This whole Big Fish Kayaks and Water Sports started on a cold snowy morning in January, 2020, when my mom wanted to host a family brunch at Perkins in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  The conversations went  from family, friends and weather to fall hunting trips, ice fishing and eventually FISHING KAYAKS. Yes, we were  talking about FISHING KAYAKS in January, while temps were -20 below.

Kevin Foss is the one that planted the seed during this conversation, and his knowledge and excitement about the sport, got my son Ben interested in learning more about these loaded fishing kayaks. When Kevin was the coordinator of the Noreast Fishing Seminar Series he brought in some of the east coast’s top kayaking instructors along with very skilled kayak fishermen to educate and get people very excited about kayak fishing. Kevin described that these pedal drive fishing kayaks can be set up with rod holders, electronics, tackle storage, an anchor system, lighting, and could be safely fished while sitting, or standing…these are fish catching machines!

Then I made the mistake of suggesting to Ben and Nick Foss, who is Kevin’s son, that Ann and I would put some seed money into this fishing kayak RENTAL business, which Ann and I were thinking would teach them some business and entrepreneurial skills.  As things developed over the winter months, our initial idea expanded significantly, and resulted with a plan to start a Retail/Rental Shop offering Kayaks (pedal drive & paddle), Paddle Boards and several Water Sports lines.

To make this happen we have purchased the former (Elmer’s Texas BQ ) which will be the location of our retail/rental shop. I will be the first to admit that our boat on Ottertail Lake is more appealing to me than a kayak, but I am truly amazed at this technology, and we feel very fortunate to have great products like Feel Free, 3 Waters, Jonny Boats, Surf-Tech, Yak, RAVE, Hannay’s and several other products.  We will be opening our shop starting Memorial Day weekend 2020.  Please swing by and see what we have to offer.  Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these challenging times.