‘FISHING WITH AN OUTDOOR LEGEND’

Wade Bourne - passionate conservationist, outdoorsman, & reknowned outdoor writer

          I first saw him on an episode of ADVANTAGE OUTDOORS, the TV show he was the host of back then. He was down in Mississippi, with a couple or three good ol’ boys, chest-deep in a muddy river, noodling for big ol’ Flathead catfish. Although, it was the accents of his fishing partners that first caught my attention, it didn’t take but just a few minutes for me to become a big fan of him and his show. Here was an outdoor TV show host hunting and fishing the regular places, in the ways that the most of us regular folks do, instead of the once-in-a-lifetime exotic excursions that other outdoor shows typically showcased. This guy seemed like just a regular Joe, someone that’d be cool to be around, and I wanted to meet him. So.... what did I do?

A good producing pool

          I GOOGLED him, of course. I found an email address for him, and after a bit of correspondence (5-years’ worth, actually), not only did I finally get to meet him, but I actually got to fish with him!

          Now, I’d been telling him for years about my favorite ‘fishing hole’ the Conasauga River, so when he got asked to write an article for BASSMASTERS magazine on fishing for Redeye (Coosa) Bass, in Georgia, I was who he hollered at. Within minutes, we had everything set-up for a two-day fishing trip later that summer and were both looking forward to finally getting to fish together.

A typical Conasauga River Redeye (Coosa) Bass

          Upon his arrival in Cohutta, that July, it was if I was meeting an old friend instead of just making his acquaintance. He was one of the friendliest, most personable people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Soon after we got him settled in, we headed on over to my parents’ house, where we’d been invited to supper. Over a meal of fresh vegetables straight out of the garden, cornbread, and lots of sweet tea, we had a grand time, telling stories and laughing for hours. He fit right in with our family, and by the end of the evening, he had endeared himself to all that were there.

Where the first Redeye of the day was caught

         The next morning, we got an early start, putting-in on the river there at the little sawmill community of Conasauga; and before we could even get underway, my guest had hooked into his very first Redeye Bass. He remarked on the fight it put up once hooked, and deemed this catch a sign that we were to have a good day of fishing. And, Boy, was he right! For the rest of the day, we wore ‘em out, catching fish after fish. We swam small plastic tube jigs through eddies, bounced curly tails off of drop-offs, and stripped white streamers alongside grass beds, pulling in a fish on almost every cast. We caught fish until we were actually getting tired of catching fish. LOL

Redeyes go for flies, too, especially small streamers

         We took lunch that day on a shoal in the middle of the river, in the shade of the huge trees that line both river banks. I surprised him with sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, and you should’ve seen the grin on his face when he opened his to find thick-sliced bologna, red-ripe tomatoes, and lots of mayonnaise on white loaf bread. I had remembered his mentioning a long while back that that was one of his favorite sandwiches; so, early that morning, I had called up to Manis Grocery, our little town’s only store, and had Ben, the proprietor, make us up a couple for lunch.

Wade Bourne with a nice Spotted Bass

Throughout the day, we swapped stories, told some tall tales; he taught me a few tricks, and I showed him a couple of my own. Most important, though, we had a good time and we caught fish.... a lot of fish. We tried for a while to keep a running tally, but that didn't work. In the excitement of catching, we lost count. Our total for the day easily topped a hundred.

By the time we reached our take-out point at Easley Ford, our catches had gone from mostly Redeyes to mostly Spotted Bass, as we were on the downstream margins of the former’s habitat in the Conasauga River. As we glided under the old concrete span bridge that arched out over Easley Ford, we found ourselves sun-scorched and thoroughly worn-out, yet pleasantly satisfied with the excellent day of fishing we had been blessed with.

After a bit of bushwhacking to get back up on the road, we loaded up and called it a day, stopping briefly at the Beaverdale Superette for an ice-cold soft drink in a glass bottle; a time-honored tradition amongst me and mine after a long day on the river.

         The next day, with only half the day to fish, we headed up into the mountains of the Cherokee National Forest to wade fish the Conasauga’s upper Redeye Bass habitat. That morning, in those clear, cold pools there, we caught even more impressive fish than we had the day before. Here, they might’ve been a bit smaller than their brothers further downstream, but they more than made up for it with their vivid colors and the impressive fights they put up. And, for a second day in a row, the fishing gods were good to us.... for we wore ‘em out here, too. By noontime, it was time to call it a day and head back towards the house. My guest had a long trip ahead of him to get back home.

Above the very last pool we fished together that day, there’s a section of the river that’s just plumb full of big boulders that are a haven for Copperhead snakes; so much so, that normally we all avoid the area like the plague. This day, though, that pool was just too tempting, and we couldn’t resist wetting a line just one more time before we left.

One of those upstream Redeyes of the 2nd day

         So, in we waded, and immediately began reeling in Redeyes, one right after another. And, let me tell you.... the fishing WAS impressive. So, trust me when I say, to us, the risks were definitely worth the reward. And, as real men typically do when something starts to make us a bit nervous.... such as 3- and 4-foot-long pit vipers swimming around you.... we started cracking jokes, in an effort to break the tension.

After having watched three or four such snakes swim across the pool we were in, mere rod lengths both above and below us, he dared me to see if I could hook one with my next cast. I responded that I’d gladly do it, provided HE took it off the hook for me. With a big ol’ ear-to-ear grin, he cocked his wading stick back over his shoulder like a baseball bat and said, “All right! Have at!” And that’s how our fishing trip ended; two successful days of fishing, lots of laughs, and wonderful memories.

I found out, earlier this week, that Wade passed away in December. He had just come in from cutting his family a Christmas tree, when he collapsed, suffering a massive heart attack. I will cherish always the memories of that fishing trip, just as I will being able to have gotten to know him.

* Wade Bourne (1947-2016)

His name was one of the most recognized in the outdoors. He was a full-time outdoor broadcaster/writer whose works have appeared regularly before national listening, viewing, and reading audiences over the past four decades.

A veteran contributor to many of the nation's leading outdoor magazines, Wade was Editor-at-Large for Ducks Unlimited Magazine and Senior Writer for Bassmaster Magazine, with more than 3,000 articles published in outdoor magazines. He was also the author of six hunting and fishing books.

He was also the founder and host of the award-winning Wired2Fish/Hunt Radio, a syndicated fishing/hunting radio show that airs year-round throughout the U.S. on approximately 280 stations. For 16-consecutive years prior, he had hosted In-Fisherman Radio (north, south, and west editions), the largest syndicated outdoor radio show in North America; hosted/co-hosted Ducks Unlimited TV (Outdoor Channel, Pursuit Channel) for the past 10-years; and for 7-years before to that, he hosted the weekly hunting/fishing adventure series Advantage Outdoors TV on The Nashville Network (TNN).

He was inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame, in 2003, and into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, in 2005. In October of 2014, Wade received the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association's Lifetime Achievement Award (only the seventh recipient of this award in SEOPA's 50-year history). And, in 2016, he received the prestigious Homer Circle Fishing Communicator Award from the Professional Outdoor Media Association/American Sport Fishing Association.

And, let's not forget his service to our country during the Vietnam War, as a bomber pilot, in the United States Air Force. Thank God for our veterans!

"A man's man, a man of honor and intelligence and ability and good humor, and also one
                who never took his own celebrity seriously." - Frank Sargeant, friend & colleague of Wade's