will paul

Hooked on Home Waters

He is as native as the sycamores that nod over the rivers, as local as a redeye bass. Captain Will Paul was born in Greenville, raised on the rivers that wind through the Coastal Plain, and early on was inspired to share the grandeur of a quiet Eastern North Carolina stream.

Quiet, that is, until a fly-hooked striped bass or hickory shad breaks the surface of the water and tail-walks across the stream, and the angler in Captain Paul’s boat lets out a whoop of glee that echoes down the river.

Owner of the Rocky Mount-based Tar River Co., Capt. Paul spends a few months each year guiding at the famed Tikchik Narrows Lodge of Alaska. It’s a stunning location. The salmon are strong and wild. But not so strong and wild as to make him forget the waters of home, the languid creeks that corkscrew under soaring oak and cypress. Get hooked on Eastern North Carolina, and you’ll always find the road home.