It started at age five
My grandfather put a cane pole in my hand when I was five years old. No fancy gear. No casting lessons. Just a hook, a line, and the patience of someone who knew that the best thing you can do for a kid is take them outside and slow everything down.
That's where fly fishing started for me — not in a shop, not in a class, just standing next to someone who loved the water and wanted to share it. Decades later, that's still the whole point.
"The best classroom has a current running through it."
Why Knotties
Fly fishing has a reputation for being complicated. Expensive gear, technical vocabulary, a culture that sometimes feels designed to keep newcomers out. That's never been my experience of it, and it's not the experience I want to pass on.
Knotties is named for the knots that connect everything in this sport — the knots you tie, yes, but also the knot of community, of generations, of the people who brought you to the water. It's a place for anyone who's ever felt the pull of a river and wondered if fly fishing was for them. It is.
Based in Nashville, fishing Tennessee
We're based out of Nashville and guide on four of the finest tailwaters in the Southeast. Cold, clear, productive water that fishes well year-round and rewards anyone willing to learn it. Whether you've never held a fly rod or you've been casting for years, these rivers have something for you.