About Me

Born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1965 and then moved to St. Petersburg in 1967 where he honed his angling skills on the beaches, piers, and inshore flats of Tampa Bay.  As a young man he spent countless hours casting artificial lures and flies to trout, snook, tarpon, and redfish unwittingly preparing himself to be an inshore guide and professional angler later in life. 

After much success in local and regional tournaments throughout the 90’s, he decided to jump into the realm of professional tournament fishing and made a name for himself on the initial IFA Redfish Tour from 2000 to 2003 and then had further success with several top five appearances in the ESPN Redfish Cup and a win on the Pro Tarpon Tournament Series in 2007.

  Along the way in his pro career, he saw a need for knowledge especially with novice and intermediate level anglers who wanted to learn the finer points of inshore fishing particularly with the use of artificial lures; hence he started Flats Class in 2001.  Flats Class, a popular traveling fishing school, taught by inshore pros was an instant success and the launching pad for Flats Class TV.

 Later he got the chance to bring Flats Class to television with the aid of Forrest Fox Productions; Flats Class TV has won two industry awards since debuting in 2007.   C.A. and his co-host Ray Van Horn still remain strong personalities and competitors on the  Professional Tarpon Tournament Series today but C.A.’s primary focus is developing the future of Flats Class TV and his very successful Flats Class Charter business.  To learn more about Flats Class TV or C.A. Richardson please visit  www.flatsclass.com or contact him directly to experience an “on the water fishing class” at flatsclasscharters@gmail.com or carichardson@flatsclass.com .