Meet Cheeky Ambassador, Tavares Bradley!

We sat down with our newest addition to the Cheeky Ambassador team, Tavares Bradley to chat, learn more about him, and of course ask him a few fishing questions:

CF: Could you share a little about your background? Where you are, and how you got there (And if you've always fished!)?

Tavares: I was born and raised in Biloxi, MS, until around 20 years old, and am back in Biloxi with my family now. I grew up conventional fishing, baitcasting, spinning reels and using hard plastics, things like that for red fish, black drum, bass and a lot of speckled trout.

I joined the Air Force in 2001 and started to move around, first to Little Rock, AR, for 5 years, then to Northern California. This was when I really got interested in fly fishing - I saw a guy fly fishing on one of the riverbanks while taking my daughter to a salmon hatchery and pulled over and talked to him about what he was doing. He was super nice, shared about local fly shops, what he was fishing for and more, and I was hooked. 

CF: That's such a great introduction to fly fishing! How did you continue your fly fishing journey?

Tavares: Well YouTube was starting to get big so I just started watching videos and searching out as much info as I could. I was still conventional fishing, but when I moved up to WA state in 2010, I finally started exploring fly fishing. We were in Spokane for 6 years, where I got to fish for a wide array of species to target on the fly (and conventional), like cutthroats, smallmouth and largemouth bass, and more. Then we moved to Anchorage in 2016 and I switched to pretty much exclusively fishing on the fly, honing my style and fishing for everything from rainbow, grayling, dollies, chinook/kings, coho/silvers, sockeye/reds, and steelhead. This is where I also started messing around bringing friends out fishing, doing some trips part time while still in the military, 6-8 hour floats that kind of thing.

After that I ended up in South Korea for a year and fished out there for largemouth bass and carp, and some species on Jeju Island I've never seen here in the US. After that year I came home to Biloxi to finish my time in the Air Force and started thinking about what was next for me. 

CF: What about your family? Do they fish?

Tavares: I have two daughters - Destinee, and Trinity, and my wife Rose. Destinee and Trinity got into fly fishing when we were in Alaska, I enjoyed spending time with them on the water, on the Kenai for Salmon. Raised in Biloxi, Rose’s dad was Air Force so she also grew up here, so it is a great place to come back to - we're high school sweethearts - married 24 years in April. Rose is still getting into fishing now. 

CF: How did Magnolia Fly come together after your military career?

Tavares: Magnolia Fly - when I was in Alaska I was thinking about staying there and guiding, and even though we decided to go somewhere on the gulf coast I wanted to do something in the fishing industry. I asked myself, do I want to guide or get back into photography, and have the capability to share my love for videos, podcasting, and the opportunity to do more. I knew I wanted a platform where I can do what I want to do and not box myself in. A media platform that can do it all. Even though photography is my background, I wanted to do videos, podcasts and more. I started around 2020, making the decision to go that route instead of guiding. November 2023 is when Magnolia Fly officially started and became an LLC. 

CF: So you're settled back in Biloxi now?

Tavares: Yes! We ended up back in Biloxi on purpose - I wanted to either retire in Alaska guiding full time (on the side while active duty) and could stay there - we almost bought a log cabin out there to set up an outfitter - but winter got too long. Especially for Rose and the girls, the winter was tough, so we thought about going back to WA state where the girls really grew up, but then started looking at the gulf coast, somewhere warmer. I volunteered to go to South Korea unaccompanied, to give us better options for my next assignment and it ended up working out that I got my first choice to get back to Biloxi. Not that many people know about the MS coast, so I think that probably helped, a lot of folks don't really think about it as a great place to go. 

I've been in Biloxi now chasing reds, jacks, and my favorite in the marsh - the funky drummer... we have a lot of different species down here. 

Now I'm focused on my media business Magnolia Fly, working with different brands, and doing some conservation work with local biologists.

CF: What's next for you?

Tavares: I've the opportunity to grow visibly online, getting to partner with brands like Cheeky, Cortland, TFO and East Cape, as well as shooting for different lodges in the future. My podcast will be starting in the next month or two. My goal for year 1 was for it to grow my work, to be shared, and it has grown from there with people asking for trips (which I'm not a guide) to being able to share my love for fishing through my creative side. It's a media company that I run - I'm not an influencer, not a guide - but this is my business. Figuring out the line there, in today’s day and age of social media can be challenging. Magnolia Fly is the media company, not an outfitter, not my nickname etc - but I am the one doing all the work. If I ever decide to guide, it will be for bass on the fly and it will fall under the Magnolia Fly umbrella. I'm always thinking about photos and videos as I'm fishing, have a GoPro and my smaller Sony Alpha series camera strapped to me, I never want to miss a moment - but I do make time for my solo trips where I'm not doing anything but fishing.

CF: That all sounds great! Where can we catch your podcast?

Tavares: The podcast is going to be on YouTube and some streaming platforms in a month or two, under Magnolia Fly podcast. Its goal is to highlight the fishing lifestyle, share the love of fishing - not just guides, but for the everyday person. 

CF: Now for some of your favorite style questions… Favorite Fish to catch?

Tavares: Black Drum, the funky drummer, is my favorite to catch on the fly in the marsh. 

CF: The Coolest fish? 

Tavares: Oh man. Probably have to be between a Jack Crevalle orrrr.. I’m not sure. The little fish are so fun too! The grayling were so neat, the Rios... hmm. Grayling would have to be most interesting. 

CF: How about Bucket list fish though?

Tavares: The Golden Dorado. People love permit BUT the golden dorado is my bucket list fish. 

CF: What brought you to Cheeky? 

Tavares: My wife! I was already aware of Cheeky, from ExpertVoice with outdoor deals for first responders and military, I searched reels and Cheeky was one of the first. However, it was at ICast 2024 I saw the booth in person, my wife pulled me over the Cheeky booth to check out the reels in person, I met the team, started chatting about what I do and what I wanted to do, and it all came together. Rose and the Purple Haze Burst reel (coming soon) caught her attention. 

CF: Favorite Cheeky Reel to fish? 

Tavares: I have to say the Spray is still my favorite, in Burn/Steel. With the fish I'm mainly going for (tarpon, jacks etc) going up to a 12 weight and having the range. It reminds me of a cool looking rim on a car. and the incredible drag. It's probably my favorite - but I just got the Burst so I'm getting those dialed in.