AT News: “No Fish Dry July,” Pebble Mine and Tariff Insights
Industry updates for late-July: “No Fish Dry July,” Pebble Mine shut down, new boats, tariff insights from TrackFly.
Check out this week’s news and buzz from the fly-fishing industry. We weren’t at ICAST but here’s some stories we’re tracking: “No Fish Dry July,” Pebble Mine shut down, new boats, recent tariff insights from TrackFly.
Recent News
They Ain’t from Around Here: “If you’re at all interested in the discussion of native fish, wild fish, stocked fish and all the gradations in between, you owe it to yourself to check out this provocative, well-researched and superbly articulated piece by Miles Nolte. Dispatched from New Zealand, where introduced brown trout are both revered by many and reviled by others, it places an honest lens on a topic that will hopefully show those who think ‘put and take’ stocking of rivers is an outdated ideal that should have gone the way of the dodo years ago. At the same time, it tells those who think no river can be considered truly ‘healthy’ unless completely devoid of introduced species that they’re living in a fantasy world.” – Kirk Deeter
The Colorado River is Contaminated with Invasive Zebra Mussels. “With the discovery of additional larvae this summer, the Colorado River from Glenwood Springs to the Utah border is now considered positive for zebra mussels. The river can shed that designation only once routine testing confirms a lack of zebra mussel larvae for five continuous years. CPW has beefed up its sampling and lab staff to catch any additional larvae–called veligers–quickly.”
Keep Fish Wet Promotes “No Fish Dry July”: During one of the hottest months of the year, Keep Fish Wet encourages anglers to give our fish a break by keeping them wet and releasing them as quickly as possible. “As water temperature rises, fish become physiologically stressed, and the time it takes for them to recover from capture and handling increases, as does their chance of mortality after release…”
Catchflo to Cease Operations: Fishy footwear CEO Day Moyers noted on Instagram: “In June 2021, I launched Catchflo from scratch, bootstrapped and out of nowhere with a simple vision to create fun casual fishy footwear for passionate anglers. Four years later, the journey has come to an end, as I’ve made the difficult but necessary business decision to close Catchflo and end our run…”
St. Croix Fly Relaunches Legend Elite and Legend Elite Salt Fly Rods: St. Croix LEGEND ELITE and LEGEND ELITE SALT rods are back for 2026. Designed and precision crafted with the objective of helping all anglers “rule their water,” these all-new fly rods are rolled on the original angler-favorite LE and LE Salt mandrels, but have been completely updated with new materials, technologies and components.
Winston and Bauer Strengthen Sales Force with Key Hires: The R.L. Winston Rod Company and Bauer Fly Reels, located in Twin Bridges, Montana, announce two key additions to their sales team: Jay Beebe as Sales Manager and Tyson Webb as the Northern Rockies Sales Representative, covering Montana and Idaho.
Learn About The Yellow Dog Community and Conservation Foundation: “Founded in 2016, the Yellow Dog Community and Conservation Foundation (YDCCF) was created to give back to destination angling communities across the globe by providing much needed funding for local grassroots projects. To date, the Foundation has invested almost $2 million to help preserve, protect and enhance the communities and fisheries that matter to anglers.”
Administration Stands Firm: No Pebble Mine. From Bristol Bay Forever: “As the 2025 Bristol Bay fishing season closes with more than 50 million salmon returning, Bristol Bay businesses, fishermen and Tribes celebrate the Administration’s decision to defend America’s largest wild sockeye salmon fishery from legal challenges by a foreign mining company.”
Road Access Update For Colorado’s Blue River: On August 1st, the Bureau of Reclamation will reopen Summit County Road 1812 near Green Mountain Dam and Powerplant to vehicles and pedestrians. Periodic road closures may occur in the future if rain or snowmelt cause unsafe conditions below the slope. Removal of unstable slide material was successful, but future closures are still possible following precipitation.
Patagonia is putting their money where their mouth is on “worn wear,” after fully integrating secondhand products into their home page and branding. Learn more at Used Patagonia (85% of clothing ends up in landfills or gets incinerated).
Flylords was at ICAST and found some new product standouts: the Trutta Hubless fly reel stands out (it’s been out for a while), the Marsh Wear Pursuit Backpack (sized at 22L) and the Duck Camp Rockport Pro Guide Hoodie.
The Blue Quill Angler from Evergreen, CO wants you to support your local fly shop, before “it’s too late.” The culprits? “Big-box retailers, Amazon, inflation and even the suppliers, who are having it both ways by supporting both the specialty retailers and selling DTC.” We’d argue there’s a lot more going on than simply three or four market dynamics: Boomers aging out, tariffs, radically evolving consumer behaviors (fully enabled smartphone commerce), younger demos “participating” in fly fishing, but maybe it’ not their sole outdoor focus, i.e. more broad-based outdoor interests.
Recent Fly-fishing Jobs
Natives Fly Fishing Sales and Marketing Representative. “The ideal candidate will have a strong passion for fly fishing, combined with skills in sales, marketing and customer engagement. You will be responsible for expanding our market presence, driving sales, managing marketing campaigns and representing Natives Fly Fishing in the community.”
Fly Water Travel Destination Manager. Far Bank Enterprises is seeking a dedicated and experienced travel professional to join our Fly Water Travel team as a Destination Manager. This individual will play a key role in a collaborative, fast-paced environment, balancing the needs of guests, staff and global destination partners.
Mayfly Outdoors Customer Service Manager. Mayfly Outdoors is seeking an experienced Customer Service Manager to oversee the success of business relationships with their clients. “As the Customer Service Manager, the expectation is to build strong relationships with Mayfly Outdoors customers; with a focus on aligning customer experience initiatives with business objectives, you will build lasting relationships with internal teams and external partners.”
Alaska King Salmon Lodge Fishing Guide. “We are seeking an experienced, enthusiastic, and safety-minded Fishing Guide to join our team at a premier fishing lodge located on the Naknek River in King Salmon, Alaska. This is a seasonal, full-time position with competitive pay based on experience, and includes room and board.”
Boats For Sale
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 fishing options this week:
Fly-fishing Industry Trends
TrackFly is a data aggregation and analytics platform, connecting specialty retailers, brands and sales professionals. They are helping Flylab track key industry trends.
How are tariffs playing out with consumers in the fly-fishing industry?
TrackFly data shows that year-to-date total product sales have been down approximately ~3% YTD (versus 2024) for January-June.
However, we are actually seeing growth in a few “consumables” categories, which tells us that people are definitely getting on the water and fly fishing. Overall, though, they have yet to spend their disposable income on new, higher-dollar equipment like they have in previous years. If more favorable economic news comes forth before the summer peaks, we would expect more consumers to loosen up and make more higher-dollar purchases within the season.
This data seems to line up with results from a new survey recently reported on by outdoor industry publication, SGB Media, “A recent survey conducted by ESW, compiled in ‘Impact of Tariffs on Purchasing Decisions,’ reveals that, aside from discounts or promo codes, consumers want free shipping, loyalty rewards and transparent communication about price increases in exchange for higher tariff-induced costs.” 60% of U.S. consumers say they will hold off on purchasing items that increase in price by 10% or more this year due to tariffs.
What fly-fishing product categories are seeing more sales volume/activity? What categories are seeing less sales?
Year-to-date, categories we think of as consumables–flies, leader/tippet, some fishing accessories (nets, floatant, split-shot/weight), some fishing tools (knives, tool kits)–have been selling better than last year. That strongly suggests that anglers are getting out on the water at least as much as last year.
Conversely, other categories of higher-dollar products have been generally down so far this year: softgoods, rods, reels, wading, luggage & cases, packs & vests and watercraft.
Some of these categories are down only a little; but a couple are down double-digits. It appears that, more so than in the past, people are sticking with their older durable gear in more instances, rather than buying the new products. But again, at least people are out fishing; and higher-dollar sales could pick up as the season progresses.
Watercraft is down double-digits YTD: kayaks, canoes, rafts, SUP's and accessories. However, float tubes, which are a small portion of the watercraft category, have been up this year.
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