Brett Rader's Bio

When I gave my last notice in the corporate world before opening our trout shop and guide service the one thing I heard more than anything else was .."Brett, you're doing what everyone else wishes they could do". Not so much as opening a guide service/trout shop in particular but starting your own business and doing what you love to do. We are definitely doing that. With the support and hard work of my wife Shelley of 12 years and my best friend and son Marlin (aged 11) we are thrilled to bring you Chartered Waters with its many great and unique services. My father's work as an aeronautical engineer had our family moving around quite a bit when I was younger. Born in California, we then moved to Pennsylvania where we used to troll for trout in one of the big impoundment lakes there using big flashing dodgers with a little wet fly trailing behind. I was only 5 at the time but vividly remember the little rainbows we would pull aboard and have always had a particular fondness for trout. We moved to Lebanon, Ohio where I spent most of my youth chasing every kind of fish that swims. I took regular pilgrimages to the Mad River in northern Ohio chasing high pressured rainbows there. Lake Erie smallmouth were one of my favorite targets as well and to this day I had one of my best fishing days of my life on Lake Erie camping on South Bass Island one spring weekend with my brother. We caught the perfect conditions that weekend and in one day I managed to catch a 5 -1/2 pound smallmouth, a 7 pd Walleye, a 4 pound white bass, a 9 pound drum and a surprise bonus coho salmon about 7 lbs. It was one of those magical days my brother and I still talk about catching 4 fish eligible for Fish Ohio awards. Around the age of 11 I bought my first fly rod. A big ole honkin 9 wt that at the time I didn't know there were different sizes of fly rods. I taught myself how to cast through trial and error. I whipped off more than one of those cheesy Kmart dry flies before understanding the 10:00 - 2:00 rule and pausing between stokes. I never used backing or leaders...didn't know what they were at first but I did figure out myself that tying on lengths of regular fishing line decreasing in size down to the fly would make me cast better. I started learning about bugs and hatches and figured out that while mosquitos were bothersome...the fish seemed to be eating them and I could tie on a mosquito pattern and catch a ton of bluegill with it. From there I got a few books and started to learn about some of those "details" like backing, tapered leaders and flies other than drys. I tied my first fly at age 15. A black nosed Dace pattern that I would strip as fast as I could around our pond and do a pretty good job on those largemouths. During the early years of my life (from age 7 to early 20's) I raced Supercross and MotoCross. I was always one of two places back then. Racing/working out or down at Markey creek behind our house chasing smallmouth, bluegill, creek chubs or anything else interested in my flies. I was a very dedicated young athlete at the time running 6 -8 miles a day and I think I didn't have my first beer until aged 21. People who know me now have a hard time believing my racing past but it's true. Believe me, my mother will gladly take you through her scrapbook collections. I was even pretty decent winning several amateur National Championships. I turned pro at 21 and had a good rookie campaign but had a bad accident early the next year where I blew out my ACL (knee) and ended that part of my life. Time to get a real job...so I went to and graduated college at Hocking Tech in southern Ohio getting a degree in Wildlife Management with a minor in Art. I went to Ohio State for a year pursuing a Fisheries Biology degree when I got an opportunity in the commercial art field. I took that job which propelled me to bigger and better things in the creative art world which included Director positions at Starter Sportswear in New Haven, Connecticut and most recently American Identity in Kansas City. In those jobs I was responsible for creating corporate identity, product and logo designs among others. It was in Salem, New Hampshire where I met Shelley working at a company called Salem Sportswear. I left that company to be Starter's Creative Director and later hired Shelley to run our sample department. One thing lead to another back then and I was able to convince the foolish woman to marry me. Shelley was born in Massachusetts. She was a city girl back then but I managed to show her the light and I couldn't take her out of the country now if I tried. 12 years ago with our newborn son Marlin in tow we moved to Peculiar, Missouri and I took the job at American Identity in Kansas City. Shelley is a dedicated mom and has been home schooling Marlin since day one. Marlin is my best little buddy and any time I can get him to go fishing with me (though he's not quite as nuts about it as I am) we'll go wade at the dam or hit the boat and catch a few. The boy can handle a fly rod with the best of them. All through my former travels I was always looking for the nearest trout water. While Ohio was a little lean on trout streams Connecticut had close access to some great water. I took two summer credit classes while in College working as a summer camp baseball instructor in West Ossipee, New Hampshire and spent every spare moment wading the little roadside streams catching countless little brookies and the occasional rainbow. Shelley and I used to wade the upper Housatonic and have some great smallmouth action and when we lived in Branford, Connecticut we would hit some of the river mouths and hook up with some little bluefish and the occasional striper as well. Since moving to Missouri we have fallen in love with the Ozarks beauty and prior to getting our own place in Hollister we would spend all of our free time down here chasing Ozark Trout. Yes, we love it here. We decided to put everything we have in to starting Chartered Waters and we feel we have the best service available on Lake Taneycomo and area Ozark Trout streams. We are having the time of our lives here and we hope you let us share our love of the Ozarks and trout fishing with you. Take some time to cruise our web site and give us a call if you have any questions. Thanks for listening and we hope to hear from you real soon. Have a great day!

Brett, Shelley and Marlin Rader





		When I gave my last notice in the corporate world before opening our trout shop and guide service the one thing I heard more than anything else was .."Brett, you're doing what everyone else wishes they could do". Not so much as opening a guide service/trout shop in particular but starting your own business and doing what you love to do. We are definitely doing that. With the support and hard work of my wife Shelley of 12 years and my best friend and son Marlin (aged 11) we are thrilled to bring you Chartered Waters with its many great and unique services. My father's work as an aeronautical engineer had our family moving around quite a bit when I was younger. Born in California, we then moved to Pennsylvania where we used to troll for trout in one of the big impoundment lakes there using big flashing dodgers with a little wet fly trailing behind. I was only 5 at the time but vividly remember the little rainbows we would pull aboard and have always had a particular fondness for trout. We moved to Lebanon, Ohio where I spent most of my youth chasing every kind of fish that swims. I took regular pilgrimages to the Mad River in northern Ohio chasing high pressured rainbows there. Lake Erie smallmouth were one of my favorite targets as well and to this day I had one of my best fishing days of my life on Lake Erie camping on South Bass Island one spring weekend with my brother. We caught the perfect conditions that weekend and in one day I managed to catch a 5 -1/2 pound smallmouth, a 7 pd Walleye, a 4 pound white bass, a 9 pound drum and a surprise bonus coho salmon about 7 lbs. It was one of those magical days my brother and I still talk about catching 4 fish eligible for Fish Ohio awards. Around the age of 11 I bought my first fly rod. A big ole honkin 9 wt that at the time I didn't know there were different sizes of fly rods. I taught myself how to cast through trial and error. I whipped off more than one of those cheesy Kmart dry flies before understanding the 10:00 - 2:00 rule and pausing between stokes. I never used backing or leaders...didn't know what they were at first but I did figure out myself that tying on lengths of regular fishing line decreasing in size down to the fly would make me cast better. I started learning about bugs and hatches and figured out that while mosquitos were bothersome...the fish seemed to be eating them and I could tie on a mosquito pattern and catch a ton of bluegill with it. From there I got a few books and started to learn about some of those "details" like backing, tapered leaders and flies other than drys. I tied my first fly at age 15. A black nosed Dace pattern that I would strip as fast as I could around our pond and do a pretty good job on those largemouths. During the early years of my life (from age 7 to early 20's) I raced Supercross and MotoCross. I was always one of two places back then. Racing/working out or down at Markey creek behind our house chasing smallmouth, bluegill, creek chubs or anything else interested in my flies. I was a very dedicated young athlete at the time running 6 -8 miles a day and I think I didn't have my first beer until aged 21. People who know me now have a hard time believing my racing past but it's true. Believe me, my mother will gladly take you through her scrapbook collections. I was even pretty decent winning several amateur National Championships. I turned pro at 21 and had a good rookie campaign but had a bad accident early the next year where I blew out my ACL (knee) and ended that part of my life. Time to get a real job...so I went to and graduated college at Hocking Tech in southern Ohio getting a degree in Wildlife Management with a minor in Art. I went to Ohio State for a year pursuing a Fisheries Biology degree when I got an opportunity in the commercial art field. I took that job which propelled me to bigger and better things in the creative art world which included Director positions at Starter Sportswear in New Haven, Connecticut and most recently American Identity in Kansas City. In those jobs I was responsible for creating corporate identity, product and logo designs among others. It was in Salem, New Hampshire where I met Shelley working at a company called Salem Sportswear. I left that company to be Starter's Creative Director and later hired Shelley to run our sample department. One thing lead to another back then and I was able to convince the foolish woman to marry me. Shelley was born in Massachusetts. She was a city girl back then but I managed to show her the light and I couldn't take her out of the country now if I tried. 12 years ago with our newborn son Marlin in tow we moved to Peculiar, Missouri and I took the job at American Identity in Kansas City. Shelley is a dedicated mom and has been home schooling Marlin since day one. Marlin is my best little buddy and any time I can get him to go fishing with me (though he's not quite as nuts about it as I am) we'll go wade at the dam or hit the boat and catch a few. The boy can handle a fly rod with the best of them. All through my former travels I was always looking for the nearest trout water. While Ohio was a little lean on trout streams Connecticut had close access to some great water. I took two summer credit classes while in College working as a summer camp baseball instructor in West Ossipee, New Hampshire and spent every spare moment wading the little roadside streams catching countless little brookies and the occasional rainbow. Shelley and I used to wade the upper Housatonic and have some great smallmouth action and when we lived in Branford, Connecticut we would hit some of the river mouths and hook up with some little bluefish and the occasional striper as well. Since moving to Missouri we have fallen in love with the Ozarks beauty and prior to getting our own place in Hollister we would spend all of our free time down here chasing Ozark Trout. Yes, we love it here. We decided to put everything we have in to starting Chartered Waters and we feel we have the best service available on Lake Taneycomo and area Ozark Trout streams. We are having the time of our lives here and we hope you let us share our love of the Ozarks and trout fishing with you. Take some time to cruise our web site and give us a call if you have any questions. Thanks for listening and we hope to hear from you real soon. Have a great day! Brett, Shelley and Marlin Rader





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