In the vast, blue waters of the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar near the Seychelles Islands, Paul Puckett ('00) and his buddies came together, combining all of their strength in a nail-biting battle to wrangle a 100-pound Giant Trevally.

The fishing line caught on a piece of coral and Puckett's guide jumped in to save the day, but quickly, seconds began to feel like minutes.

Suddenly, the man and the fish shot straight out of the water.

"It was a glorious moment," says Puckett. "But it's more about the memory than the fish."

Puckett has dedicated his entire life to creating memories just like this with friends and family over bonds formed and continued out on the water. He turns those memories into paintings, and his work is on display in the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont, and on the 2025 spring and fall covers of Field and Stream magazine.

Fascinated by Fishing

A creative and curious kid, Puckett divided his free time growing up in the Highland Park area between fishing with his family and working on his other loves in life -- drawing and painting.

The Collector's Covey was a popular wildlife art gallery in Dallas featuring a wide variety of artists and a range of mediums capturing hunting and fishing.

Fishing for inspiration, Puckett frequented the Covey as a teenager and came across the paintings of Mark Sussino, Eldridge Hardie and others who focused on presenting aquatic life.

"I saw them and thought, 'This is what I'm going to do,'" Puckett says. "By the time I was 14 or 15, my whole life was consumed by fly fishing and so were all of my art projects."

Flash forward nearly 40 years and Puckett is not only a successful artist like Sussino and Hardie, but he went fishing with them both along the way.

The Way of Water

Motivated to one day have his art hanging in a gallery, Puckett was set on pursuing art in college and got into the College of Visual Arts and Design at UNT. Initially an advertising design major, he decided to dip his toes in other fields, such as sociology and behavior analysis.

In no rush to graduate, Puckett loved being a student at UNT and always went out with his Kappa Sigma brothers to the nearest pond or lake to cast a line and share a good time.

"When you're on my boat, we're going to talk," Puckett says. "We'll hit some highs and maybe some lows, but no matter what you're dealing with, you're going to be feeling better than before."

When friends were busy, Puckett went fishing anyway -- drawing whatever he caught and perfecting techniques to develop his own unique way of painting life underwater.

Puckett pours his heart into his art, holding the talent to make his work look like a painterly photo.

After six years at UNT, enjoying learning and meeting new people, he graduated in 2000 with a degree in applied arts and sciences.

"I knew I was moving to Jackson, Wyoming once I finished school, for fly fishing," Puckett says. "I worked in fly shops there, getting my name out there and it peddled my artwork."

Close with the Coast

In order to be closer to the ocean, Puckett moved back down south, still selling his work at stores like The Fish Hawk in Atlanta -- where he met many of his connections and established his career.

After over 10 years of trying, his business, with the tagline "The Sporting Art of Paul Puckett," began taking off, reeling in commissions one after another -- allowing Puckett to move to the coastal town of Charleston, South Carolina, where he currently resides and where redfish live year-round.

"I can fish in my backyard," Puckett says. "If I were a fish, it would probably be a redfish, not always the most respected but it will surprise you if given the chance."

Puckett's time is now split between working in his home studio, perfecting his craft, and waiting for his next trip where he can add another country to the growing list of places he's gone fishing.

"I just got back from Bolivia," Puckett says. "In the jungle, I had toucans and parrots staring at me and my buddies while we fished for a Golden Dorado next to jaguar track prints."