Paul Dixon and Andy Mill
Bonefish & Tarpon Trust will honor fishing guide Captain Paul Dixon and angler Andy Mill at the 11th Annual NYC Dinner & Awards Ceremony on October 6, 2022.
“Paul Dixon and Andy Mill are legends on the flats and in BTT’s history,” said BTT President and CEO Jim McDuffie. “Their rise in the sport paralleled our founding and early growth as a conservation organization, and they were with us every step of the way, sharing their spotlight to highlight our mission and inspire others to join our ranks. We’re grateful to have this opportunity to recognize their many contributions to our success.”
Dixon will receive the Lefty Kreh Award for Lifetime Achievement in Conservation, which is the organization’s highest honor, in recognition of his volunteer support of conservation at BTT and several other organizations over more than two decades.
Recognized as one of the early pioneers of sight-fishing for striped bass in the Northeast, Dixon began fly-fishing in 1971 in Idaho, where he took a summer job guiding. In the early 1980s, he moved to the East Coast, spending five years working at Orvis in New York City. He went on to open his own store, Dixon’s Sporting Life, in East Hampton, and began guiding in the Florida Keys, where he contributed to BTT’s early tarpon research.
A member of the BTT Advisory Council and a vocal advocate for fisheries conservation, Dixon was also instrumental in establishing BTT’s annual New York City fundraiser and has co-chaired the event for many years, cultivating support for BTT in the Northeast. Under Dixon’s leadership, the annual event has raised millions of dollars for BTT’s conservation programs that span from the southeastern US to the Yucatán Peninsula. Dixon continues to divide his time guiding between Montauk and the Florida Keys.
BTT will honor Mill with The Curt Gowdy Memorial Media Award, which is presented annually to those who advance saltwater conservation through writing, entertainment, and media outreach. A former Olympic skier, Mill is considered one of the best tarpon fly anglers of all time, winning The Gold Cup and The Golden Fly tournaments five times each and The Don Hawley tournament once. After retiring from skiing in 1981, Mill had a 20-year broadcasting career, covering two Olympics and hundreds of network specials, and hosting the acclaimed series, Sportsman’s Journal with Andy Mill.
A BTT Honorary Trustee, Mill has used to his platform to raise awareness of BTT’s mission and engage the angling community in conservation of the flats fishery. The popular Millhouse Podcast, which Mill co-costs with his son Nicky, is his latest media venture to entertain and rally flats anglers. Mill’s award-winning book, A Passion for Tarpon, is arguably the most concise and complete book written about tarpon angling, and further served to raise the profile of the sport and draw attention to the need to conserve the fishery.
As recipients of this year’s awards, Dixon and Mill will be enshrined in BTT’s Circle of Honor, housed in the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center in Islamorada, Florida.
