Throughout my childhood, my dream was to become a Major League Baseball player. That was all I knew and all I focused on.

Around my sophomore year of high school, I was driving home from practice and saw a man fly fishing on the river. My curiosity kicked in immediately. I remember thinking how fun it looked. I actually pulled over, walked down to the river, and started talking to him. I asked if it was hard and where I should buy my first rod. He told me to grab a starter kit from Walmart, and I did exactly that later that night.

At the time, I was already bass fishing with my baseball friends, but fly fishing looked different and more exciting to me. It felt like something new I needed to try.

By my senior year of high school, fly fishing had completely taken over. I would skip my morning class just to fish before school. I would hike up my jeans, head to the river, catch a few fish, and then show up to class smelling like the river with half damp jeans bunched around my legs.

Around that same time, I started wearing a GoPro on my head and filming everything. I shared the videos with my teammates, always wanting to outfish them. I was extremely competitive and honestly loved it when they would beg me for the spots I was fishing. That drive to outwork and outfish everyone was always there.

Then came my senior night of baseball. I was late to school that day because I was trying to get every last cast in on the river. When I arrived at the game, my coach told me that because I was late, I was not allowed to play in my senior night game. I was devastated. Scouts were supposed to be there. Classmates I told to show up were in the stands. I was not even allowed in the dugout.

I was terrified to tell my parents. I still had my fly rod rigged up in the car, so instead of going home, I drove straight to the river. That day, I hooked into one of the biggest trout I had ever felt at that point in my life. All the emotions I had bottled up disappeared. Nothing mattered except the sound of the drag screaming at the end of my line.

I lost that fish, but looking back, I think that was for the better. That moment is why I keep going out to find the next big fish.

Later that season, I got hurt and realized baseball was not in the cards for me anymore. That was when I started chasing a new dream. Becoming a fly fishing content creator.

I am still chasing that dream today, and I am incredibly grateful that I found fly fishing. I am obsessed with sharing my journeys, the places, the people, and the moments that make it all worth it.

-Grant Sargent, Creator of Firefly Fishing