Born in Alabama and raised in the woods and waters of Alabama and Florida, Sam doesn’t ever remember a time when he wasn’t hunting and fishing. He started out working in a fly shop and eventually opened his own. When running a fly shop proved that pure passion doesn’t quite pay the electric bill, he pivoted into industrial explosives sales. Trading delicate tippets for high explosives felt like the next logical step—and four years ago, he brought things full circle in the fishing world by becoming one of the owners of Southern Culture on the Fly magazine.

When he isn’t slinging explosives or running the advertising sales for SCOF, Sam is busy navigating his most important gig yet: being a husband and dad. Between coaching football and baseball, hitting up his daughter’s events, and sneaking off to the river, he’s realized balancing family, work, and fishing isn’t something you master—it’s something you manage.

He has 25 years of experience donating expensive flies to tree both above and in the water. He loves salt and fresh water equally but most days you’ll find him chasing bass and stripers across the freshwater rivers of Alabama and Georgia—or occasionally guiding a trout trip (strictly with flies, no dynamite allowed).