Outdoors Podcast

Chris McKleroy, Founder of NOCS Provisions

Chris McKleroy, Founder and CEO of NOCS Provisions joins host AJ Eads to talk about his background in the outdoors and the events that lead him to starting a Binoculars company that is shaking up the industry. 

NOCS Provisions got its start in the Bay Area of Northern California and now operates near the outdoor haven of Lake Tahoe.  Chris and the team have taken a very different approach to most of today's product companies and grown the business organically with their own cash flow, as opposed to the massive investments of private equity and venture capital companies. 

This has allowed the business to stay true to its mission of connecting their customers with the outdoors and reducing the waste that is typical with most retailers today.

This was a really insightful conversation and Chris really helped me understand what an ethical company can do to make an impact on the world.

Enjoy.

Nicole From Dope Kitchen

Nicole, the host of Dope Kitchen on Youtube, Tik Tok, Instagram and all of the other social media channels joins the show to talk about her love of backpacking and the outdoors in general. 

She shared some incredible stories about harrowing tales from different backpacking adventures including being flooded out of a campground, running from wildfires and escaping mountains via helicopter.  

I had an absolute blast getting to know Nicole and it might be my favorite episode yet.

Adam Hudson - Blue Line Co Flies

Adam Hudson grew up fishing for bass with his family in northern Alabama, where traditional gear fishing is king...hell it's practically religion.  Thanks to an uncle who brought a fly rod on a family trip to the smokies, Adam fell in love almost instantly and changed the course of his life forever.

A couple decades later, Adam and his friend Steve, opened Blue Line Co Flies and started offering specialty pattern flies to target the small mouth and large mouth bass that was common to their area.

Fast forward even further, and the guys have a wide range of flies, fly lines and other products to help you be more successful on the water.

www.bluelineflies.com

Maddie From Beer In Beautiful Places

Maddie, the host of Beer In Beautiful Places on Youtube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook joins the podcast to talk about her recent through hike of the John Muir Trail (JMT) in Northern California and her upcoming adventure through hiking the Appalachian Trail.  

Chef Corso - Professional Chef, OutdoorEats

Chef Corso, owner of OutdoorEats and outdooreats.com sits down by the campfire in St. Genevieve Missouri at Hawn State Park for a conversation about his career in cooking. We talked about his love for food and the family members that helped him along the way. Chef Corso dove into the culinary school experience and his different jobs in the food industry.

After leaving a career in the test kitchens at Starbucks, Corso took a chance on himself and his passion for cooking outside. He built his own brand, website, cookbooks and started launching content. He’s developed over 200 recipes that are tested by campers like us and added to his meal plans.

I loved learning about how he comes up with recipes and adapts them to the trail. We even spent time talking about how we each overcame our nerves of launching new channels.

Chef Corso and I also made a video about our backpacking trip. Check it out here: Chef Corso and I Went Backpacking

All of Chef Corso’s meals are 10 ingredients or less, 30minutes or less, no pre prepping, no dehydrating and weigh close to or even less than the dehydrated alternative. All of the recipes are also organized by dietary restrictions and styles of meals.

We also talked about the types of ingredients he loves for outdoor cooking and where he likes to source his ingredients from.

Chef Corso asked me really fun ranking question that you’ll hear at about 50 minutes in and I’ll be using this question for the rest of my life.

John Lagow - Fly Fishing Guide, Arkansas River

John Lagow, professional fly fishing guide out of the historic Ark Anglers Fly Shop in B.V. Colorado joins the show.  I had an absolute blast getting to know yet another incredible guide, with another super unique story.  John found his way to guiding after coming to Colorado to paddle her storied waters at the young age of 19. 

We had a super lively conversation about his love for the Arkansas River, the whitewater that presents unique challenges to anglers, both new and experienced, and the landscapes that he gets to explore in the area.  We also spent time talking about some of the destinations John has traveled to like Cuba, Tanzania and Mexico in search of species like Tigerfish.

I'm looking forward to our next conversation about his life with sled dogs, a profession that John takes up at the end of his fishing season each year in Colorado.

Until next time, John, thanks for an incredible hour.

Erica Haller - Fly Fishing Angler/Guide & Python Hunter

Erica Haller is who we should all aspire to be in the outdoors; adventurous, curious, humble, educated and enjoyable.  Erica is exactly who I have wanted to meet since the day I started this podcast, several years ago.

We spent time talking about her background in the outdoors, her passion for public lands and teaching people about the incredible landscapes that we, as Americans, get to explore.  We also got to dive into the insane practice of invasive python hunting in the everglades, how to ethically dispatch of snakes and what Erica is able to do with those animals, honoring the resource.

We talked about fly fishing for tarpon, redfish and snook, among other species and her upcoming transition to trout in the American West.  

I loved hearing about the creative side of such an adventurous person and I'm honored to have gotten to know this woman, whom I now get to call my friend.  I'm so looking forward to hearing more about Erica's next chapter as a fly fishing guide in Montana, a profession that I know she is going to crush.

IG: EricaHolla

Dan from DC Outdoors

Dan, or DC Outdoors on Youtube joins the show to talk about our mutual love for the outdoors and making films about our experiences outdoors.

Dan's channel, one of my favorite on youtube, IG and Twitter, is all about helping people understand more about hunting, fishing and camping.

I've gotten to know Dan over the last two years on social media and we finally got a chance to talk face to face, over the internet of course.  We talked about cooking, gear, how to get away, with the family and without and a whole host of other topics.

Stick around for this outdoor adventure!

Dan's channels:

Youtube: DC Outdoors

Instagram: DC_Outdoors

Twitter: @DC1385

Chris Conant - Morning Dew Fishing Company

Chris Conant, owner of Morning Dew Fishing Company in Southwest Florida joins host AJ Eads on episode 21 of Outdoors Podcast.  Chris and I had an absolute blast talking about his career as a professional fly fishing guide. 

Chris is currently guiding for saltwater fish like tarpon, snook and redfish but just as recently as 2020, he was leading the fly shop at South Fork Lodge on the south fork of the snake river in SouthEast Idaho.  

We talked about why chris loves to guide, his career as a corporate attorney that he left to pursue a different lifestyle with his wife Becca.

The couple traveled the US in a tiny camper and from the moment I met Chris, I knew I wanted to get both of them on the show.  I'm hoping Becca will join me on a follow up episode as she's quite the character herself!

Enjoy!

Ali Boundy - Destination Wedding Photographer

Ali Boundy is a wedding photographer that specializes in destination weddings.  She’s based out of Lake Tahoe, and travels regularly for her projects.  We found her work through a former podcast guest and mutual friend. 

Our wedding went just about perfectly, and according to our simple plan.  Ali was a big part of our success.  We got to spend nearly three days together and I feel like I got to know her even better then we did on this podcast.

I invited Ali onto the show because I was interested in how she got into photography in the first place, who helped her along her journey, what type of equipment she shoots on and if she had any advice for other photographers that may be struggling to find their niche.

By fostering a culture of inclusivity, Ali has found a great community of clients that help her grow and expand her already awesome customers.

This was a really fun conversation with someone I know I’ll be friends with for quite some time.