BRETT REED
My introduction to fly fishing came early. When I was about 8 years old, my father taught me to cast on our family’s trout pond in east-central Michigan. From there my passion grew and it’s been a major part of my life ever since.
As a professional racing sailboat manager, my job has taken me across the country and around the world. Naturally, I always travelled with a quiver of rods and reels and explored coast lines and feeder-rivers everywhere I went, gaining experience fishing for different species in all kinds of water and conditions. Regattas in Newport R.I. brought me to appreciate Stripers and Blues, while I learned the thrill of salt water species between Big Boat series in Tampa, Miami and Key West Race Week. On cross country trips for West Coast regattas I explored the great Trout rivers in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana – getting spoiled in rivers that I had read about —like Madison, Fire Hole and Snake
My sailing career and passion for fishing collided when my yacht racing boss bought a sport fishing boat and we headed to the Abacos in the Bahamas. I’ve been returning there every year for more than 20 years in pursuit of Bonefish, many of those years spent with guide Buddy Pinder, for whom my “Bonefish Buddy “fly is named. One year Buddy encouraged me to join him in the charity Red Bone Tournament in Louisiana.It was there that I did a cast-and-blast excursion and harvested the Teal duck feathers that were the inspiration for the Bonefish Buddy fly. My wife and I were the top points team and I won the fly fishing division two years in a row using my “Rattling Red “fly.