We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Capt Drew Rodriguez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Capt Drew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Before guiding I was a locksmith for 12 years. I’d only go fishing in my Bass boat once on the weekend. Every time I went fishing I’d upload my catches of the day to Facebook. Dedicating one day for the family, one day for fishing & back to the locksmith grind on Monday morning.

One day a very important man came into my life. His name is Captain Shane Procell. Captain Shane contacted me through Facebook and asked me (in the most polite way possible), how the heck are you catching big Bass this time of year & where are you fishing”? I laughed and told him I was at a certain spot but it’d be really hard to explain how to get there and how the fish were biting. We’d have to go together.

So there we are. Shane & I are at a spot and I’m showing him some of my Everglades secrets. Once everything I told him would happen as far as how the fish would eat and we started catching them. He told me that with my knowledge & attitude, I would make a great guide. My response to Shane was “Who’s going to pay to go fishing in my 1989 Bass boat”? Shane assured me that clients don’t care what boat you have, just as long as they’re catching fish.

Capt Shane told me that he knew a guide (Capt Scott Rose, who guides out of a 12 foot aluminum boat. Once he told me what Scott charges people I started to understand that maybe I can guide in my old boat. He told me however that there was a slight problem. Shane said that about 70 percent of all of his trips are actually Peacock Bass trips.

My response to him was “that’s not a problem at all”. I stopped targeting Peacock Bass when I was around the age of 13 because they were just too easy to catch. After 13 I only wanted to target Largemouth Bass if I was freshwater fishing. He replied with “that’s what everyone says”, so I just had to prove to him that I did in fact know not only how to catch Peacock Bass, but I knew where the big boys lived.

The following weekend I set up two friends of the family guide trips. They thought I was sick because they’d asked me plenty of times to take them Peacock Bass fishing. My response was always, “If we’re going fishing in my boat, we’re going for real Bass”. I ended up taking them & posting our catches to Facebook. One on Saturday and one on Sunday naming them as “my first two guide trips”.

Monday morning Shane was calling. He told me, “Drew, you guys slayed them”. To where I replied “we did alright”. Honestly I thought we were going to do better. He told me “no Drew you don’t understand, I know all the guides that were out there and you caught more fish and bigger fish than anyone who was out there”.

Shane said “I’m looking at the pictures and your in my spot. How do you know about that spot”? I asked Shane “how many years have you lived in South Fl”? He told me “16 years”. To where I replied, “Shane, I’ve been fishing there before you ever lived in Miami. He told me” Oh Drew, get ready to work”.

I remember him giving me one trip, then I had one day off & worked 22 days in a row. That was the day that I sold all of my locksmith equipment, threw everything I couldn’t sell in the garbage and became a full time Freshwater Fishing Guide.

Being a South Fl native and growing up in Miami, you don’t fully comprehend just how big Bass fishing is throughout the country. Growing up here it’s just something you do until you can afford a Salwatwater boat and you never look back. Once I started meeting clients from all over the country I realized that not everyone has saltwater in their backyard and there’s way more Bass fisherman than any other fisherman in the country. Once I grasped this concept I came up with the saying, “ that’s why it’s called Bass Pro Shops & not Tarpon Pro Shops.

I say all that to tell you this. If I would’ve know that I could’ve guided out of an aluminum Jon boat, I would’ve started guiding at 17 years old. I had my very first job at 12 years old where I worked until I was 18. If I would’ve known that Bass fishing is as popular as it is, I could’ve started long ago out of my Jon boat. Since I’m from Miami and never left. It took a guide from Louisiana to tell me about another guide from New York about just how popular Bass fishing was.

I have strong faith and truly believe that everything happens in God’s timing not ours. Now that I’ve been guiding for 7 years. Captain Shane Procell, Captain Scott Rose & myself are 3 of South Florida’s most reputable and most booked guides down here. We all love what we do and our clientele is made up of strangers, who became friends, who became family.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Capt Drew Rodriguez. I am the owner of Drew’s Guide Service. It’s a one man show where I take people freshwater fishing for Largemouth Bass, Peacock Bass and everything else that swims in our waters. We are blessed to have the most Largemouth Bass of anywhere in the country. We’re also the only ones in the country that have Peacock Bass.

There’s amazing fishing in both the Florida Everglades and what I call the Urban Amazon. The Florida Everglades is everything from South of Lake Okeechobee all the way to Key Largo. (1.5 million acres). The Urban Amazon is the City canals of Miami which is where you’ll find the biggest Peacock Bass in the world other than South America (where they’re originally from).

Since South Florida has a sub-tropical climate. We have an array of species. You may have heard about the Pythons & Iguanas people have released into the wild and they’re taking over. Well that’s exactly what the aquarium fish do. People release their pet fish into the wild and instead of them either dying right away or dying when winter comes, they strive with our climate.

That’s actually the reason why they introduced Peacock Bass to begin with. To eat the other invasive species. In 1984, Miami Dade successfully introduced Peacock Bass from South America. One because they’re so aggressive they’d eat all the other species & Two, because they’re an absolutely awesome gamefish. Their nickname is the “Freshwater Bully”.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my honesty and work ethic is what gave me my reputation. There’s been times where a client would call me to book a trip (& I need the money baaaaaad), but the fishing just sucks. So weather I steered them away from a full day trip like they originally wanted or told them fishing wasn’t great then, they always appreciate the honesty.

However, I’ve had to learn a few things. One is that a crappy day on the water in my boat is most peoples best day ever of fishing. Fishing is so good down here that if we’re not catching 100 plus fish in a day, it was a bad day. I’ve learned that I’m the only one in the boat that’s not happy with the results.

Another thing I’ve learned, (especially since I’ve been Fly fishing with clients so much), is that fishing is not always about catching fish. A lot of clients work office jobs and they’re just happy to be on vacation. They’re just pleased to be in the presence of their family, guide and just be in nature for once.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is a job that’s completely seasonal. So from January to April, you’re working every day. The rest of the year your just getting enough trips to get by.

So my first year guiding I made enough money during the busy season to by my new boat. During that time I was really depending on the few trips I had in my calendar to pay bills and stay afloat.

That summer we had a really bad hurricane and all of my trips went out the window. When a hurricane comes, you hurry to the gas station, hurry to the grocery store & just try and prepare to hunker down. By the time the hurricane was gone so was all of my money. My family and I got kicked out of our house and my truck was repossessed.

I was doing such hard jobs just to make a buck. I was working for my landscaper clearing up the neighborhood working 12 hour days for $100 a day. It was super tough. I just kept a positive mental attitude and my community came together to get me back on my feet.

I found myself with a place to stay rent free for a year. Clients would send me money here and there. Companies would write me checks left and right. They’d send it to me as a donation or as a sponsor. The community really came together to help me. Any chance I get I’m always helping others and donating. That’s what helped me do that grueling work with a smile on my face. Never letting it get me down and always praying.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.drewsguideservice.com
• Instagram: drews_guide_service
• Facebook: Drew’s Guide Service/ Drew Rodriguez
• Yelp: Drew’s Guide Service