WFS 303 – Umpqua Feather Merchants with Russ Miller + Euro Nymphing Bonus

Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/303

Presented By: Anglers Coffee, LakeLady Rods, Fly Fishing Film Tour, Trxstle

Sponsors: wetflyswing.com/sponsors

Russ Miller is here to share the story of how Umpqua Feather Merchants came to be – what the problem was with fly shops and what they did to solve it. Find out who were the first anglers to get signed with Umpqua and what was the business like back when they were getting started. We also hear about the biggest game-changers for Umpqua – who they partnered with to make things happen. 

Russ also shares his most humbling experiences in fly fishing throughout his career and how he’s constantly learning and wanting to be new at something.

Umpqua Feather Merchants Show Notes with Russ Miller

06:15 – There are super athletes living in Boulder Colorado town

11:24 – Russ tells the story of how he got started with Umpqua Feather Merchants

13:55 – Umpqua is a native American word for “tumbling waters” and describes the Umpqua River – Russ gives us a little background of Umpqua and its founding

17:35 – Dennis Black offered to produce David Whitlock’s flies in 1972 – after a year, David signed as the first royalty tier for UFM

19:32 – Umpqua used to pay 10% royalty to signed tiers. Now it’s 8%

20:20 – Russ mentions some fly fishing legends that were also signed with UFM

25:06 – In the mid-90s, the Gold Bead was introduced by Umpqua

25:25 – Russ talks about Mike Lawson – Mike was on the podcast at WFS 190

28:45 – CDC fly was another introduction in the 90s

32:15 – People were using dry fly hackles before CDC

32:56 – Umpqua is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year

35:01 – In the late 90s, an investment capital group bought UFM from Dennis

37:05 – The business moved to Colorado

38:38 – One of the biggest game-changer for UFM is Tiemco hooks – Umpqua is Tiemco’s North America distributor

45:31 – Early 80s, Umpqua alongside Orvis and Dan Bailey, were the first to release fluorocarbon and tapered leader – all of their original tapered leaders are Dave Whitlock’s design

48:38 – The fax machine was a huge help for quality control back in the 80s to relay information – they used fax to send drawings of tying instructions

50:30 – Russ Miller is still in the USA Fly Fishing Team

52:05 – Erlend Vivelid Nilssen, from team Norway competitive fly fishing was on the podcast at WFS 286

57:40 – Russ shares some advice for anglers who are interested in going pro and being on the competitive team

Russ Miller shared the story of how Umpqua Feather Merchants came to be – what the problem was with fly shops and what they did to solve it. We found out who were the first anglers to get signed with Umpqua and what was the business like back when they were getting started. We also heard about the biggest game-changers for Umpqua – who they partnered with to make things happen.

Show Notes: wetflyswing.com/303