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
