Our Story
Our Story
High Country Boats was formed in 2012 by long time friends Matt Maness and Les Vance. Both growing up in North Carolina, Matt and Les first met fishing on the river as teenagers, and have been fishing buddies ever since.
During a few late night camp fire whiskey sessions, the idea of High Country Boats was born, and after growing up building boats for their own personal use, the two were off and running, and set out to build the best drift boats in the world.
Starting from the ground up, High Country Boats’ goal was to build a better boat, a boat designed by guides who understood what was needed and where it needed to go. We are incredibly proud to row these boats ourselves, and even prouder to see others in the fishing community enjoying them as well.
Currently Matt spends his summers guiding for Foscoe Fishing Company in Western North Carolina, and Les guides for Duranglers Fly Shop in Durango, Colorado. The winter months are spent working hard in the boat shop, “product testing” on the Tennessee tailwaters, and pointlessly hunting for musky.
Matt Maness
Les Vance
After spending several seasons guiding, it was clear that their was much room for improvement in the drift boat world, and the two had plenty of ideas of what they wanted in a boat.
During a few late night camp fire whiskey sessions, the idea of High Country Boats was born, and the two have made it their mission ever since to build the best drift boats in the world.
Starting from the ground up, High Country Boats’ goal was to build a better boat, a boat designed by guides who understood what was needed and where it needed to go. We are incredibly proud to row these boats ourselves, and even prouder to see others in the fishing community enjoying them as well.
Currently Matt spends his summers guiding for Foscoe Fishing Company in Western North Carolina, and Les guides for Duranglers Fly Shop in Durango, Colorado. The winter months are spent working hard in the boat shop, “product testing” on the Tennessee tailwaters, and pointlessly hunting for musky.
Matt Maness