CTF name: Tall 1
Real name: Jon Nickless
Age: 45
Current city: Vernon, CT
Hometown: Granby, MA
Family members: My wonderful and incredibly understanding wife of 20 years, Robin, my stepson Jay, and my granddaughter, Rheia
Occupation: Operations Manager, Bekaert Corporation Windsor, CT

1. Exactly how tall are you? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to your height?
I'm 6'10". One of the disadvantages of being this tall is the fact that I'll never fulfill my lifelong dream of being a horse jockey and winning the Kentucky Derby! Seriously, I have to fly for work quite a bit and that's always a nightmare. I have to hope I secure an exit row seat for the extra leg room. Cars are another difficult thing, and ceiling fans, well, they just plain hurt! Plus, fish magically seem to shrink when I'm holding them. It's what I call the “Anti-Blaine-erizing Effect”.

The advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages. I always have a good view at concerts, when I wade fish the water is never over my waist, great cleavage shots, and I can reach those hard to find items on the top shelf in the store that just annoy short people.

2. Got any funny stories about your height?
I was dating a girl that had a pool table down in her dad's basement. The head room in the basement was pretty low, for me anyway, and I always had to be careful of where I walked down there. We were hanging out playing pool one night and I accidentally smacked my head into a light bulb in the ceiling and got one heck of a shock! Luckily I wasn't electrocuted right there! Kids, do not attempt this one at home! Talk about drain bramage!

3. You hunt and fish. Is either your favorite?
I'm really passionate about both sports. It just seems to depend on the season of the year. I like to ice-fish during the winter, springtime it's bass and trout fishing, I love my spring turkey hunting, stripers in the sound all summer long, nighttime bass fishing, and I deer hunt from September through December. I have something that interests me all year long, I'm really fortunate in that way.

4. Where do you teach archery? On average, how long would it take a beginner to be proficient enough to hunt with a compound bow?
I teach the CEFS bow hunter's safety course at Halls Arrow in Manchester. This is the mandatory hunter's safety course, which is required of all licensed archery hunters in our state.

I have been involved with the program for 5 years and it is extremely rewarding. I love to teach others by sharing my experiences and helping the next generation of sportsmen and women to enjoy the wonderful sport of hunting and archery. Kids today seem to have far more choices for activities than I did growing up, and I think it's critical that every sportsman out there introduce a child, friend or neighbor into the outdoors. Fishing and hunting are sports that people can enjoy for a lifetime, and many people just need to have someone introduce them to it. I've taken some new hunters out on their first turkey hunts and I'll tell you, it's hard to describe the happiness you get from watching someone experience a hunt for the first time, it's just awesome.

With today’s modern archery gear, using a compound bow and a release aid, a new archer can be hitting bulls eyes in their first practice session. The equipment today is that good. However, hunting and target archery are two very different things. Everyone's ability level is different, but it is very possible to be accurate with your bow within a month and establish an effective range that would allow you to consistently place your arrows in a tight group out to say, 20 yards. The archer should know their individual effective range, limit themselves only to shots within their effective range, and be 100% sure they can make an accurate, lethal and humane shot on their quarry. We owe this to the game that we pursue.


CTF Game Dinner.

5. You've helped plan and run the CTF Game Dinners. For those who haven't been there, tell us about the food fest. What do you think is the best tasting game that you have hunted? Do you have a favorite recipe for it?
The CTF game dinner is a great event every year, and I love seeing hunters and non-hunters getting together to enjoy a feast of nature's bounty. Put us all together in one room and suddenly everyone realizes that hunters and non-hunters aren't so different after all. We sure can put out a spread I'll tell you that! This event is a culinary feast! I have a feeling that this year's dinner will be even bigger and better than anything we’ve done in the past. Plus, last year we raised and donated over $3,000.00 to the Peter Klose children's fund on behalf of our late member UconnPutz. Things like that are what makes CTF so special to me.

My favorite game meat is a venison chop. It's cut from the upper back/ loin area on a whitetail deer and it is some of the most tender, juicy and succulent meat on earth. Cut with the bone in, it resembles a pork chop.

I love them either with Montreal Steak seasoning, or I'll use marinate made by Chef Myron, Myron's 20 gauge marinade, everyone loves the flavor of that marinade. It’s a blend of soy, ginger, garlic, red wine and spices that I will marinate the chops in overnight.

I then grill them directly on an extremely hot grill for 4-5 minutes per side and then let them rest on a plate for 5 minutes. They will continue to cook slightly on the plate.

Always remember to never cook venison more than medium rare as it will begin to loose it’s natural juices and become dry and far less enjoyable the more it is cooked.

We’ve prepared these chops for lots of non hunters and after they had them, they joked about wanting to hit a deer with their car on the way home so they could have more!

Just ask Buckcall how good those chops are! He still asks for them at every event we do together.

6. What is the biggest hardship you've had to overcome in your life?
The loss of my outdoor mentor this summer had a profound impact on me. Link He died fishing up on Lake Ontario and it came as a total shock to me. I still can not believe that he’s gone from us. He always was willing to let me tag along on his hunting, fishing and field trialing adventures. We were like a father and son sharing the outdoors together. We shared some great days in the field and he always took the time to pass along his love of the outdoors to me.

Since Glenn’s accident, I now find myself taking the extra second in my boat, or in a tree stand to make sure that I am as safe as possible. The outdoor sports that I love can be very dangerous, and you can lose your life doing what you love. I’ve always understood and accepted that risk, but when a close friend is taken from you on a fishing trip it is difficult to understand how and why it was meant to be that way.

The death of my father from cancer also left a very deep wound in my heart and was very difficult to overcome. He was a great man, and unfortunately he was taken 6 months after the diagnosis and didn't get to do many things that he had hoped to in his life. He liked to fish and did some hunting too.

7. If you could share a hunting or fishing trip with a famous person (in any field), who would it be?
Hunting it would definitely not be with Dick Chaney I’ll tell you that! I would have loved to bow hunt with the late Fred Bear. He was a wonderful archer, and a true gentleman who had a love and a respect for all things that are wild. One of Fred’s quotes stays with me today, “Go afield with good attitude, and a respect for the wildlife you hunt, and for the forests and fields in which you walk”. Since Fred is no longer with us, I’d love to spend a week bow hunting whitetails in the Midwest with Chuck Adams. He’s an incredible archer and I would love to learn from him and share a campfire listening to his adventures.

Fishing, I would love to spend a week fishing and learning from Rick Clunn. I think he is the best bass fisherman of my lifetime.



8. What are your top three tips for a successful turkey hunting trip?
Scouting, confidence and patience.

Know where your birds are feeding, dusting, roosting and displaying. Get up before dawn and listen for gobbling toms before dawn. Look for where they like to feed and strut. Remember rule #1 of hunting: “Be where they want to be”. The best calling in the world won’t make a tom go where it doesn’t feel safe or where he’s not comfortable. Know that sooner or later they will follow their routine and come into your set up. Realize that you may not always kill a gobbler at first light as he pitches down from the roost. Have the patience to wait them out. After 10:00 AM most hens go to nest and the toms are still lovesick and will respond to your calling much more willingly. I’ve killed a lot of big toms between 11:00AM and the close of hunting at 12:00 PM after patiently waiting them out, knowing that they would show sooner or later.


Vermont double.

9. You've traveled to a few northeastern states for bass fishing. Do you have a favorite or most memorable trip?
Of course the trips to Vermont and to Maine for spring smallmouth is like no other fishing in our area. The lakes we fish in Vermont have some huge fish and last year Neal S and I had a great trip. Our best 5 smallies weighed over 25 lbs, including Neal’s PB over 6 lbs. The 6 lber was the first fish of the trip, and over the next 1/2 hour we caught massive smallies on virtually every cast, 4’s, and 5’s on almost every cast! I could only utter one word over and over, that was…..SICK!!! My face still hurts from that ear to ear smile that day! It's usually pretty tough fishing because you don’t catch huge numbers of fish, so you have to be patient,but the ones you do catch are going to be 4lbs or better every time.

In Maine, you have 100-fish days regularly, and the overall average smallmouth is a solid 2-3/4 to 3 lb. There is a tremendous selection of lakes to choose from that all have great bass fishing and as a result the pressure on the fish is pretty low. We have an amazing fishery just a few short hours to our north, and I look forward to sharing those spring trips with my friends for a long time.

10. What advice do you have for a hunter who encounters a vocal anti-hunter who just won't leave him alone -- either in the field or in everyday life?
Understand that you may never agree on your viewpoints. Be polite, respectful and know when to just walk away and let the other person have their opinion. That’s OK. Some folks cross the line and feel that they own our forests and that they feel we are murderers because we hunt. They don’t understand that the sportsmen of this state do more to improve habitat, and to promote healthy wildlife, both game and non game species, than they ever will. We are the reason the wild turkey has returned, the spotted salamander is thriving, and the eagles are back like never before. It’s against the law to harass a hunter and I keep the DEP TIP line in my cell phone, so if it every got out of hand I wouldn’t hesitate to have them arrested. I’ve never had a problem, and I have hunted in some very anti-hunting neighborhoods in Fairfield County. Just be respectful and keep your impact to a minimum.

11. What is the most extreme weather you have hunted or fished in?
Last week on a bow hunt in Iowa it was 10 below with the windchill. I sat in my stand from sunup until sundown in that weather. It was brutally cold, but the deer don’t mind it and you can’t kill one sitting in the house.

I used to make an annual duck hunting trip to Eastern Lake Ontario with CTF member Outlaw and other friends. Breaking the ice and setting decoys in the slush, then standing in the flooded timber for hours was hardcore. Your hands and feet were numb most of the day, and the canoe paddles into the wind headed home, well, like I always say, it builds character! BURRRR! I’m shivering just thinking back on those days, but we shot some nice birds for our efforts.

There have been some ice fishing trips that were insane too.

12. What is one of the most memorable things a hunting or fishing companion has done to help you be successful while in the field?
Two things come to mind. One is my buddy Longbow taking me turkey hunting for the first time many years ago. He was turkey hunting before most people had ever seen a wild turkey. Together we made a lot of mistakes, but we learned from them and now we’ve become pretty good at it over the years.

The second thing that has improved my success in the field was attending a Tackleman seminar and using his Striper Tubes. The T-man system is amazing, and I consistently put big bass in my boat every trip on his tubes, while other people fishing nearby just shake their heads in total disbelief. Pat’s tubes make every trip a success, and over the years, thanks to CTF, I’ve been fortunate enough to fish with Pat on several occasions and today he and I are good friends.

13. Do you have a dream fishing or hunting trip you'd like to take?
Alaska for sure. Someday I hope to get there.



14. What is the most challenging animal you have hunted for? What is the most challenging fish you have chased after?
The whitetail deer with a bow and arrow to me is one of the most challenging animals on earth. Especially an older, mature buck. These animals are like ghosts in the forests, you see where they have been, but rarely, if ever, do you get to see them. They are a great challenge.

The most challenging fish I have pursued is the false albacore. Some days they can be so fussy they’ll make you crazy!

15. If CTF Member Zach came to you for advice on women, what would you tell him?
That having to pay for sex is something he'll need to budget for his whole life. Or consider buying a nice Russian bride online maybe... Other than that, there is always the priesthood.

16. Got any dumb or funny stories from your teenage years that you'd be willing to admit to?
Back in college, we were on a spring break road trip back from Daytona. As stupid, young pyrotechnics we stopped at a fireworks tent in South Carolina and filled the trunk of the car with some major fireworks. Buzzed out, cruising along in the middle of the night somewhere in Virginia around 4:00 am we began smelling a strong chemical odor coming from the back seat. We ignored it as long as possible, and when we ever turned on the interior light of the car we realized that our entire back seat was somehow on fire and the foam padding was billowing this black toxic smoke into the car. My buddy was a smoker, and one of his cigarette butts must have blown back in at some point during the night and sparked the blaze. It was scary, yet hilariously disturbing seeing us ripping this burning back seat apart with our bare hands and throwing the molten vinyl and smoldering seat foam onto the highway knowing that at any second we could have a fireworks display of epic proportions going off in our faces! We were lucky, the powder keg never went off, but the look on the state trooper’s face when he pulled us over for speeding a few hours late was priceless. He looked back there and couldn’t believe the fire damage and the obvious odor from the burned interior and that we were driving this rig back to school. A classic moment!

17. Considering your height, have you ever had a person challenge you to a fight?
Not too many times. Back in college I managed the school bar, and at closing time I had a few drunks think they could add a notch to their belt by taking me down. My personality is really laid back and most times I would talk them out of the fight before they got their ass kicked.

18. What are the best qualities a young hunter can have?
Be safe, ethical, and respectful. Always promote our sport in a positive light.

19. What is the most surprising thing about you that your fellow CTF members might not know?
I was in a Drum Corps for many years as a young teenager. We traveled all over New England playing in holiday parades and in competitions. We even performed at Disney World. I won many state and regional championships for my horn playing both individually, in duets and in quartets, and I won the National championship at a competition in St Louis, MO in my trumpet class. Over the years I won close to 75 competition metals in the Drum Corps, it was a big part of my teenage years.

20. What is the most "Beyond Addicted, Just Plain Sick" thing you have done in the pursuit of fish or game?
Back in the early 80s we discovered the King Salmon fishery in Lake Ontario and its tributaries. I couldn’t find a pair of waders that would fit my size 18 feet, still can’t in fact! So I decided to try to build a pair of waterproof waders from some rubber roofing material we had at work. I made these crazy things that seemed to be water proof at the house. They were ridiculous looking, but I didn’t care. If they kept me dry I couldn’t care less, I was going salmon fishing! On the first trip to the river my friends were pissing their pants laughing so hard when they saw me in my homemade waders, and unfortunately the power of the river’s current flooded into the seams and in minutes I was soaked to the bone. My experiment was a total failure! Not to be denied, I fished all weekend in jeans and sneakers. Man was it cold fishing the river in wet jeans, but nothing compared with the chill from putting those wet jeans back on to start the day! WOW!! Definitely Beyond Addicted…..Just Plain Sick!