BUZZBAIT [PROFI LE ]
River Man A
DREW GREGORY’S UNIQUE COURSE IN KAYAK FISHING BY BRIAN COPE
river’s always flowing, always going somewhere. Drew Gregory is like a
river. A champion of kayak fishing where the scenery’s always changing, Gregory may run deep, but there are no still waters here. “I like to jump in all at once, to live life. I’m
just a big kid. It keeps me busy. I guess that means I’m doing a good job,” Gregory says as the words tumble out one after another, a verbal torrent. By all accounts, Gregory is doing an ex-
cellent job. He founded
Riverbassin.com in 2008, a place for anglers to share stories, re- view gear, talk about technique and find river fishing partners. “Getting my river bassing
P R O FI LE | TO U R N A M E NTS | CONSE R V A T ION Paddle, check. Bass, check. His own signature series kayak, check.
Drew Gregory has it good. PHOTO: NICK TROUTMAN
fix online was becoming a full-time job be- cause I had to visit so many websites. I fig- ured, what the heck, I’ll start my own site,” Gregory says. He followed the same path with the River
Bassin’ Tournament Trail, a major league- style tournament series with an impressive set of sponsors including Bass Pro Shops, NuCanoe, Kokatat and True North RV. The inaugural season started big, with five events in four different states. Never one to settle, Greogry’s 2011 schedule is even more ambi- tious, with extra stops and prizes. He coordi- nates the competitions but doesn’t fish them. Promoting river fishing is his goal. “Sharing the experience is what it’s all about,” he says. He achieved that in a startling and hilari-
ous fashion in early 2010, when a hyper-ag- gressive goose hopped onto his head during a fishing trip, eventually knocking him off his kayak. The episode was caught on cam- era and the resulting YouTube video was an overnight sensation. Gregory is almost certainly the first kayak angler to make the rounds of Te Today Show, Fox and Friends, ESPN and Te O’Reilly Factor. “Te Tonight Show with Jay Leno contact- ed me the day I moved to Charlotte, North
Carolina, after I’d quit a good job to work on kayak fishing full time. If I’d have caught a 15-pound bass, it wouldn’t have gotten a tenth of the attention,” Gregory says. The rewards for that leap of faith are still
pouring in. Jackson Kayak’s new Drew Greg- ory signature series Coosa is a river angler’s dream. The rod holders—which come standard—
are angled for brush-avoidance, not offshore trolling. The lockable rod storage and mold- ed-in grooves for a retractable drag chain are firsts. The dual-position seat—raised for fish- ing, lowered for running rapids—is elegant in its simplicity and just plain works. “I got together with Jackson Kayak and
said ‘let’s do this!’” Gregory says with enthu- siasm, seemingly unaware that in the history of kayak fishing, performance-obsessed boat designers often clash with fish-crazed an- glers. Not with Gregory. According to Jack- son Kayaks founder Eric Jackson, it was the perfect fit. Why? For Gregory, it’s simple. “I didn’t
want to be 60 years old and have regrets. Give me a kayak paddle and a fishing rod and I’m good,” he says, sounding like a lively river as it flows over stones.
www.kayakanglermag.com… 15
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