Semi-Pro Angler & Motivational Speaker
Founder, Outdoor Friends Forever
Coosa River, AL
Jim Hardy is a semi-pro angler and was the first disabled fisherman to cash a check in a professional Bassmasters tournament. An avid outdoorsman, he was injured in 2001 in a fall from a tree stand but didn’t let that stop him from pursuing his passions.
Jim had been a bass fisherman all his life, but got really determined to join the tournament circuit after some pros told him he couldn’t ride in a boat anymore.
He’s also a fishing lure designer, creating and patenting the Hardy-tack which is a soft plastic crawfish lure sold nationwide. There are two colors of the lure named after Jim, the Hardy craw and Hardy magic.
Jim has been hunting deer going on 25 years and harvested deer in six different states. His biggest buck was a 181” Ohio giant.
When he’s not out fishing or hunting, Jim is a motivational speaker. In his spare time, he runs a non-profit organization called Outdoor Friends Forever that he founded in 2010. OFF takes children with disabilities out hunting and fishing.
Outdoor Friends Forever
www.outdoorfriendsforever.org/
jim@outdoorfriendsforever.org