I got a chance to stay and fish with Anthony Gagliardi this past weekend at his house on Lake Murray in South Carolina. Anthony is a nice laid back guy. As I sat in his home office talking about his Level Rods project, I couldn't help but look around and see his trophies. I mean there were 3 FLW major tournament wins, a bunch of top ten trophies, an Ultimate Match Fishing title belt,an FLW Angler of the Year and the Forrest Wood Cup Trophy. I was thinking for a guy that was in his mid 30s, he had accomplished everything I could dream of.

Anthony also introduced me to the world of bass fishing which had a few stripers involving herring at Lake Murray. It is indeed different than the shad and grass lakes of East Texas. It is a total reprogramming of what you know. The way herring act are different than shad. I also learned about using a spinning rod with 6lb. test for bass which I thought was to light for crappie. He even shown me baits he made which was pretty smart on the thought process. Even if we were fun fishing and joking around you can tell he has that fishing instinct.

Another thing about Anthony is that he has a great family. He is married and has 2 kids who keep him very busy. His wife is a kindergarten teacher. His dad who lives close by is his travel partner and pancake maker when asked by his kids. It is pretty cool how it all works out as a family team. He is very much a family man.

In summary it was a great trip this weekend to hang out with someone I have known for about 10 years in exchange to show him how to build a fishing rod from start to finish. He learned very fast and was good at it. Anthony is a good guy with a bright future still ahead. I just hope he calls me when he has a garage sale because I may need to rent my own UPS truck.

please excuse my grammar. I was thinking about fishing and it was 4am.

That's pretty awesome!!

One of the good guys, thanks for sharing

That is awesome! He seems like a great guy.

Awesome post, thanks for sharing.

His rods Level Rods are handcrafted here in the US are available now.