Watching his buddy Steve Summer of Rock Outdoors in Lexington, North Carolina, catch a limit of Buggs Island bass on a golden-shiner-colored spinnerbait “they weren’t supposed to bite” might have been the confirmational moment in Vexus® Pro Brandon Card’s life to tell him sometimes it’s wise to step outside of your ordinary comfort zone.
Story by Alan McGuckin
Card and his wife, Kelly, left his native Northeast Tennessee, near Norris Lake, and moved five hours east to High Rock Lake, much closer to her family. Ironically, their home is within a few long casts on High Rock’s Second Creek, where Bryan Kerchal won the 1994 Bassmaster Classic.
“I actually got to meet Bryan’s parents at a B.A.S.S. Nation Championship I went to as a fan in Knoxville. I’ll always be a Bryan Kerchal fan, so living near the boat docks where he won the Classic on a red shad worm is pretty special to me,” says Card, a seven-time Classic qualifier.
Also, near and dear to the 38-year-old veteran pro’s heart is the way all the folks at Rock Outdoors have treated him like family and made him and Kelly feel at home.
“I can’t express how grateful I am for the fact that everyone at Rock Outdoors treated a guy from Tennessee as though I’d lived here forever. From the owner, Steve, to Jerry Davis to Austin in their service department, they all have been a huge blessing. They even helped carry boxes into our new home when we moved,” smiles Card.
He had a very similar feeling a couple of years ago after a visit to Flippin, Arkansas, as he studied which brand of boat he wanted to compete from going forward.
“When I visited the Vexus factory in Flippin for the very first time, Keith Daffron and all the great people who build their boats treated me like I’d been there forever. When you combine that feeling with the smoothest riding bass boat on the planet, it’s hard not to be extremely grateful to be running a Vexus, especially when competing in big waves at places like Champlain, Lake Ontario, and Toledo Bend,” says Card.
To learn more about the high-performance Vexus seats with integrated AirWave® suspension systems and all the other premium features of Brandon’s VX21, please visit vexusboats.com.
