“We’ve worked hard to develop a philosophy within the community where newbies would be taught the right way to start out and keep educating members as they progressed in the sport.” —Tom Stubblefield
TOM STUBBLEFIELD TE X A S L O N E ST A R
When kayak fishing exploded along the Gulf Coast, Tom Stubblefield’s fledgling website,
Texaskayakfishing.com, grew into a mega-site almost overnight.
Kayak Angler: What were you doing before kayak fishing?
Tom Stubblefield: In the late ‘90s, I moved to Beaumont, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. I joined a small club of surf fishermen called The Coalition of Confused Coastal Fishermen. Our president had built a small website where we planned our trips and shared stories and information. That site introduced me to social media, a term that didn’t even exist back then.
KA: How did you become a web wizard?
TS: One of the members of our wade-fishing club, Richard Zewe, was interested in kayak fishing and started his own website, TexasKayak-
Fisherman.com. He taught me how to build and run a website. When I bought the site from Richard in 2000, we had 38 members, mostly folks from Dennis Spike’s site in California.
KA: Why did TKF get so big?
TS: After a year we were growing so fast that maintaining the site was too much for me to handle alone. Clay Yeaman joined me as webmaster. The site has gone through several reincarnations until we settled on the style we use now. We’ve worked hard to develop a philosophy within
the community where newbies would be taught the right way to start out and keep educating members as they progressed in the sport. I feel strongly that this is the essence of TKF, teaching and sharing what we’ve learned to give others a jumpstart. Back in the early 2000s we had to drive all the way to Florida to compete in tournaments or partici- pate in large gatherings with other like-minded paddlers. Now, there are more events all over the country than one angler could possibly attend.
KA: What’s on the horizon?
TS: Today TKF has over 27,000 registered members and 17 chapters worldwide. Our core philosophy of education has kept us leading the pack and expanding our sport to heights we only imagined back in 1999. With the help of print and visual media, even non-kayakers rec- ognize anglers like Jim Sammons, Jon Swartz and Dennis Spike. This gives the sport even more legitimacy and draws in more anglers. Kayak bass fishing will be the next big thing. With so many anglers entering the sport, education will always be the biggest challenge. We must make sure that everyone who buys a kayak for fishing is taught how to stay safe and feel comfortable doing what they love, which is experienc- ing the great outdoors.
DIGITAL EXTRA: Click here to reminisce with more Pioneers, including Kayak Kevin Whitley, Chad Hoover and Matt Moyer.
www.kayakanglermag.com… 57
PHOTOS: COURTESY TOM STUBBLEFIELD
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