I am here and at your service.
The text from Flip came through at 10:03am on Wednesday, July 16. Salt Water Sportsman and Sport Fishing were producing a daily broadcast from ICAST and I had invited him to join us. His text notified me that he was in the building and ready to go. Flip walked through the door largely unrecognizable: a bandanna over his face like a train robber, hat slung low over his brow. (It was the only way he could get through the throngs of industry folks without being stopped every 30 steps.)
When the bandanna came off and he revealed himself, the room lit up. The man was here. We sat down, broke open a bottle of Frigate Reserve, and spent the next 15 minutes laughing and telling stories. As quickly as it had started, the conversation was over. He posed for a few pictures, put the bandanna on, and strolled back into the convention center’s cavernous thoroughfare. He left us that morning, and would leave all of us just a few short weeks later.
On August 26, Philip “Flip” Pallot passed away in Thomasville, Georgia, due to complications from surgery.
It is possible to quantify Flip’s many roles in the salt water fishing and outdoor universe: host and creative engine of Walker’s Cay Chronicles, the iconic fishing TV series that aired for 15 years; co-founder of Hell’s Bay Boatworks, which inspired a new era of poling skiffs; longtime friend and creative collaborator of fly fishing icon Lefty Kreh; voice of Sport Fishing Television; brand ambassador and consultant for Yeti, G.Loomis, Temple Fork, Simms, Costa, and others. The list goes on.
What is impossible to quantify is the influence Flip has had on all those who came after him. Because of his recognizable face and voice, and the mentorship and friendship he shared so freely, Flip was on a first-name basis with generations of guides, storytellers, industry pros and everyday anglers. The highwater mark of what an outdoorsman could be.
“Flip Pallot’s impact on the sport of fishing is truly immeasurable,” IGFA President Jason Schratwieser shared in a tribute the organization posted yesterday. “Through his guiding, writing, television work, and innovations in boat and tackle design, he inspired countless anglers while elevating the culture of our sport. Beyond his influence in media and industry, Flip was a steadfast voice for conservation, ensuring that the waters he loved would be protected for generations to come. The IGFA proudly honors him as one of the greatest stewards of sportfishing we have ever known.”
On the evening of August 27, a message was shared on behalf of Flip’s family: wife, Diane; daughter, Brooke; brother Scott; and granddaughter Sora. It asked that “all who knew the man and love what he stands for take a quiet interlude and turn your eyes towards his beloved Florida. It is, at this moment, 7:50 p.m. EST. It is sunset in Mims, north of the Everglades, near the banks of the St. Johns River, where Flip and his wife, Diane, have lived for 23 years. As for Flip, he asked for nothing other than a life lived fiercely true. To all those who share in our grief, in his own sweet words: ‘More to come. Bye for now.’”
That text on July 16 wasn’t just for me. For generations of guides and captains, for outdoor writers, producers and creatives, for everyone who watched Walker’s Cay Chronicles and were inspired to pick up a fly rod, for an industry, for a sport: he was here and at our service.
Bye for now, Flip.
