Meet the Marketing Team 

Feelfree Admin
9/17/25

Not just hired guns, the marketing team at Feelfree is made up of passionate outdoorsmen, anglers, and paddlers with years of varied outdoor experience, dedicated to showing you the best of what you can do in our line of kayaks. We sat down with Clay Lucas and Colin Reis, the core of the marketing team, to talk a bit about their journeys, what gets them stoked, and what it’s like working in the kayak fishing industry!

FF // Thanks for taking the time to chat guys – for starters, just tell us a little about your background in fishing, the outdoor industry, and what led you to Feelfree Kayaks?

Colin // My family has a cabin on Turtle Lake MN, just outside the Twin Cities. Every summer growing up my sister and I would trap minnows, and we did a lot of bluegill fishing with worms and crawlers, but I didn’t take fishing seriously until I was in my 20’s. I’ve been in the outdoor industry for 17 years – I started working as a bike mechanic while I was in college in Chicago, I worked in various bike shops after that and eventually worked for a bike component manufacturer for 6 years when I moved to WNC. After I left the bike industry, I started doing some freelance marketing work and Feelfree was one of my clients. The relationship worked out great because Feelfree eventually offered me a full-time job in April of 2024. I worked my way up, starting as the Digital Marketing Manager and now I’m the Director of Marketing & E-Commerce.

Clay //  I grew up fishing with my dad – mostly for trout in the North Georgia mountains but also for bass, catfish and bluegill down on Lake Wateree in South Carolina. But I got into the kayak fishing industry mainly through my background in paddling whitewater kayaks. Feelfree has a long history with Pyranha Kayaks, who I was affiliated with for a long time, and when I moved back to the southeast Dinver Mclure helped bring me into the fold over here at Feelfree. About 4 years later here we are! It’s been super fun to take my experience in a whitewater boat, and filming and shooting that type of stuff, and translate it over to the fishing world. And hanging out fishing with some of the guys from the office and the team has expedited my bass learning curve exponentially, which has been loads of fun!

FF // Day-to-day, you guys do a lot of back-end marketing stuff, editing, product development, etc, but you also get to spend a lot of time in the field, testing products and creating content, can you tell us a little bit about that?

Colin // Going out and creating content (fishing from kayaks) for my job is truly a blessing – I love to fish (and so does Clay) so it’s a great opportunity for both of us to do something we love to do and get paid for it. Planning trips is very exciting – we get to decide where we want to go and what we want to fish for. However, it doesn’t always work out, for example we took a trip in early spring this year to Edisto Island SC to chase redfish, but the time of year couldn’t have been worse. There was snow on the ground when we arrived (they had an unseasonal snow storm the week before) and we didn’t see one redfish or one sea trout, let alone any baitfish or signs of life in the water during the four long days we were on the water. But we did harvest plenty of oysters and had oyster roasts every night – not a bad consolation prize!

Clay // Yeah we are insanely blessed to get to spend so much time on the water! Even though it can be stressful at times trying to make everything come together, on a timeline and a budget, dealing with weather and everything else unexpected that comes along on a shoot, I never take a day for granted that I get to spend working outside. And if we’re being honest, once we get the shots we need, I definitely pick up the rod and do plenty of fishing myself.

FF //  Any particularly memorable shoots or trips you guys have been on?

Colin // The most memorable trip so far has got to be when we went to Santee Cooper, SC this spring. We found an air bnb a quarter mile from the boat ramp we launched at every day. The terrain was unreal, basically a flooded swamp with miles upon miles of cypress trees in the water. Taking kayaks through the cypress trees allowed us to go to areas where bigger boats couldn't access. We all got on more bass than we could count, with a couple nice dandy’s in the mix.

Clay //  We’ve done some really cool stuff over the past year that makes it hard to pick a favorite – but one of the coolest ones for me was going back to my home river, the Chattooga, where I grew up learning to paddle. There is a species of redeye bass called a Bartram's Bass in there that is very unique to the Savannah River watershed, and it was super neat to take the Moken 10’s down an easier section of the whitewater run chasing after them. It was such a different experinece from what I am accustomed to paddling out there, and helped me see the river from a whole new perspective.  I’ve been back several more times primarily to fish in my personal time. 

FF //  Y’all are a bit notorious for marathon days on the water on these shoots!

Colin // Yeah, we want to make the most out of these shoots, and we love to fish, so naturally it ends up that way. Personally, I’ll starve before I’m ready to go back in, you never know what might be out there, and the chance of a big fish on the next cast is enough to keep me going. Going from sunup to sundown is a common occurrence.

Clay //  Oh yeah we get after it for sure, we make the most of it! Most of the trips we do are totally DIY – so it takes getting there and really figuring it out before we start getting on the fish. I think everyone can agree that kayak fishing content ain’t any good without any fish shots so it’s sometimes a little stressful when you’ve fished for a few hours with little success. But fortunately I work with a bunch of stud bass guys so they always end up figuring it out! Then once we’re catching fish, it’s hard to stop, so.... we will usually be on the water from basically sun-up to sundown when we have the opportunity to be!

FF // How about your local waters, any go-to spots you love there in WNC?

Colin // As any fishermen will tell you, sharing information on spots is not something we usually do (unless your a good friend). But I will say there are lots of good areas in WNC to catch bass, trout, and muskie.

Clay // The mountains here in WNC are famous for trout, but our larger rivers have really healthy populations of smallmouth bass.

FF //  Feelfree makes a whole line-up of kayaks, what’s your favorite?

Colin // I mainly fish rivers. I love being in a river, because it’s always changing; one day you’ll have success, and the very next day the same thing won’t work. It’s a challenge to consistently have success on a river, which is why I like it so much. Because of that, my favorite kayak is the Moken 10. It paddles well, it’s very nimble, and it’s easy to drag over stuff if you have to get out of the kayak. You also can throw it in the back of your truck or on top of the rack very easily.

Clay //  Well its awesome have a whole quiver at your disposal so we can choose based on conditions and where we are going – but the Lure 13.5 OD is my go-to for sure. It has plenty of room for anything you want to bring – and I usually bring a lot between tackle, rods, camera equipment, drone, spare parts, food, first aid kit, etc. It’s an awesome platform for a full day on the water, whatever you can throw at it. I’ve done up to 25 miles in a day on Lake Joccassee with the motordrive, fought the tide in the marshes at the coast, and it hasn't let me down yet!

FF  //  What are you listening to right now?  

Colin  //  Turnstile, Billy Strings, PUP

Clay  //  Wednesday, Rattlesnake Milk, Magic City Hippies 

FF // Outside of working for Feelfree, what can we find y’all getting into in your spare time?

Colin // In my NRS Slipstream floating a river chasing smallmouth - my favorite thing to do. I also love mountain biking, playing soccer, and hanging out with my two young daughters and two Jack Russels.

Clay // You can find me romping around with my dog Ranger, riding bikes, whitewater kayaking, running, chasing trout on the fly rod, and identifying cool birds.  I also volunteer with our local search and rescue squad and am currently working on my EMT. I roast coffee in my basement and will happily nerd out with you about it anytime.

- Feelfree Admin