I was twelve the first time I caught a fish on a fly rod.
It was on the Green River, just below Flaming Gorge Dam. My dad took my brothers and me out on the river on our annual trip to the gorge. This time, I had a fly rod in my hand and basically no idea what I was doing with it. I probably had bad form, and the water was ice cold, but then a trout took the fly.
I still can't really explain what that felt like. I was hooked, and yeah, I know how that sounds, but I'm not going to apologize for it.
Fishing was always just part of our family. You loaded up the truck, someone argued about something, and you ended up standing in a river somewhere. That was just how it went.
Fly fishing, though, got its hooks in me in a way regular fishing never quite did. There's something about it that takes over your brain a little. You're always thinking about the hatch, the drift, the presentation, reading the water. And then you're also just standing in a cold river throwing expensive feathers at trees for three hours, which honestly is probably the more accurate description of what's actually happening out there.
I kept at it. Learned to tie flies, started hitting new water whenever I could, spent way too much money on gear. The usual story.
At some point, I started paying attention to the stuff I was wearing on the water, and a lot of it just didn't feel right. Not that it was bad gear, it just didn't match the feeling of actually being out there. Everything was either way too serious and technical, or it was cheap stuff with a generic fish logo slapped on it. Not a lot in between.
So I started making my own. Started small, figured it out as I went, and eventually it turned into Tin Trout Fly Company.
The name isn't meant to be fancy. Tin feels simple and worn-in, which is kind of the whole point. Everything we make is built around that feeling I first found on the Green River when I was twelve years old. Hard to explain to someone who hasn't felt it, but if you fly fish, you already know exactly what I'm talking about.
We keep things simple. We don't take ourselves too seriously. And we make stuff that's worth wearing the next time you're out there, standing in cold water doing something that makes no sense and is somehow the best part of your week.
Anyways, that's the story.
Go fish, let's change the drift.
Tin Trout Fly Company