August 15th Chapter Meeting - The Reel Guys

(Dr. Ken Ford and Tommy Nelms)
By: Todd Fleming
Vice President – Alamo Fly Fishers

I am thrilled to announce our guest speakers for the August meeting of the Alamo Fly Fishers. The “Reel Guys”, Dr. Ken Ford and Mr. Tommy Nelms, from ESPN’s “The Adventures of Hoot & Flakes” have agreed to share their evening with us Tuesday August 15th. The “Reel Guys” are truly real guys who have been fishing together for over fifty years because they have fun doing it. These guys are fishermen who love being outdoors where almost anything can happen, and they have very little control over what actually does happen. That lack of control doesn’t bother them. Instead, they have fun with it. These guys are so entertaining because they are so human. They are more likely to share all the things that went unexpected than to tell about the fish they caught. The unexpected is always more interesting than the routine. Their experiences are very much like those of ours. I guess that’s why we can relate to them so easily. By nature, fishermen have always been good story tellers. I think it is because fishermen are active outdoors, and have many more experiences to share. The “Reel Guys” are very good story tellers, and they happen to have a few real life stories to share. Their fishing shows on ESPN were unscripted, and I suspect their presentation for us will be unscripted as well, but I have no doubt it will be entertaining.

Reel Guys
Tommy Nelms and Dr. Ken Ford both grew up in Houston before heading to the University of Texas in Austin to play basketball, and get an education. They graduated from UT in 1965. Ken went on to Medical School at UT Galveston, and was a Flight Surgeon in the Air Force for two years. He went into private practice as an Orthopedic Surgeon in Houston for 28 years. Tommy remained in Austin to develop a commercial real estate business. Like the rest of us, Tommy Nelms and Ken Ford were regular guys, with regular jobs. They raised families, and were model citizens of the community. Their love of the outdoors, and an annual fishing trip kept them close.

By 1995, those annual fishing trips just didn’t allow them enough time to goof off the way they used to, so Tommy Nelms and Ken Ford decided to live every fisherman’s dream and host their own fishing show. They started filming the “Reel Guys” for ESPN. The show’s format was a refreshing change from other fishing shows of the time. Tommy Nelms and Ken Ford did not claim to be professional fishermen. Instead, they considered themselves the anti-experts of the sport, eager to simply get out on the water, catch afew fish for the camera, and have a good time, according to Ford. “We wanted to show people that fishing is about having fun,” Ford said. “It isn’t about competition. We were trying to show people a good place to go fishing.” According to Nelms, “We were out there just trying to be natural by fishing, telling jokes, laughing, and having fun.” It was genuine. All of us weekend fishermen now had some real guys on TV that we could relate to. Ken and Tommy usually fished familiar waters, but occasionally they splurged for a guided excursion in a slightly more exotic location. And similar to our own lives, they were still working at their regular jobs while filming the “Reel Guys”. When they were on the water, their enthusiasm could not be contained. They got excited about every fish they caught, and were genuinely intrigued by what they didn’t know. The adventures of Hoot and Flakes reminded us of our own fishing trips that we schedule around our work and family. The “Reel Guys” was popular with millions of viewers because their show was not just about the fish. Ken Ford and Tommy Nelms showed us life’s rewarding experiences that happen when you take the time to be with friends in the outdoors. Tommy and Ken taught us to be less serious, and to have fun along the way.

“The Reel Guys” ran for eight years on ESPN. And as Ford says, “We lasted one year longer than JerrSeinfeld.” They got to meet and fish with many celebrities during those shows. They fished in float tubes with George W. Bush on a lake in Texas, and with George H. Bush for stripers in Maine. They fished with Mack Brown before he won a national championship, and with some NYPD officers after 9-11. Those celebrities wanted to fish with the “Reel Guys” because they could relate to the genuine down-to-earth character of Ken Ford and Tommy Nelms. These guys are the real deal. Ken said, “We’re kind of like most of the guys that watch ESPN Outdoors on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We work hard and fishing is our escape.” On Tuesday August 15th, Tommy Nelms and Dr. Ken Ford will be our guest speakers. They will be sharing some of their memorable experiences of fishing together over the past fifty years. They know how to tell a good story, and they have the experiences to prove it. The meeting time is guaranteed to fly by much too quickly, the evening will seem way too short, but yowon’t want to miss this meeting of the Alamo Fly Fishers. It will be a memorable evening. Come meetthe “Reel Guys” in person!