Terri Clark’s Love for Fishing and Music

Terri Clark, the prominent country music artist, has an unusual passion that stands out to her bandmates: fishing. On her tour bus, Clark often practices tying fishing knots, to the amusement of her band. “My band is just like, ‘You can get therapy for this. There’s a problem,'” Clark humorously shared in an interview.

Clark blames Instagram for her fishing obsession. The platform frequently suggests videos demonstrating strong fishing knots, which she dutifully tries out. Her interest in fishing is about to take an exciting turn as she participates in The Champions Celebrity Pro-Am on Old Hickory Lake near Nashville. There, she will fish alongside one of the world’s leading professional bass anglers. This event comes after a three-day championship featuring 60 elite anglers competing for a $3.25 million prize.

Though Clark has honed her skills on Lake Erie, she acknowledges the professionals’ advantage in understanding unfamiliar waters. “Everybody thinks I’m such a great fisherwoman,” she notes, “They have no idea the level that these guys operate at.” For Clark, fishing against such experts will be a learning experience.

Clark expressed interest in exploring fishing electronics, owning a Humminbird MEGA Live 2 system yet delaying its installation. She values the advantage such technology offers but admits she doesn’t want to spend hours staring at a screen. She humorously remarked about marking productive fishing spots during the event to revisit them later with her kayak.

“I live in Nashville, so maybe I need to mark all the spots we go to so I can go back to them with my kayak later,” Clark joked.

Clark’s current fishing obsession is centered around catching a musky, specifically one over 50 inches. A recent trip to Lake Erie aimed to achieve this goal was thwarted by adverse weather and warm water delaying muskies’ typical movements. Still, she remains determined to succeed and is considering fishing in Tennessee’s Caney Fork River.

Despite her quest for the elusive musky, she enjoys multi-species fishing in Lake Erie, with notable catches like a 16-pound northern pike. Last year, she guided comedian Kathleen Madigan, who caught her personal-best bass, highlighting the joy found in shared success.

For Clark, fishing is not just a hobby but a meditative pursuit, immersing her completely. Even on her travels, she seeks opportunities to fish, balancing it carefully with her performance schedule to avoid potential setbacks.

Clark finds solace on the water, where the pressures of her music career differ vastly from the peace of fishing. The beauty of nature, witnessed during early morning excursions, evokes profound emotion.

Clark encourages more women and young girls to discover fishing themselves. Her advice for beginners: keep it simple, learn from an experienced angler, use basic equipment, and don’t underestimate the effectiveness of a humble wacky rig for catching bass.

Always eager to learn and push boundaries, Clark hopes to headline at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre. In musical or aquatic dreams, when asked to choose between a Red Rocks performance or catching a giant musky, she hedges her bets, cherishing both equally.