Besides great fishing for striped bass, bluefish, and false albacore with their clients, the guides also sit down with some well-known fly tiers, cook with some famous chefs, chat and fish with people like Ted Jurasik of Tibor reels, and even participate in a RedBone Tournament. A new approach to outdoor programming, ESPN’s Guide House:Montauk reveals a behind-the-scenes look at a diverse and energetic cast of characters with the backdrop of an incredible fishery during its peak of the year. Look for it on Saltwater Sundays on ESPN Outdoors this coming season.

 

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Nationally renowned guide Paul Dixon, 53, joins guides Brendan McCarthy, Amanda Switzer, Matthew Miller and Bryan Goulart in bringing the life of a fishing guide to viewers at home. The Guide House is home for the five guides and acts as a gathering place for other guides, clients, celebrities and friends. After a hard day on the water, the guides unwind amongst friends or continue arguments that started earlier in the day.

In the house is where viewers get to know the real personalities of the guides and may even learn a thing or two about tying flies, repairing gear or discovering new techniques for their next trip. And who knows who will spend the night in the "guest room?" Those making special appearances on the show include snowboard champion and singer Greta Gaines, fly fishing book author Peter Kaminsky and Kerry Heffernan, executive chef of the hip Eleven Madison Park restaurant in New York City. Michael Iaconelli, 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Classic champion, also spends a day on the water.

The guides also will take part in the Redbone Celebrity Tournament Series, a charity fishing tournament that raises funds to fight against cystic fibrosis. Guide House features the Montauk Yacht Club Resort, where each fishing excursion begins.

Guide Bios
Paul Dixon, 52: A native of Newport Beach, Calif., Dixon became an angler at age three, when his mother handed him his first fishing rod. At 16 years old, he began fly fishing during a summer job at a fishing lodge on Henry's Lake in Idaho, honing his skills on the legendary Henry's Fork and Madison River waterways. Returning to Southern California in 1973, Dixon continued fishing while majoring in business at the University of California - Irvine. In the mid '80s, Dixon moved to the East Coast and fished for striped bass and blue fish in the waters off Long Island. He ran the fly fishing department of The Orvis Co. for five years in New York, and began one of the company's first saltwater fly fishing schools. In 1994, Paul opened Dixon's Sporting Life in East Hampton, while developing his charter company. Dixon has been featured on ESPN's fishing shows The Walker's Cay Chronicles and Spanish Fly, NBC News, Barbara Kopple's ABC mini-series The Hamptons, The New York Times, Outdoor Life, The Miami Herald, New York magazine and Newsday, among others.

Amanda Switzer, 36: Though she originally went to school to become a landscape architect, Amanda Switzer ultimately became a fishing guide after working for one year - and one year too long - in an office. Unhappy with the ho-hum buzz of everyday work, Switzer thanked her boss for not firing her, politely quit, bought a flats boat and started a fly fishing-guide business in her home waters of eastern Long Island.

Living and working around outdoors enthusiasts, Switzer developed an organic and intimate love for fishing. More than 25 years later, she is incorrigible. Guiding is one of the many ways Switzer stays in touch with the ocean. In her time as an angler and guide, Switzer has traveled the world looking for new fishing and life experiences. She helps host the Urban Anglers Seychelles trip, leading groups of anglers around the undeveloped flats in the Indian Ocean. Brendan McCarthy, 37: Captain Brendan McCarthy is a New York City-based saltwater fly fishing guide. Born and raised in New England, he started fishing from the beaches of Truro, Mass., during camping trips with his family. In wasn't until he moved to New York City in 1990 that he began fly fishing and was completely hooked after catching his first False Albacore from the Breezy Point jetty in Jamaica Bay. McCarthy guides in Jamaica Bay in the spring and late fall, the Hamptons through the summer, and Montauk during the fall run. He has been featured in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and New York magazine McCarthy had his first feature article published in Fly Fisherman magazine this past August and is co-creator of Guide House: Montauk. Matthew Miller, 50: After leaving a traditional English, private boarding school, Miller rejected the idea of continuing his education at a university and traveled the world instead. He visited Africa and Asia, following the footsteps of the many travelers and explorers whose books he had read so avidly. His many adventures included being the first European to be seen in 50 years in a remote part of Ethiopia, to spending time with wondering nomads in Afghanistan prior to the Russian invasion. Miller's wide range of careers include time spent in the music business in London during the punk rock boom of the '70s and a successful interior design career in Europe and America, designing clubs, restaurants and commercial spaces. A wish for a lifestyle change brought him to Sag Harbor and the east end of long island, where he turned a lifelong passion for fishing into yet another career. Miller has fished all over the world for just about every species.

Bryan Goulart, 33: Bryan Goulart started fishing with his father in Rhode Island when he was 4 years old and has been hooked ever since. While living in New York City - working as a photographer during the day and a bartender at night - Goulart decided he wanted to make fishing a bigger part of his life. He bought a boat and started plying the waters around New York City. He fished from the Hudson River to Montauk Point, spending every spare second fly fishing for striped bass, bluefish and false Albacore. Slowly, Goulart's passion became his career and he started a full-time guiding business. As a guide, Goulart takes pleasure in showing clients the fisheries around New York City and the eastern end of Long Island. When he is not guiding, Goulart travels the world as a photographer for various magazines.