# Tim Hoover



## Newman (Jan 22, 2018)

Welcome.
I still use your marabou toad pattern from time to time.


----------



## Smurfy (Dec 28, 2021)

Legendary! Hopefully we can hear some stories of the good old days too? Andy Mill should get you on the podcast. Thank you and welcome……


----------



## jonny (May 1, 2007)

Where about are you in GA these days? I grew up in the little town of Kennesaw.


----------



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I see Gary about 6 times a year when I get the nerve to go to Buckhead.


----------



## PoonLife1 (5 mo ago)

Smurfy said:


> Legendary! Hopefully we can hear some stories of the good old days too? Andy Mill should get you on the podcast. Thank you and welcome……


Thanks Smurfy! Andy has been harassing me to do a podcast with him for a few years. I really need to do it and go fishing again with him and Nikky. We had a blast the last time we went. Actually I think Gary and I should do one together with them, that would be fun. We all mastered the art of giving each other grief 🤣


----------



## PoonLife1 (5 mo ago)

jonny said:


> Where about are you in GA these days? I grew up in the little town of Kennesaw.


Not so little now! I’m on lake Lanier between Cumming and Gainesville. It’s great but it’s not my hometown of the Keys!


----------



## FMH (Aug 24, 2015)

Hello Tim. Great to hear from you! We fished many tournaments as competing teams.You always had great anglers and were always a first class guide . Hope you are well and still fishing. I'm still fishing but not doing much in serious tournament fishing anymore. After the bonefish population declined I lost my passion and am now happy to catch mangrove snapper and fish Flamingo for snook and reds. The bonefishing in Islamorada is ok (lots of little ones) but those big ones that we used to see are long gone. Sad but true.....And yes, you should definitely do a podcast with Andy and Nicky! 
Regards,
Mitch Howell


----------



## Smurfy (Dec 28, 2021)

PoonLife1 said:


> Thanks Smurfy! Andy has been harassing me to do a podcast with him for a few years. I really need to do it and go fishing again with him and Nikky. We had a blast the last time we went. Actually I think Gary and I should do one together with them, that would be fun. We all mastered the art of giving each other grief 🤣


Tim, there are very few that can give Andy Mill grief. LOL …..those stories would be good to hear. As far as Georgia goes I went to school in the NE corner in a town call Rabun Gap. That was the first place I tried to fly fish. I got to get back up there soon!


----------



## PoonLife1 (5 mo ago)

FMH said:


> Hello Tim. Great to hear from you! We fished many tournaments as competing teams.You always had great anglers and were always a first class guide . Hope you are well and still fishing. I'm still fishing but not doing much in serious tournament fishing anymore. After the bonefish population declined I lost my passion and am now happy to catch mangrove snapper and fish Flamingo for snook and reds. The bonefishing in Islamorada is ok (lots of little ones) but those big ones that we used to see are long gone. Sad but true.....And yes, you should definitely do a podcast with Andy and Nicky!
> Regards,
> Mitch Howell


 Oh my God! Mitch! It’s been a long time, great to hear from you again. Of course I remember you, certainly always a team to watch out for! I hope all is well. I completely understand the switch in preference, it got so much harder and our big pigs mostly died out. I do see/hear the little ones have come back again, and I’m glad for that. Also I remember those monster bonefish was your main passion, so I can easily understand you lost some of your drive with them. I had the tarpon and permit (especially in the lower keys) to keep me motivated when I made visits since I left. But I also developed a new appreciation for the Florida bay/Everglades as well. It’s funny, when I did it for a living, I figured out a lot of stuff back there and did well, but never enjoyed it as much as the Clearwater fishing. Now as I get older, I adore it! I think we learn to sit back and appreciate the nature back there more. When I was young, I ran around with a wild hair up my ass and “on a mission from god”. 😂🤣😂 Hard to enjoy the view at 60mph.


----------



## Mac 763 (11 mo ago)

Welcome from SE Louisian. Can’t wait to hear the stories.


----------



## Mac 763 (11 mo ago)

Mac 763 said:


> Welcome from SE Louisian. Can’t wait to hear the stories.


Louisiana


----------



## mwolaver (Feb 6, 2014)

Welcome in Tim. We may have met once at the Lorelei. I used to fish a lot with Dan Zicari and Mark Krowka, when Mark lived on Plantation key. Wild times! As I remember, they referred to you as "The Hoov"! Maybe since you vacuumed up all those tournaments. lol. Don't let Mitch fool you...he still bonefishes...😉

Stay out of Gwinnett! Mark


----------



## PoonLife1 (5 mo ago)

Mac 763 said:


> Welcome from SE Louisian. Can’t wait to hear the stories.


 Alright, per all the requests, I’ll share one: 

Andy Mill… What can I say about this guy? He was the true definition of an athlete. If Andy had chose baseball, tennis, or numerous other sports, he would have excelled. He chose skiing, and quickly became the US ski teams number 1 downhiller for a number of years. We didn’t have the technology or the money to compete with the Europeans, yet Andy still was always a threat to them and placed 6th in an Olympics with a sprained ankle (he sprained it on a qualifier run, took off his boot, shoved his ankle in the snow to deaden the pain, then stuffed newspaper in his boot and went on to place 6th) His wife at the time (tennis great Chrissy) once told me that the first time she played tennis with him, it pissed her off. She said his returns were too good for someone that didn’t know anything about tennis.
Long story short, this guy was intense in anything he did, and his ability to react was unlike anything I had ever seen. One day we’re doing what we did so well, catching piles of poons. We literally had cleaned out the grass bottoms in the lower keys of laid up tarpon, but we weren’t ready to quit that day yet. We went to the ocean to see if we could find some swimmers. Here comes a fish…. Andy works him over, and we’re on. I start poling after it, and my pole gets stuck in the mud. I turn around to yank it out, and the skiff suddenly lurches and I hear a big splash. I turn back around and my bow is EMPTY. WTF? “Millstone? Where are you??” Suddenly, 20ft in front of the bow Andy launches half his body out of the water, all while extending his rod to the fish and frantically undoing the fly line wrap around the reel handle. We caught that fish and laughed our asses off. I had to explain to him my perspective of seeing in a perfect line a jumping tarpon, a jumping angler, and an empty bow. 🤣 he didn’t think…. he reacted. It saved him a fish, even if it meant he had to leap off the bow toward the fish, then launch himself off the bottom to buy another few seconds to finish clearing the snag. PRICELESS!


----------



## PoonLife1 (5 mo ago)

mwolaver said:


> Welcome in Tim. We may have met once at the Lorelei. I used to fish a lot with Dan Zicari and Mark Krowka, when Mark lived on Plantation key. Wild times! As I remember, they referred to you as "The Hoov"! Maybe since you vacuumed up all those tournaments. lol. Don't let Mitch fool you...he still bonefishes...😉
> 
> Stay out of Gwinnett! Mark


Dan and Mark, what a team! I used to call Mark “Croaker”. One of the fishiest guides I ever had the pleasure of knowing and competing against. Damn he was tough, a true student of the game. My respect for Mark with bonefish and Rob with tarpon is off the charts!


----------



## mwolaver (Feb 6, 2014)

PoonLife1 said:


> Dan and Mark, what a team! I used to call Mark “Croaker”. One of the fishiest guides I ever had the pleasure of knowing and competing against. Damn he was tough, a true student of the game. My respect for Mark with bonefish and Rob with tarpon is off the charts!


We should write a book with nothing but stuff Krowka says to an angler....some would not believe it!


----------



## PluffMud (Dec 29, 2021)

Wow!! All we need now is for Andy Mill to chime in and the thread itself would be one for the books. Absolute legends.


----------



## Gkeirn (Dec 7, 2021)

Welcome and keep the stories coming.


----------



## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Legendary!!


----------



## Mike Haydon (Dec 19, 2019)

jonny said:


> Where about are you in GA these days? I grew up in the little town of Kennesaw.


I grew up in powder springs. Kids live in kennesaw now.


----------



## jonny (May 1, 2007)

mwolaver said:


> We should write a book with nothing but stuff Krowka says to an angler....some would not believe it!


We don’t need a whole book. But what a top ten list? That would be comedy gold😂


----------



## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

No we need a whole book. 😁


----------



## James Humphrey (Dec 31, 2017)

Tim, legends can't be has been. You sir are a legend . I fished out of the lorelei till 2005 and followed your success from afar. Glad to hear you are still with us. It is at this point in our life that people start ceasing to exist.


----------



## backcoutrypaul (10 mo ago)

PoonLife1 said:


> I’m a has-been, old, broken down, long retired fishing guide from the keys. Just wanted to pop in and see if any of my old compadres are on here. I’ve been in Georgia since 2006, but often reminisce about the good ol days I had down there. I still have Gary Merriman up here to harass. He and I are long time friends and we still relive winning the Islamorada All Tackle together. (I think back in 99 or 2000?) I miss all those magic times I shared with Stu Apte, Andy Mill, Jim Bokor, and the rest of our fellow fly chuckers.


----------



## backcoutrypaul (10 mo ago)

Begging you Tim to do Andy's Podcast, so many of us love the stories of those days gone by!! You are part of that Islamorada history!! Tight Lines and Peace!


----------



## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Welcome aboard Tim. I believe we met as well, either in Islamorada or at the Redbone Little Palm Island. Your success and status are well-known and respected, as evident by some of the posts here. Glad you are enjoying retirement and fun-fishing these days. 

Dave Lear


----------



## flysalt060 (Aug 5, 2012)

PoonLife1 said:


> Thanks Smurfy! Andy has been harassing me to do a podcast with him for a few years. I really need to do it and go fishing again with him and Nikky. We had a blast the last time we went. Actually I think Gary and I should do one together with them, that would be fun. We all mastered the art of giving each other grief 🤣


Yes you and Gary should. Andy needs to do one with the Fishhawk crew past and present. Still learning a lot from them after 32 years.


----------



## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

PoonLife1 said:


> Alright, per all the requests, I’ll share one:
> 
> Andy Mill… What can I say about this guy? He was the true definition of an athlete. If Andy had chose baseball, tennis, or numerous other sports, he would have excelled. He chose skiing, and quickly became the US ski teams number 1 downhiller for a number of years. We didn’t have the technology or the money to compete with the Europeans, yet Andy still was always a threat to them and placed 6th in an Olympics with a sprained ankle (he sprained it on a qualifier run, took off his boot, shoved his ankle in the snow to deaden the pain, then stuffed newspaper in his boot and went on to place 6th) His wife at the time (tennis great Chrissy) once told me that the first time she played tennis with him, it pissed her off. She said his returns were too good for someone that didn’t know anything about tennis.
> Long story short, this guy was intense in anything he did, and his ability to react was unlike anything I had ever seen. One day we’re doing what we did so well, catching piles of poons. We literally had cleaned out the grass bottoms in the lower keys of laid up tarpon, but we weren’t ready to quit that day yet. We went to the ocean to see if we could find some swimmers. Here comes a fish…. Andy works him over, and we’re on. I start poling after it, and my pole gets stuck in the mud. I turn around to yank it out, and the skiff suddenly lurches and I hear a big splash. I turn back around and my bow is EMPTY. WTF? “Millstone? Where are you??” Suddenly, 20ft in front of the bow Andy launches half his body out of the water, all while extending his rod to the fish and frantically undoing the fly line wrap around the reel handle. We caught that fish and laughed our asses off. I had to explain to him my perspective of seeing in a perfect line a jumping tarpon, a jumping angler, and an empty bow. 🤣 he didn’t think…. he reacted. It saved him a fish, even if it meant he had to leap off the bow toward the fish, then launch himself off the bottom to buy another few seconds to finish clearing the snag. PRICELESS!


You know you’re on a good forum when guys like this drop in the say Hi and tell a few stories. A few months ago Norman Duncan posted. Now Tim Hoover, WOW! LEGENDS


----------

