Untamed Pursuits
Embark on a wild adventure like never before with the groundbreaking podcast, "Untamed Pursuits."
Join the intrepid duo of renowned author and outdoor enthusiast, Ridr Knowlton, alongside the seasoned professional fishing guide, Jamie Pistilli, as they traverse the globe in pursuit of the world's most exciting fishing and hunting destinations, and the fascinating creatures that live there. From the lush rainforests of the Amazon to the icy depths of the Arctic Circle, each episode promises heart-pounding encounters, captivating tales, and invaluable insights into the natural world.
With Ridr's profound storytelling and Jamie's unparalleled expertise, prepare to be transported to the front lines of adventure, where every roar, splash, and rustle ignites the senses and leaves listeners on the edge of their seats. "Untamed Pursuits" isn't just a podcast—it's an adrenaline-fueled odyssey that will redefine your perception of nature and leave you craving more. Buckle up for the ride of a lifetime!
Untamed Pursuits
Episode 21: Exploring Fly Fishing, Storytelling, and Outdoor Community
Discover the world of outdoor excitement with Bill Bartee, the renowned voice behind Carolina Outdoors and a prominent figure at Jesse Brown's fly shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bill joins us to share the allure of muskie fishing and the camaraderie it fosters, while also giving us a peek behind the scenes of podcasting adventures, including the humorous challenges of timing meals around recordings. As Bill guides us through his initiative, Storytellers, we tap into the inspirational power of sharing unique outdoor experiences, encouraging everyone to step beyond their comfort zones and embrace the wild.
Take a stroll through the storied history of Jesse Brown's, a beloved local fly shop that has evolved over 55 years from a general outdoor retailer to a specialized hub for fly fishing enthusiasts. We discuss how Jesse Brown's has become a cornerstone of community engagement, offering expert advice, social interaction, and a balance between global trends and local opportunities. From angling in the Carolinas to exploring Belize, we explore how this iconic shop stays relevant and inclusive, inviting a diverse range of adventurers to discover the joys of fly fishing.
Embark on a journey of diversity and inclusion within the fly fishing community, where more women and underrepresented groups are finding their place and passion in the sport. Bill's personal adventure stories and his unexpected path from radio to co-hosting Carolina Outdoors offer a vivid tapestry of outdoor pursuits.
Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.
Speaker 2:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
Speaker 1:Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
Speaker 2:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
Speaker 1:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.
Speaker 2:Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.
Speaker 1:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:Everybody, welcome back to Untamed Pursuits on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. This is Ryder Knowlton with my co-host, Jamie Pistilli. Jamie, how are you?
Speaker 4:Hey Ryder, what's up man? How are you? I'm great. It's always good to catch up and, yeah, pumped to spend another hour or so together.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you something I'm learning an important lesson about podcast hosting, because I'm now feeling the reality of learning the hard lesson to not have a giant submarine sandwich that you've covered in hot peppers 20 minutes before your podcast, because I've got my drinks here. I've got a tire box of tissues because I'm going to be sweating and blowing my nose the entire time. And I've learned my lesson. You know, in the future let's have the jalapeno covered sub after the podcast not before the podcast.
Speaker 4:Yeah, my lunch is upstairs. I'm going to starve myself, and I'll only eat if we do a good podcast. How about that?
Speaker 3:Well, if you need a little sugar rush, you know a little almond joy getaway, we can always do that. If you need a little sugar rush, you know a little almond joy getaway, we can always do that. I am so excited. We've got a fantastic guest today. You know, we're so lucky. We've been doing this show for a while.
Speaker 3:We've had some amazing guests from all different parts of the world, to be honest with you, and every once in a while you get a guest who is involved in so many different things, you know, and gets involved in the outdoor adventure world in so many different ways. Of course, our podcast is about, you know, yes, it's hunting, yes, it's fishing, but at the end of the day, Untamed Pursuits is about, you know, just hopefully inspiring folks to get out there and take some, you know, do some adventures. Maybe go beyond your comfort zone and get outside, and you don't need to be climbing mountains. It might just be get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and spend the weekend driving the parkway, whatever it is, but it's the point of this, of the show is to inform, maybe open, maybe expose folks to some new places they hadn't thought about, but hopefully, at the end of the day, the show is about inspiring people to get outside and get outside their comfort zone, maybe a little bit, and experience the outdoors. And our guest today has done that at a level of a few people, to be honest with you, that I've met, and you know few people, to be honest with you, that I've met and you know he's daily involved in one of the best known fly shops in the Southeast. You know there's some great, famous fly shops around the Southeast but if you're in the Carolinas you sure the heck know about Jesse Brown's in Charlotte, north Carolina, right in South Park, and our guest is involved in the day-to-day running of that shop. He is the voice of Carolina Outdoors. When we get him on we'll talk to him about that and find out the background and how he got involved and how long he's been doing it. But he's the voice of Carolina Outdoors, which is a great show that talks about all the adventures you can do around the Carolinas, and our guest is, you know is literally the voice of that show.
Speaker 3:Our guest has created something in Charlotte that he calls Storytellers, and Storytellers is a gathering of people in the community who get together, meet at the fly shop, let's say on a random Wednesday and talk about adventures they've done. And it doesn't have to be somebody who's climbed Mount Everest. It might be somebody who took their family on a weekend getaway to the coast of North Carolina and went camping for the first time, or it could be somebody who's out there and doing extreme adventures out west. It could anything. So anyways, um, I'm super excited uh to introduce uh bill barty to untamed pursuits bill.
Speaker 5:Thank you for joining us today no brighter thanks for that kind introduction.
Speaker 4:Uh, jamie, great to be with you hey, great to hear that southern draw man it's uh, it's warming me up down here I gotta. I keep talking about going to visit rider, so I'm really excited to hear about all things.
Speaker 3:Uh, carolinas and uh get to know you, you know that voice, that that is the voice of carolina outdoors. You know you can't miss it you can't hide it.
Speaker 5:And uh, of course, rider, you talking about adventure. Maybe we could the great adventurer himself, jamie. Maybe this will elicit a visit to the South for the great Ottawa fishing guide. Maybe coming down South would be a bit of his personal adventure. Of course that's what we promote is people to, just as you said, tackle their own personal adventure a step outside that comfort zone and wow, what a celebration when you do something like that.
Speaker 3:It's so cool. It's so cool. Well, let me tell you something, jamie. You know, if you don't get wooed to get down to the Carolinas after talking to Bill for an hour, you know, then it just you know it ain't going to happen. But let's take a step back. I want to because, bill, you are involved in so many things outdoors down here. But let's take a step back and tell us about you know, where'd you grow up? What was your introduction to the outdoors? Because one of the great things that you do and I've seen you do this in many different platforms is introduce new folks to the outdoors. So tell us about your background and what got you so interested and excited about outdoor adventure.
Speaker 5:Oh, fantastic, yeah, I'm glad to share, of course. I grew up just south of Charlotte. We're in Charlotte, north Carolina, as you said. I grew up just over the state line in South Carolina, a little town called Clover, south Carolina. Of course Clover goes by the great slogan the town with love in the middle of it, if you think about that. So that's where I grew up, on a farm down there. So really my first introduction to the outdoors was not recreational, it was more vocational. I grew up my dad worked probably three blocks from the shop here. He was a commodities broker who commuted in from the farm and I and my three younger brothers really did the chores during the week. Now he'd come in on the weekend and ship us up a little bit, shape us up a little bit. But that was my introduction to the outdoors, was vocationally working on the farm. But boy, I loved it. I loved being outside. I loved being around wildlife as well as cattle. We had black Angus cattle on that farm. I loved all of that sort of thing.
Speaker 5:I may love it more now reminiscing Exactly yeah, yeah 530 sure came early, when you were 13 years old to go do some chores. But that's how I grew up and it was scouting. Really, Scouting is what introduced me to the recreational side, the citizenship, being a world citizen and that sort of thing. But the recreation was brought to me as a young child through the scouting program. Just north, of course, from my town, from the farm I grew up on, was a store started in 1970 by Jesse Brown. So whether you're working on a farm or going on a camping trip or a fishing trip or anything to be outdoors, we would go up as a family to Jesse Brown's and that's where we would shop, to stay and be comfortable, whether it be for a scouting trip, a Kelty external frame backpack or maybe it's just that Sierra Designs winter coat so that we'd be warm and comfy when we were doing whatever we were doing outside.
Speaker 3:You know it's funny. You say that because Jesse Browns and Jamie, you guys have places like this up, you know, in Ottawa and all the places we've traveled, jesse Browns is, you know, yes, it's a fly shop, but it's way more than that. You know it's, and yes, it's an outfitting store. You can go in there and they've got all the gear you can imagine. But it's also I think, bill, kind of hints at this it's just a place you go and hang out. You might just walk in there and get some fishing advice. You don't need to go in there and buy a fancy sage fly rod. You could walk in there and just say, hey guys, where do I need to go this weekend? Or what's biting? Or just, hell, go in and grab a cup of coffee and just hang out, or go in after work I've done this and grab one of these designer microbreweries, pale Brew, and, you know, talk to the guys. And so you know, bill, what you're describing. There is just a community gathering place as much as a fly shop.
Speaker 5:Part of that, ryder and Jamie, has been really part of our survival really, and listening to our customers, listening to the community and they will tell you what they want and it's our job to pay attention to that. And so here we are, jesse Brown's, even before my time. You know, going on 55 years, it has evolved. You know, going on 55 years, it has evolved and part of it that evolution, of course, is paying attention to destination anglers, people going all over the world from Charlotte with a fly rod.
Speaker 5:During the pandemic, we found that the country of Belize, when it opened up, the country of Belize when it opened up, we at one time had six separate groups of people who were in Jesse Brown's separately, coincidentally, who were all going to Belize on a fishing trip, and I thought that was so neat that here we were in this local independent shop and we had this gathering of people who didn't know each other going to for most of us, an exotic destination, but they had it on their list and that's been something that's exciting for us now but it's been a part of the evolution from. You heard me talking about a scout shop, which we still have scouts coming in, but we really have a focus on people who are going out being in and around water with a fly rod.
Speaker 3:It's funny you say that, god, we could have a whole show on how the pandemic affected travel and how wild places recovered and animals and fish. You know the patterns that happened in that two to three years was amazing to watch. But let's focus on you know you're in a market like Charlotte, north Carolina. You've got six different groups heading to Belize, obviously a top destination for saltwater, usually saltwater flats fishing. How important does that make it, as you guys in the store, specifically to Jesse Browns, how important is it that you guys are staying on top of some of these destinations? Now nobody's coming in there saying, hey, you know, based on which you know whether I'm going to Punta Gorda or Turnip, you know which set of flies is better in this month. I don't think anybody's saying hey, we expect you to know that, but I would bet that you guys have to kind of stay on the ball right On general trends and destinations. People are going for any of these outdoor adventures.
Speaker 5:Right, I'm glad you brought that up and that's part. I keep saying evolution, evolution, evolution. But part of it is that is a place that we can play. Jesse Browns has always played in the outdoor space since inception. However, the marketplace has changed. You know, comparatively to Canada, ottawa, outfitting shops, outfitter shops, outdoor shops, climbing shops, fishing shops, camping and hiking shops are well in existence, but in the South, back in 1970, there was nothing. There were no specialty shops with a focus in any of that. In fact, we had. I'm going to name some of the biggest, arguably best retailers in the world Walmart they weren't around. Dick's Sporting Goods, dsg they weren't around. There was such a thing as Sears Remember that. Ryder, remember that.
Speaker 3:Tommy Way back in the old days.
Speaker 4:The Christmas wishbook.
Speaker 5:Exactly so. There was that around and the genesis of Jesse Brown's was for Jesse bringing a specialty shop that could purvey fine equipment to people who had an interest in getting outside, to people who had an interest in getting outside, and, for many of the listeners, to Untamed Pursuits. They may not know this, but it's true that the 1970s was a fantastic time for the outdoors. People were utilizing it to get outside, recreate, see wild places, do wild things. Places, do wild things, whether it be camping, hiking, fishing, the works, really hunting. They were doing all of that. But Jesse started the store with that all-encompassing realm. But it changed. Things have changed and other retailers came into the market. Of course, you guys were here on a digital format, so we know that the and a long way around. To answer your question, ryder, yes, at one time we were well-versed on anything that you could name outdoors. Port-a-ledges for alpine climbers, believe it or not, were in Jesse Brown's. People hanging from cliffs, camping on the side of cliffs. We had that in the knowledge of how to bolt it into the side of a granite cliff and camp essentially that way. That was a part of Jesse Brown's.
Speaker 5:But as we have niched, really come back to our roots, and others have done the same. We've had that focus on being good at not just global angling and what's happening really as best we can around the world, but also locally what's happening here in the Carolinas. We are balanced between, to our east, the Atlantic Ocean and all that is there. We're located here, brick and mortar wise in the Piedmont, so plenty of warm water fish are available that way. In just an hour or two or so to the west are the great Appalachian Mountains, which we utilize locally. That is as best we can. So we try to be educated in that zone currently, because that's where people want us and that's where people mostly need us.
Speaker 4:I think, Bill, the local fly shop is not only a place to grab your gear, whether it be for, you know, a destination trip or for local supplies supplies, right but it's also a way to make some really great contacts and and it's kind of from you.
Speaker 4:I worked at a fly shop here in ottawa when it was open before and it's also a great way to gain information, local information. People come in, tell you, asking you what's working, asking you, um, you know what, what colors are available, what sizes or whatever flies, right. So it's. I think if you're in the Carolinas or in any you know small town, going to a local fly store is an essential part to start on the local knowledge, right? So what fish species typically do you guys target in your area?
Speaker 5:So locally, and I'll stay local and I should say this it just was ranked last year the sixth busiest airport in the country. In the US anyway, one of the busiest in the world is an American airline hub, charlotte Douglas International Airport. So I will talk local species and what we have going on locally. And again it goes to the coast here in the Piedmont and then to the mountains. I'll talk about that, but I don't want to exclude our ability to be almost anywhere in the world.
Speaker 5:The big deal for Jesse Browns is really probably outfitting people for mountain trout waters, that moving trout waters to the west. So Browns Brooks and Rainbows are mainly what our clientele are. After that are heading west at cold water fisheries that we have there of North Carolina, where we're located, has invested in the past 30 years in a great program that's helped kind of propel recreational fishing by having a stocking program, three great hatcheries that stock fish into those waters, 32 separate waters. They stock for a delayed harvest program, which means you can't keep these fish. These fish are made to catch and release so that another angler maybe the same angler can catch on another day that harvest allows or that stocking allows some of our closer in streams to be stocked. You don't have to go all the way to the Great Smoky Mountains to catch trout because of that. You can just go an hour or so from Charlotte to catch trout.
Speaker 5:We have a pretty live fishery here locally as well, with largemouth bass, stripers, hybrids For many people. As Ryder so skillfully stated in the introduction, they're new to fly fishing, so brim and panfish. Here in the warm water locations where we are in the city and outside of the city of Charlotte a lot of people are starting their fly rod career. That way we have a good smallmouth fishery as well for people that are doing that. And then not to gosh, do I sound like a politician covering?
Speaker 2:every species that you totally can.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, but you know the reality, bill is. You know, and you and I are biased because we both live in North Carolina. But at the end of the day, when you think about the breadth of North Carolina, the fact that you can start on the east with some of the most famous blue water in the world off of Cape Hatteras, come through the amazing coastal fishing, up through the warm waters, you know, the interior rivers with stripers and shad, spawning and smallmouth fisheries, and then, of course, end up in the mountains. What a great diverse, you know, just a full breadth of diversity in the fishery that we're able to access pretty easily, you know, by being in the middle of it. I guess you know the fact that we're in the Charlotte area, does you know? Put you in a pretty nice location with folks that might be heading east or west.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and of course right now it's top of mind and, ryder, I would say maybe I shouldn't say this it's kind of a secret for people in North America. You know, people know what's happening, it seems, in Florida and Louisiana. They know what's happening in Baja California, that part of Mexico. They know what's happening in Canada to go up to Ottawa or go over to Alberta or some of those wonderful, wonderful fisheries. To a lot of people those are known entities but somewhere in there, I think maybe the Carolinas get lost as a destination, a destination, domestic destination, fishery for people too, and maybe I'm proud of that. Right now we have the false albacore run and the southern outer banks that are taking place. So for people with 10-weight fly rods it's an exciting time to be out there moving around. These fish are popping the surface, you can follow the birds and if you get a fly out there into the water On certain days it's a can't-miss deal. And what a fat, stout fish that just takes off running.
Speaker 5:There's nothing more fun than the albies hitting the top and they have these shoulders. I think you hear a little bit of pride and a little bit of promotion too. And a little bit of promotion too, we like it's like a feather in the cap to be able to introduce people to these fisheries, separate as they may be but close in proximity as they may be, and really it can change people's lives from an emotional standpoint to be introduced to something that's so close and they just are like, wow, I would have never known that.
Speaker 3:Well talk about. So it's funny. One of the things that you know, jamie and I are buddies, of course, and we're fishing buddies, not just podcast buddies, but we're fishing buddies. And one of the things that brought us together is my continuing quest to land a muskie on fly, which I to this day have never done, and that's what makes it so great. It becomes this journey right, and part of me, if I'm being honest, doesn't want it to happen, because I love the journey. But as part of that adventure, jamie and I have chased him plenty of times.
Speaker 3:But one of the areas that I've spent a lot of time is up in. Obviously, we've got these great rivers around the French Broad System and Asheville and so forth that are really that southern edge of the range of the muskie. But there's some lakes in Kentucky that are well-known at least nationally known muskie destinations and as I've gotten to know some of those folks and talk to them, I've talked about trends in fly fishing and what they're seeing from their perspective, and the feedback is very, very definitively hey, man, if we are not anticipating women becoming more and more of a major part of the fly fishing world, we're missing the boat. And these are from the guides in that area, acknowledging we better be prepared and make sure we're hitting that part of the market. So talk about as Jesse Browns has evolved.
Speaker 3:You talked about the different phases of you know and, and you know not just the store, but just talk about from your perspective of you know, outfitting and so forth, maybe in the Southeastern US, at least in the Carolinas, how you've seen you know. Obviously it's evolved and it's listened to its customers and it's focused in different areas, but so many women embracing fly fishing and really becoming leaders. You talk about the Elbys. Let me tell you there is not a more respected name on the East Coast of the US in the world of fly fishing than Sarah Gardner, right out of Harkers Island, north Carolina, literally. I bet there isn't a more respected name in fly fishing, surely in the Central Atlantic and South States. Respected name in fly fishing? Surely in the Central Atlantic and South States. But talk about how have you guys embraced and prepared so that you can accommodate women becoming such a major part of the outdoors and specifically the fly fishing scene?
Speaker 5:Well, I don't want to be made fun of on this podcast. You have had such strong outdoors people come on here who have talked about this thing, but I'm going to separate a little bit and say what you're asking is less about the sport and more about the people and we have a bend towards the people and it's really hospitality For many people. You've got a young listenership to this podcast so I'm going to state some history, but sometimes the and Ryder, you know this, jamie, you too the fly shops were thought of as these northeastern places of snobbery where you know the tweed jacket and closely held fishing secrets were. At least that was what people thought of, and we try to kind of open the doors with this information and hospitality to welcome. Women are not new to fly fishing. They've had a strong growth the past 30 years. They have come on strong. The interesting part is and they're talented, as you mentioned Fly Girl, the Fly Girl, sarah Gardner, one of the preeminent. We have a lot of strong Southeastern ladies in the trout realm as well coming on.
Speaker 3:Women are far better natural casters than men. I think there's no secret to that.
Speaker 4:Better listeners too. Better listeners, it's better listeners. They sure the hell can cast better.
Speaker 3:Listeners too.
Speaker 5:Better listeners, it's better listeners, they sure the help can cast better. So for a lot of people, though it's still a new sport, fly fishing is the top of a lot of people's bucket lists and I want to get into that, I want to learn about that. So we make it a strong point. You hear me saying fly fishing over and over again, and not to be a snob or have any snobbery, but we like to define that difference. It's not fishing, it's not. It's not a big bass boat or center console necessarily racing across this as fast as you can, uh, drowning worms down 30 feet deep. This is, this is a sport that is romantic, if you will. It is a sport that's interactive. It's a sport that you can go with your girlfriends or boyfriends and have a wonderful time. It's a sport that you can go by yourself and enjoy and ladies appreciate the art, if you will, the art involved, the interactivity involved with nature, with themselves, with their equipment, with the fly. All of that coming together in one symbiotic relationship is a magic that fly fishing has. And again, no snob. We love angling across the board, but it's important that we convey that fly fishing is what we're talking about and all that it brings to the table and women maybe men too, but women for sure appreciate that as, as we, you know, promote the sport. They hear that and appreciate that and you're Jamie, they do listen better. They don't have this preconceived notion that they ought to. Well, of course I fly a fish, but it's been a while, or this defensive mechanism that us men have, that we're supposed to have grown up with all this stuff and maybe we haven't. Maybe we were introduced to it by A River Runs Through it.
Speaker 5:That 1992 film off the Norman MacLean book awakened a whole grouping of anglers, male and female. I hate to be cliche, pardon me for being this way, but that pandemic that rolled through the global world, our world globally, was another defining moment for people to be introduced to that bucket list sport, if you will, and I do need to add, it's not just ladies now. They've had a 30-year growth run and these are things that are tracked. We have data on this. Also, the Hispanic community has entered into the sport of fly fishing, as well as persons of color. These are all things that have expanded on and we think at Jesse Brown's. You know, that just adds to the fun. We have a big tent mentality and we think that if people are introduced to these activities healthy, active things to do outdoors everybody will be a little bit better off.
Speaker 5:Am I evangelizing too much.
Speaker 3:No, no. No. I love your message and I know that you're speaking the truth because I've watched you guys in action and I know how you run the shop and I know how you carry your passion for introducing people to the outdoors into lots of different things.
Speaker 8:How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Niedzwiecki, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal, Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people, share their stories of our trials, tribulations and inspirations, learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
Speaker 7:Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
Speaker 6:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be for more fishing than it was punching you so confidently, you said hey.
Speaker 8:Pat, have you ever eaten a trout? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 7:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast.
Speaker 6:That's right. Every Thursday, Ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm.
Speaker 7:Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?
Speaker 6:Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 1:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 7:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, All the other guys would go golfing Me, and Garth and Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists.
Speaker 5:But now that we're reforesting and letting things freeze. It's the perfect transmission environment for the line to see.
Speaker 2:To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 6:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are.
Speaker 7:Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
Speaker 6:Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3:Let's talk a little bit about Caroline Outdoors and I'm curious. I've never asked you this before. I'm curious about how you got involved in that and for our listeners. You know Bill is the voice of Caroline Outdoors and every week he's talking to folks and listeners a huge audience about. You know what's new, what's you new? What's biting, what season is coming up? I was lucky enough to be a guest on Bill's show a few weeks ago and we talked about the upcoming deer hunting season. So what are people getting ready for? Bill? How did you get involved with Caroline Outdoors and obviously it matches your passions. But tell us a little bit about that and kind of how you think about what the topics are you're going to talk about each week.
Speaker 5:I'll start with how it started and I must say it was maybe somewhat by accident. We have a radio station here, terrestrial radio station, if not the oldest in the United States, it's the second oldest. It's a three-letter call. Radio station WBT started in the 1920s here and they were having some changes 25 years ago, some changes in their weekend programming, and we knew people at that radio and we knew people at that radio station. I knew people at that radio station and as they were changing, the weekend they did have a radio show called the Carolina Outdoors, but the host of that program was moving on. He was moving on to something else and so they called me and they said well, and I must say Jamie and Ryder, and all your listeners as well. They didn't say, hey, bill, will you do the show. They said Bill, will you give us some names of some people who may be good hosts for the show? Oh, that's funny. Again, this is a radio program at the time. I like to say it's a 25-year podcast, which would make it the first podcast ever, but it was really a radio program.
Speaker 5:But I worked with a guy here at Jesse Brown's, one of the most talented. He's since retired but one of the most talented outdoors persons period. He can do anything outdoors, from hunting elk with archery or hunting whitetail with black powder, fishing the Bahamas with a fly rod. He could do it all. Named Don Yeager, and he was at the top of the list and in fact I told the program director at the time I've got this guy over here, let me put him on. So, besides Don's talent, he had a great voice. He was from Center Missouri and so he had this great bellowing Midwestern accent which goes well on early morning Saturday radio and I said you got to hear this guy. So I put him on the phone and he chatted with the program director. They hung up and Don was doing this cold. Don had no idea what he was doing and I said, don, what did that man tell you? And he said I don't know what he was talking about. He said to come down to the radio station at 6 am on Saturday.
Speaker 5:So that's how it began, because shortly thereafter the program director called back and said hey, bill, why don't you come in Saturday as well? So Don has someone to talk to. So that's how it began and we had a great run before, if you can imagine Jamie and Ryder, both of you just imagine a hiking report, week after week after week after week, what it may sound like. It would sound something like you know you start at the trailhead there at the northeast part of the parking lot, and you'll begin a slow, meandering rise for a quarter of a mile before the trail turns to the northeast. Then you'll go with the trail to the northeast. That's really how we started and it quickly became.
Speaker 5:We felt like we needed to pump it up a little bit and expand it and to kind of do what Untamed Pursuits does open it up to talk to people who know what's happening in the outdoors, not just locally but globally, and bring them on and pick their brain and kind of get insight into their personality and just have a wonderful time talking about things in the outdoors.
Speaker 5:And Ryder, again to your introduction everybody's adventure is different and everybody's challenge that they may want to take on is different and that's what we've kind of learned to celebrate on the carolina outdoors. Our audience is a bunch of hard uh hard end users, mixed with a lot of people who like to hear about the things they may not be ready to to tackle, you know, preparing for deer season. They may not be ready to tackle preparing for deer season, or maybe may not be prepared for a trip to the coast for false albacore, but they love the adventure. They love the allowance that that program has for them to peek behind the curtain and hear about these sports that they've always wondered about, or maybe their dad, granddad, mom, grandmom, aunt did back in the day. And this is a little bit of a remembrance as we celebrate what's happening not just in the Carolinas but beyond as well.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's funny you say that. So we had a show a few weeks ago. I'm not sure when this will be aired, so we had a prior show. Let me say that that we talked about getting it on the calendar, you know, just. You know that there's so many steps and for a lot of folks it might be taking their first adventure. Maybe it's their first fly fishing trip, maybe it's their first international trip, doesn't make any difference. As you said, for everybody. Everybody's adventure is different and it's personal to them. Point is to get outside and enjoy it and learn about what a life enriching, you know, part of your life it can be, but for everybody it's different.
Speaker 3:And, jamie, one of the things Jamie and I talked about was two things. One, that you don't need to take a week off of work to do this. You know, you can do a cool outdoor adventure in a weekend. We talk specifically about the whole idea of taking a Friday off. You know, head out Thursday night after work, go do an adventure Friday, saturday, come home Sunday and if you're really able to sneak it in there, you can make Sunday morning part of the adventure too. And then the other thing our other message was pick a date and write it in the calendar. You know, when you write it down in the calendar, that means you start planning in your head. You know planning for it, which is half the fun, you know and we're going to jump back a little bit on your advice right for folks that, as they're thinking about different levels of adventures.
Speaker 3:But one of the things that I've really admired about your many projects about the outdoors and I love this one and it's called Storytellers, and so for our listeners, let me explain, I guess, what that is. So Bill hosts and I'll let him explain how often he does this. But throughout the year Bill hosts a number of gatherings at the Fly Shop where local folks, regular folks working in Charlotte, can come in and share an adventure, and he'll have a big cooler of pale ale sitting there, he'll have a cooler of Cokes and he'll have some coffee and oh my gosh, jamie, you ought to see it There'll be a hundred people in the fly shop sitting on the counters and sitting in chairs and leaning against, you know, the fishing shirts, and the whole fly shop will be full of people, and then Bill will, of course, be, you know, kind of hosting the whole thing and folks will get up and talk about their adventures and one of the. I've been there and listened to some amazing adventures, some big adventures, but I think one of the experiences I had that I remember maybe more than any of the others, bill, you'll remember this one.
Speaker 3:It was a guy who went on his first trip to Yellowstone and it was a very simple trip but, if you remember, he talked about how he had to get over all of his fears of doing an adventure trip. And this was probably a 40-year-old man and it was their first trip. And I remember when he started I'm thinking, oh gosh, where is this going to be? Is this going to be, you know, hiking in the Himalayas, or is this going to be, you know, trekking across the Alps? And it wasn't. It was about, hey, we did our first adventure, you know. He and his wife Remember that one, and it was a trip to like Yellowstone.
Speaker 3:And I found that fascinating because, a, it was a reminder that everybody's adventure is different and, b, at the end of the day, that was a really impressive one to me because his life has now been changed. He realized he can do it and, second of all, they realized, holy cow. This is awesome. I mean, what an incredible adventure. And so tell us about storytellers, what inspired you to do it and how. Maybe have you seen that maybe inspire some folks to get those dates written in their calendar and to get you know and go off and really do their first real adventure outdoors.
Speaker 5:Well, there's a lot to dig in to right there. First off, I should say for the storytellers they are not, as you mentioned. They're not performers. These are lay people. These are people in the community and part of the magic of that evening when they happen is the next one's going to be spring 2025. Is their willingness to share. Again, they're not performers, but they are willing to stand up and share their personal, impactful story that happened to them.
Speaker 5:The idea came about twofold really Outdoor stores, fly shops, outfitters are places where stories are swapped. Every day, people come in and say, wow, you won't believe what happened to me, and then they'll share about it. And the people who work face-to-face with people daily get to. Part of the reward of working in a place like Jesse Brown's is the reward of hearing these people's personal stories. We had that happening so often. We finally said you know what? We should make this an event. And again, going back to the evolution of stores and Jesse Browns and you could go outside of our realm and call it public libraries as well we want to be Jesse Browns, wants to be the center point of the adventure community. Whatever the adventure is, we want to be the center point of it, not just from a gear and equipment standpoint, but also from the heart and soul of the people standpoint. So we put it down and innocently picked three people who had told a story. Now, ryder and Jamie both of you when you tap somebody on the shoulder six months after they told a story and said, hey, do you remember that time you shared when you were in Jesse Brown's, would you be willing to stand up in front of 100 people and do that? That can be quite a daunting ask and it can be quite a daunting thing to agree to. But boy the prize to these people, ryder, you're one of them, willing to stand up and share, in front of people, your adventure.
Speaker 5:Many of these people are like you want to hear they had told us an impactful, wonderful story, but when they're asked to do it publicly, they go like I'm not a storyteller. Why did you ask that? And we learned that when we live our story. Jamie, what you do for a living is something that we all would aspire to do, because we don't know how hard it is. We don't know how hard it is when the fish aren't biting or you got to clean your equipment. You're tired, worn out. At the end of the day, we don't think of those things. We think of you at the top of the pyramid leading the charge out into the Ottawa waters for musky, some big predator fish or whatever.
Speaker 5:That's the romance of the story, so that's how it came about, and so credit really goes to the people willing to stand up and it also goes to the listenership, the community, and it is humanity we are. So we haven't been able to catalog it and push it out digitally as well as we should have, because it is magical really the human cellular experience on a stage and an audience who is just hungry for the adventure that these people have shared. And we have covered it from authorship to writer, the guides that you have interacted with over your entire life. But then we've also had the outdoors and the beauty that the outdoors brings. It's life, it's change, including death. We've had death, meet storyteller, stage two, and what comes from that? The legacy afterwards. So we can cry and that may scare people off, but we can laugh. The important part is that we share and it's all happening here in our community, at Jesse Brown's. It's live and in-person theater that's authentic and genuine and when that happens it's magic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is magic.
Speaker 3:It's magic. Yeah, it is magic, and I think you nailed it, bill, when you talked about the things that come out of those stories are not always what you expected. You could almost look at some of the folks realizing that the adventure in itself is getting up and doing that speech, which is not easy. And that's step number one and two. The outcome of those stories is never what you think it is. You know what I mean. I remember you had a young woman who had accomplished so much in the world of I think it might've been Girl Scouts. I'm trying to think, and you realize that wasn't the story. The story was how she dealt with some own personal things she was dealing with and ended up facing those fears.
Speaker 3:The guy that I talked about, who? He and his wife took their first outdoor adventure together. They must have been 40 years old. It was their first one. And was it climbing Mount Everest? No, it was a nice and simple trip to the West Gate of Yellowstone, but you know what, for them, it was climbing Mount Everest? No, it was a nice and simple trip to the West Gate of Yellowstone, but you know what? For them, it was climbing Mount Everest. And, most importantly, they did it and so it's. You know it gets. It does hit at a much deeper level, as all these outdoor adventures do.
Speaker 3:The point of this whole thing is that, you know, experiencing the outdoors is everybody's own journey and it enriches folks in different ways. Tell us along those lines. Tell us and I want to be. You know, before we wrap up, I want to make sure you have a chance, you know, to give advice for listeners that are thinking about hey man, I want to take my first real fly fishing trip, or I want to. You know, I've been fishing the Ottawa for 15 years, but I want to get down there and chase some of those, you know, those albies off of North Carolina. Is there any advice you'd give on destination travel, whether it's hiking, fly fishing or hunting? I know you guys do all of that at your shop, but is there any kind of high-level advice you'd give folks as they're maybe planning their first big-time adventure trip?
Speaker 5:Ryder, you mentioned it earlier and I skipped over it, but it is planning.
Speaker 5:The hardest part of any of this is picking your time. We do introductory well, more than introductory but we do local fly fishing trips here out of Jesse Brown's and we have found that the hardest part for people is picking the day. We are so busy as a society and we don't remember or reflect the importance of taking care of ourselves and these adventures that we need to do and many of us don't know that we need to do them. But picking a day and planning in advance to go. So if it's a destination trip, as you mentioned earlier, we have to pick it out and make it happen. These days, even public lands, campsites and the easy to get to public land, the lodges and resorts with destination places, you have to get ahead of the curve a little bit to pick where you're going to go and go, because it is in demand now more than ever people investing in experiences. That is what they're doing and the marketplace shows it. So don't be afraid to pick your date and make it happen.
Speaker 3:Well, and remember, it doesn't have to be a week long. It can be a Saturday or it can be a long weekend. It doesn't have to be a two-week or a week-long adventure. Bill, I can't thank you enough for being on the show. You were nice enough to have me on a few weeks ago and we've wanted to have you on for a while and we knew you'd be great to not only just talk about the industry and how you've seen the industry evolve over many, many years in this business, but you also get it in in how you know. Outdoor adventure connects with people, and that's, you know, that's a huge part of your career and what you've done. So, man, I can't thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 5:It was my pleasure. How many minis did you say before you said years? Did you say many, many, many, many years?
Speaker 3:Oh, I was going to go decades and decades. Hold on, man. You got that whole salt and pepper thing going in your hair. The wonderful thing is, many decades, as Bill Barty has, he's still got that gray head of hair.
Speaker 5:You're proud of that Well, thank you for recognizing that and thank you. It's been a privilege working in this industry and espousing the things to do in the industry, and it's been a privilege to be on Untamed Pursuits with you two gentlemen as well.
Speaker 4:And thanks so much. Bill, Appreciate it. When I get down there, we're Appreciate it. Thank you so much. When I get down there we're going to have to tell some stories. Maybe I can grab the microphone if I don't get too shy. But I'm pumped to see you in the store and hear more about everything you guys have to offer down there.
Speaker 5:Jamie, you got a heck of a story that we'd love to celebrate, so thank you for being here and allowing me to be a part of this.
Speaker 3:Hey, bill. Thanks again. Everybody thanks for listening. First of all Bill Barty on our show. Writer Nolte Jamie Pistilli signing off of Untamed Pursuits on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. Thank you.
Speaker 9:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Gerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.
Speaker 9:After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's, under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature. And under the canopy Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.