HUNTSVILLE -- When the first two casts caught two Kings River smallmouths, Brad Conley and I knew that the day would be more than undisputedly epic.

He's covered outdoor recreation for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and its predecessor newspapers for 45 years. Flip invented the Wheezer Scale for gauging the difficulty of hiking up hills.

Bryan Hendricks has been the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette outdoors editor since 2005. He covers hunting, fishing, camping, and all other outdoor activities in The Natural State, as well as the ...