Your
Fish Nerd
Correspondents
Listen to the Podcast and your perception of fishing will never be the FN same again!

Your Host: Clay Groves
Thus, the podcast was born. The style has been described as a cross between NPR’s Car Talk and the Tonight Show Night (Fallon, not Leno) Throw in just a sprinkle of that smart guy people talk (think Neil deGrasse Tyson but with fish) and you’ve got the FN Formula for his success. With over 200+ episodes under his belt, he has lead the Podcast into top 10 Outdoor content on the Apple store on more than one occasion.
The Fish Nerds Podcast Correspondents
The show features several regular contributing nerds who are leaders in some aspect of the Fish Nerd Nation.

Doc Martin
Chief Science Nerd
“Working with students, institutions, and the public is my career and I absolutely adore it. I pursue a variety of extracurricular activities. I have created several brand new courses at my university, all of which are cross-disciplinary (mostly biology, physics, analytical chemistry, and statistics). I am active in community outreach, where I volunteer teach K-12 students at the Children’s Museum. I believe science can be understood and enjoyed by everyone. Thus, another one of my current projects is an adapted general biology laboratory manual for students with severe visual impairments. I am actively learning Swedish. My grandparents immigrated from Sweden as young people, and my mother is a first-generation American. I love to read books! I prefer non-fiction science, biographies/autobiographies history, philosophy, and politics. If I read fiction, then I prefer dystopian and dark novels. I play the guitar. I was actually in a professional drum corps when I was 17 playing lead trumpet and struggled with the decision to major in science or music when I began college. I taught myself how to play guitar when I was finishing graduate school and love it. I love to do parodies about science for the Fish Nerds Podcast and occasionally play at local informal venues. Though, I did play at the House of Blues in New Orleans once! My biology expertise is in ecosystem dynamics, conservation, ontogenetics, and studying how aquatic organisms, habitat, and nutrients interact across various levels of diversity. My physics expertise is in cosmology, as well as atomic, molecular, and stellar emission spectroscopy, studying how quantum-level processes influence astronomical properties. I also enjoy conducting and collaborating on research projects across disciplines that require scientific data analysis using program R, of which I am proficient as long as I can occasionally use certain four letter words (ha!). I live in a tiny cabin in the woods. I have the coolest dog and cat to hang out with. The cat doesn’t really like me, but my dog and I run a 5k every Saturday. I am super into recycling, reducing waste, gardening, and eating sustainably. But most of all, I’m happy to be a Nerd!”
Thanks, Doc. You Rock!

Rich Collins
Fly Fishing Correspondent and slayer of #Collinsperch
“My thumb ring gives me the power to target the smallest of fish, the absolute non-preferred target species, and the ability to serve as a banana on any boat, period. You do not want to fish with me unless you dislike catching fish.”
Rich enjoys his two dogs, Scout and Cassie, a little too much and blames them for scaring away all the big fish, and he generally only speaks in sarcasm/wise-ass. Check out his adventures on Instagram under his handle @Livfreeordietryin. Or contact him via any of the channels below. He devoted many long hours of his talents developing this amazing website, so please donate to Patreon so Clay can start paying him as he needs some more gear to catch fewer, smaller, non-target species.

Jeff Dannaldson
Book Readin' Tenkara Loving Fish Nerd
“My family owns a cabin on Lake of the Ozarks, so I grew up fishing, starting with the classic “’stick with 20 lb mono tied to the end, a bobber, and a hook with a minnow, worm or cricket on it’ combo. I enjoy all kinds of hook and line fishing, from soaking bait for catfish to tenkara fishing for trout. I’ve even been bitten by the micro-fishing bug. You know you’re a Fish Nerd when other people around you are fishing for trout and you’re stalking minnows and sculpins!”
Jeff serves as our FN Librarian and bookworm, managing the FN Book Club and contributing to the podcast using real facts from real people from real books. He is particularly interested in Japanese fixed line fishing methods like tenkara and keiryu and the techniques developed around them. On his website: OZARK TENKARA, Jeff seeks to bring the simple and effective fixed-line fishing methods of Japan to this region with it’s wild trout streams and natural beauty. Podcasting is a natural next step for this book lover as a way to share his passion for information.
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Crappie Hippie
Flyover State Correspondent and Lead Free Lure Pioneer

Hugo Medeiros
Culinary Nerd
For the last three years, Hugo has focused on kayak fishing in both fresh and salt water and with a particular love of New England groundfish such as fluke, black sea bass, and tautog. Check out his segments with the Fish Nerds “Killing Time and Fish with Hugo Medeiros.”

Mike Vallese
Average Joe Fish Nerd
“My main focus in life is to fish and to get more kids out of the house and onto the fish. My motto is: stay in school eat your vegetables and FISH ON!”
Mike is one of our newest Fish Nerd correspondents and enjoys being part of our nerdy fishing community, particularly about what’s happening in his neck of the woods in PA. Mike likes nothing more than to fish as much as humanly possible and sharing this passion with others by taking people fishing. FISH ON!

Luke Chamings
Lure making Aussie Nerd who has not yet been killed by wild beasts. Minimalist Biographer.

Andrew Lewin
Conservation Nerd, Ocean Lover

Michael Frank
FN Guide Correspondent

James Frank
FN West Correspondent
James bought a boat a couple of years ago, and he’s regretted it ever since.
“Maybe the kids will become outboard mechanics instead of expecting me to pay for college. Shit. I hope so. I really, really hope so.”