Outdoors with AJ

Scott Jensen, CEO and Founder of Near Zero Outdoors joins the podcast to talk about a whole bunch of exciting news from Near Zero. We talked about Scott's youth, growing up as an Eagle Scout, and the outdoor skills that he learned through the program.

Scott spent the first 15 years of his career in corporate supply chain in the medical device and aerospace industries, which gave him exposure to global manufacturing partners and bes...

Chris McKleroy, Founder and CEO of NOCS Provisions joins host AJ Eads to talk about his background in the outdoors and the events that lead him to starting a Binoculars company that is shaking up the industry. 

NOCS Provisions got its start in the Bay Area of Northern California and now operates near the outdoor haven of Lake Tahoe.  Chris and the team have taken a very different approach to most of today's product companies and gr...

Nicole, the host of Dope Kitchen on Youtube, Tik Tok, Instagram and all of the other social media channels joins the show to talk about her love of backpacking and the outdoors in general. 

She shared some incredible stories about harrowing tales from different backpacking adventures including being flooded out of a campground, running from wildfires and escaping mountains via helicopter.  

I had an absolute blast getting to know N...

Adam Hudson grew up fishing for bass with his family in northern Alabama, where traditional gear fishing is king...hell it's practically religion.  Thanks to an uncle who brought a fly rod on a family trip to the smokies, Adam fell in love almost instantly and changed the course of his life forever.

A couple decades later, Adam and his friend Steve, opened Blue Line Co Flies and started offering specialty pattern flies to target th...

Chef Corso, owner of OutdoorEats and outdooreats.com sits down by the campfire in St. Genevieve Missouri at Hawn State Park for a conversation about his career in cooking. We talked about his love for food and the family members that helped him along the way. Chef Corso dove into the culinary school experience and his different jobs in the food industry.

After leaving a career in the test kitchens at Starbucks, Corso took a c...

John Lagow, professional fly fishing guide out of the historic Ark Anglers Fly Shop in B.V. Colorado joins the show.  I had an absolute blast getting to know yet another incredible guide, with another super unique story.  John found his way to guiding after coming to Colorado to paddle her storied waters at the young age of 19. 

We had a super lively conversation about his love for the Arkansas River, the whitewater that presents u...

Erica Haller is who we should all aspire to be in the outdoors; adventurous, curious, humble, educated and enjoyable.  Erica is exactly who I have wanted to meet since the day I started this podcast, several years ago.

We spent time talking about her background in the outdoors, her passion for public lands and teaching people about the incredible landscapes that we, as Americans, get to explore.  We also got to dive into the insane...

Dan, or DC Outdoors on Youtube joins the show to talk about our mutual love for the outdoors and making films about our experiences outdoors.

Dan's channel, one of my favorite on youtube, IG and Twitter, is all about helping people understand more about hunting, fishing and camping.

I've gotten to know Dan over the last two years on social media and we finally got a chance to talk face to face, over the internet of course.  We talk...

Chris Conant, owner of Morning Dew Fishing Company in Southwest Florida joins host AJ Eads on episode 21 of Outdoors Podcast.  Chris and I had an absolute blast talking about his career as a professional fly fishing guide. 

Chris is currently guiding for saltwater fish like tarpon, snook and redfish but just as recently as 2020, he was leading the fly shop at South Fork Lodge on the south fork of the snake river in SouthEast Idaho....

Ali Boundy is a wedding photographer that specializes in destination weddings.  She’s based out of Lake Tahoe, and travels regularly for her projects.  We found her work through a former podcast guest and mutual friend. 

Our wedding went just about perfectly, and according to our simple plan.  Ali was a big part of our success.  We got to spend nearly three days together and I feel like I got to know her even better then we did on ...

Craig Stephens has been the single most impactful character in my fly fishing career.  We all know the greats, the Kelly Gallops, The Flip Pallots, The Lefty Krehs…but in St. Louis, I associate two names with fly fishing, Tom Hargrove, the namesake of the store, and it’s manager Craig Stephens.

Craig is just about the nicest guy I know and one of the most welcoming humans I’ve ever had the chance to get to call my friend.  Craig ha...

In the first episode of a new series, Campsite Conversations, my buddy and return guest, Casey Heeter and I talk all things outdoors live from our campsite in the Red River Gorge area of the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Casey is a backpacking expert, having spent hundreds of nights in the woods, some of them being under -30 degrees for fucks sake.

Casey, my fiance Sara and I along with Casey’s dog Odin ...

In the next installment of Oar Stories, my series of interviews with professional fly fishing guides...Augy Knickmeyer joins the show.

Augy is the owner and principal guide for Missouri Fly Life Guide Co on rivers just outside the St. Louis area in Missouri.

Jack Donze and returning guies Ed Kimmill join the show to ask questions and provide a hell of a lot of entertainment.

We talk to Augy about how he got into fishing, what made ...

James Garrettson, owner of About Trout Fly Fishing guide service in Chama New Mexico joins the podcast to talk about his life and experience as a guide.

James makes recommendations on how to find a great fly fishing guide no matter where you are going, how to be a great fly fishing client, what makes New Mexico special and emphasizes the importance of fishing where you are.

For more information on James and his guiding service, che...

Paul from Aptitude Outdoors is an AT alumni, a kayaker, a hunter and a fellow lover of all things outdoors.

We had an incredible talk about how we got our starts on the trail, some in depth convo on hammocks and the ethics of hunting, and how more people could get involved.

I think Paul and I are going to do a lot more episodes in the future together and I’m super pumped to meet him in person this fall when backpacking season kicks...