Episode 137: Phil O'Bannon - Chief of Boca Grande

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5 • 973 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Phil O’Bannon is a sixth-generation Boca Grande fisherman whose life has been defined by the water. He left college to chase giant bluefin tuna across the white sands of the Bahamas, a move that launched a global fishing career—from big-money marlin tournaments to captaining motherships for the elite. But it was fly fishing for tarpon in his home waters that made him a legend. Now 72, Phil is still regarded as the most respected name in Boca Grande—widely known as the Tarpon Fishing Capital of the World. He’s chased Tarpon with the best, from John Emory in the Keys to Billy Pate in Homosassa, and to this day, he still fishes IGFA leaders with old-school precision. But it was his guiding career with the Bush family that secured his legacy, and having President Bush as his friend for two decades remains as some of his fondest memories. On today’s podcast, we talk about the early years, his father “Fingers,” a life on the water, and the enduring magic of Boca Grande.

Transcript

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0:33.8	We're proud to have Duck Camp as a supporter of the podcast for the last several years.
0:39.1	They've outfitted us for everything from hooking tarpen to our Elkhunts to the golf course.
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1:00.9	We broke everything, we broke lines, we broke hooks, we broke rods, we broke our minds, we broke marriages, we broke the whole thing.
1:17.6	We came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls and whoever had the biggest pair of panties went a pot.
1:24.6	I knocked another arrow and he turned around the other way and I shot him going through the
1:28.4	other way, so I double lunged them both ways.
1:31.5	But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.
1:36.2	I got him on.
1:37.5	All right now.
1:38.5	We're going to teach him a lesson.
1:41.3	I'm just an old guy that likes to fish.
1:43.1	I'm not quitting yet.
1:45.5	And he said, well, who the hell do you think you are, Sue App?
1:48.7	And I said, that's exactly who I am.
	...

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