ABOUT MATT REILLY

A passionate outdoorsman since birth, Matt grew up fishing and hunting the Blue Ridge Mountains and rolling piedmont of his native central Virginia. In 2012, he launched his outdoor career into professionalism as a freelance outdoor writer and photographer, and as the outdoor columnist for The Daily Progress' The Rural Virginian. He has since won several awards as a writer and photographer and published dozens of magazine articles and over 300 newspaper columns. 

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After graduating high school, Matt took a short break from the academic grind, and explored the fisheries along the length of the East Coast, initiating an angling travel bug that has taken him everywhere from the roadless latitudes of Canada, the spring creeks and big rivers of the West, the carp flats of the Great Lakes, the intimate wilderness rivers of the north country, and the mangrove forests of south Florida—and nailing down the childhood revelation that “fishing guide” was the most true and natural vocation to his self.

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Today, Matt is a leading fishing guide specializing in float trips for smallmouth bass and musky, and wade trips chasing wild trout in the mountain streams of southwest Virginia. He speaks regularly at a variety of venues on a range of topics relative to his fishing and guiding targets. His writing has appeared in several national and regional publications like Eastern Fly Fishing, American Angler, Fly Tyer, Southern Trout, Hatch Magazine, and Virginia Wildlife. He is also an ambassador for Reilly Rod Crafters, a producer of premium fly rods based in Virginia. 

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