For the past few years Drew Gregory, Jackson Kayak Pro, and I have been talking about kayak fishing together. It's usually confined to the standard trade show/event banter where nothing is ever set in stone, but the general psyche is there. The problem is, like most folks these days, our schedules are hectic.

Drew was scheduled to come up for the River Bassin Tournament Event in Central Virginia this past Saturday. He and his lovely wife Christina were on tap to arrive a little early for some James River smallie fun with yours truly. Mother Nature had other plans. The rains came and the section I'd picked to fish had swollen to 11.5ft. No point in jumping on the big chocolate milk highway. We adjusted the parameters of the tournament to account for the blown out rivers, moving it to an online format, and opened the geographic boundaries. It looked like once again, our fishing trip together was a no go.

I was psyched when Drew called and said he'd loaded his RV and was headed up for a day of Briery Creek Lake bassin despite the tournament no longer going down as planned.

photo courtesy of Drew G.

.

We met at one of the Briery Creek Lake launches in the morning and started gearing up. Both of us were grateful for this chance to slip into the water and just fish, no hype or pressure. I loaded up my Jackson Coosa HD in Sunrise and Drew geared up his Jackson Cuda 12 LT in Realtree Camo and we started knocking on the wood. Drew Gregory also fishes for 13 Fishing, Kokatat, Smith and Bending Branches.

.

.

Drew started off with two giant blow-ups, but I was the first to shake the skunk off our day.

.

.

Briery can be a tough place to get acclimated your first time. It's flooded timber can give some folks fits. But Drew attacked it like the seasoned angler he is and eventually started boating some bass. He was pretty pumped about his first one, despite the size, as he was down 3-0 at this point. :)

.

.

I don't typically have as much experience fishing as the anglers I wet lines with, so I'm always watching and learning. Studying Drew on a our timber-choked lake, as he moved, explored, and changed tactics, was enlightening. I texted a buddy later and relayed how the day went. His response, "that dude can fish." Yes he can.

But I wasn't just sitting back letting him have all the fun.

.

.

It was a beautiful calm day out on Briery which made the fishing a bit tough. But the local fauna was out in full effect.

.

.

.

Life has been busy for me between Appomattox River Company and family, and I know Drew's been busy with the River Bassin Trail and his new life touring with his wife and dogs. It can be hard to find a little quiet time for simple pursuits. On this day we got the recharge we needed. We paddled, we soaked in the sanctuary of Briery's beauty and we caught fish. It was pretty darn fun, and isn't that why we all started kayak fishing?

As the trip closed, I got the best bite of the day, and Drew finished with another solid fish. We didn't hook one of Briery's legendary lunkers, but we had a great time looking for one. For many of us, kayak fishing is as much about the relationships we make above the water as it is about what we pull up from below. This day was good, because it involved good people, good scenery and good fish. It's a pretty simple equation, and blissfully effective.

.

.

.

Thanks for driving up Drew! (and Christina!) Hope to see y'all soon. And next time we find that lunker.

PostScript: I think we finished Vince 8 - Drew 5 . I'll just leave that there as motivation for next time. :)