Having tried it, he figured the magazine might find interest in another alternative way to fish with the same sort of intimacy with the water. After a few conversations with the editor, Spike wrote an instructive article about sea kayak fishing. Cousin Howie wound up on the cover holding an enviable halibut in front of his kayak on the beach. Shortly after, Spike was invited to some sportfishing trade shows and found a new world opening up to him. It was evident that the marriage between the paddling and fishing industries had yet to be consummated.
Numbers shed light on the kind of potential both Spike and others in the outdoor industry see.
The American Sportfishing Association narrows the field of enthusiasts those 16 years or older who went nine or more times in a year down to 35 million people. While these numbers remain ambiguous to specifics like sea kayaking and saltwater fishing or river kayaking and trout fishing, they suggest an enormous gap exists between two things that should be a no-brainer. Spike saw his opportunity and seized it. What came of it was Coastal Kayak Fishing Schools the first school to teach the ancient art of kayak fishing. Spike organized every last detail of his experience into an introductory course for anglers who had never paddled, and just the same, for sea kayakers who had never fished.