MudbuM Boys Reid "Red" Baker and Blaine "Crash" Garrett show off the morning catch Sept. 26.(Photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register )
The MudbuM Boys snapped the fine line separating dead seriousness and utter tomfoolery a long time ago.
But there's nothing facetious about their motto: "We fish for the fish that eat the fish you fish for."
The words roll off the tongue, passing beneath the manicured handlebar whiskers, of Blaine "Crash" Garrett as he navigates the murky water of the South Skunk River.
"This is kind of a sacred thing for us," Crash said.
It's a happy day in remote Southeast Iowa bush country, thanks to two sizable flathead catfish pulled in late morning — a 19- and 25-pounder. Nothing huge, the MudbuM Boys say, but it will keep them from starving after a 7 a.m. squirrel hunt didn't go as well as expected.
They typically apply "CPR" to every fish, that's "catch, picture, release," but wanted to celebrate with a fish fry for their final fishing trip of the year the last weekend in September. And the group has much to celebrate, beyond the 1,000-plus pounds of fish they landed with a dozen trips in 2014.
This year has been a breakthrough for The MudbuM Boys, a crew of five nearly lifelong friends — four of them Johnston High School grads — who are working their darndest to make fishing and camping their work.
In 2009 the Iowans with an excessive passion for the outdoors began plotting the creation of the perfect ditty pole system — an old-school fishing method that emulates trapping with set lines along shorelines.
Iowa's MudbuM Boys navigate the waters of reality TV while "fishing for the fish that eat the fish you fish for." Zach Boyden-Holmes/Juice
Five years, $50,000 and nine ditty-pole models later, the team landed a reality TV series, more than half a dozen sponsors, and manufactured more than 1,500 of their patented Hawg Lawg ditty pole rigs for the masses.
"We'd like to do this for a living," Aaron "Shiner" Creger said while sitting around an afternoon campfire late last month.
"The MudbuM Boys" TV show will launch at 8 p.m. Dec. 29 on the Pursuit Channel, an outdoor television network.
The reality series will include 13 episodes, all shot in Iowa, to capture plenty of rivers, fish and impressive campsites. But the real draw is their zany personalities, Duck Dynasty-esque facial hair, banter and incessant shenanigans.
"It's more of a lifestyle show. Basically we're just out there doing our thing and there's some camera guys around," said Jeff "Leadfoot" Kipling, the 46-year-old "old man" of the group.
"(Viewers) are going to see some crazy antics from a bunch of good friends who have a lot in common. They're going to see us out there camping in the elements of nature away from civilization and they're going to see numerous big fish being caught."
SEARCH DATABASE: Iowa's biggest fish caught
On the river, crazy and unexpected is normal, according to Reed "Red" Baker.
Some minor disasters over the years include breaking props off a boat motor, a boat fire, hitting a deer that nearly totaled a truck and the time a circle hook snagged Red through the finger.
"The boat's getting pulled by the current and Red's holding us in place with his finger," Niles "Willie" Bailey recounted during a typical round-the-fire storytelling gathering.
The hook incident ended with a trip to the hospital for nine stitches.
"If something stupid or messed up happens, it's 'well, I guess everything's normal.' " Red said, recalling that they caught an enormous fish on the same hook the next day.
After more than a decade of trips, the friends have mastered camping with the same fervor and thoroughness that produced their no-tangle, self-contained ditty-pole and trot line system.
They typically machete down vegetation on a large flat space of state-owned riverside land nearest to their secret catfish holes. Crash emphasizes it is all legal and on the radar of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
"Our campsite is one thing we take seriously," said Crash, who works as a project manager with a flooring company in Urbandale during the week.
Camp headquarters includes two 12-man tents with cots, the campfire and cooking area and a kitchen created by an enormous tarp. A media station with film equipment was recently added, incorporated with the aeration tanks for live bait, all powered by solar panels.
Nearly all MudbuM gear — boats, mounted lights for night fishing, tents and cookware — is now provided by sponsors like Mercury Marine, Gator Trax and Slumberjack.
Unlike some reality TV, the group says the only drama between MudbuMs stems from elaborate pranks and inevitable accidents and fiascoes that come with nature. But they never deter from their hunt.
"We are out here to catch the biggest fish," Crash said.
Their eyes are now fixed on the Iowa flathead record, which weighs in at 81 pounds, caught in 1958 by Joe Base, of Chariton. Their biggest fish to date is about 30 pounds shy.
Where it goes from there, maybe onto other states, remains unknown as they continue the learn-as-they-go adventure that has brought a slew of lessons learned the hard way.
Size No. 10 circle hooks are now standard after fish of unknown size twice straightened and spit out the No. 9 steel hooks they used to use. They now carry 300-pound scales after one flathead maxed out the 50-pound ones they previously carried.
The ultimate goal for the MudbuM Boys is to spend as much time as possible in their natural habitat.
"We live in a population with about half a million people in Des Moines, and you can drive 30 minutes or an hour and be in your own little heaven away from the noises of the sirens, jets and traffic," Leadfoot said.
"Once you're on the river, you're out in the sticks and it's a cheap escape," Leadfoot said.
But they won't complain if that "cheap escape" soon replaces their full-time jobs.
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