Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Welcome 2025! Wow, I always remember my Dad telling me that as I got older the time would go by faster than ever, and man he wasn’t kidding. I can look back and it seems like only yesterday that I was in college spending as much time as I could on the water, then graduating and having a job and figuring out how to spend s much time as I could on the water. Well, you get where this is going.
I’ve been fortunate to live in a lot of states over the last 30 years—Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, back to Tennessee, back to North Carolina, Georgia, and back to Tennessee for the forever spot. Fishing was a constant at every stop along the way.
When I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana I became friends with the legendary Mark Pack at Lake Fork and was fishing with him the day Barry St. Clair caught the state record that still stands today. The weather was brutal that day, and I only caught 5 fish—two 9 pounders, two 7 pounders, and a 6 1/2 pounder—all on a jig. I’ll never forget that day. We capped off with the chicken fried steak at Lake Fork Marina. That was one of Mark’s favorite meals. I sure miss that guy. He was one of a kind.
Moving from Baton Rouge to Atlanta in 1992 allowed me to get my first look at Lake Lanier. Spotted bass back then were called “hammer handles” as the blueback herring had not been introduced to the lake yet. This was my first time fishing clear water, and it took me a while to figure things out. I did manage to tie my personal best for largemouth there with a 10-2. The other 10-2 came from Lake Fork.
Working in the restaurant business back then meant moving a lot to move up in the company as opportunities arose. I moved to St. Louis in 1993 and helped open two restaurants there. I was also able to fish Mark Twain Lake in its heyday, having many 75-100 fish days.
In 1995 I moved to Greensboro North Carolina and enjoyed fishing High Rock, Wylie, Norman, Falls and Jordan. One of my high school buddies lived in Belmont at the time, and we were able to win state team trail series one year.
In 1997 I moved back to Johnson City Tennessee and picked up where I left off fishing Boone, South Holston, Douglas, and Cherokee. A lot of those lakes were on an upswing at that time, and it took big weights to win.
In 2000 I moved back to North Carolina—to Asheville—and started fishing lakes like Hartwell, Keowee, and Russell. And I’d still go back over the mountains to fish the Tennessee lakes. I met one of my best friends during this time, Ron Gowing, and we won our club championship one year.
In 2002 I moved back to Georgia where I spent the next 18 years living close to Lake Lanier. I was so fortunate to meet Tom Mann Jr. at the golf course one day and we became friends. I began playing golf with him, Rusty Evans, and Mickey Bruce and had some amazing times. I fished a lot with Tom at Lanier and got a front row seat learning how to fish for deep offshore spotted bass.
I say all of that to say this: All of these places I’ve lived in have had diverse fisheries that allowed me to gain invaluable experience and time on the water. Learning seasonal patterns, adapting to weather conditions, sprinkling in some electronics like 2D sonar, then GPS, then side imaging prepared me to kick off this 2025 season in the NPFL. With the league prohibiting the use of forward-facing sonar this year, I’m excited to put all of this experience to the test. I’ll be 57 this year but I still feel like the kid in college chasing that next bite.
Todd Goade – Angler Profile
