Local companies are always great. It's fun to know something cool is being kicked out somewhere close.
Recently I found out about a company in the area that's doing some great things on both the gear front and in custom hand tied flies. The company is called Innate Fly Fishing and run by Jonas Nyqvist and Ben Glick.
I gave Ben a call recently and got the low down on what he's up to and where it all began.
To start, there's two sides to Innate. There's the rod and reel side of the business, geared towards bringing the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices. The other side is Flyanthropy.
Flyanthropy is an awesome economic incubator project that is helping bring a more ethical relationship to the fly tying industry. With companies like Idylewilde, Umpqua and others going to the Far East to produce their flies, relationships can make or break a company. If you're looking for an example of what I mean, just check out Idylewilde's blog and you'll see what I mean.
As Ben and I starting talking, it was cool to hear the history of how he and Jonas sparked their friendship. As an English teacher over in Thailand, they connected and discovered a mutual love of fly fishing. The mutual love quickly became a business idea, and a way to bring better wages and more work to the local community of Trat, in the South of Thailand. They work to provide not only jobs in fly tying, but also health, educational, and medical benefits to the local impoverished community.
Getting to learn more about what they are doing was great and I look forward to getting the chance to spend some time on the water with Ben. To learn a bit more about Flyanthropy or to get your hands on some great gear and high quality flies, give them a visit.
