There's a side of Vaughn Taylor that only his fishing buddies know. When he's in his bass boat on the river behind his home in Evans, you'd never know Taylor is known as the PGA Tour's "quiet man."

When Vaughn Taylor isn't on the course, he likes to relax by fishing on the Savannah River, which is right outside his home. (Annette M. Drowlette/Staff)

Just ask Augusta's Jeff Keck, his former Augusta State University golf teammate and regular fishing partner.

Keck loves to tell the story of the 6-pound, 4-ounce striper Taylor caught on the Savannah River on Feb. 24. It was landed just below a dam where he and Keck had never had any luck.

"He finally hooks into that thing, and as Vaughn is fighting the fish, he's screaming at the top of his lungs, 'I'm catching stripers in my backyard,' " Keck said.

"I was scared to death he was going to fall into the river because he was bouncing around the boat like a wild man because he was so excited," Keck said. "He loves fishing and will fish all day and all night and not catch a fish, but when he does ..."

Indeed, Taylor's eyes light up when he talks about landing a big fish like that striper.

"It's cool to know you have that size fish," said Taylor, who tees off in his third Masters on Thursday at 9:50 a.m. "They're so strong, and they're fun to fight, and if the current's running it's even a tougher fight. A 6-pound fish feels like 20 or 30 with the current."

The best part for Taylor is that he doesn't even have to get in his car to catch those fish. That's the reason he bought the house on the river more than a year ago.

"I've always wanted to live on a body of water, and I've always loved to fish," he said. "It makes it easier just to walk out the back door and jump in the boat."

The convenience of the fishing, and the sport itself, is the perfect release for Taylor when he's taking a break from the PGA Tour, where he is a two-time winner and former Ryder Cup player.

"It's a way to get away from things up there," Taylor said. "It's kind of peaceful. You get on the boat, and it's quiet. Turn the phone off and get just away."

It's not always peaceful. One day there was more excitement than he and Keck wanted, and it had nothing to do with the fish.

"I'm fishing in the back of the boat, and Vaughn's on the trolling motor on the front of the boat, and all of a sudden Vaughn pops up and looks at me and says, 'We're going to have to get off the boat,' " Keck said. "He starts walking to the back of the boat, and the boat comes to a stop and this cloud of bees goes up in the air. He had hit the stump that had this huge beehive. There were hundreds of them.

"We had expensive sunglasses, he's got his rod in his hand, we've both got our cell phones in our pockets, and the two of us just dive in. So we swim away and kind of let the bees calm down and we swim back over to the boat and grab the trolling motor and pull the boat away."

Keck said there were "like four other boats in the area" that were puzzled by what they saw.

"They're all yelling at us to see if we're OK. We're like, 'Yeah, we hit bees,' and they all started laughing at us," he said.

Though Taylor said he is still learning how to catch the various fish in the Savannah River, some of his exploits have already appeared in The Augusta Chronicle.

In one weekly fishing report column, guide Albert Moody mentioned one trip he took with Taylor on the river.

"Vaughn had a rig that had two hooks on it, and he caught two perch on one cast," Keck said. "Albert gave him the nickname 'Two-fish Taylor' and put it in his fishing report."

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 >or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.