Freestone Fly Company
Freestone Fly Company
Where: Nelson, BC
Year Established: 2012
Website: http://www.freestonefly.net/
Owner: Curtis Lamey
High Quality, hand tied fly fishing flies and hooks
Give us a brief description of your manufacturing processes and philosophy.
Product design and development is key to being contemporary in the industry. As an 18 year veteran of guiding fly fishing in the Kootenays and SE Alberta, I’m able to create new fly patterns based on my experiences on the water. . Often times, we are improving on patterns that have been thrown around rivers for years by changing the recipe to enhance the performance of the fly, and some are in the catalogue unchanged as they were made right in the first place . The flies are hand tied by a crew of highly skilled craftspeople who combine precision and speed to create theses mimics of nature.
How many employees and/or contractors do you work with?
Ten (10) contractors / employees.
What brought you to the Kootenays and how long have you been here?
I originally arrived in the Kootenays in the mid 90’s on a tree planting contract. Through there I found Fernie and Nelson and the incredible fisheries that surround them
Tell us about the history and relative work experience of your founder(s).
I cut my teeth in the fly fishing guiding industry in Fernie on rivers like the Elk, Michel and Wigwam as well as some forays into Alberta’s Oldman River drainage back in 2002. After 3 years I became interested in fly tying and pattern development and began creating and improving on the flies we were using as guides on a daily basis. It began more as a way of keeping myself and other guides in flies during the fishing season as guiding was an everyday event during the summer months. After getting off the water and lining up the programs for the next day, there was little time left to tie. Having flies produced in the off season in large quantities ensured our fly boxes were full and we were getting proper rest at night. From there it graduated into filling the bins at fly shops and now we are moving into an online sales platform to sell directly to the public through a Shopify website
Describe the mission, vision, goals, and aspirations of your company.
We hope to provide the best quality of flies at a reasonable price that honours both the customer and the workers who are tying them. We also are committed to creating new patterns so our catalogue doesn’t go ‘out of fashion’ We don’t want to be the roller blades of the fly industry.