LeeAnne Conway - Tampa, Florida

We are happy to announce that Miss LeeAnne Conway has joined the Flats Nation Team and we are just over the moon to have her onboard!

LeeAnne Graduated from Robert Morris University with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a Minor in Photography.

For those not familiar with Environmental Science per se, it is a focus on how the diverse areas of science can work (together) to promote effective and beneficial uses of the planet's physical and biological resources. Thus, her education, much less, her photography skills will come in very handy here on The Nation, and why we are so stoked to have her! 😎

She moved to Vermont after graduating and traveled around New England for the next 4 years in places like Burlington, Cape Cod, Portland, and SW Maine. Chasing after Bluefish and Stripers on the Fly are (still) some of her favorite targets!

And then down to Florida visiting every winter and now resides in Tampa.

As she explained to me "I didn’t get into fishing until after graduating from high school when I started fishing the rivers of Pittsburgh, the Allegheny, and the Ohio. I had never seen fly-fishing until I was 19 or 20 and I was immediately enthralled I wanted to learn more and try it!"

Well, we think it has become quite apparent, that Fly and Flats Fishing has definitely "Set The Hook" on LeeAnne as she has now pitched a Fly Rod from North to South, and even in the Caribbean where she was telling me "Recently getting my dive-masters in Honduras has been an incredible experience. Watching the fish in their natural habitat was eye-opening and always a thrill!"

She explained further in discussion "I love all things ocean. Even though I did not get into fishing till a few years ago I have always been drawn to the water. I believe (Beach Bum) is the term". 😎

As far as her Photography passion goes, she is a fellow Nikon shooter and employs a D7100 for most of her work with her 70-300 mm lens mounted up. She was telling me "I would kill for a super zoom lens like a 150-600 mm, but for now I’ll stick to sneaking up on my subjects when they let me, and my favorite thing to photograph is nature. Animal portraits specifically... I like to try to catch the animal in its natural habitat doing its thing and a bonus if I can get it to look at me while still doing such and not fly/run off!"

"But honestly a lot of the time I do not bring my camera on the boat because I am too busy fishing and I know my Phone and GoPro can do (basically) the same thing, at least good enough for social media standards... In fact the last few times I went fishing I didn’t even take a single photo, it was marvelous!"

We can relate to those challenges when creating quality content for Flats Nation and have pretty much concluded. We will either bring the rods or the camera gear (usually not both) since the "One more cast" syndrome usually kicks in and we just missed that awesome shot or beautiful sunset again! 😉

Now, what Flats Nation is looking to take a lead role in with LeeAnne's guidance...

Fishing has traditionally been an all-boys club. But more women are challenging this and carving out their own space on the Skiff and as reported the girls now account for 37 percent of the anglers in the United States. This is awesome, and they are not going to overlook the conservation efforts needed to both grow and help protect the sport and those resources/ecosystems with as much fervor (if not more) as many of the guys do!

LeeAnne will help ensure that we are covering the topics, gear, and content targeted towards and in better support of our Sportswomen community here on The Nation! We feel she is very qualified as both an educator and ambassador for this role, and we are looking forward to her content and direction on this initiative!

Quite sure you will hear her in some future audio magazine articles (podcasts) with us and other guests and industry leaders soon. As I discussed with her "We are looking to take a leadership position in this lane and place Flats Nation in the coverage of Flats Fishing and related Lifestyle content for Sportswomen."

Case in point as she pointed out to me... "My natural instinct is to observe wild things in their natural habitat, so Flats Fishing naturally immediately became a drug to me. The slow stalk, the patience, the sun angle, the timing... It is all a symphony that needs to be practiced repeatedly. I do not need to be the first chair; I just need a chance to come to practice. If we can get that fish to eat it is a win in my book. If we can get it hooked and come to hand that is all just an encore." 😊

So, welcome aboard (again) LeeAnne! We are honored that you were excited to join us and take point as our Sportswomen Outreach Leader! 😎👍

In the meantime,

We invite you to take in a few Flats Nation Podcast Episodes to help "Scratch that Fishing Itch" when working or traveling and you just cannot hitch up the Skiff and go, on these links:

Our main podcast page works great for your mobile device since they will stream right on your phone/tablet can be found by clicking Here

Our new Flats Nation YouTube Channel can be found by clicking Here and sharing them with family and friends if you find them Entertaining and Educational! We have some great guests in the works and planning stages on a wide range of topics and product coverage soon.

Also, The "Flats Nation" Merch and Swag collection has some new works (just click on each Design or Picture to view that collection) and can be found by clicking Here

As well as our new Flats Nation Trophy Stickers that are becoming popular!

They look great on your Laptop lid too!

Tight lines and God Bless!

Dave and the Team