Photography by Joe DiPietro
Awards & Publications - Most recently, Joe was awarded the first place statewide winner for Feature Photograph in the Georgia Press Association's 2008 Better Newspaper Contest, covered various trout-related events and issues for local publications and is a regular contributor to "Georgia Outdoor News" and Trout Unlimited's "Trout" magazine, among others.
Blue Ridge Fly-fishing Fun -
Take a canoe or wade trip with Joe for his enthusiasm and love for the sport will intrigue and hook you! Really, he must have been a trout in a previous life as he just knows too much abouth their habits.
SharperBites Guide-
Joe DiPietro brings a wealth of experience as a Professional Fly-Fishing Guide and Outdoor Writer/Photographer to the team of SharperBites with his vast knowledge of fly-fishing, the coldwater resources and the overall ecology of the Blue Ridge area. That coupled with his friendly, laid back personality, a wade or a float trip with Joe is sure to be one to long remember. Joe is available to help new fly-fishers fall in love with fly-fishing, as well as advanced fly-fishing instruction, all in a non-threatening teaching style, with an easy going, "just have fun" attitude.
Joe's Background - born in central Illinois and by the age of 7 was biking up to 10 miles, fishing pole in hand, to fish small trout ponds around his small-town home. After moving to Florida in his teen years, Joe developed an affinity to the closest salt equivalent to trout - Spotted Sea Trout - often fishing the Cedar Key, Stienhatchee, Anclote Island, St. Joseph's Sound and other grassflats of the Suncoast and backwaters of Tampa Bay.
By the time Joe completed education at the University of South Florida, he had already dove head-first into kayak and wade guiding, and working on commercial fishing and shrimp vessels. From 2002 until 2006, Joe was the Suncoast Editor of the publication "Big Bend Angler," contributing reports, photos, feature stories and outdoor fiction. While catching huge snook is truly a rush, more often you could find Joe trying to manhandle a 24-inch sea trout from a 10 foot kayak. From time to time, opportunities would present themselves and Joe was able to hook and land tarpon and other saltwater gamefish from a kayak. With this, Joe quickly developed a strong sense of paddling safely through rough waters, which would later be strengthened on the Toccoa River.
After Joe discovered in 1998 that the closest place to catch freshwater trout from his home in Florida was the Blue RIdge region, he went right back to his childhood love of trout fishing. He now held a fly-rod in his hand and was already schooled in casting and handling fish on a fly.
Since arriving as a full-time resident, Joe has spent countless hours and days fishing trout streams near Blue Ridge from the tiny, high-elevation runs holding Southern Appalachian Brook Trout to the large waters of the Toccoa River. From the most accessible to the most remote, there's not many coldwater flows that hold trout in the Blue Ridge area that Joe has not dropped a fly in.
Copyright . Sharper Bites A Division of Sharper Concepts, LLC. All rights reserved.
email: natsharp@tds.net 
Licensed to fish the Toccoa DH Insured though Outdoor Insurance Group
Buy A Georgia Fishing License on line - www.georgiawildlife.com Trout Unlimited www.blueridgetu.com
Safety First . . . Always check the release schedule for the Toccoa Dam - www.tva.com or 800-238-2264, then 4, 23
