Sporting Traditions Since 1856: Orvis

http://moldychum.typepad.com

Orvis is a local Vermont, family owned outdoor sporting business. They have some of the best fly fishing gear, and experience to offer, and they are a company that's well respected.

The main focus for the company is their clothing, tools (rods, flies, knives, crates, etc.), and home decor. However, Orvis goes much farther beyond being a general store for outdoor sporting goods. Orivs, is a lifestyle.

Not only does the company offer you a rod, they offer you a trip to take the rod on, plus all of the training required to use it. Fly fishing coaches, Truel Myers and Tom Rosenbauer (to name a couple) are professionals when it comes to fly fishing, as is the company they represent. Orvis and their fly fishing coaches offer fly fishing schools and trips in multiple locations from Vermont to California, all the way down to New Zealand, and everywhere in between. They even offer women-only trips!

*If you book a trip now for a June school before April 30th, you can bring a friend for half price! For more information, visit their site: Orvis Fly Fishing Schools

But, you don't have to spend the money on a fly fishing trip to get training from an Orvis' professional, you can visit their blog!

http://www.orvisnews.com/

The blog offers five major topics including:

-Fly Fishing

-Dogs

-Conservation

-Adventure

-Hunting

It includes pictures, videos, how-to tips, suggested books, and a fly fishing "Pic Of The Week".

The blog also has links to all of their social media sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Youtube

Flickr

And you can subscribe to their podcast: http://www.orvis.com/podcast

Their blog is easy to follow as you can subscribe via e-mail for free, and you can select the topics you'd like to receive more info about.

http://www.merchantcircle.com

Orvis also has this great link to teach you how to tie all of the best knots, step-by-step. It's animated, and is very easy to follow. This is helpful to any fisherman, or fisherwoman!

You can see it here: http://www.orvis.com/orvis_assets/files/index.html

Some history...

Orvis was founded in 1856 in Manchester, Vermont by Charles F. Orvis. The company has changed hands twice through it's 150 year history, and it's the oldest mail-order retailer in the U.S.. In the U.S., they have 48 retail stores, and 9 outlet/warehouses. Charles Orvis designed a reel in 1874 that was said to be a "benchmark of American reel design". Since then, Orvis has certainly had it's fair share of competition such as L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, and Norm Thompson.

In the early 1890's, daughter, Mary Orvis Marbury, published an encyclopedia reference book on fly patterns: Favorite Flies and Their Histories. This book made Orvis stand out and it was known as "the country's foremost arbiter of fly-pattern authenticity and style."

1966 was the year that Orvis began it's Sporting School programs (as mentioned above). The school started in Manchester, Vermont but it has now spread all over the country and as of 2006, 40,000 students had graduated from an Orvis Sporting School.

Because of all of their accomplishments, both Mary & Charles both been inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. A high honor!

Orvis has kept up with the times as well with their new smartphone application: Orvis Fly Fishing. The app has it all, and I would definitely recommend it (more of these apps can be found in a recent post).

I think that you can expect to continue to see good things from Orvis, and they are definitely a brand that you can count on. Go see what they have to offer you!

Morgan Manfredi

The Freeloading Intern