When Gwen at The Great Outdoor Provision Company in Charlotte, NC, told me that potential Coosa owner Andy Bell needed someone to take him out to test drive a Coosa for an hour or two, I decided I would jump at the chance to go fishi…I mean, show Andy a Coosa. We met up at a local river and right off the bat Andy felt good in the boat with the seat in the low position. Now, Andy hasn’t been in too many kayaks before so I was wondering how such a paddlesport newbie would feel in this boat after just a couple hour test run. Andy’s goal was to see if he could indeed fly fish in the boat since that is one of his main forms of fishing, both in the inshore coastal waters and in the inland rivers.

After about 20 or 30 minutes Andy decided it was time to move up to the high position on his seat. He was definitely getting the hang of it and feeling more and more confident. Each passing minute, day, month and year in the Coosa the angler will become more and more comfortable with the boat and its stability allowing them to do more and more…hey, maybe one day they will even do a jumping 360 in the boat! Why do I get the idea that some 17 year old out there is already going against his father’s wishes and trying to land the first 540 in the boat? Anyway, I digress….actually I don’t, because maybe I will try a 540 first so that they have to get up to a 720 before they can top me…Na, better stick to fishing I suppose.

And stick to fishing I did as I was fortunate to land three nice bass on the afternoon as Andy continued to familiarize himself with the Coosa. Turns out Andy was an excellent photographer as well when he offered to help get a photo of one of the nicer fish I caught.

Well, back to Andy Bell and his quest to stand in fly fish in the Coosa. He was definitely dominating with his fly rod in the high seat position and then this guy decided to move up to the standing position within about an hour in the boat! A feat that many can do, but usually they have some kayak or kayak fishing experience first. Well, Andy could have fooled me as he looked like a true pro in the boat working the fly line back and forth and releasing it tight into the shoreline cover where the big lunkers like to lay. I decided I just had to get a video of Andy because it was definitely cool to see a complete stranger doing what the team and I at Jackson set forth for the Coosa to do – allow most anglers to stand and fish. Well done, Andy, and when he and I left for the day he said he was going to definitely be putting in an order for a Coosa in the very near future.

[youtube width=”625″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uab-ZMzsVII&hd=1[/youtube]