It’s with a heavy heart that we have to report to those who have not heard yet that the body of Lake Guntersville guide and fishing industry friend Troy Jens has been found. Local authorities found the body on a hill behind the Waterfront Grocery Saturday morning, June 28. The search has been ongoing since June 4 when he was first reported missing after being dropped off from a morning guide trip. No word on the cause of death but authorities were certain it was Jens.
Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends both in the industry and who he touched in fishing and beyond. He was very instrumental in the lives of many youth around the Lake Guntersville area.
Here is the local news report from Guntersville
A good friend, Mike Bucca, originator of the Bull Shad, shared his thoughts and memories of Troy today on his Facebook page. We thought it was worth sharing again here:
Today has been so so tough. I never take losing a good friend easy since they are so hard to come by. But Troy was a damn good guy. Just wish I could have helped him half as much as he helped me.. If you’ve read his facebook page you can see he made an impact on many peoples lives. Helped many kids from broken homes, taught hundreds of people how to fish and has done whatever it takes and never asked for anything in return.. I’ve known Troy for what seems like forever. Before I moved to Alabama from Texas Troy invited me and my dad out to Lake Guntersville in his old bomber boat when i was in town visiting my parents in Huntsville he just did that out of the blue and he didn’t know me from adam thats just Troy and how he operates.. During that trip I got my first jig fish with him on the ledge right out in front of Waterfront. Those of you that have known Troy for a while will remember that Old beat up brown (I think?) bomber he had. It finally bit the ghost at Lake Fork during a BFHP rally.
I will never forget a fishing trip we had last summer. I rented the cabin next to his and didn’t even know he lived there at the time. He didn’t have a trip that day so we went out in my boat. I was gonna help Troy load all his gear in the boat and I see him and asked where his gear is at. He goes I’m ready to go and I’m scratching my head and all he had was one jig rod in one hand and a paper sack in the other. I’m sitting here with a 21ft z9 Nitro full to the gills with 1000’s of dollars in tackle, rods and reels and he has a paper sack. I look at Troy and he looks at me and I say. Let me guess Black and Blue jigs with matching chunks and he just smiled. He lived and died by that jig and he whacked my ass many a day on previous trips with it. He’s helped me with tons of things. Started me throwing jerkbaits as well after he whacked my azz yet again on Wilson with the smallies.. Before my beloved swimbaits, Jerkbaits were the deal!! He was dangerous with that clown colored Rogue.
Most people don’t know this but Troy also got me started in mold making as well in which I still use things he showed me back then today for my swimbait business. But thats an even longer story LOL Troy was trick with making his own tackle in the back room of his moms house when he lived in Huntsville. I loved picking through all his home made contraptions. I would pick something up and give him a WTF is this look and he would spend hours talking about it and how he made it. Maybe one day I will tell the story about the time I set him up with a blind date gone bad.. Troy I’m sorry she was butt ugly buddy I promise I didn’t know it beforehand :)~
Troy was also responsible for helping me get started in guiding. I wasn’t the only one. He’s got a good list of strong guides that he has helped along the way. Ryan Coleman, Tim Chandler, and probably Jimmy Mason as well and probably a few others that I don’t know about..
Probably the best Troy Jens story was one that he posted on the BFHP years ago. Probably the best fishing story ever told no way someone could make up this story . Everytime you read it you can’t help but to laugh. Troy would want us to remember him just as he was.. Just a good guy that would do anything for a friend. We all need to look at the world from outside the box sometimes and try not make it as complicated as it seems. Keep your good friends close!! I can go on and on about old T-Roy and the good times we had. Here is Troy’s mudshark story. Hopefully those that are hurting today this will make you smile a little. Gonna miss you my friend!! Feel free to post your own favorite memory/story of Troy if you like.
MUDSHARK by Troy Jens
Talk about a bad day. While fishing in a cove that had lots of houses close by and a few boats within sight, the ol’ mud-shark started barkin’. Bad breath too. No big deal I thought till it crept out and drew a picture in the bottom of my skivees. In panic I hopped up onto the back deck, covered myself with a life-jacket, popped open the livewell lid and dropped ol’ muddy right into the port box.
Pretty slick I thought till I realized I had no squatwipe. Well, my skivs were ruined anyhow so I used what was left of them. I put a few bullet weights in the skivs, tossed them over the side and gave them a good salute as they sank slowely toward the bottom.
While I was digging through a storage box for a minnow net to release ol’ muddy I heard a boat pull up. NO KIDDING, it was THE MAN! He asked how I was doin’ and I told him I was just “hangin'”. He went through the usual routine, life jacket, fishing license, etc.. Then he asked if he could look in my live-well. I stuttered in disbelief that I hadn’t caught any fish and said “you don’t have to look in there do ya”? He got real suspicious and a little snotty.
I took offense to his attitude and said alright, then pointed to the port live- well lid. He opened the lid, stared in for a moment, slammed the lid down, looked up at me and said, “what the HELL is that”? I said “sir, that is a mud-shark. I’ll put it on the rule if you want but I’m pretty sure it’ll measure”. The scowl on his face was PRICELESS!
He hopped out of my rig, mumbled that he would write a ticket for that if he could and tore off. Laughing myself to tears I took the minnow net and released ol’ muddy over a brush-pile. I “hung out” in the cove for a while longer and went home. That live-well is pretty comfy. I may just have to install a magazine rack in my boat.
