During the summer months, I have to endure report after report of John and clients catching huge stripers in really skinny water. I’ve fished with John a few times up that way, and it’s some of the greatest fly- and light-tackle action in America. During the winter, though, I taunt him with reports from sunny Florida. John’s wife, Danielle, is pregnant with their first children—the twins should arrive mid-March. In the middle of one of the worst New York winters in memory, Danielle told her stir-crazy husband to take one last adventure before getting down to diapers. 

The fishing has been superb in Southeast Florida all winter, especially the bluewater action. Cold winters really fire up the fish. So I threw out the concept of road trip through the Keys, stopping along the way to fish with some friends of mine. He said he’d always wanted to ride a bike through the keys. A fishing buddy owns a Suzuki dealership in Miami, and he hooked John up with a sweet bike.