Joseph Ballarini

Publisher
Joseph Ballarini is a board certified emergency physician with an enduring passion for all things outside. This passion prompted him to start a publishing company focused on fishing and hunting. The first title launched was Tail Fly Fishing Magazine in 2012 followed by Strung Magazine in 2018.  When he is not working in the emergency department, or tying flies, you can find him running his skiff in Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys chasing down permit, tarpon and bonefish.

T. Edward Nickens

Editor-in-Chief
The new editor is someone you may know, especially if you read magazines such as Garden & Gun, Ducks Unlimited, and Field & Stream, or peruse the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust Journal.  T. Edward Nickens has been tagged as the new editor, of Tail Fly Fishing Magazine and he will carry the baton starting with the January 2025 issue. He’s won scores of writing awards, and has some 35 years of experience in the field. He’s based out of Raleigh and Morehead City, North Carolina, where he’s most proud of the pool noodle and zip-tie fly rod holder he crafted for his 24-boat.

Craig Rogers

Creative Director
Founder of Steelfin, an apparel and decal company featuring angling focused products. Craig has worked as a freelance designer for decades and has spent his entire life fishing with his father Neal Rogers, author of Saltwater Fly Fishing Magic.  Craig spends his spare time chasing stripers in the north and tarpon and permit in the Florida Keys.

George V. Roberts Jr.

Acquisitions Editor
George Roberts was the managing editor of TFFM from 2018-2021 and moved to the Acquisitions Editor role in February 2021 in order to dedicate more time to developing content. He produced the first instructional video casting program aimed at the saltwater fly angler: Saltwater Fly Casting: 10 Steps to Distance and Power, which is available through a number of retailers as well as the TFFM shop. He is also the author of Master the Cast and a Fly-Fisher’s Guide to Saltwater Naturals and Their Imitation.  George has been part of the fly fishing community for over 30 years.

Chico Fernandez

Consulting Editor
Chico Fernandez has been fishing since he was six years old and has actively fly fished for over 60 years. He first started fly fishing in Cuba in 1956, and to the best of our knowledge and research, he was the first Cuban fly fisherman. In the early 1960s Chico helped make the first clear fly line – out of 200 pound mono. His books, fly patterns and other memorabilia are in the permanent collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont. He has written three books: The FisHair Saltwater Tying Guide, Fly Fishing for Bonefish and Fly Fishing for Redfish. We’re very happy to welcome him to the team.

Andrew Ebert

Gear Editor
We welcome Dr Andrew Ebert as TFFM’s Gear Editor. Andy is an Orthopedic Surgeon in Austin, Texas who has a passion for fly fishing and fly fishing gear.  He observation skills paired with uncompromising scrutiny allows for detailed analysis of almost anything associated with fly fishing and travel.  The guides don’t even check his stuff in the morning…they already know that he’s properly rigged and ready. Andy spends his time outside of the OR fishing and reviewing gear for TFFM.

Stu Apte

Consulting Editor

Legendary fly fisherman Stu Apte is more well known for his saltwater exploits, including numerous world records and enshrinement in multiple halls of fame. Stu joined the Tail Fly Fishing team in 2022 as a consulting editor.  Welcome Stu!

Andy Mill

Consulting Editor
Andy Mill’s career has had deep traction as an athlete, broadcaster, angler, and author. Andy enjoyed a 20 year broadcasting career, covering two Olympics and hundreds of network specials, including 81 fishing shows from around the world. Andy holds his fishing accomplishments close to his heart. Andy’s success is hard to deny, winning more invitational fly tarpon tournaments than anyone, including 5 Gold Cups, and he is only one of two people to have won a tarpon, bonefish, and permit tournament on fly. In conjunction with his award winning book, A Passion for Tarpon, and a trustee of the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), he has found himself as one of our sports’ leading authorities.

Nick Davis

Fly Tying Guru
Nick is a fly fishing addict and innovative fly tyer. He is the owner of 239 Flies in Bonita Springs, Florida which has originated many productive fly patterns and has added a modern twist to some classic patterns for tarpon, redfish and snook.  Despite choosing what could possibly the least lucrative business in the world, Nick’s talent has elevated his shop to great success. His creativity, humor, photography and overall aesthetic sensibility is why he is a welcomed addition to the editorial team. Expect great things.

Pete Barrett

Senior Contributor/Historian
Pete Barrett has been fly fishing in salt water since the 1960s. He was a charter boat skipper for 30 years, and he was on The Fisherman magazine’s editorial staff from 1973 until his retirement. Pete has published over 1100 magazine articles and is the author of five popular books on angling. Pete is a Florida representative for the International Game Fish Association, and he’s currently an active member of the Atlantic Salt Water Flyrodders and the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. Pete lives in Juniper, Florida.

Ed Mitchell

Senior Contributor/Historian
Ed Mitchell is a writer, photographer, and lecturer with extensive fly fishing experience in fresh and salt water. He has written for all of the major fly fishing
magazines and is the author of four books on the subject. Ed moved his residence to Connecticut from Punta Gorda, Florida in 2019 and spend his summers fishing for stripers and albies on the cape. His website is edmitchelloutdoors.com.

Jon Olch

Senior Contributor
Innovative saltwater fly designer Jonathan Olch has been an avid fly fisher for 50 years, nearly 40 of which he has traveled the tropical world chasing permit. His book A Passion for Permit was published in November of 2016. He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on permit fishing and has a few stories to tell as well. For more information about Jon visit  apassionforpermit.com.

Jennifer Matsu

Contributor

Jennifer is a pediatric occupational therapist and co-owns Children’s TheraFun, L.L.C., a multidisciplinary pediatric clinic. She is an avid saltwater angler who lives on the water on the upper Texas coast. When she is not targeting redfish in the marsh, she travels extensively and enjoys the local cuisine on her adventures. Jennifer is actively involved in local conservation efforts, co-hosts Salty – a saltwater fly fishing podcast, holds the annual Feather Flickers fly fishing tournament, and brings a fresh perspective to TFFM.

Joe Doggett

Contributing Editor
Joe Doggett was an outdoor columnist for the Houston Chronicle for 35 years. He also was on the masthead of Field & Stream as a contributing editor for the better part of a decade. He is retired from professional writing but writes occasional features for various outdoor magazines, most prominently Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. He enjoys traveling to fish, hunt, and surf.  The man just won’t age.

Nicky Mill

Contributing Editor
Nicky is the producer and co-host of the Mill House Podcast. He is a 26 year old who grew up in the shallow waters off South Florida and in the high country of Colorado’s Rockies. Nicky continues to follow in his father’s very large foot steps with the calling of the outdoors. He is a part-time fly fishing guide in the summers of Colorado and starting to guide archery big game hunts in the fall. Nicky has chased fish in Venezuela, Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Bahamas, New Zealand, Australia, and Alaska.  Like father, like son, Nicky has emerged as a serious large tarpon fly angler and media originator.

Jesse Males

Senior Contributor/ Fly Tying Guru
Growing up in Florida, my passion towards fly fishing was something that developed naturally over time. I have fished my entire life throughout the Eastern United States for tarpon, snook, redfish, sea trout, largemouth bass, bluegill, and high mountain trout. Over the years I have made several destination trips out west to chase cutties in some of the toughest country I have ever been in. Recently my quest to follow fly fishing as a lifestyle has lead me to Central America to chase a number of exotic fish species. At the end of the day, all is well with my soul.
Jesse is a partner of the fly tying and fly fishing media company backwaterflies.com .

Nathaniel Clark-Linville

Senior Contributor
Nathaniel has documented almost every day of his fishing since 2012. These fishing reports are available to read at the Angling Company’s website along with knot-tying tutorials, leader recipes, and other resources for fly anglers. As a member of the Lower Keys Guides Association, Nathaniel has worked to promote “conservation through stewardship” in the organization’s efforts to protect Similar Sound from dredging plans that would destroy benthic habitat in a historic Keys tarpon spot. He also serves on the board of Bullsugar, an organization that fights for better water management in Florida through Everglades restoration and clean water initiatives.

Elizabeth Wallace Ph.D.

Senior Contributor
Dr. Liz Wallace is a Geneticist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), based at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her research applies genomic approaches to the conservation and management of recreational and commercial fisheries. Dr. Wallace’s current projects deal with identifying population structure, cryptic species, hybridization, parentage, and recruitment dynamics that span freshwater and marine fisheries. With expertise in bonefish genetics and fisheries movement and reproductive ecology, she is a team member of the FECP spawning and migration research in The Bahamas.

Tom Keer

Senior Contributor
Tom Keer has been writing since 1987 and has enough rejection letters to wallpaper a room. Along the way he’s published 3,500 pieces across 75 titles and a Wilderness Adventures Press book, The Flyfisher’s Guide to the New England Coast.  His work has won a variety of awards from several writer’s organizations, and he hangs them on the wall next to his rejection letters. In 2006 he founded The Keer Group, an award-winning, full-service brand management, marketing and public relations agency.  When he’s not working you’ll find him running his four English setters, hunting, fishing, or digging shellfish.

Mark Hatter

Senior Contributor
Mark Hatter is a retired guide in Homosassa, Florida has been shooting images and writing for fly fishing publications for more than two decades.  He says, “Before the advent of digital cameras, nailing action shots like jumping tarpon or billfish on film made my work. With film, you had to be a technical expert with your equipment. Film limited you in the number of shots you could take and it would be days or even weeks before you found out whether or not you got ‘the shot.’ Nowadays, the digital gear is so good, anyone can capture amazing action shots. So, to stay relevant, I focus on a unique niche mixing underwater and surface image capture.  That said, I’m still always on the hunt for that ‘wow’ factor.

Bob Branham

Senior Contributor
Captain Bob Branham has been guiding for permit, bonefish, and tarpon for over 30 years and is considered one of South Florida’s finest guides. As a captain he has guided maybe well known anglers in prestigious tournaments throughout the Florida Keys.  Bob is an avid fly fisherman, bird watcher and photographer and we are thrilled to share his decades of experience in the pages of Tail Fly Fishing Magazine. You can visit his website at southfloridaflatsfishing.com.

Barry Ord Clarke

Senior Contributor
Barry Ord Clark is an angler, fly tier, and photographer of international renown. He is the author of several books on fly fishing, the most recent of which is The Feather Bender’s Flytying Techniques (Skyhorse Publishing, 2019). Barry grew up in England but now lives in Norway. Be sure to visit his fly tying website (thefeatherbender.com).