River Girl reels in community

River Girl reels in community
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Kelly McCoy, owner of River Girl Fishing Company, teaches individuals the basics of fly-fishing. McCoy opened her store in Todd, N.C. Photo by Christy Bullins

by MEGAN NORTHCOTE
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

The first fish Kelly McCoy ever caught was a grass fish.
No, this is not a new species of fish. In fact, it’s not even a fish at all.
But for McCoy this is how her days on the river all began.

When McCoy was in college at Mississippi State University earning her degree in fishery science, a friend in one of her classes decided to teach her to fish.

He took her to the center of campus, set a hula-hoop on the lawn, handed her a fishing rod and told her “don’t even attempt to go into the water until you can land [the hook] in the hoop twenty times successfully,” McCoy said.
And that is how McCoy caught her first grass fish and learned to cast a fishing rod, a skill that would later shape her future career.

After mastering this skill, McCoy spent so much time on the river in graduate school that she became known as “River Rat” or “River Girl” among her friends.
And then one day, while working for a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Florida, McCoy decided to sell everything and move to Todd, N.C. with her fishing partner.
“I thought, what can I do with my background that would benefit the little town of Todd and that I would enjoy?” McCoy said.
And then it hit her: nowhere in Todd was there a place where people could purchase fishing supplies, obtain a fishing license or learn the art of fly-fishing.

Life vests line the walls of River Girl Fishing Company. McCoy rents canoes, selling fishing supplies and fishing licenses. Photo by Christy Bullins

Without waiting another minute, McCoy rented out a small room above a bakery in Todd, sold her four-wheeler to pay for expenses and opened the River Girl Fishing Company in July of 2006. “From the moment I was over there, people came in asking for inner tubes,” McCoy said.

In a matter of months, McCoy expanded her business to include not only fly-fishing rental and lessons, but also kayak rental, and eventually canoe, inner-tube and bicycle rental.

For the last couple years, McCoy has gotten a total of forty new boats from a boating company in Greensboro called Great Outdoors.

“[The owner of the company] told me to pick out any boat that I wanted for free and pay it off by July,” McCoy said. Using this system, McCoy picks out the boats she wants and sells the boats at the end of the season, using the profits to repay the company.
With the expansion of her company, McCoy has moved to a bigger location on Railroad Grade Road in Todd, NC.


She offers fly-fishing lessons, which includes a two-hour lesson in her front yard, learning the basics of casting and selecting the proper bait, just as she first did. For another hour, she takes participants to the New River to put their skills into practice. These three-hour lessons cost $50, which McCoy said is fairly reasonable compared to competing prices.
McCoy also rents out boats at reduced rates for college students and local Todd residents.

Discount rates for kayaking are $20 per person and $10 per person for tubing. Regular rates for Kayaking are $35 for a short trip and $45 for a long trip. Regular rates for tubing are $15 for a short trip and $20 for a long trip.
Lessons are also offered for those interested.
“Instead of personalized one-on-one lessons,” McCoy said “we actually walk out to the river to show them paddle strokes they need so they won’t be banging back and forth on the banks.”

River Girl Fishing Company is open to all ages and experience levels. McCoy encourages all college students to come out and experience the fun while also giving back to the environment.

Another opportunity McCoy offers is a monthly river clean-up of the New River where participants are given a free boat ride if they pick up trash along the way.

“I would spend a lot of time going down the river and I would spend most of my time picking up garbage,” McCoy said. “I thought how could I pick up trash and enjoy my trip down the river?” Prizes are awarded for the most trash collected and the most unique piece of trash. A free bar-b-que will be served afterwards.

The first clean-up day will be Sunday, May 3 and will continue on the first Sunday of every month.

“If you love something you’ll try to take care of it, try to protect it, do it the legal way,” McCoy said. “I’m hoping [visitors to River Girl Fishing Company] gain a love for the river and become stewards of the land.”

Contact Kelly McCoy at rivergirl24@skybest.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for the time of the clean-up and for more information.