My Story
Born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1965 and then moved to St. Petersburg in 1967 where C.A. honed his angling skills on the beaches, piers, and inshore flats of Tampa Bay. As a teen he spent countless hours casting artificial lures and buck tail jigs to trout, snook, tarpon, and redfish unwittingly preparing himself to be a professional angler later in his adult life.
After much success in regional tournaments throughout the 80's & 90's, he decided to jump into the realm of professional tournament fishing and made a name for himself on a national level, competing in venues from North Carolina to Texas... and learning a lot along the way about localized techniques with light tackle. These various experiences helped shape his guide business in Tampa Bay with his clientele who enjoy catching inshore species on nothing but artificial baits.
Along the way in his guiding career, he saw a need for knowledge especially with novice and intermediate level anglers who wanted to learn the finer points of inshore fishing particularly with the use of artificial lures & fly; hence he created the Flats Class, was a popular traveling fishing school, lead by C.A and taught in part by regional inshore pros with him and was an instant success with anglers eager to learn. Eventually these classes became the launching pad for Flats Class TV.
Currently, Capt. C.A. has put his competitive career behind him to get back to his flats & backcountry roots. Now his primary focus is the development of Flats Class and the new Flats Class University online fishing schools that will be featured on Waypoint TV! In addition to those major projects, Capt. C.A. will continue his role as a professional guide, industry spokesperson and tackle development guru for his corporate partners.