Jorge Ariel Angelo Tut

Today, Jorge Ariel Angelo Tut is one of the best permit guides on the planet, but his backstory is anything but what you might expect. Jorge didn’t even see the ocean until he was 17 years old. He grew up on a small farm outside the even smaller town of Tzucacab, in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. As a teenager, he followed his older brother to the coast in search of work and took a job as a groundskeeper at a fishing lodge. To reach that lodge, however, he had to get on a boat. He couldn’t swim, was terrified of the water, and had never heard of fly fishing. Jorge got on the boat, fell in love with fly fishing, and never looked back. He worked his way up from gardener, to apprentice, to guide, to head guide. 25 years later, Jorge owns and operates Blacksmith Lodge, one of the most successful fly fishing operations in Mexico, where permit are plentiful and prime dates are coveted.