Wilderness Systems named a record 36 professional anglers to its 2014 Pro Staff in a bid to push the sport of kayak angling to the next level through competition, instruction, and product development. While the brand has invested in the Pro Staff program for years, for the 2014 season Wilderness Systems is offering more kayak fishing leadership and coverage across the sport than ever before, including female and international anglers and experts across the categories of flat, off-shore, salt, and fresh water fishing.


 

Part of this growth has been made possible by appointing four regional managers to oversee the team, promote the sport, and ensure the brand is able to get perspective on kayak angling trends, needs, and news from all over the country. Managers are Jeff Little, Bobby Clark, CJ Siebler, and Troy Meyerhoeffer.  Additionally, Wilderness Systems welcomes eight newcomers: Cody Carpenter, Jonathan Leavitt, Jeff Malott, Jedediah Plunkert, Brenden Terrill, Callie Shumway, Jim Smith, and Mike Zilkowsky.

 


“The Wilderness Systems Pro Staff anglers are experts on everything related to kayak fishing and their insights and vast knowledge base are vital to the angling community as well as our brand’s design process,” said Evan Lyendecker, marketing manager for Wilderness Systems, one of several kayak brands owned by Confluence Outdoors of Greenville, SC. “By investing in the expansion of our carefully screened Pro Staff, we can, as a brand, cover more tournaments, host more retail demos and clinics, provide more first-hand product insight to inform design plans, and most importantly, have a larger ambassador group to help educate new anglers and foster the growth of this sport.”


 

The Wilderness Systems Pro Staff anglers will be competing in the world’s top fishing tournaments, hosting demos at local shops, guiding angling expeditions, writing informative articles, and hosting television shows throughout the 2014 season. Additionally, they each spend significant time testing an array of new products – some of which will launch at this summer’s Icast and Outdoor Retailer tradeshows – and providing feedback to the Wilderness Systems designers. Committed to building the best possible products for kayak anglers, Wilderness Systems relies heavily on continual research and testing from the Pro Staff.