Today, I read this very perceptive Chi Wulff blog piece about Lappier’s latest article, where the fly shop owner reveals Simms pulled his dealership four days after he posted the above-mentioned article.

Hmm.

Here’s an excerpt from The Trout Shop owner Lappier’s most-recent (and lengthy) piece:

Instead of a supportive relationship, Simms “believes I am intent upon damaging their brand that they have worked so hard to develop”. With a hefty existing Simms inventory on hand at The Trout Shop, damaging the Simms brand seems foolish. Any damage to the Simms brand, I believe, starts within Simms’ own hierarchy. I disagree with their assertion and am only critical of Simms’ distribution polices. As I told Simms, I do not support their previous distribution policy changes, their present distribution policy or their future distribution policies. They are correct in their belief that our relationship was going nowhere and needed to end.

Simms was disappointed that I didn’t call or e-mail anyone at Simms before posting a 4,000 word blog that was largely critical of their company. They took things personally rather than accepting a challenge and changing. Simms did not feel obligated to consult with any fly shops before they radically changed their distribution policy by agreeing to sell to Cabela’s and other national accounts. Nor did they consult with The Trout Shop before they opened a competing fly shop two doors away. In fact, I was told that opening a dealer a stone’s throw away from us was Simms’ business and not The Trout Shop’s. Opening a new dealer in Craig would prove to be good for the brand. Nor did Simms consult with any fly shops before they decided to sell direct to the public via their web site. Nor did The Trout Shop consult with Simms before publishing a 4,000 word blog that was largely critical of their company and was aimed directly at their distribution policies. Communication is a two-way street. It’s frustrating when the street only goes one-way.

First, these things are always messy. Rarely are they clear cut. And as Lappier notes, the relationship was souring on both ends, so it’s not as if anyone is being put out on the street.

Still, it’s a behind-the-scenes glimpse at a fly fishing industry that is far different from the happy, arms-linked-as-we-march-together-into-the-future picture commonly painted for the angling public.

A guy who wrote his first commercial writing assignments on a typewriter probably doesn’t have to remind you the world is changing, and that the fly fishing industry — which suffers a more tortured sales/distribution model than most — is being forced to change with it.

That change is rarely without some bloodletting, though it’s also clear it’s an industry largely unfamiliar with a lot of independent voices (it’s good that Chi Wulff is one of those voices).

See you happily doing anything but reporting on the industry, Tom Chandler.

(courtesy Cameron at Fiberglass Manifesto)

Rich Margiotta was surprised to learn his name had found its way into a fly rod catalog, though he was fine with it once he realized “Glass Rod Expert” would probably impress the hell out of the babes if printed on a card, especially once I remarked it would look smashing with the traditional crossed fly rod graphic.

(Rich and I are both suckers for the classics.)

A quick visit to the T&T website, and there I was again:

Clearly, the world is coming to an end.

Though I’ve largely abandoned my campaign to become the Absolute Ruler Of All Fly Fishing Media Channels, 2012 has already seen me interviewed in a fly fishing print magazine and a blog, and suddenly I find myself in someone’s fly rod catalog.

All of which suggests the following: The Mayans were right.

The world is coming to an end in 2012. (How did they know?)

Given that I’m now an expert, I’ll be happy to answer any fly rod questions the Undergrounders might have, though only if the questions are prefaced by “Your Majesty” or (in a pinch) “Mr. Expert.”

See you being all experty, Tom Chandler.

(Hat tip to Fiberglass Manifesto for finding this)

The video Sage should have used to launch the ONE fly rod:

Fly fishing wader/clothing giant Simms has announced its intention to sell direct to consumers on the Internet, and though Simms honcho KC Walsh and various industry pets are trying to couch this in the most neutral terms possible, it’s clearly a blow to the staggering specialty fly shop.

Naturally, in his Angling Trade interview, Walsh didn’t exactly say that:

I don’t see this as a move to compete with fly shops, rather a way to fill in a void that is not being filled. We’re also investing significant dollars in the website and web support, in a way that ultimately strengthens the brand, and I believe will ultimately benefit our dealers.

Yes, of course. Opening a competitive sales channel always “ultimately” benefits dealers.

Simms sells direct: Inevitable, or Greedy?

I’ve noted several times that the fly fishing industry’s “protected dealer territory” model was not going to enjoy its collision with the Internet.

And as I said before (when Redington announced they were going direct), manufacturers launching direct sales channels can read a spreadsheet as well as anyone.

Direct sales carry their own costs — and it’s hardly slam-dunk-easy to sell stuff online — but direct sales don’t suffer the profit margin slice and dice imposed by sales reps and dealers, so Simms will enjoy the full vigorish on their online sales.

And you know — momma didn’t raise no fools over there in Bozeman.

In truth, you can’t blame manufacturers for recognizing the retail world is titling off its axis, or ignoring all that fat, juicy margin just waiting for them in the promised land of direct sales.

It’s also entirely fair to point out they’re blowing smoke up everyone’s butt when they suggest this is a good thing for specialty dealers.

Ditto the fiction that Simms simply wants fishermen to get the goodies they can’t get at their local dealer (there are plenty of online outlets for that).

And in light of this announcement, does anyone else think it’s a coincidence that Simms just launched one of those traffic-building blog thingees?

Almost unnoticed in all this is the announcement that Simms is going to forbid dealer sales on ebay and Amazon, so dealers caught with last year’s Simms gear can’t dump it — while their customers can get the newest stuff online.

The comments under the post are largely negative, and in fact, several people call out Simms for its miserable reputation when it comes in-season product stocking

Interestingly, Underground Fav Writer Smithhammer manages to paint a larger picture for us:

My concern here is the amount of influence that two large companies, in particular, are having over the entire industry, bending things to their will. Any guesses why IFTD is held in August? Certainly not because it is a time of year that works for the majority of retailers. In addition, I think it shows a great deal of insensitivity (or cluelessness…) to individual shops when, for example, we’re just starting to see wader sales pick up in September, and the following year’s line has already been unveiled at IFTD a month before. And pre-season order dates continue to get pushed farther and farther into the future, to the point where it’s virtually impossible for us to guess what we’re going to need to following year.

All of these things are reasons why IFTD is failing, and why a few major companies in the business are shooting the industry in the foot.

In any case, this could prove to be enormously amusing to those of us who don’t own a fly shop; Simms will try to smile nicely while they’re cutting throats, and at least a few folks will tie themselves into knots trying to make it all seem so civilized.

In a comment to an earlier post, I suggested that Simms was one of two companies that wouldn’t have to compete with dealers, and might actually survive without implementing a direct sales model.

I’ve been largely right about the progression of direct sales outlets in the industry, but I can see I was dead wrong about Simms.

Seeing new direct sales channels appear in a formerly dealer only industry has a feeling of inevitability about it, yet I wonder what the Undergrounders think.

See you watching the catfight unfold from a distance, Tom Chandler

Good rule of thumb for those fishing from drift boats...

I shot this last summer, and everyone who knows the guide in question also knows he’s kidding, though I suppose this would provide a useful reminder to those with a tendency to drop their backcasts…

We all aspire to fish for large fish in exotic locations, but it seems like that’s the bulk of what you see in the fly fishing media. I seem to remember when Montana and Alaska were the ultimate while trout in the Smokies, Pennsylvania and New York were the “common” destinations. Now Montana is a baseline and everything has to be bigger and more extreme. It’s fun for diehard fly fishers to watch those videos and read those articles, but it’s a lousy way to attract new fly fishers.

Every week I talk to folks who are curious about fly fishing but weren’t even aware that you could use a fly rod for bluegills, let alone bass or other very common fish. It’s not unusual for me to hear from people who trout fish, but haven’t cast a fly rod in a year because they don’t live near trout water. I doubt anyone loves trout fishing more than I do, but is there any more perfect a fish for a fly rod than a bluegill? They rise, attack a fly, fight hard for their size, and most importantly, you can find them anywhere. I’m just mystified that the fly fishing industry continues to push more exotic fish and locations to a dwindling number of people when there are plenty of people who would love to get involved in the sport, even if they don’t live near a trout.

If you read any of the popular fly fishing magazines, you might be nodding your head right now.

South America, Russia and Alaska pretty much dominate fly fishing’s print media, and you’d have to wonder how a wannabe fly fisherman would view that particular landscape.

And just to prove Ian’s no poseur, my last trip to Tennessee found us spending a day catching big bluegill (big enough to put a serious bend in the 6wt I was throwing).

I had a ball.

Would I have paid a guide for that trip? I don’t know.

But I do know I would have gone back a dozen times already if I lived there. And I’d take a newbie there first.

Of course, reality pokes its head in the door, and with ad dollars hard to come by at the moment, the magazines and travel agencies and fly shops will continue doing whatever it takes to hold onto their existing base.

Still, the rapid growth in the number of anglers fishing for non-salmonid species seems real and ongoing, and it’s one area where the Internet is dramatically ahead of fly fishing’s print media.

I’m never quite sure if fly fishing for carp or drum or whatever is a counter-culture rebellion against the sport’s traditions or simply fly fishermen giving high gas prices the middle finger (probably a combination of the two), but I don’t care; I like it.

In an era when $800 fly rods and $4000 destination trips consume the magazines, the real growth in the sport will probably remain a grassroots thing, and as Ian noted (at least in his neck of the woods), you don’t get any more grassroots than bluegill.

It’s unlikely we’ll see too many “Bluegill specialists” popping up in the media — and visiting fly fishermen will probably still glaze over when I mention the smallies at the local lake as a diversion — but a healthy dose of sunfish (and carp, and drum, and smallmouth bass) could be one prescription for an ailing industry.

In the shooting world, people don’t start shooting long-range precision matches; they hammer away at cans with fun, affordable .22 rifles.

The fly fishing world seems to have forgotten that.

(You can read Ian’s whole interview at the Tailing Loop.)

We’re looking an for assertive individual with a proven track record of driving sales through credible fly-fishing and wingshooting copy, and an instinct for communicating a succinct, brand-right sales message. This person must be creative, passionate about world-class customer service, and able to grasp and communicate the finer points of Orvis Brand DNA and the distinctive country lifestyle.

Main Responsibilities:

• Writing copy for outdoor catalog, email, Internet, and collateral (direct mail, packaging, retail signage, brochures and other projects) with an emphasis on the Orvis outdoor brand.
• Work with the Sales Activist manager in the ongoing development of a distinctive brand voice for the Orvis Company.
• Work closely with catalog and web production to coordinate copy and design to the highest standards of Brand DNA.

It’s tempting to view Orvis as a “traditional” company, but they’re very advanced on the catalog/marketing front (they’ve even removed “must look absolutely smashing in a smoking jacket” as a job requirement), and frankly, there aren’t many good marketing gigs in the fly fishing industry.

If you can write a catalog blurb that screams and are willing to live in Vermont (not exactly a negative), then this might be your ticket to copywriting heaven (and health insurance).

Of course, the Underground Legal Department assures us that anyone who acquires the job after reading this post legally owes us 10% of their first year’s salary, so, you know — negotiate hard (and don’t accept payment in fly rods and outdated tippet).

See you at the keyboard, Tom Chandler.

In other words, they’ll pretty much sell to anyone, anytime.

Raise Your Hand If You’re Surprised

This isn’t exactly a shock; years ago Redington was testing a Shopatron gig — a hybrid ecommerce/brick & mortar distribution model, though apparently it didn’t make the grade.

Of course, this kind of thing is inevitable (we talked about the new realities of distribution right here).

Far Bank — which chillingly doesn’t rule out similar moves for star brands Sage and Rio a few years down the road — will likely experience backlash from fly shops, but direct is the new black, and Far Bank can build a spreadsheet as well as anyone.

For the specialty fly shop, the news just gets worse.

Retailerzilla

That’s because rumors are flying that one of the biggest — and one of the most frighteningly effective — online retailers of outdoor gear is about to stomp into the fly fishing market like a T-Rex into the Seattle fish market, and while bigger isn’t always better, this isn’t exactly good news for the specialty fly shop.

Frankly, I’m surprised the fly fishing market is worth the effort for a truly big retailer, but even for the big boys, incremental revenue still accrues to the bottom line.

All The News That’s…

Interestingly, this news comes not from the fly fishing industry press, but from a general fishing magazine and a couple bloggers.

It truly is a world gone mad.

And this all follows on the heels of a fly fishing show that was once again big on “positive vibe” but smaller than the prior year (I’ve seen estimates of attendance down 15%).

At the steadily shrinking IFTD show, a Simms’ rainsuit — a largely useless-to-fly fishermen jacket and bib combo designed specifically to help Simms break into the tournament bass fishing market — won the fly fishing show’s “Best Outerwear” designation.

Strange times indeed.

Which prompts us to make this bold prediction; a bass boat will win the “Best New Boat” category at next year’s fly fishing show.

Seriously, Disruption Is The New Normal

Disruption in distribution chains is pretty much the norm these days, though the fly fishing industry hasn’t experienced anywhere near the same suffering as industries whose products can be distributed digitally (you can download an ebook, but not a fly rod).

Specialty fly shops aren’t about to disappear (well, most of them anyway), but their ability to compete without some kind of edge is shrinking.

In other words, before you walk into a fly shop, you make a mental calculation that something about it makes it worth the trip.

If a chunk of a fly shop’s customers decide there’s nothing there worth the trip, that’s the day the fly shop ceases to exist.

See you playing industry journalist, Tom Chandler.

The Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake was apparently another hit, though the article that caught my eye had to do with trends in the outdoor business, namely the need to sell to the **Beached White Male** (BWM).

I’m so stoked that I didn’t blow it off. Marian Salzman from Trendspotting gave quite the lecture on the state of Americans and how the outdoor industry can get their attention.

She’s one of the top trend forecasters in the country, so when she speaks, ears perk up. She told retailers they need to market to the inactivity of America, or what she calls the Beached White Male (BMW). She said they (we) need to show them how to get outdoors . . . Outdoors for Dummies.

Ignoring the fact that some of us already qualify as BWMs, those concerned with growing the sport of fly fishing at all costs will no doubt find comfort in the idea that fly fishing — which can take place from nothing more trying than the front seat of a drift boat — is the ideal outdoor activity for BWMs.

Lucky us.

See you at the gym, Tom Chandler

From the press release:

Inspired by the mountaineering crampon but adapted for the river, the River Crampon (MSRP $199) is the fishing industry’s most innovative traction device for wading. The performance is derived from soft, malleable aluminum bars which are riveted to a burley, stainless steel adjustable frame with highly corrosion resistant brass rivets. The soft aluminum cuts through weeds and moss on the slickest of river bottoms and grips rock like no other traction device. The crampon can be used with most wading boots on the market.

The Rock Grip Aluminum Bar Boot (MSRP $239) utilizes similar technology but is a full featured wading boot with permanently affixed aluminum bars on the outsole of the boot to provide superior support and traction in extreme wading conditions. Other features include a compression-molded EVA midsole and polypropylene insole for rigidity and support and a highly abrasion-resistant toe bumper with a reinforced toe box for protection. Additionally, testing shows that the aluminum bars are much easier on boat interiors than traditional cleats.

Moldy Chum carries the whole press release for the crampons (which function similar to mountain crampons) and wading boots, which certainly do transcend normal wading boot soles.

Years ago, steelhead fishermen sometimes wore galosh-style aluminum cleats over their wading boots, and while the grip was reportedly good (aluminum galls easily), I’m interested in seeing how comfort is affected — and if the aluminum scarring of streamside rocks is an issue.

See you standing upright, Tom Chandler.