AT News: Could Fly Casting Be An Olympic Sport?

Granted, fly casting isn’t exactly born of the warrior tradition of the ancient Greeks, but it’s still about a stick and a string.

Could Fly Casting Be An Olympic Sport?

In the world of sport, it’s hard to top the high drama and energy the Olympic Games offer. Maybe it’s the anticipation that gets built up over four years, and maybe it has something to do with the fact that the football season is over. But the Milan/Cortina Winter Games delivered, big time.

Wow. What a couple of hockey games. First, the American women beat Canada in 2-1 OT, and then the U.S. men stunned their Canadian counterparts (who clearly controlled the game for at least 40 of the 60 regulation minutes), also 2-1 in OT (Jack Hughes scores the game winner, and, yes, two of the three Hughes brothers went to Michigan).

But there was so much more, from acrobatics and adrenalin on the slopes, to the uncommon poise and grace on the figure skating rink, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton (that’s nuts) and more.

But I must offer a special tip of the toque toward the strategy and finesse associated with the sport that for some reason had me glued to my seat and watching TV during the Games more than any other… curling.

If you’ve ever tried curling, you know that just launching a stone without tipping over on your face is a highly athletic skill, let alone sliding and brushing as you guide a stone into the house without tripping over a guard and falling on your keister. And I still marvel at the strategy, how curlers are always thinking three or four ends down the road. Amazing.

That got me to think that not all Olympic sports involve speed, aerial feats, sweat, blood and/or tooth fragments strewn on ice. Some sports are all about skill, grace, accuracy and such.

Which kind of describes fly casting to a “T.”

So, I have to ask the question: Why not Olympic fly casting?

I mean, how different would that be than archery? Granted, fly casting isn’t exactly born of the warrior tradition of the ancient Greeks, but it’s still about a stick and a string.

Gunpowder makes the shooting sports work; that’s all about aim and controlling your heartbeat (which isn’t easy!). Golf is an Olympic sport now. Equestrian is interesting for sure, but don’t you sometimes wonder who’s doing the hardest part?

Sailing can definitely be physical, but that has a lot to do with strategy also. Maybe if there were a way to mix strategy into casting–like curling–we’d stand a better chance of earning Olympic status.

I don’t think that actual trout fishing should be an Olympic sport, because no matter how you slice it, the person who fishes the water where the most fish are has quite an advantage. Fishing competitions should be for fun, foremost, and if they raise money for conservation causes, so much the better.

I suppose conventional casters would have something to say if fly casting were included in the Olympics and they were not. Surf casting is pretty difficult, but that’s like long drive competitions in golf. I’ve found flipping and pitching bass baits around lily pads to be like playing miniature golf around bumpers and windmills. Not saying there’s anything wrong with that, it just doesn’t strike me as “Olympian.”

Now, I admit that I’ve been on record saying that anything you can do and smoke a cigar at the same time should not be considered a sport at all. And fly casting probably falls into that category.

But in this day and age of commercial over-indulgence couldn’t fly casting be worth at least a few chants of “U-S-A?” – Kirk Deeter

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The Bitterroot River near the confluence of the Clark Fork. A proposed mine in one of the last great places? What are we doing…

Recent News

• Ryan Busse writes about the Sheep Creek Proposed Mining Project in Montana’s Bitterroot River valley. Try to imagine anything dumber than proposing to mine high-grade, heavy rare earth elements, such as neodymium, praseodymium and gallium, on over 4,500 to 7,200 acres of Bitterroot National Forest (at the headwaters of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork Rivers). Busse is also running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Montana’s First Congressional District against the patently corrupt Ryan Zinke, who is pushing the project as part of the administration’s U.S. Critical Materials initiative. “It’s tough to overstate how important rivers are to our state and how they define who we are. Montanans orient themselves to rivers. When we talk about The Flathead, The Blackfoot, The Swan, or The Bitterroot, we are referring to entire ecosystems, towns, businesses, people, and valleys, all of which are anchored to a river.”

• From American Rivers: A joint statement after Colorado River Basin states fail to agree on long-term solution for the river. “The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for post-2026 operations makes clear that the system is operating with little margin for delay. Basin snowpack is at record lows, storage at Lakes Powell and Mead remains precarious, and hotter, drier conditions that present increased wildfire risks, water quality concerns, and water supply restrictions and shortages are now the operating reality.” Also from American Rivers, check out their Protected Rivers Explorer to see how secure your state’s rivers are (of the nation’s 4.4 million miles of rivers, roughly 80% are inadequately protected and 64% are completely unprotected).

• Public lands draw bipartisan voter support–Alex Heard reports on the recent Conservation in the West poll numbers in Common Ground from Re:Public. “In this year’s edition of the annual Conservation in the West poll–an influential bipartisan snapshot of voter preferences in eight Western states–support for the protection of shared outdoor spaces has grown to its highest level yet. According to the 2026 survey, which sampled 3,419 adults in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, 76% of respondents want their congressional representative to place more emphasis on public lands protection than on increased extraction of oil, gas, and minerals from such lands. In 2019, 65% agreed with a similar statement; last year, the total was 72%.”

• From Mountain Journal: Warming summers force early fishing closures. Yellowstone is making a shift. “Summer heat has closed Yellowstone National Park rivers to anglers so frequently, park officials will open the fishing season almost a month early this spring. The new Yellowstone fly-fishing season starts May 1st, about three weeks ahead of the usual Memorial Day weekend opening. The change affects three rivers: the Firehole, the Gibbon and the Madison.”

• Where’s the weather: Western Snow Retailers on This Year’s Drought. Todd Frank, the owner of The Trail Head in Missoula, MT, “‘It feels like all the chickens have come home to roost at the same time,’ Frank said. ‘Price increases due to tariffs are real, lack of weather is real, consumer confidence given the national level chaos is real. Lots of job insecurity among federal and state level employees. Many factors are stacking up. That said: if it was NUKING snow all January, things would feel different. I like to say the economy doesn’t mean sh*% if it snows a ton…’”

• The extraction grift rolls on: Last week, the administration repealed the EPA’s “endangerment finding,” protecting U.S. citizens (and our resources) from greenhouse gas pollution. “The Trump Administration repealed the endangerment finding on Thursday, marking its most aggressive climate rollback to date. The landmark legal framework allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Revoking the finding now gives the administration authority to erase greenhouse gas pollution limits from cars, power plants, and industries.”

• From The Hill: Teddy Roosevelt’s descendants press senators on public lands and to permanently protect Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. They wrote, “Because of the foresight of America’s early Republican leaders, the Boundary Waters has risen (as per the Department of the Interior) to become America’s most heavily visited wilderness area. Its greatness goes way beyond Minnesota, it is the fourth pillar of all of America’s greatest continental wilderness terrain…”

• Aging dams in Michigan and their attendant water quality, public access and financing concerns: Michigan Conservation Groups Oppose Consumers Energy’s Proposed Sale of Dams to Private Equity Firm. Howard A. Learner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, and lead attorney for the five Michigan-based Conservation Groups, said of the recent proposal, “Five leading Michigan conservation groups are making the expert witness supported policy, economic, business and environmental case why the Michigan Public Service Commission should reject this misguided proposed sale of 13 hydro dams to an out-of-state private equity firm that will cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars in higher charges on their electricity bills.”

• Captains For Clean Water have successfully helped to remove an agricultural “disparagement” provision in Florida’s Farm Bill (Section 48 from SB 290) from both the Senate and House versions of the bill. From CFCW: “Section 48 would have expanded Florida’s existing food disparagement law to include agricultural practices and added one-way attorney’s fees, raising serious concerns about free speech, public accountability and the ability to speak openly about practices impacting Florida’s water quality. So, it’s removal from the bill marks a major development. But it didn’t happen by accident. It happened because nearly 10,000 people sent emails, almost 2,000 made phone calls, and countless others showed up, shared and refused to let this slip through quietly.⁠”

• Sewage Spill in the Potomac River. “On January 19, a sewer line in Montgomery County, Maryland, collapsed, causing an overflow of more than 200 million gallons of wastewater into Potomac River. On January 24, DC Water completed a bypass to reroute wastewater around the collapsed section of pipe and back into the sewer system.” The political blame game has begun.

• U.S. YETI sales have slowed: YETI Focused on International Growth as U.S. Revenue Declines in 2025. “YETI’s international markets accelerated as its U.S. business faced ongoing challenges. U.S. sales declined 1% for the full year, with Q4 showing a 2% increase to $447.8 million. In Q4, international sales grew 25% to $136 million, representing 23% of total quarterly sales. For the full year, international sales increased 16% to $394.4 million. ‘The international addressable market exceeds the U.S.,’ CEO Matt Reintjes said. ‘International has grown from 2% of sales to 21% since the IPO.’ Growth was broad-based across regions, with strength in Australia and Europe, as well as continued momentum in Japan, which launched in the second quarter of 2025.”

• Orvis Sells Roanoke, VA Warehouse to Coca-Cola Affiliate. “Longtime corporate fixture The Orvis Co. sold its Roanoke warehouse two months ago amid a major restructuring in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs. The new arrangement is among a number of changes made as Orvis faces tariffs implemented last year that created a barrier to procuring goods imported from Asia. Orvis President Simon Perkins explained ‘tariffs disrupted our business model in ways we haven’t faced before.’”

• Upstart lodging company (with properties in Montana and Colorado) in financial turmoil–from the Flathead Beacon: LOGE to Shutter Historic Izaak Walton Inn, Other Properties Amid Bankruptcy. “Three years after a Washington-based hospitality company purchased the historic Izaak Walton Inn at Essex (near Glacier National Park) and invested heavily in renovating the three-story hotel, bar and restaurant, its board of directors discovered a real estate portfolio ‘in significant distress,’ according to internal emails to investors. Facing a lack of cashflow and ‘the inability to continue paying required operating costs,’ the board is winding down operations across all its properties, including the Izaak Walton Inn.”

• More on Montana’s historic Izaak Walton Inn and its nebulous future. “Local residents told MTFP that they were concerned about the staff, many of whom had become friends over the years. But they were also wondering what would happen to the community of Essex now that the inn at its heart is once again about to be closed, this time, with no firm plans about its future. Thane Johnson, an attorney who splits his time between Helena and Essex, said the inn is in great shape and would be an attractive business for a new owner. Although if LOGE declares bankruptcy, Johnson said it could be months before the legal issues are resolved and the inn is reopened…”

• From the Los Angeles Times: The mentality reshaping Gen Z’s shopping habits. “Each generation’s spending proclivities reflect the economy in which it came of age. Baby boomers, raised in postwar prosperity, chased middle-class milestones like cars and homes. Gen X, burned by the dot-com bust, prioritized saving. Millennials, scarred by the Great Recession, were the YOLO generation, spending on experiences. Gen Zers–the most online consumers in history–spend to broadcast their personal brands. Brand matters less for products that aren’t long-term investments.”

• Influencers will soon rule the marketing space between businesses and consumers, for younger generations at least: Outdoor Retailer Announces Content Creator Program for August Show. “Outdoor Retailer will debut the Wild Reach Initiative, a program embedding 150 outdoor-focused creators directly into the show, this August in Minneapolis. Creators and brands will come together on the show floor to capture their experiences and reactions to the show to share with their audiences online, according to a news release. ‘This isn’t just an addition to our programming; it’s a fundamental reimagining of what a trade show can be,’ said Lindsay Hubley, senior vice president of the Sports & Outdoor Division at Emerald, Outdoor Retailer’s parent company.” This is the single biggest reason media ad dollars (for display advertising) are evaporating–content creators (influencers) are becoming ad proxies for the endemic brands. Gen Z doesn’t really care about your brand logo or website colors–what they’re tuned into is the trust embedded in the (content creator, influencer) delivery mechanism. Food for thought if you’re selling stuff online.

Don’t miss it.

Fly-fishing Media

Hunter Leavine interviews Andy Prince of Manchester Orchestra: From Stages to Skiffs. “One of the most practical insights Andy shared had nothing to do with fishing or music directly–it had to do with jealousy. Instead of letting jealousy harden into resentment, he learned to turn it into admiration. To look at people who were further along and say, ‘You’re good. That’s why you’re here.’ Not sarcastically. Honestly. That shift–from comparison to curiosity–changes everything. It opens doors. It builds relationships. It removes the weight of constant self-measurement.”

• Charles Gaines on his tarpon trip to Campeche, Mexico. “Campeche Bay’s 815-square-mile Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve provides extensive habitat for juvenile tarpon–the mangrove forest along the coast is one of the world’s largest. According to Aaron Adams, the director of science and conservation for the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, the tarpon here most likely spawn offshore of Veracruz, and ocean currents bring the larvae into the mangrove swamps of the Reserve. There they thrive, growing in about a year to a foot or so long before moving at different stages into first the creeks, then the mangrove shorelines, and finally into the grass flats of the open bay. At about six years old, the Campeche tarpon leave the bay to follow one of two offshore migratory patterns, which explains why the ones caught here range uniformly in weight between five and a maximum of sixty pounds…”

• Will Rice interviews Jim Klug from Yellow Dog Flyfishing about losing his sight after a boating accident in Bolivia. “We were moving downstream in big 28-foot dugout canoes with a guide, two anglers, and two local boatmen poling us along with long wooden poles. As we entered a fast section of water, the front boatman tried to push us off a rock outcropping. His pole jammed between the rocks, but instead of letting it go, he held on and tried to muscle it free. As the boat drifted, the pole bent back like a drawn bow until he couldn’t hold it anymore. When it slipped from his hands, it snapped back and hit me square in the face…”

• Deeter is discussing his new fly-fishing book: A Fishable Feast: Fly Fishing and Eating Your Way Around the World at Ladybird Books (Charleston, SC) in March. Get a ticket to the reading. “From crystal-chalk streams to saltwater flats, untamed jungles and cascading mountain streams, this collection literally offers up the ‘tastes’ of the most epic fly-fishing adventures in the world. Fly fishing is ultimately less about catching fish and more about the experience–uniquely beautiful places and the people you meet along the way…”

• Colorado public access challenges are highlighted in Common Waters, a film about the long history of conflict between public anglers and private landowners, and, hopefully, a sober legislative solution for everyone in 2026. The state of Colorado’s lack of clarity regarding river “navigability” and the public’s rights to stream access are creating an environment of increased conflict between anglers and landowners. The Colorado Stream Access Coalition (CSAC), in partnership with organizations like American Whitewater, is aggressively pursuing a legislative fix during the 2026 Colorado Legislative Session to resolve the state’s notoriously vague river access laws. Their primary goal is to codify the “right to float,” providing legal protection for recreationists, while balancing the concerns of private landowners.

Gear Buzz

• The House of Fly (kind of) reviews the new Sage Power R8: “The intended applications for the Power R8 are clear. It is showcased as an ideal choice for streamer fishing for large trout, saltwater and inshore species requiring quick, long shots, and situations where ‘into-the-backing-knot’ casts are routine rather than exceptional. Large rivers, expansive stillwaters, and open coastal zones dominate the visual narrative, reinforcing that this rod is designed for anglers who operate beyond typical trout distances and rely on modern, heavy fly systems to get the job done.”

• From Nick Parish: How To Buy a Used Fly Rod. (And, no, as Nick points out–used fly rods don’t come with warranties.) “Light scratching, dirty cork, a little bit of wear on the ferrules is to be expected. Where you need to really squint is knowing what is cosmetic, and what’s a dealbreaker. My biggest watch-out are deeper scratches, and anything resembling a crack. One of the easiest ways to break a fly rod is to strike it with a heavy fly on the forward cast, like a bass popper, or a heavy nymph. When this collision happens, it can introduce micro cracks in the graphite, which then won’t manifest until the rod is bent under stress, sometimes casting, sometimes fighting a fish…”

• Spencer Durrant on The Best Beginner Fly Rods of 2026. “You can certainly get lost in the weeds when it comes to fly rods, but the good news is that the beginner fly rod market has never been more robust than it is now. The gap between good and great fly rods is ever-decreasing, and the rods beginners use today are vastly superior to what I started with.”

• From GearJunkie: A closer look at why PrimaLoft is a go-to insulation for cold-water fly fishing. “PrimaLoft was initially developed for the U.S. Army as a water-resistant alternative to down. Today, it’s widely used in outdoor gear for its unique blend of warmth, packability, and weather resistance. Unlike down, PrimaLoft fibers are treated to resist moisture, so they retain loft and warmth even when wet, a key feature that benefits anglers. Think of it this way: if GORE-TEX is known for keeping water out, PrimaLoft is known for keeping warmth in.”

• Flylords highlights New 2026 Products from Denver’s Fly Fishing Show. Skwala’s RS Bibs ($549) stand out: “The RS Bib prioritizes mobility and weather protection without the bulk of traditional foul-weather gear. Stretch materials, practical zipper placement, and reinforced knees make it a piece designed for long days when you’re casting, rowing, and kneeling.”

• Thinking about EVs: from The Free Press: The Car World Is Going Electric, Without America. “How did we get here? The easy answer–that American consumers simply never wanted electric vehicles–is a lazy one. The harder truth is that Detroit’s retreat from EVs is the result of a spectacular cascade of failures: by automakers who never took the transition seriously, dealers who actively undermined it, and a political environment that turned the simple act of buying an electric car into a toxic political statement. This matters because America is now falling behind in what may be the most consequential industrial transformation since the automobile itself. Batteries that power electric vehicles are the same ones America needs to power next-generation products like drones, humanoid robots, and AI data centers. These technologies are crucial to our national security…”

• SITKA Gear, an industry leader in hunting apparel, has announced its brand footprint is expanding into the fishing category (SITKA Fish): “We approached our all-new line of fishing gear with the same intensity, insight, and intuition we earned through decades of perfecting hunting gear. Engineered for every type of angler, each piece of gear is designed to work in harmony as part of a complete fishing system that knows no bounds. Simply put, it’s built to keep you out there, come rain, shine, hell, or high waters.” We’ll be reviewing waders (CrossCurrent Zip GTX Wader, CrossCurrent GTX Wader), boots (CrossCurrent Wading Boot) and jackets (CAT-5 Jacket, Stormfront Jacket).

• Jim Klug from Yellow Dog Flyfishing at Sitka’s WORLD HQ in Bozeman, MT, checking out the CrossCurrent Wading Boots ($299): they come with durability, abrasion resistance and minimized stitching.

Fly Tip of the Week

The Slip-and-Grasp (fish landing) technique from Epic Fly Rods. “Instead of rushing the landing, guide the fish with your fly rod tip in the opposite direction of its movement. As the rod tip moves away from the fish, allow the line to gently slip through your stripping finger until you are able to grasp it with your line hand. The key is tension with gentle resistance–enough to stay connected, but not so much that a last-second run results in a break-off…”

Boating News

Small Craft Sales is the go-to marketplace for buying and selling small boats and other specialty watercraft. Looking to buy or sell a small boat? Check out the brand-new used boat marketplace: modern, searchable, community-driven platform built for anglers, paddlers, rowers, tinkerers, outboard junkies and anyone dreaming of their next waterborne adventure.

Best SCS fishing options this week:

• Brand new 2026 Low Side Gradient Boulder Boats Works Dory on the site with a healthy price break. This boat is the sports car of the fleet, and one of the most fun, nimble drift boats we’ve ever rowed.

• Stealth Craft has 13 boats listed at Small Craft Sales right now–everything from a custom wood flats skiff, Modified-V’s and a Mini Jet to a pile of drift boats and Hooligans. Tons of varied fishing boats for varied waters and conditions.

• New poling skiffs: 2022 Maverick 17 HPX-S Carbon, 2016 Cayo 173, 2104 East Cape Vantage, brand new Wingmaster Fin & Feather 17 and what a seller is calling the Ultimate Flats Weapon: a fully rebuilt 2004 Maverick HPX 17 Kevlar Skiff.

• RIO CRAFT has a pile of fresh looking rafts–lots of decked-out, fishing-ready boats in this list. Great prices too.

• HYDE has three used boats listed: 2018 Boulder Boatworks Highside for $16,000, 2018 Clacka Eddy 360 and, of course, their namesake: a 2022 XL Low Profile.

Adipose Boatworks from Montana had a production facility fire last week. “A big thank you to the Helena and the East Helena fire department for their quick response time. Thankfully, the majority of our molds survived. There was some damage to a few molds but nothing was lost completely. We lost a lot of our crucial equipment. There are still a lot of unknowns. What we do know is that we will rebuild and the show will go on…”

@adiposeboatworks

Adipose Boatworks on Instagram: "It’s been a rough start to the…

Lessons in Fiberglass: In Field Notes: Fool’s Gold & Fiberglass, Hunter Leavine chronicles time spent helping build a skiff under the guidance of veteran Florida builder Harry Spear. What starts as a romantic idea–building a boat by hand–quickly becomes an education in repetition, patience and humility. The work is slow. The materials are unforgiving. Mistakes are inevitable. And that’s the point…

Interview with Brian Berry of Let ‘Em Run Drift Boats. Brian is the guy behind Let ’Em Run, building some of the most interesting, guide-bred craft out there: foam-cored, vacuum-infused drift boats, skiffs, and hybrid raft setups designed to solve the stuff guides actually complain about–boats that are too heavy, interiors that eat fly line and platforms that can’t get into the good water…

More news: The Colorado River Basin states missed the latest deadline on a long-term management framework, which should concern anyone who rows, fishes, farms, or simply turns on a tap in the West. The future of flows matters, and you can dig into the details over at American Rivers. On the boat-nerd, fix-what-you-broke front, Chesapeake Light Craft walks through surviving a full-blown wooden boat catastrophe with step-by-step instructions and photos from a paddle board repair that went sideways (before it went right). Meanwhile, Emo Electric is running a legitimately strong deal on Torqeedo Travel motors and batteries (use code TRAVEL10 at check out to save 10%), and Small Craft Sales is officially experimenting with moving some used outboards through the site.

TrackFly Industry Trends: January 2026

The first month of 2026 was interesting in that we measured +5% total YOY sales growth, but substantially varying trends across product categories. Some categories were up double-digits in dollar-sales compared to January of 2025 (Rods, Lines, Accessories, Tools, Combos), and others were down (Packs-Bags, Luggage-Cases, Watercraft). However, January is always a small month for sales volume (with the exception of Fly Tying), and volatile percent-trends are not uncommon with small volume months.

That said, we did see something in January that was entirely expected, and that is markedly higher ASP’s (Average Selling Prices) across most categories. Higher ASP’s actually began showing themselves during Q4 of last year, as many brands implemented higher MSRP’s on a variety of SKU’s, largely due to 2025 tariffs. Of course, we expect to see it for most of the coming year.

To recap January: total product sales were up +5%, total units were down -3% and ASP’s were up more than +8%. When dollar-sales are up, but units are down, it’s hard to call that growth. Anglers aren’t buying more, they’re just paying more.

And when that is driven by higher supply chain costs, then neither the brands nor the retailers are generally putting more to the bottom line, at least not per unit sold.

Looked at another way, almost everyone’s costs are higher this year than they were in 2024 and 2025. That’s true for consumers too. So, if the fly fishing industry is going to stay strong, it will depend on a number of factors: the usual steady flow of interesting new product, the ready availability of that product in the channel and consistently good customer service on the part of fly shops taking care of anglers. Some retailers will fare better than others, but keeping those retailers stocked on core styles will be an important factor that every brand can participate in.

There will also be factors outside our control: seasonal weather, spring runoff conditions, the possibility of additional tariff impositions, etc. When it comes to those factors, at least we are in it together. And remember, overall we are coming off of a relatively decent year in 2025.

For context, some other outdoor verticals are not doing as well. General Outdoor sales were flat-to-slightly-down in 2025 (with unit-sales decidedly down). Bicycling was clearly down in 2025, in both dollar- and unit-sales. Even the running industry was reported to have been flat-to-down in units.

If we learned anything great from 2025, it was that the old saying really seems to hold true: “If the economy is good, people go fishing; and if the economy is bad, people still go fishing.” We saw solid evidence of that in the consistent growth of the Flies category all last year–and it was up again in January (versus prior year). Flies sell-through continues to grow, meaning that people continue to get on the water (and into the fly shops), even in our slower months.

Beyond consumables (Flies, Leader-Tippet, Accessories, some Tools), if we want to see consistent sell-through in 2026, especially on higher-dollar equipment, there are some business priorities within our control.

One crucial factor we can’t say enough about is the importance of the brand-dealer relationship. Dealers shouldn’t ever have to “stockout” of brands’ most core, high-volume products. Connecting with key retail partners through TrackFly’s Sales Insights can help brands (and retailers) avoid painful and expensive stockouts. (TSI is not order fulfillment software. Instead, it’s a shared collaborative dashboard, with monitors and alerts, outlining inventory and sell-through insights for brands and retailers–ideally, to save time, avoid unnecessary stockouts and reduce excess inventory.)

TrackFly is a data aggregation and analytics platform, connecting specialty retailers, brands and sales professionals. They are helping Flylab track key industry trends.

Music

From Bruce Springsteen: a new box set–Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition–and one of the better remasters of 2025. Songs worth listening to: Losin’ Kind, Child Bride, Gun in Every Home, Atlantic City, Highway Patrolman, Nebraska. There’s never a good time to queue up Nebraska, but it’s an album you’ll come back to year after year, marking the passing years, lost friends and lonely drives across Wyoming. The Pitchfork write up on one of the most foundational and lonesome records in rock music. “Bruce Springsteen was right. At the risk of oversimplifying the merits of this handsome box set, spoiling the plot of his dramatic new biopic, and squashing 40-plus years of fervent mythmaking, the truth is as Springsteen always insisted. Even when testing out the material with his most intuitive collaborators, working with some of the best songs he’d ever written, the definitive version of Nebraska remains the one he captured on tape in his Colts Neck home in January 1982: just a depressive guy in his early 30s with an acoustic guitar, a TASCAM PortaStudio, and an Echoplex, tracking solo demos for his next full-band record. Everything he tried in the following months, as it turns out, was an experiment. But, lord, what an experiment…” – Andrew Steketee