fishing guides, who had no reliable waters to fish.

With cold temperatures, the algae died off as it usually does, and the fishing is slowly recovering.

The purpose of the recent trip to Florida was to meet and fish with Rusty Chinnis.

Rusty is the reigning fly-fishing icon of Sarasota Bay. He is a freelance travel and fly fishing outdoors writer. He is the past president and chairman of The Florida Outdoors Writers Association, and a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association.

He is a member of the Federation of Fly Fishers and is an FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor.

He was a founder and first president of the Manatee Chapter of the Florida Conservation Association, and co-chairman of the Sister Keys Conservancy. The conservancy lobbied successfully to preserve the largest undeveloped group of islands from Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor. The conservancy was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Award in Washington, D.C., for its work.

Rusty Chinnis is a remodeling contractor, who works so he and his wife can live life on their terms: traveling, writing and fly-fishing.

I met Rusty a few years ago while renting a flats boat at Cannons Marina in Longboat, Fla. Seeing me that day with a set of long rods in my hand, he introduced himself, and with a smile gave me a few tips, along with a nice fly pattern to use.

He knew well before I left that my chances weren’t so hot. You just don’t head out “cold” in those flats in this area and do very well. Gulf flats fishing is all about knowing the tides and edges. Like the tides, the fish move throughout the days, weeks and seasons of the year.

This time of year, if you know the water, you can catch redfish, speckled trout and ladyfish on the fly. In spring, Cobia, Jack Cravelle, and Tarpon add to this bonanza. Summer is Snook season.

I recently met Rusty at a local waterside restaurant the day before we set out together. In a way, it felt like an interview because I had contacted this guy out of the blue a few weeks before. I respected the fact he wanted to get a feel for what I was like before offering a morning on his flats boat. I would have done the same thing.

I guess I passed his interview because he agreed to take me fishing the next morning.

With an intense fog shrouding the bay, a run up into south Tampa Bay wasn’t realistic. Instead, Rusty skipped that flats boat through the channels to the shallows of Palma Sola Bay.

Being in a flats boat gives two anglers a chance to meet and really get to know each other. Unlike a big boat, where one can feel insulated from the captain, a flats boat is more intimate, thus making the fishing more of a team effort.

One person poles from a platform to scout the fish, while the other stands with line stripped out at his feet, with rod in hand, cocked and ready for a busting school.

When Rusty goes solo he has a remote trolling motor so he can drift and fish, but there is no substitute for the perspective a poling platform gives you. Rusty’s boat also has a fly casting platform on the bow which gives the angler a better look at the water.

Knowing how to drift the flats is the key to hook-ups. Rusty knows these waters as well, if not better, than most local guides.

As Rusty said, “if I wanted to catch fish every day down here, I wouldn’t be fly-fishing.”

Yet even on that chilly morning Rusty took me right to a school of busting ladyfish.

A ladyfish is a great fish to catch on the fly. Dissed by ignorant anglers because of their limited food value, ladyfish are fast, aggressive split-tail swimmers that chase down flies, often recklessly competing against other fish for a quick meal. Ladyfish are great once hooked. They run, turn and jump. That behavior makes them a fun fish to catch, and they are abundant in many Florida waters.

Rusty drifted the flats perfectly, quietly poling and turning the boat so I would have a good shot.

With one of Rusty’s clouser minnow patterns tied with a loop knot on my Sage 7 weight, we had a nice, 2-pound fish practically on the first cast.

We caught a few more fish, drifted a few more schools and then decided it was time to hunt for redfish. Rusty has heard where some were laid up, so we went looking.

True to form, we started seeing those brutes lying in the turtle grass flats. In these gin-clear waters, though, we had a limited chance.

Perhaps it was my terribly bombastic presentations, but every shot I took scattered every redfish I cast towards.

Rusty then gave me some poling lessons (just in case I was ever lucky enough to fish with him again.) Note to self: don’t fib about being a competent push-poler if you can’t control the drift.

Heading back, I looked at Rusty behind the wheel, and saw a version of myself.

I saw an angler who loved to meet and get to know new people. I saw a conservationist who knows that to preserve the water, you have to get involved and do whatever you can.

Thankfully, he wasn’t a fly-fishing snob. He wasn’t a “registered representative,” investment banker or self-proclaimed expert.

He was everything I had hoped for and more. A heck of a guy.