For anglers who ply their craft so close to the current and the churn of the water—the crunch of the streambed right under foot—the pursuit feels just a little different. Jody Queen is among those lifelong fishermen, intimately in tune with the fish and the river coursing through his back yard.

Immersed in the lifeblood of rivers for over 40 years, Queen is among those rare fishing renaissance men—artist, musician, observer and above all else, an intuitive angler who just happens to see the water from another angle. When Queen finally hopped aboard his first kayak, he was already 50 years old. But the move from waders to stealthboat also marked the beginning of what would quickly become a legendary run of tournament wins—and an ongoing tour of America's best bass water, Pennsylvania to Tennessee and Florida, and back to West Virginia's magnificent New River, all over again.