Maybe it’s his upbringing—fishing and scouring the banks of the St. Johns River as a kid, always seeking new adventures—that comes into play every time Frank Bolin picks up a fishing rod. It’s hard for this crusty old salt to hide his enthusiasm.
Frank’s early adventures expanded from his parent’s backyard on the St. Johns to nearby tributaries and Florida’s topnotch freshwater lakes. Then, around age 15, he discovered saltwater fishing and almost completely forgot about bass and panfish. His new favorites included trout, redfish, snook and flounder—particularly flounder.
And he couldn’t have picked a better place than the salty backwaters surrounding St. Augustine to hone his inshore techniques. Next, Frank branched out, embracing nearshore and offshore fishing with gusto. Mention a trip scouting for cobes, trolling for dolphin, bottom fishing for snapper and grouper or running to the other side of the Gulf Stream to dial in tuna birds with radar and Frank still drops everything at a moment’s notice. As he says, “Fish don’t wait.”
He also operated a guide service out of our Nation’s Oldest City, St. Augustine, that enabled him to get on the water for days at a time, doing what he loves, fishing. Guiding opened other doors that eventually led to outdoor writing. His works became regular features in Saltwater Sportsman magazine, The Fisherman and he penned a twice-weekly column for the Palm Coast/ Flagler Tribune. He joined Florida Sportsman as an editor-at-large in 1994.
From his home base in Jensen Beach, Frank regularly checks out the fishing in the blue waters of the Gulf Stream and heads for destinations near home and abroad—some hard to get to, some familiar. His travels have taken him throughout Florida, The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where marlin run big and mean in summer.
Frank is managing editor of Florida Sportsman magazine and a founding, ground-floor editor of Shallow Water Angler magazine. He and his wife Linda and have four grandkids—all of whom own fishing poles, even the youngest, Miss Adeline, age 1 ½.
Frank’s out of office activities are surfing, and you guessed it, fishing. His angling mantra? PFA or positive fishing attitude, an optimist outlook that he never abandons.
