As summer begins, fishing on LandTrust.com is heating up. I recently sat down with a long-time LandTrust landowner to discuss how he began offering sportsmen access to fish on his property in Eagleville, Missouri.
Matt Graham was thrilled to tell me about Graham Farms. “It has been in my family since 1886. My great-great-grandfather started the farm, and my great-great-great-grandfather is buried here in the family plot.” Immediately, I could tell the interview was going to be about more than pond fishing. It was going to be about a piece of land that was special to his family, one that he is very proud to share with sportsmen now.
The Graham Farm is, and always has been, a family affair. Matt jubilantly spoke of all the “after school and weekend work” he had performed on the farm alongside his father growing up. “That's what we did on the weekends, we drove down to the farm and worked.” Matt has come full circle, from growing up near the farm and putting in childhood sweat equity, to living throughout the US for work, before returning to Graham Farms where he resides now.
Graham Farms is still a family operation. Matt leases the home place from his father and raises Angus, Shorthorn, and Wagyu crosses to market as meat. Matt and his sons enjoy actively managing the nine ponds on their farm and watching the species and fish size progress.
Matt stumbled upon LandTrust through an investor group and immediately thought that LandTrust’s goals aligned with his family's goals for the property. The deer hunting rights were already leased out, but Matt dipped his toe in the proverbial LandTrust pond with turkey hunting. Turkeys were prevalent and an early booking highlight, but Graham Farms shined brighter when Matt listed pond fishing for bass. Here are just a few of the many successful outings at the farm!