Jesse Males

Captain Jesse Males is the owner of Backwater Fly Fishing, a fly angler, fly tyer, and award-winning outdoor filmmaker from Central Florida. He designs and ties his own inshore patterns for tarpon, redfish, snook, and seatrout, and guides everywhere from Mosquito Lagoon to the jungles of Costa Rica with 506 Outdoors. In his In The Spread video, Males walks through tying several of his most productive inshore flies, covering the materials, mechanics, and philosophy that make each one catch fish.

Instructor's videos

Jesse Males fishes with flies he designed and tied himself, and that is the whole point. The owner of Backwater Fly Fishing, Males is a fly angler, fly tyer, and outdoor filmmaker who has built a following around a simple idea: the right fly, tied with intent, catches more fish. He grew up chasing fish in the backwaters of Central Florida, caught his first baby tarpon on a 5-weight in Merritt Island, and has been prowling Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River ever since.

What sets Males apart is that he understands flies from the vise out. He does not fish generic patterns. He studies how a fish feeds, then builds a fly to trigger that specific response, from the Grassy Crab he throws at redfish and black drum to tarpon patterns proven in the backcountry and on the flats. That connection between design and result is what makes his instruction so useful. When Males explains why a fly works, he is explaining a fly he created and tested himself.

His range is bigger than most. Beyond his home water in Florida, Males is one of the guides and owners of 506 Outdoors in Costa Rica, where he chases tarpon near the Nicaraguan border and runs jungle trout and machaca trips deep in the rainforest. He has tied and fished for peacock bass in the Amazon and brown trout in the mountains. As an award-winning filmmaker and travel host, he has a rare gift for making all of it accessible, putting you right there on the water with him.

Through all of it, Males keeps the focus on craft. He is a teacher at heart, generous with what he knows and genuinely excited to get more people tying and fishing.

In his In The Spread video, Males sits down at the vise and walks through how to tie several of his most productive inshore flies for tarpon, redfish, snook, and seatrout, covering the materials, the mechanics, and the philosophy behind each one. If you want to catch inshore fish on flies that actually work, start with the man who ties them.

Personal Website:
https://www.jessemales.com/