Angling for the podium: How Michael Bradley has taken the fly fishing world by storm
Michael Bradley lives for the moments in the creek, and his dedication to the sport of fly fishing has taken him places he’d never dreamed of. Madison Hye Long photo, courtesy of Visit Cherokee
Most folks who get into fly fishing do it despite the fish, which seldom cooperate and sometimes get in the way of an otherwise perfectly enjoyable morning standing out in the creek.
This problem doesn’t exist for Michael Bradley.
Quiet and humble with an unassuming smile, if you were to meet Michael out on the water, you’d never think you were in the presence of one of the world’s best fly fishermen, but you’d be wrong. Michael lives for the tell-tale tug at the line just like every other fisherman, but he seems to have an almost supernatural knack for knowing exactly what to do in any given moment.
“I guess for me it’s just about fooling the fish,” Michael said.
This year, after about 13 years of fly fishing, Michael, 34, has achieved new heights, winning his first national championship and almost reaching the podium at the world championships. But now, as Michael has also found success in the more lucrative world of bass fishing competitions, the time has come where he must consider whether he’ll put down the fly rod, along with his dream of a world championship.
The Beginning
But this humility and innate calm have built his reputation as a competitive angler, those traits belie the serious competitiveness that has made him this year’s national champion before having the best finish at the world championships in the better part of a decade.
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Michael didn’t begin seriously fly fishing until 2011 when thought fly fishing looked like a good twist on a sport he already knew and loved. Within a year, he was beginning his meteoric rise through the sport and already had a spot on North Carolina’s fly fishing team, which took him to competitions across the country, from his home state to Colorado to upstate New York.
Michael grew up on his family’s campground off Bunches Creek in Cherokee, the land for which his grandfather purchased in 1950. In 1992, Michael’s father, Jimmy, took over and still runs the place, even though he describes himself as “retired.” Michael has since moved into his own home, but the place he grew up and the run of Bunches Creek behind it still hold a special place in his heart.
When he first started fishing at around 5 years old, Michael caught minnows. But even then, his father, Jimmy, noticed in his son a unique ability to see the fish and how it moved and then adapt accordingly. Jimmy now says that he joked back then that his son could have caught fish with his eyes closed, and he may not have been wrong.
“When he was eight, nine, 10 years old, during the summer months, he’d be with a group of kids surrounding him in the river, and he’d be int the middle catching fish right out from under their feet,” Jimmy said.
It made sense that Michael should take to fishing so quickly. It ran in his family. Jimmy was a strong fisherman, as was his father, Michael’s grandfather, Albert Bradley. And the long line of able anglers began even before that — almost a century ago — right there on the Qualla Boundary.
“Michael’s great grandmother, who was only about 4-foot-10, would go up and Bunches Creek with a cane pole using whatever bait she could find, digging worms, crickets, meal worms,” Jimmy said. “She was a good little angler herself.”
It’s Albert whom Michael credits for instilling in him an intense interest in fishing. Jimmy said he admired the fact that as avid of a fisherman as his father was, he was a tolerant teacher who typically led by example. That same trait carried over to Michael, who said the biggest lesson his grandfather taught him before passing away in December 2003 was patience. Jimmy recalled that before his father’s passing, he was Michael’s most dedicated fishing buddy, instilling in him at a young age the techniques that would lead him to such great success.
Picking up the fly rod
Michael’s first exposure to the world of fly fishing was a matter of circumstance. When he was about 12 years old, he broke his leg, and stuck at home killed some time learning to tie flies. Although he went several years without fishing while he pursued golf — he was a scratch golfer who competed at the collegiate level — in his 20s, he was drawn back to his true love.
In 2011, Michael was working at a youth center in Cherokee, and during his lunch break, he’d sit and watch guys fly fishing in the creek just to get a feel for what it was all about. Once he gave it a go, he realized he was a natural and became more committed to the sport. He was out in the creek just about every day, even during the winter; he’d throw on his waders and get in as much time on the water as he could during his lunch breaks.
Michael Bradley charges through the water to net a trout. Donated photo
This is when Michael caught the eye of Paul Bourcq. At that time, Bourcq was the coach for the U.S. Youth Fly Fishing Team, a squad that was routinely bringing home top finishes in international competition. He just so happened to live in Franklin and had heard about some young man in Cherokee who was already putting experienced anglers to shame. Like in any other sport, scouting is important, and finding a diamond in the rough is any youth coach’s dream, so Bourcq took a look.
After going out fishing a few times with Michael, Bourcq knew he had the potential to be one of the best competitive fly fishermen in the nation. Bourcq said he immediately noticed that Michael had style all his own, adding that he was almost supernaturally calm, which allowed him look at things differently and see things other anglers would miss while also being able to rely on a versatile set of skills. Many anglers get too locked into one strategy, which can be detrimental, but not Michael.
Bourcq calls this “fishing open.”
“He doesn’t fight his instincts,” Bourcq said. “He fishes with a pretty free mind. You can get into a position where you force how you wanna fish, or you can let the fish tell you what to do. But that’s much easier said than done.”
Michael told his father he was thinking about entering fly fishing competitions.
“I’m like, these guys are good. They’ll clean your clock,” Jimmy said. “But the first competition, he did relatively decent. The next competition, he won, and it just took off from there.”
Bourcq, who was also one of the founders of the North Carolina fly fishing team, helped Michael break into the world of competitive fly fishing.
“In typical Michael fashion, he was kinda like ‘Ah, I don’t know,’ and then he went for it and that’s what started everything,” Bourcq said. “But he won. A lot.”
Michael dominated competitions across the south, which in itself is no small feat since, according to Jimmy, the anglers in this region are among the best in the nation.
Michael qualified for his first national championship event held in Syracuse, New York, in 2014. He finished 21st out of about 80 anglers. His best two finishes up to this year were 2016 and 2018 when he finished third and earned bronze medals. While the dry spell since 2018 has been somewhat tough to deal with, Michael stayed committed to the sport he loves.
This year, the drought ended, and he won a national championship right here in his backyard, as the event was held in Cherokee, where he competed against other anglers in sections including Lower and Upper Nantahala, Ravens Fork and Wolf Creek Lake, targeting rainbow, brown and brook trout.
When asked whether winning the championship at home carried a different weight, with his trademark grin, he softly said, “No, I was just happy to win is all.”
Competing on the world stage
About a month ago, Michael competed in his fifth world championships in the Pyrenees Mountains in the home of the legendary French National team that has dominated the sport for years. The French team has taken home the gold, silver and bronze several years in a row now.
Michael said that while fishing in foreign streams may not always present a challenge, for these world championships, it was a bit trickier because they were fishing for not only trout, but also Grayling, with which Michael is less familiar.
There’s also a financial burden. Traveling to competitions, especially the world championships and staying a foreign country for a couple of weeks is no cheap endeavor. While Michael said there were a few folks who provided some financial help, he especially wanted to thank the tribe for its financial support. Not only is it vital to make it happen, but it also shows Michael that they’re proud of what he’s accomplishing.
“Chief and Tribal Council, the Tribal Gaming Commission, Visit Cherokee, they’ve all been great,” Michael said.
In addition, international competition is quite the challenge. Bradley spent a total of two weeks in France. Like with prior world championships in Spain, Slovakia, Italy and Australia, while only five days of that was spent in official competition, there wasn’t any time to take in the sights, let alone get much rest.
“Most people think we just go and have fun,” he said. “The day we get there, we’re unpacking and setting everything up, and this year, three of us took off and went fishing on day one right as soon as we got there. Then we’re up at six o’clock on day two. Then when we get back from that, we’re immediately tying flies, and we’ll be up until 10 o’clock.”
On competition days, Michael and other anglers must hike up to their spots, which can be several miles roundtrip.
Despite the challenge of flying across the ocean to compete in different kinds of mountains with different kinds of streams and different kinds of fish, Michael finished fourth, barely missing the podium. The top three finishers were all French.
The Pyrenees Mountains of Southern France are quite a bit different than what folks may be used to in Western North Carolina. Donated photo
“I was happy with what I got,” he said. “Just to finish that high in their backyard is a big deal.”
A crossroads
Fly fishing seems tough to grasp, even for anglers who’ve never picked up a fly rod, and the casual observer might chalk it up to luck. Sure, casting is important, as is the ability to tie flies and respond appropriately to a tug on the line. But there’s more to it. Asking someone as modest as Michael what makes them so good is somewhat frivolous, but his father was happy to weigh in.
“He doesn’t know pressure,” Jimmy said. “No matter the situation.”
Bourcq agreed, returning to the notion of “fishing open” and adding that while Michael has plenty of tangible skills, it’s his mindset and attitude that are his greatest assets, because those allow him to act on his razor-sharp instincts in the moment.
“It’s an unusual blend of competence and mindset,” Bourcq said. “There are people who pretend that they don’t have an ego, but Michael isn’t faking. He legit doesn’t. He’s hard to handle as a competitor.”
Inside the world of angling, people pride themselves on coming back from a tough round to perform well. Sometimes, an angler may simply be assigned a tough run of water, or they may have an off round; however, what comes next is always most important.
“If you look at Michael, he catches more fish in those situations than anyone,” Bourcq said.
Jimmy said he’s been “blessed” to lay witness to what Michael has already accomplished. He considers how his father, Michael’s oldest fishing buddy, might feel.
“I sit back and dream about his grandma and grandpa, my mom and dad, and even my dad’s parents and wonder what they’d be thinking,” Jimmy said. “What would they say? My dad would be so proud.”
While Michael may be best known for his elite status as an internationally known fly fisherman, he’s also excelled in the more lucrative world of bass fishing tournaments, where he’s been competing since winning his first tournament in 2016.
Currently, the bulk of his income is from leading fly-fishing expeditions and group clinics through Fish Cherokee. While he gets a lot of his business because of a reputation earned through fly fishing competitions and he enjoys teaching it, he hears pressure from those on the outside, even friends and family, that he should drop the fly rod and focus solely on bass fishing since that’s where the bigger money is.
Bradley admitted that he enjoys bass fishing and draws parallels between the two that allow many of his skills to translate. But this is not an easy decision. While he’s already at the point that he competes in more bass tournaments than fly fishing championships, giving up the chase for that world title would be hard. No American has ever won, and the only American ever to medal was Jeff Currier in 1997, who finished third, one better than Michael’s finish this year.
Plus, fly fishing is unlike many other sports considering some of the best anglers are up into their 50s, meaning there is still room for improvement as experience is gained, more chances to reach the podium. Like with competition itself, Michael is keeping a level head when making that decision, always considering how hard he’s worked to be where he is and how much he appreciates how far he’s come.
“Prior to France, I was probably going to be done competing after the 2026 world championship in Idaho,” Michael said. “But after what I did in France, I might try and stick it out a little longer. What we were able to do as a team even, I just want to stick it out with those guys and see where we can go.”
Although Michael didn’t want to brag about how far he’s come in the sport and how well he showed out on the international stage, Jimmy beamed as he discussed the compliment the French team captain paid his son, one that may just prove prophetic.
“The French team captain paid him the ultimate compliment,” Jimmy said. “He said ‘One day, you’ll be a world champion.’”
