Welcome back to Artist Spotlight, a Flylords original series where we dive into the artists that bring life to fly fishing off the water. In this installment, we sit down with renowned artist Paul Puckett. Paul’s work captures the moments and fleeting feelings we experience on the water through captivating paintings. He’s also an obsessed tarpon angler and the artist of last year’s Tarpon Week Art. Follow along as we talk through Paul’s love for saltwater fly fishing, his journey into artwork, and a few of his favorite Silver King stories in this Artist Spotlight.
Flylords: Who is Paul Puckett? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Paul Puckett: I currently live in Charleston, SC, but I’m originally from Texas. I grew up fishing for bass and bream before heading off to Jackson, WY, where I worked for Westbank Anglers. My art career came and went in my 20-plus years of working for fly shops, until I moved to Atlanta and started taking it a lot more seriously. I started making trips to Charleston to fish for redfish and attended art shows like the Southeastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE) until I finally moved here. It’s been the best decision I’ve ever made; the community here is supportive, and it’s helped my artwork a lot.
Flylords: When did you first start fly fishing?
Paul Puckett: I started fly fishing when I was maybe 12 or 13 back in 1987, 88. I still have a video of my dad filming me the first time I ever cast a fly rod. It was on Lake Taneycomo, which is more like a river in Southern Missouri, fishing for bass and bream, the best beginner fish ever. After fishing, we stopped at the Bass Pro Shops that was nearby and went into the small White River Fly Shop inside, which just blew me away. I saw all the fly tying materials you could get and was just fascinated by the intricacies of it. I even carried the Bass Pro catalog around with me like it was the Bible, paging through the different materials and possibilities of fly fishing.
Flylords: Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into art?
Paul Puckett: Growing up, I loved drawing as a lot of kids do. Then, as you get older, you start liking other things, like playing in the dirt, which I did as well, but I always came back around to drawing. In third and fourth grade, I’d draw my favorite cartoon or movie characters, like those from Star Wars. When I got to high school, I really started marrying my love for fishing with my artwork. My art teacher would let me work on fishing projects, and it just never stopped. It’s kind of funny how all these years later, I’m still painting the same things I was as a freshman in high school.
The big breakthrough for me came in college when I worked at a fly shop called Westbank Anglers in Dallas, TX. When I was working there, I started to paint people’s fish, so if they came in with a photo of the 24-inch brown trout they caught, I’d replicate it to the exact size, shape, and color in a painting. I did a lot of these and started getting paid for them, which really opened my eyes to the fact that I could get paid to do artwork I already liked.
Flylords: Much of your artwork revolves around saltwater fly fishing. What draws you to this pursuit?
Paul Puckett: When I was a kid, I would always go to the Texas coast with my dad, and we’d sit under a bridge with a popping cork and a shrimp. It wasn’t fly fishing, but I loved the smell of salt in the air and the feeling of never knowing what you’d catch. We were pretty far away from the salt in Dallas, so this was a real treat getting to go to the coast once a year, and that stuck with me.
When I moved to Atlanta, I was only three and a half hours from the coast. So I started visiting guides down there, and they started talking about the tides and all these things that at the time didn’t make much sense to me. But the whole idea of putting together all the puzzle pieces, like the wind, the tide, and the currents, added a new element to fishing for me. When all those conditions line up, in that moment, there’s nothing like it. It’s like a drug chasing that perfect day, and in Charleston, it may only come a couple of times a year. You can have that perfect day a lot more frequently if you’re trout fishing, but the rarity of it in the salt is what keeps me in the game.
Flylords: Being that this is Tarpon Week, can you tell us about your love for tarpon?
Paul Puckett: I was fishing with Captain Joel Dickey and my buddy Trey Miller down in Big Pine Key. We were fishing the backcountry side for tarpon, staring out at the Gulf off a point when Joel said, “In about seven minutes we’re going to have a big pack of fish coming around that corner rolling, and you’ll see it.” I’m thinking to myself, “What? This guy’s like a sorcerer. There’s no way it’s true.” Then, sure enough, about seven minutes later, he says, “Look.” I looked up, and here comes a pack of tarpon rolling our way about 300 yards out. I made a cast as they got closer, and the first fish ate the fly, and I made probably the worst trout set ever in the history of tarpon fishing. I knew what I did and stripped quickly to try and get my fly back to recast. Three or four strips later, one of the other fish ate the fly. I was on, and it was my birthday too. Somehow, everything came together. I hooked and landed the first tarpon I ever cast to, and I’ve been chasing that ever since.
Flylords: What about tarpon fishing inspires your art?
Paul Puckett: Some may consider it a bad thing, but in tarpon fishing, there’s a lot of downtime, ups and downs, and passing time with your buddies. Then you get alerted that there’s fish coming, and you get that one- or two-minute rush of knowing fish are coming and the unknown of what is about to happen. Then you go right back to the, all right, well, here we are again, waiting.
I love painting those downtime moments because if you tarpon fish, you’ve been in those situations so many times, and there might be days when you don’t even see any fish. For some reason, I’m drawn to those moments. I like painting the fish too; there’s nothing like painting an actual tarpon jumping out of the water. But a lot of my seascape pieces are just a solitary boat in this huge ocean. When you’re out in that ocean, it just reminds you how small we are, and that’s what I like to portray in my paintings
Flylords: Are there any similarities you draw between fly fishing and your art?
Paul Puckett: I think fly fishing has made me a lot more patient in my art. I’m working on a painting right now, and I’ve had to tell myself so many times don’t rush it. Fly fishing is very similar in that there are days when I’m fishing on a boat, waiting for tarpon, and I have to keep telling myself it’s going to happen. It might not happen until 3 o’clock, and we might have planned on leaving at 3:15, but staying patient eventually pays off. The same is true for my artwork. There are days when it looks like I’ve made no progress on a painting, but I know in my mind that it will work out if I stay patient and trust the process.
Flylords: Many know you as an artist, but you’re also a talented musician. What role does music play in your life?
Paul Puckett: I grew up with my dad always pounding on the guitar all around me, which drove me crazy at the time. It wasn’t until I went to college and was away from it that I really started playing music. But as far as my love of music goes, I’ve always loved guitar, the blues, and even old-school country stuff. Music’s always around us; it’s a commonality and a language that we all share. I don’t know that I could ever paint in my studio without music. I love playing music, writing music with friends, and it’s definitely something that I can’t live without.
Flylords: Do you have a favorite tarpon fishing memory?
Paul Puckett: One of my favorite recent memories was being able to fish with Andy and Nicky Mill on their boat, which was a huge honor. As I’ve gotten older and become a dad, I’ve realized how valuable time is. The time Nicky and Andy get to spend together on the boat is super valuable to them, so the fact that they let me on was a huge deal to me.
We had a lot of shots, and Nicky caught a fish earlier in the day, making it look pretty easy. It was my turn, and they really wanted me to catch a fish, but time was running out. I figured we’d probably get off the water around 3:30, and when the clock hit 3, I told them, “We don’t have to make this some pressure cooker deal where Paul has to catch a fish.” And Nicky says, “Paul, your fish hasn’t swam by yet. We’re gonna catch one.” Sure enough, at 3:15, I caught one. It was such a cool feeling catching a fish with two of the best tarpon anglers in the world, and a day I’ll never forget.
Flylords: What’s next for Paul Puckett?
Paul Puckett: For me, I want to keep getting better. In my artwork, I’m really focused on making things simpler but better. It’s similar to editing, like how you turn a thousand words into 700 but make it better. I’m learning every day to do the same thing with my art—simpler but better. That’s the lifelong journey of an artist; there’s never a finish line. You’re always getting a little bit better.
Flylords: Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?
Paul Puckett: The other day, I overheard a lady at the coffee shop trying to help her daughter figure out what she wanted to do. I wanted to turn to her and say, “Do something you never want to retire from,” because that’s what I do. The day I retire is the day I die. To me, the whole point is to do something you love doing until you just physically can’t do it anymore. It doesn’t have to be art, but follow whatever passion you have, and you won’t regret it.
