Captain John E. Tattersall

John Tattersall is Coast Guard Certified and Credentialed Captain. He is a fly fishing guide on the Potomac River, the Great Lakes, Canada, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys and where ever his clients wish to hunt exotic salt water species.

He lives in Sterling Virginia on the shores of the Potomac River where his access and ability to know and explore this premier fishery begins and ends. John has been fishing since he was 5 years old when his grandmother, Helen Pickard, handed him a Zebco 404 reel and pointed him “Down Back” –to the “Black River” in Elyria Ohio, The days that summer and the next 49 years of life on water both foreign and domestic has crafted a passion for hunting fish.

What drives John is the chance to take someone unfamiliar with this environment and/or the sport, and put them on fish. To instruct on the various techniques, the technical gear, and then to anticipate the behavior of the fish in order to be there waiting when they visit the kitchen is where you will see it all come together. His notion of a day on the water is much like the Redford Film Out of Africa. An incredible day in the wild of exploration and adventure with the day ending in reflection and fine cordials and tobac. In Metro DC you say? John’s operation is the best kept secret in DC. John does not take people he does not know for a fee– like typical fishing guides. He only guides his personal PFS’s clients, prospects, people whom have purchased donated to his Rotary club, their family, and friends. His preference on the water is to fish with fly’s. Fly fishing in his opinion is the “highest evolution of the fishing specie”. Sure you can catch fish by attaching a chunk of dead or dying live fish gack on a hook and elicit a strike. But if you truly know and love that fish you don’t want to feed him. You want to fool him–out smart him. To stir his genetics such that he attacks your fly with such extreme aggression that he forgets whom he is and breaks cover and commits. This above all is the ambition of all deeply commited fly fishermen and your guide with GOP Fly Fishing Guides.

On Season and Off season John is a Certified Financial Planner, TM and an owner of Parkway Financial Strategies, LLC (PFS). PFS,LLC is expert in Employee Benefit Optimization and Advanced Tax Strategies for their business and wealthy clients. As it is with his business career or on the water John strives to be the most knowledgable professional. From a Certified Financial Planner to a Coast Guard Certifed Captain and Certified Diver you will know that John is a leader in adventure sports and a very capable guide