After having successfully operated a fly fishing specialty store and guide service for almost 20 years, the business is in my blood, Fly Fishing Tec was born of an idea. The idea was to help enable small specialty retailers to run profitable businesses by answering their customers’ number one question “where do we go”. By combining and customizing a product commonly requested, with subtle “branding”, we have created a unique, inexpensive novelty gift item with potential to generate a current and future sale.
Upon several discussions with Dan Bryant, the former general manager of Fly Fishing Outfitters for twelve years, Fly Fishing Tec was launched this summer in June 2009. Our first challenge was to choose software to make our map products with. After a lengthy evaluation and upon their approval, we teamed with National Geographic to create a mapping product using their software.
Initially we offered a laminated, legal sized, place mat, with a USGS custom topo map on one side. The reverse was information about the area, the resource, the company or a conservation project specific to our customer. We also add the name of the business offering the product as well as their town, phone and web site information.
As varieties of our product emerged we began to offer options on both sides of our maps. Joe Tomelleri, trout portraits are a popular option.
Different levels of focuses have been offered to enable customers to best choose a map that suits their specific needs or the requirements of their clientele. Receiving many requests for entire watersheds we have created sets of most of the major rivers in the state of Colorado.
We now are offering back to back map products as well as narrative map products detailing river specifics like public access, gear, fishing techniques, special regulations, bug hatches, best flows and times of season.
Our company has chosen to market the mapping products directly to retail outlets in Colorado and to consumers via the Internet, with plans to expand in the Rocky Mountain Region, the remainder of the US, Canada and internationally. Several E-books are now offered with our other mapping products and river sets to consumers directly on line.
