Silver Spring, Maryland Project

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Silver Spring, Maryland Project

Project Mentors

SKYLER BLEWITT, LEAD MENTOR

Baltimore, Maryland

Born and raised in Maryland, Skyler first discovered fly fishing at the age of 13 while targeting bass and panfish in his best friend’s pond. From that point forward his love of fly fishing and the outdoors has sent him up and down the east coast chasing anything that will take a fly. Skyler looks forward to continuing sharing his passions as a mentor with The Mayfly Project!

MIKE MUSCATELL0, CO-LEAD MENTOR

Laytonsville, Maryland

Mike is a Darnestown, Maryland native that has been fishing all if his life. Mike started fly fishing in his 30’s and never looked back. Most of his experience is in salt, but he began trout fishing locally when his son became interested in fly fishing.

Mike is a retired audit partner from a regional accounting firm and is currently giving back to the profession as a Professor of Accounting at Anne Arundel Community College. He also enjoys photography. Mike and his wife Denise have been married for over 25 years and have twin seniors in college that will soon be embarking on their own journey.

MARC HUTZELL, MENTOR

MOTTI TADMOR, MENTOR

Potomac, Maryland

Motti moved to the US about 13 years ago from Israel. Motti remembers fishing since he was very young, maybe 3-4 years old.
In the US Motti got introduced to fly fishing and never went back 🙂 he fishes around Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia mainly and keeps improving his fly tying and fly fishing skills. Motti lived in Florida for 10 years where he fished some saltwater monsters like Snook, Spotted trout and Barracuda, but it wasn’t until he moved to the DC area that he started fishing for trout and is enjoying it very much. Motti used to be a scoutmaster for a boys scouts troop and enjoys working with youth, helping them and guiding them, giving them tools and shaping their personality gives him great satisfaction, he is very much looking forward to working with TMP’s Maryland chapter he joined a few months ago. Motti is a native from Carroll County, Maryland.

HOWIE FISCHER, MENTOR

Clarksburg, Maryland

Howie grew up across the world as a Navy brat. He enjoys everything outdoors and grew up fishing for bass with his dad using conventional tackle. Howie picked up fly fishing about 5 years ago while living in Washington State. Since then, fly fishing has become his passion, devoting time and energy to learning more about the sport and conservation. He loves taking friends out and teaching them how to fly fish. He has fly fished Washington, Montana, Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. Howie is currently a Special Education Paraeducator and works with children with behavioral struggles. Howie is excited to apply his personal and work experience to helping kiddos learn to fly fish.

KATIE BARTLING, MENTOR

West Chester, Maryland

Katie studied environmental science in her ungrad and has been working in the field for the past ten years. She specializes in projects focusing on ecological restoration and monitoring, wildlife habitat assessments, and wetland science. She is an avid volunteer and enjoys contributing to wildlife research relating to shorebird health, horseshoe crab spawning, and owl migration. Volunteering with the Mayfly Project has helped fulfill her passion for environmental education and engaging others to explore the natural world through fly fishing. To align her interests with her career goals, she is pursuing a Masters degree at Temple University in Landscape Architecture. As part of her work there, she is helping a fisheries group develop a landscape restoration plan to enhance brook trout habitat. In her free time, Katie enjoys kayaking with her dog, Zoey, fly fishing, and gardening.

KYLE ZIELINSKI, MENTOR

Washington, DC

Kyle is from Mount Prospect, Illinois and grew up fishing for walleye in Wisconsin’s Northwoods. After having some beginner’s luck fly fishing during a roadtrip to Montana, he spent the next 3 years chasing trout in the Driftless area of Wisconsin and Minnesota. More recently, Kyle lived in Bend, Oregon where he spent his free time fishing for Redbands on the Lower Deschutes. He moved to Washington, DC in 2022 for medical school and is looking forward to connecting with his mentees through fly fishing!

JOHN ETCHART, MENTOR

Washington, DC

A Montana native, John grew up in Helena fly fishing with his dad and brother on rivers across the state, including the mighty Missouri. Through rafting and wading fly fishing trips around Montana, his love for the outdoors and all aspects of fly fishing grew exponentially with every outing to the river. He now resides in Washington, DC as a medical student and is excited to share his passion for fly fishing with his mentees!

Questions or Need to Connect?