www.sportfishingmag.com

Travis Dean Clark:
Tred Barta and I have been friends for more than 20 years. It started out as a professional relationship with my editing his column in Sport Fishing Magazine. Tred has the sole notoriety of being the only writer who has been in every issue since its inception in February of 1986.
Back then, Tred was a somewhat abrasive sort: a loud, bullying, macho type who loved getting in your face. But he could back up his claims of hunting and fishing skill with fact. Historically, Tred has always been one of the most popular reads in the publication. While some people like and agree with him, others read him to elevate their blood pressure or to have someone to grouse about for a few weeks. I have in all my years of working with Tred, never once come across someone who was ambivalent about him.
Here’s what I discovered about Tred that he would probably prefer I not share: Beneath all his bullying bluster, Tred has a heart as big as the world in which he hunts and fishes. He loves children and spends more time helping them develop good values and morés than many parents. His charity work is effective and profitable for the causes he adopts.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Tred is opinionated. Of course, feel free to disagree with him. It matters not to him. Tred is a victim of his passions. If you want something done halfway or half-assed or diplomatically, call the Uninted nations because Tred is NOT your man.
I have grown to love Tred Barta over the years. I understand him and celebrate his strong points and accept his shortcomings and he does likewise for me. That’s what makes for a real, deep, lifelong friendship.
Tred got a tad weepy when I came to his ranch in the Colorado mountains to pick up his unique Ford F-150 flatbed pickup. I tried to buy it from him back in 1995 and he couldn’t part with it. It is as unique as Tred himself. However, he can no longer drive it and it hurt more to look out his living room window at the mountains and see his beloved truck sitting under the eave extension of the barn — unused and moldering. Honestly, there is no one else alive besides me who will care for it as lovingly as Tred has. It will always be Tred’s truck. I am just babysitting it for him.
I can’t imagine what devastation actually lurks in Tred’s psyche over his sudden disability. Despite being paralyzed from the chest down, Tred still fishes, hunts, snow skis, scuba dives, rides a horse, ropes steers, drives his pickup, plays hockey goalie, travels and takes care of may of his own simple needs like getting dressed and showering. I am fairly certain that I would never be able to handle it with the grace and courage and direction that he has. Through his magazine articles and TV show, what he truly wants the world to understand is that no matter what your catastrophic circumstance, your life needn’t come to a screeching halt. With determination and the kind and generous help of others, you can do virtually anything. Now if he could only learn to punctuate better…

— Dean Travis Clarke

SPORTFISHING MAGAZINE ARTICLES BY TRED:

06/01/12 A Striking Revelation 

05/01/12 Lean, Mean Fighting Machines

04/01/12 BROKEBACK FLATS

03/01/12 BILLFISHING - WITH A YO-YO

12/01/11 HYDRO-RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

10/01/11 BAMBOO BEWILDERMENT

04/01/11 POLITICALLY INCORRECT