One rainy November evening a few years back, I drove from my office to Reliance Tennessee. Set off by itself in the cleft of a steep wooded hillside sat a small cabin full of people I had met on the internet, but in truth, they were strangers. Nervously I unloaded my modest assemblage of fishing gear and walked through the front door. Little did I know that I had stepped into my own future, and a litany of friendship.

Large congregations of folks can sometimes be a disjointed mess. So many different personalities and diverse walks of life mingled together always have an element of discord…or so I thought.

Walking through that door I stepped into a very unique brotherhood. I dare say that my growth as an angler would have been a slow laborious process had it not been for these men. I was still “green as a gourd”, but it mattered not to them. I was there, and by my appearance, I became one of them.

Many months have passed since that day, and the friendship, fellowship, and brotherhood has only grown. We have met on many different waters, and our adventures in that span of time have been the source of connection, both to one another and to our sport.

Soon the icy chill of the mid winter will call us together. From all across the region we will load up our gear and converge on a river that for me is a magic place. Miles from Reliance, but that same feeling will be there.

God has blessed me with more friends than I deserve within this group of men. I know of hardships, victories, life changes, and struggles as they are discussed amid the gurgle of the stream. My life, both in and out of the river is made fuller by having known them.

For every soul there is a river…and for me…every river resonates with the power of our unique brotherhood.