introducing greg dini

Photos by Austin Coit

We’re stoked to welcome Capt. Greg Dini to the Marsh Wear family. Greg is a long-time professional guide — and in our humble opinion, one of the best out there. He focuses on fly fishing and light tackle sight fishing for redfish in the coastal marshes of Louisiana and for Spring and Summer tarpon in Florida.

For being a top tier guide, Greg is an extremely humble and down-to-earth guy. He firmly believes that fishing is meant to be fun and that we have a duty to leave it better than we found it while we’re out there. As driven as he is about his career, he’s a family man through-and-through with three beautiful children and a wonderful wife that he loves spending time with at home and in the great outdoors.

When he’s not on the water, you’ll find him in the woods hunting or working on his photography skills. Did we mention that he’s a published photographer as well? On top of all that, Greg’s recently joined the team at Silver Kings TV where he’ll be working behind the scenes to bring the series to a whole new level.

We caught up with Capt. Greg Dini for a Spring Photoshoot and took a little time to find out more about his story and what makes him tick.

Seems like you’re a traveling man. What waters do you find yourself guiding throughout the year?

Yeah man, Louisiana is home. I’m basically here a little over 8 months out of the year. In the Spring, I’ll find my way down to Florida and do the tarpon thing. I grew up poon fishing so it’s in my blood. Started doing it in middle school. When I got married I told my wife that this is always gonna be a part of my life, so if you’re good with that, then we’re good to go! We’ve got three kiddos now, but she still allows me to do it so I’m grateful for that.

Speaking of, how many days are you averaging on the water now?

Aww man… I know right now I book over three hundred whether I want to fish that many or not. But, between weather days and cancellations I’m probably between 275-300 days on the water a year. Lotta days… lotta days…

Well we all know you’re a guide extraordinaire of course… but, tell us a little bit about Greg Dini’s humble beginnings. How’d you first get into fishing and what made it become such a passion of yours?

Growing up in Orlando, I would fish lakes and ponds for bass and bream. I got into saltwater fishing when my parents purchased a condo on the East Coast of Florida. My dad bought a little Carolina Skiff J16 with a polling platform on the back and my brother and I would putt around mosquito lagoon whenever we could

In high school I started dating my now, wife and her mom’s friend had a place down in Boca Grande. We went down there one weekend and he said, “hey, you ever thrown a fly at a tarpon before?”. I told him, “not even close man”. He took us out and within 20 minutes we were throwing flies at tarpon. I’ve been ate up with it ever since!

That’ll do it man. So, tell us how you ended up in Louisiana?

In college, I was fortunate enough to play baseball at the collegiate level for University of Miami. After my sophomore year, I transferred to Tulane in Uptown New Orleans. I bought myself a little 14 foot Jon Boat with an 8hp kicker. I’d fish all day, play baseball in the afternoons, and had all my classes scheduled at night. I was fortunate enough to go off and play Minor League in the Angels Organization for a while. After getting up to AA, I decided to come back and finish my degree. After that, I started guiding and it’s been home since.

That’s awesome, and a what a crazy story going from professional baseball to guiding for redfish. I can tell you’re good at these too; you’re answering a lot of my questions before I get to them! So, let’s talk about tarpon since that’s the name of the game starting in the Spring. If you were stuck on a desert island that just so happened to be loaded with tarpon, what’s your fly of choice? While we’re at it, let’s hear the same for redfish.

Oh gosh…depends on if they’re laid up or if they’re swimming. If I’m fishing them while they’re laid up, sleeping, I’ve got a good little go-to tarpon fly that I like to tie. I don’t have a name for it yet but it’s a semi-strongarm crab pattern that I throw at ‘em and it works really well. For swimming tarpon, I’ve got a fly that works pretty good and honestly it’s just a big ‘ol black fly.

For redfish, if it’s warm out, I love a popper. If it’s cooler out in the ponds, I throw big nasty crab patterns. Our redfish over here aren’t crazy picky. If you get a well-placed fly in front of ‘em, they’ll eat it. Which is really nice when you’re running a guide business!

We’ll have to get the fly lowdown on that secret pattern soon then. So switching gears, what’s your go to on-water drink and your “finally made it home” drink?

If I’m a normal daily charter, I’m just trying to stay hydrated…gatorade zeroes and water. If I’m out fishing with my boys, I’m a beer drinker on the boat. I can’t do too many IPAs, but if it’s wet, I’ll drink it brother. When I get off the water, my go-to is gonna be a Buffalo Trace with ice and a little lime. Knocks the punch down a little bit!

Dream angler to have on the bow? Dream “anyone” to have on the bow? You know what we mean? It can be Christina Aguilera or something… anyone!

Hopefully my wife doesn’t read this one. My anyone might have to be Marissa Miller. That’d do fine. As far as an angler, it’d be rad to have Bill Dance on the bow. I grew up watching him. Or, you know what, probably my number one go-to would be Jose Wejebe. Put that one down.

If you’re taking a trip and find yourself on the pointy end of a boat, where are you fishing?

It’s gotta be saltwater somewhere. My bucket list spots are Cuba and The Seychelles. One of those two.

If you’re taking a day off from fishing, what other hobbies do you find filling your time?

I’m an avid upland bird hunter. I have a little 4 year old German Short Haired Pointer, named Winnie, and her and I get to go to South Texas a couple times a year to go hunt quail. We also have some Woodcock here in LA that we’re trying to get dialed in. Beyond that, I’ve been getting into deer hunting a bit over the past two to three years. I grew up playing golf so I’ll get on the course and embarrass myself every once and awhile too.

We, of course need a blatant promotion piece… so, our motto is “Ride The Tide”. We feel like it’s just open-ended enough to mean a number of different things for different people. What do you feel like Ride The Tide means to you?

I would interpret Ride The Tide as “go with the flow”. Just go wherever your thoughts take you and definitely don’t set any limits for yourself. If you get to the top of the mountain and you conquer it, go conquer something else!

Thanks for talking to us Greg and we’re excited to have you join the team. Hopefully we’ll get you up here for a tailing tide sometime!

Same here, excited to be on board!

We’re stoked to have Capt. Greg Dini join the Marsh Wear team and we’re looking forward to more adventures with him. In the meantime, find Greg and check out his photography on Instagram at @flywater_expeditions. Interested in taking a trip with Greg? You can book a trip with him at www.louisianaflyfishing.com.