Great Outdoor Blog

The Greenville Great Outdoor Provision Co. kayak fishing seminar was very successful with 18 to 21 participants who were all extremely interested about getting involved in the sport. Some participants had already purchased kayak and were interested to learn about outfitting, gear, and paddling tips. Others who were entirely new to the concept of kayak fishing learned about the different kayak models, fit, and applications to their particular fishing settings. After the presentation was over there was time given for participants to ask questions and receive advice and recommendations on a personal level.

Ashley Williams @ Greenville Shop

Great Outdoor Provision Co. and SmartWool have set up a program to give customers a way to help those affected by the devastating storms that recently came through North Carolina. In an effort to share the comfort of SmartWool, Great Outdoor Provision Co. will donate a pair of SmartWool socks for every two pair of SmartWool socks sold during the period of May 20-30 (or while supplies last).

All Great Outdoor Provision Co. shops will participate in sharing the comfort of SmartWool with our neighbors affected by the recent storms. For every two pairs of SmartWool socks sold, Great Outdoor Provision Co. will donate the third pair to MERCI, the Mission and Mercy Resource Center based in Goldsboro, NC. The MERCI Center depot is currently working with disaster victims and their expertise helps reduce shipping costs and maximize efficiency when responding to emergencies in North Carolina. Thank you for your support.

Location: Charlotte shop
Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011
Time: 2 – 4pm

Erick is a 14 year kayak fishing veteran and has been affiliated with Wilderness Systems for the past 5 years. He originally started a fishing team to fish in the Extreme Edge Kayak Tournament Series. The original team, Team eAngler placed in the Top 3 in several events, took home 2nd place in three events and finished 1st in one event. The original three members, (Erick, Todd Llewellyn and Mark Michael) have fished in various events across the country both as a team and individuals. Todd and Erick won the Florida Sportsman Super Lure Tournament as the only kayak anglers competing against a field of 29 other teams in power boats. That was a first in that particular event and winning in a respectable fashion by weighing in two redfish that bested the field by almost 3 lbs. Erick is also a past 1st place winner in the redfish division of the Osprey Bay Kayak Tournament and 2nd Place in the trout division of the TJM Celebrity Charity Event. He also competes in other tournaments, including the world renowned Jacksonville Kayak Classic, where he won largest trout in 2009, and for the past several years has had the privilege and honor of being one of the judges.

His current team is now Team Wildy, part of the Confluence fishing family with Wilderness Systems and AT Paddles. He continues affiliations with Hook 1, along with using rods and reels from Quantum and part of the Columbia Sportswear Pro Staff. Erick competes mainly in individual events today, as well as taking part in other kayak fishing related events. He is also active in several online kayak fishing communities posting either under his real name Erick, or as erayyak.

Erick is best known for “The OLC” or “The One Lure Challenge”. A kayak fishing tournament series that he started 5 years ago on a whim to see what gold spoon caught more fish. The single event turned into an annual 4 event series that offered kayak anglers the opportunity to participate in a fun, yet competitive challenge. Each angler is only allowed to fish with the lure chosen for that particular event within certain boundaries, therefore eliminating many of the advantages someone may have by using their favorite lure, or fishing their favorite fishing hole.

After leaving Florida to return home to North Carolina, “friends” from the kayak fishing community at paddle-fishing.com held the first “Erick Bell Memorial Tournament” as part of their PFTS (Paddle Fishing Tournament Series). Although, still much alive, it follows a similar format to the OLC series he started down in Florida. This is an annual event, and a great reason to go back each year for a great time with good friends and to fish in a tournament. Plus, he wants to make sure everyone knows he has only moved and still has a passion for kayak fishing.

There is no charge to attend but we do ask two things:

1. If you are planning to attend, call our Charlotte shop so we can get some idea of how much room to make.
2. If you find the clinic useful, consider making a small donation to our local chapter of Heroes on the Water.

Dates, Time and Locations for all our Kayak Fishing Workshops can be found here

Charlotte Shop @ 7pm
Thursday, May 19

Come hear Joe Miller talk about the new era of backpacking. He’ll discuss trips in his new book, “Backpacking North Carolina,” and talk about how advances in technology and a new philosophy toward backpacking have made the pursuit more accessible than ever. Come prepared for a short slide show and to sample the nuevo cuisine of backpacking.

And, learn about the “Backpacking North Carolina Challenge”! Do two, four or six trips in the book by Oct. 31, 2011 and win valuable backpacking prizes from Great Outdoor Provision Co.

by Gwen Crabtree, Charlotte Staff

On Saturday, 30 April GOPC kayak fishing team members Bo Anders, Tim Stewart, Drew Haerer, and Mike Callahan joined me for the 1^st Annual North Carolina Kayak Fishing Association (NKCFA) Battle in the ‘Boro Fishing Tournament. The tournament was held on several lakes throughout the Greensboro, NC area and benefitted the Heroes on the Water program which serves military personnel who have been wounded, injured, or disabled.

The Battle featured two divisions for the kayak angler: largemouth bass and fly rod. I chose the fly division because anglers were allowed to count any fish whereas anglers in the bass division were restricted to largemouth bass with a minimum length of 14 inches. If you’ve read any of my other tournament reports, you know I freely admit that I’m not very good at spin fishing. Add that to fishing a new body of water and I surmised that entering the bass division would be too tough for me. I am much better at fly-fishing and I knew the lake I planned to fish had catfish and very few people would guess you could catch a catfish on the fly. My odds of placing high were further improved knowing that at most maybe 10 people would enter the fly division.

After a little online research and getting some personal intel from people who fished there before, I decided to fish Lake Mackintosh near Burlington, NC. This lake is perfect for the kayak angler because it has two sections limited to electric motors or paddle power only. My reports indicated the fish experience less pressure in these areas and I hoped this would improve my odds as well. This time I decided not to sleep in and I actually got to the lake just after 6am and after setting up my Ocean Kayak Prowler Trident 13, I pushed off from the launch just before 7am. At that point I was one of two kayak anglers from the tournament who were on that section of the lake.

As I drifted on the lake, I opened my fly boxes and tried to decide what the fish might be interested in that morning. I decided I would go with the conehead fire tiger woolly bugger, which Sam in our Charlotte shop assured me would catch fish. After about 45 minutes of paddling and casting, I felt a solid strike on my 8-weight rod and saw rod tip bend over. The fish put up a good fight, but it didn’t quite feel like a bass. After a few minutes of working the fish, I finally got it to the surface, and what do you know, a catfish on the fly. Grabbing my Hobie fish grips, I secured the catfish and scrambled for my official tournament measuring board and my camera. During all this I was trying to figure out how I was going to take a photo of a catfish without either losing it or getting spiked by one of its fins. In all the hustle to get everything lined up, I was about to snap my first photo when I realized that I didn’t have my Immersion Research sticker in the photo to make it an official catch. After a little more scrambling, I put the catfish on the board and snapped several photos. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the total length; I just knew the fish was over the 16-inch mark. Not too shabby for a catfish caught on a fly.

I fished the rest of the day until about 2pm with nothing else to the boat, but I still had confidence that my catfish would get me into at least the top five. After loading up and a quick drive to the tournament weigh-in, I pulled up my photo and zoomed in on the tail of the fish so I could fill out my entry record. The fish measured 16.5 inches in total length. After waiting about 45 minutes while the NCKFA team reviewed the entries, I was called to the judges’ table where they asked for my camera. At that point I knew I had placed at least in the top three in the fly division because the tournament officials informed us they would only ask for photos from the top three anglers in both divisions.

It didn’t take too long for the judges to review and approved all the photos and then they started the awards ceremony. Third place in the fly division went to one of the Heroes on the Water anglers, Michelle Little with an 11.75-inch largemouth bass. Michelle’s catch netted her a $100 GOPC gift certificate. Second place in the fly division went to William Scarboro with a 15-inch bass. William’s catch was rewarded with some sweet gear from Immersion Research. The winning fish in the bass division went to Wayne Stirewalt who boated a 19.75-inch largemouth. And first place in the fly division went to a 16.5-inch catfish and earned me a sweet Versa Board rigged for fishing. My strategy of fly-fishing for catfish paid off. Not too shabby for only my third kayak fishing tournament.

Many thanks to the folks at NCKFA and their sponsor for putting on a great event!

If you haven’t heard of Heroes on the Water, I encourage you to check out this great organization and all they do for our Veterans.

Until next time, tight lines.

Renowned writer, photographer and kayak angler, Jerry Dilsaver is highly regarded not only within the kayak fishing community but among anglers in general. His articles and photographs have appeared in numerous publications including North Carolina Sportsman, South Carolina Sportsman, FLW Outdoors and more. Part of Hobie’s group of professional regional anglers, Jerry is also a member of our Kayak Fishing Team. Jerry is a highly sought after speaker at fishing seminars throughout the Carolinas. We are very fortunate to have Jerry’s expertise available to us as he is one of the most articulate and talented kayak fishing instructors in our region.

We are pleased to host Jerry’s Kayak Fishing clinic at our Wilmington store location. This first clinic is introductory in nature and will focus on kayak rigging, technique’s and other topics of interest to the beginning/intermediate kayak angler. If you are looking to get started with Kayak Fishing and want a good overview from a very knowledgeable instructor, this would be an excellent clinic to attend.

There is no charge to attend but we do ask two things:

1. If you are planning to attend, call our Wilmington shop so we can get some idea of how much room to make.
2. If you find the clinic useful, consider making a small donation to our local chapter of Heroes on the Water.

Dates, Time and Locations for all our Kayak Fishing Workshops can be found here