Capt. Melanie Gannon grew up fishing Sarasota but didn’t start learning to fly fish until college when a friend gave her an old Orvis rod he had sitting in his garage. That started a lifelong passion for the fly that began with fishing for snook on the beach in Boca Raton.

After moving back to the Sarasota area, she began working at the Compound’s fly shop, got her captain’s license and worked in the shop and ran charters. Several years later, she moved to Puerto Rico for a year and a half and worked at a lodge there, putting clients on the snook, permit and tarpon that ply local waters.

She has since returned to Florida, fishing full time out of Boca Grande targeting snook, redfish, trout and tarpon throughout Charlotte Harbor and surrounding waters.