Corinne Doctor of Rep Your Water - Owning a company, working with your husband, traveling the world, and watching birds

Hot podcasting from Chico California.

This is the Bartlett fly fishing podcast.

Where we discuss North health fly Fishing, guiding fisheries signs and management,

conservation and more.

No better, fish better. Here's your host, Hogan Brown.

Alright Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Barb podcast. My name is Hogan Brown.

And I have a really great guest on today. A

young woman by the name of Corinne doctor. Did I pronounce that right? You nailed it, Hogan. Yes

now. Well,

I I have horrible grammar, horrible spelling

as I tell people I'm a

English product of the California Public school system. So, you know,

that it's a rough poll for the English.

So.

No. I do have one of those names that can be pronounced many, many ways. But as long as you don't call me Connie when I get. Oh, dude. That's that's right. Yeah. That's right. Get... Be an email because there's two n's in my name and people see the two ins and they go for Connie, and I'm like, no. No. No.

No. No. Everything hang else.

You're way too young and way too cool. Be called Connie. I think of Connie, and I think of, like, Blue bird special and bridge at, like, four o'clock. Well, I think Connie...

Well, so my husband Garrison

you know, that could easily be shortened to Gary, and he still has some high school friends who call him Gary. And so that's our alter egos is Gary and Connie, and That is so good. They own, like, an old beater Rv, and they, you know, cross country.

Hitting every blue plate special in America.

Oh, dude. I'm gonna have a really hard time not referring you guys as Jerry and audience. No.

You. That's the cool version of us is obviously garrett as an agree. Totally. That's that's way more hips. Like,

yeah. Yeah Totally.

So a love bit.

I've been wanting have you on for a while,

because I think

you and in in garrison,

I'm will said, Gary. My god. I just know, you know... Do it. I know. No. But I definitely to your to your... To Garrison friend's defense. If I had a friend in high school that was named Garrison,

he would never be called Garrison, and it would be Gary for, like, rest of his life. Yeah. So

I've been wanting have on for a while just to talk about the company and kinda a lot of things that you do in the industry and It's always

it's always good to have different people's perspectives on that are doing different things, and I've I've I think you and me have known each other for a few years now since you came on the board the after board. Correct?

Yeah. We met each other in person one time because it was... Oh, we hasn't turned twenty twenty. Totally, I feel like I know you really well, but in in reality. I think we've only only seen each other once in person many times... There's know each other from the shoulders up. We had a lovely meal together all time we come out, but that's it. That's dude I... It's funny at, like, yeah. I I guess I can say I know people now because I've talked to him on Zoom for, like, a couple of years time. Yeah. Yeah.

But,

your company... You know, you're in Ge company was kind of a staple in my world and kinda when I always was respected and thought it was really cool, and then I kinda thought it was a lot cooler once I met you, and

I met Garrison at the the show

in

I think I was twenty

nineteen maybe it was Must have been October twenty nineteen. Yeah. Yeah. Before the world fell apart and exactly. Yeah. And

so you tell everybody a little bit about your company, rep your water.

You bet. Well. The name is rip water and I know your listeners are hip up to understand, but the rep is for represent. Oh, yeah. No. We we don't let non hit people listen to the podcast. There's a hips filter

that we embed. Exactly.

You know, So we started with just, like state and

regional local

gear.

Yeah.

And by gear, I mean, like hats and t shirts we're not making any sort of terminal tackle over here. But Yeah.

With a focus on design and art. So Garrison

has been an artist his whole life. Yeah. He went to an art focus school

from Kindergarten

through high school and then got a degree in fine art. So that's

very much his.

Wow. I didn't know that. Higher being. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you're all in at that point. Like, you're... Exactly. Yeah. You're like the talent to back it up, which is, you know, what you need, but

Just honestly, the business, we did not sit down and make a business plan. We just wanted to make some hats, and this was,

we started working on designs in, like, twenty ten.

And

we

were

adults, like, very young fresh out of college adults when the entire

recession hit. And so

he was picking up some odd jobs while I was getting my teaching license and so was working at the Home Depot and then doing some guiding

for one of our local shops here in the front range of Colorado.

And was looking at the shelves like, you know, there's great hats for your favorite fly shop. Yeah. Great hats to save these are the waiters I wear or the... These are sunglasses that I wear. There's the rod that I fish, But there was nothing in between that just showed I love fly fishing or I love fly fishing in this place and for us, that's Colorado. Yeah. So that's where the first hat was born

was

showing the love for fishing in Colorado and

now state pride stuff is everywhere. Yeah. And it really wasn't around that much then, and now you can, you know, I'll show your state pride for loving dogs and the state where you live in. But for us, it was kind of this

innovative thing like, oh, yeah. Let's combine

the state with the activity, and

we just grew from there. So, you know, here we are ten years later, and we've expanded a lot beyond just a hat showing that you love fishing in Colorado. We have all kinds different products. And then, of course, the designs have just gotten better and better

as

Garrison and I work together thinking like, what would really look good on a certain product.

Yeah. And that's a really fun game to play. I am not the artist, but I've done

enough of the work over the years to really have,

fun with Garrison looking at a piece that he's done and saying, well, this would really work well on x y z product, You know, our mammal mugs and

and,

different t shirts sun shirts that kind of thing. So

that's been a bit of a a crazy whirlwind, and

the other half of the meaning of rep is that we donate a ton of money to conservation. So... Yeah. Yeah. From the beginning, we did not ever want to just be

a company that just made stuff. You know, we're Mh we're both from Boulder, Colorado, so we're a little bit of hippie and we're raised that way that you know, you don't take more than you need and Yeah. Leave no trays. And so we we grew up with those kind of that ethos. Yeah.

And so neither of us are those people that just

think we all need more stuff just because...

So we wanted to really build something more

more interesting into the company. So we started with a one percent donation to conservation, and they were all initially tied, like, one design goes to one

conservation

organization. So, like, for Colorado, our partner was Colorado Try Limited. Then when we made Wyoming stuff, Wyoming Trout unlimited was the next step.

Now we have it kind of based on some regions, you know, like Wild steel had coalition for the Pacific Northwest and Yeah. Southwest B for,

back under hundreds and Anglers is what B is for the Southwest,

but

We have sixteen

different conservation partners that we donate to. It's now three percent instead of one percent, and we just

hit over two hundred and thirty thousand dollars

since our inception that we have donated to conservation. Wow.

And so is it... Is it

three percent off the bottom line or are you giving, like, three percent... Percent of sales. Wow

yeah. Which is wait. I mean, it's easier for me on an accounting side, but also

we like to be transparent, you know? Yeah. If somebody's spending

thirty dollars with me, they can very easily know

that three percent of their thirty dollars that they gave me are going to to conservation. That's not when you put it in dollars and dollars because it's, like, I think of a a married couple like you guys and, you know, you're young start out. I'm, you know,

like, that's a house.

You know what I mean? Exactly. I know. That's a that's like that's that's that's life altering money for a, yeah. You know, a blue collar couple and just to give that away.

I'm not sure a lot of people could do that. I guess it's the... Lot People can't, but you know as well as I do. You've lived off of this resource yourself as a guide and... Oh, absolutely. With your million other half that you wear in in the vision vision world, like,

we can't not support it. We don't have a business if there isn't a place for us to go and for our customers to go. And so... Yeah. If there's not water to rep, you don't have a business. You know. Exactly. Yeah. And if there's not water cold enough,

for trout, Like, Yeah. What are we doing? Although I do love fast fishing.

Yes. Yes. Well, and, you know, it's it's kind of the...

I don't know. It's the the the death of a thousand cuts type of thing too is, like, you know, it's

if I added up how much money I spent on, you know, like, say a cup of coffee all year. You know what Mean?

I'd probably be... Or taco truck or something...

I'd probably be, like, nauseous, but, like, if it's only a couple bucks at a time, You know, it's a little more palatable.

So

that's cool. How that's how we like to do it. You know, it's like, you just skim a little bit off of that. Yeah. Sale.

We're grateful for our customers that they obviously help us do that. If we don't have customers and... No. Then we're not doing it, and it's a group effort. So...

So so the idea of supporting the region started, essentially

with

where you guys were in Colorado.

And then... Right. Yeah.

And Started thinking like, oh, well, if we're gonna put something like, I love Fishing and Colorado on this hat. Like, it doesn't make sense to donate to T to unlimited

national. Totally.

You know? Yeah.

That's interesting. And then... So it it grew out from there because, like,

you guys, some of your products are, like, they're so, like

c

like, things

Like, I even I even every... Once... I I was sitting in the airport this week and I knew I was gonna have you on, and I was summoned through all the hats, and I'm just like, oh, what... Oh, they got that there. Really? Oh, oh, that's the thing there. Oh, like, how do you figure all that out?

Some of its trial and error.

Well, I mean, like, some of this stuff for, like, California, like, my own state. Like, I'm, like,

wow. That. Yeah. That's kinda underground. Like, they they found that. Like, they they

you know what I mean? And like,

fish species in states and I'm like, oh, that's a thing. Oh, yeah. Okay. That's a thing there. You know? Like, Yeah. How do you figure all that out? I mean, you know more about the the the fifty states of America and the fishing opportunities than probably anyone in the in the country.

Well, some of it... Some of it's, like customer feedback, You know, some... Oh. I just bought x y z hat. This would also be cool. And then, like... Okay. You know, And then we'll look into that and we're like, oh, no. You are literally the only person that that That would be cool. Yeah. Well, because there was a couple of those. I'm like, that's really cool, but I would've have thought I'd be the only person that thought that was really cool. This is awesome.

But then there are some themes that come up and, you know, Garrison is so good at, like, hearing

somebody say, like, oh, I love this species or I love doing this or... And he goes, you know, I can see how that would... How that would come out artistic, and he can really play that game.

But it... I mean, honestly, some of it is just legit trial and error. We think something's gonna look really cool

and

Put it out there. We don't answer to anyone besides

each other. Yeah. So that's sort of the beauty and

maybe the threat of being

here on bosses

totally. We... We've definitely made some mistakes over the years. There have been some really hideous

hideous things that have gone to market.

Well,

that is the a problem with only two eyes. Right? Like, two I. Two sets of eyes looking at something and they're married. You know? That's, like,

kinda, you know, your sim symbolic on some level. So, you know? Well, in, like, the design

process is like,

we made and approved all of the designs that were going in the catalog like, in March. Yeah. Of twenty twenty one for everything that we'll be releasing in, like, February

or March of twenty twenty two. Gotcha it. So

in twelve months, we might go, oh, my god. What were we thinking or we'll be like, whoa, we nailed it with that idea. Yeah

That just blew up. It's so popular right now.

Exactly.

So... We have this we have this one hat that we call the silhouette Trio, which also I like the may even though it was... That was just how we referred to it.

Like, because it's just a silhouette of three different fish species. Oh, yeah. Yeah Yeah. I like that. You can very easily tell the fish species even though they're from above and it's just, like, beautifully done. Yeah. And we thought it was cool when it was designed, but, like, that had a gorgeous and

everyone can find something they like about it because it's three fish. It's kinda low key. It's not for flashy.

Well, it's it's it's funny that. I don't... Was Garrison the first one to do that style of drawing.

I mean, it would...

I

yes and no. Like, he definitely has his own look. If you look at our fine art prints, Yeah. Like, he ver... Like, the pastel

fish that looks alive and

wet. Yeah. That's very much his look. Yeah.

There are a couple people that have, you know, watched him doing Instagram live enough times that they're, like, playing around with it and they send him

pictures and they're, like, check this out. So yeah cute to see, like,

inspiration of Yeah. Of new artists. I've seen some cool tattoos of that looking down silhouette. Yeah. Yeah. The fish from above certainly people have done that. Yeah. But the way Garrison... Like, he really likes to play around with

like, the body position of a fish and really meaning, like, how would it be holding? Yeah. In water and really try to make it realistic. Too. What... He's done a few where it's like, you're actually looking down into the water and it, like, it looks like, like, I always thought that, I'm like, wow, that's

very optically

real looking.

I'm sure that's not a fine art review, but to me alright. We'll take it. Yeah. Yeah.

So...

And I was... I've been I was looking. I was summoned through the fall collection too. Like, you guys do a bunch of hunting stuff too.

We do. So we have a little baby brand called Rip Wild,

and it

at one point, it was, like, we were just very focused on hunting. Yeah. But then we realized that there's so much crossover with hunting and fishing, especially, like, up blend

game like, bird hunting. Yeah. And people who like fly fishing, like,

What, I just looked at the new whale ones. Like, all the quail of them, like, those are awesome.

Yeah. So there's a really cool crossover that happens between those cultures. Yeah. And so

that was a really easy pairing. But then also we realized there's a lot of

crossover of just, like, outdoors people, people who like to just wildlife watch. Yeah.

And so while it does have a lot of a hunting bent to it. Yeah.

It's really more of like an outdoors kind of

look that's very hunter

inclusive, which

it's funny because

the outdoors community,

fishing community,

the hunting community, we all rely on the same resources, and... Absolutely. There's not there's not a lot of crossover. Like, people really target one or the other. And

so we kind of try to

try to connect everyone because we know it's a shared resource. Yeah. And really, it it

you know,

everybody needs... All voices need to be one when it comes to protecting Right. That type of stuff since we're all in in the end, a fairly small minority. You know? Right.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. The hunting stuff I thought was really cool because I I don't know. You know, it's it's

as you know, like, fishing in the culture of fishing is pretty regional and you know.

A lot of guys in Northern California,

Duck hunt and, well a lot of fly fishermen Duck hunt, and a lot of fly fishermen. I wouldn't say as many Up Hunt just because of the

the availability of up birds. In Northern California. Northern California has some great water hunting. Absolutely. That that's where I was going with that is like, the the crossover

between fly fishing and duck hunting

in our area is

It's, like, I don't know many people that don't do both. You know what I mean? You mean? Bet

we have that thin crossover, but we have, like, such good, like, crowd hunting

and

yeah. Dozens not too far away. And so... Yeah.

There's some good crossover with that up Hunting as well.

Yeah. I really thought that was cool. And I... It's not something that because

what's funny is, I don't know You don't see your rep your wild brand as much in fly shops as I think you probably should. But, you know.

Right. They they

select a few little pieces that Yeah. You know, like, the Moose hat, for example, Yeah. Up in Rocky Mountain National Park. And sell a lot of those. We have one that I love called the Hunt Fish camp.

Yeah.

So it has, like, a shed, an elk shed on it, a hatch and a fish. So

it's just, like, all all outdoors vibes there. Yeah.

How many... And I I was thinking about this too. I was looking at and kinda thought of it, you said something to remind me of it. How

how many, like, emails or messages on Instagram. Do you get of, like, hey, you should make one with this on it?

How many people should on me? Yeah. Exactly. How do you should? How many people are like, you guys should do this?

Well, well, it's funny because we get a lot a lot. I mean... Like, daily? Are you daily? Is that a

Yeah. Probably daily. My god it. I have so much fun that. Yeah. I have so much fun with that. But also, you realize somebody's taking the time out of their day because they're excited about the concept. Oh, you're you're such a good human being.

Here's such a nice person... It took me a couple,

like, reading a couple of those emails where, like, my first reaction was

almost like a defensive one. Like, oh my god. Don't tell me how to do my job. Totally. And then

like, take a step back and say, well, this person

actually

took the additional time

to reach out to us because they like the concept. They like the idea. And they got fired up. You know? So Yeah. Totally.

Now it... There's a difference between saying,

I love your brand and this

should also be made or I love what you're doing and this is cool and

just like saying,

I hate everything that you make. You can do better. Like... Oh, yeah. No. I mean, I'm talking about the random, like... The random ideas,

it it's a lot of random ideas. And you can learn very quickly what some people's very small

niche passions are.

It's such a nice way to say that.

What's what's like the most random one you've ever gotten?

Oh, gosh.

I'll have to think about it. But one that we got a lot was

a Texas crop hat. Oh, yeah. You guys make that though. Right? Don't you? Also, we do not make a crappy hat. We make quite a few Texas bass hat. Okay. Yeah. Like, I love crappy fishing.

Too. I love I love crappy in my tacos.

Exactly. It makes one of the best fish tacos and also, we have a huge vegetable garden and we take the car and, like, plant one car under each tomato plant. Oh, yeah. It's like tomato steroids. Oh, my gosh. These tomato plants are, like, seven feet tall, and they produce... I mean, they're still producing

more tomatoes than we can keep up with. Oh, and they're delicious.

But That one, I was, like, I hear you on copy. I know that, like, cropping popular in Texas, but I can't just do Texas crop. We actually do have a very cool copy hat coming out next year, but... Yeah. Dude I will I will rock a copy. Yeah it's not a Texas coffee. That's alright. Coffee, coffee. I mean, that's right there under bass is America's fish. Oh my gosh. It's so much fun. Yeah. And you can tell immediately, like, we go fast fishing in a friend's lake, and there's, like, a million coffee in there. That's where we get our Yeah cooking cook going.

But

you could tell immediately when it's a copy versus a bass. Oh, yeah. Like No. I feel you down there. You've been n the tail for, like, three strips. Yeah just come on. Yeah. Let's just commit. Just commit.

Just commit. Cool call I'm on as we like.

Here you go. Yeah.

Yeah So

you... With the company,

it is

is garrison just drawn all the time. And you're sitting there and being like, hey, that's a great idea. Let's put that on clothes.

Like he would... He would like it if he could be drawing more. Yeah.

He also does, like, a lot of the technical side of the design, you know, like, oh, yeah actually putting some of these things into what can then be put on a garment. Yeah. He also does all of our marketing

coordination,

so all of our email and social media marketing and... Wow.

To me is true trying to treat drawing as you'd like. Yeah. That... That's like a true swiss army knife right there. That is... That is... All are, You. We only... We just recently,

like, we're talking

twelve days ago. Hired a fourth full time person.

Wow.

So we... For all of Covid,

we only had three full time

employees.

Did there's rock... There's rock and roll bands with more members than that.

I know. And we

we were all just, like, strung out a little bit, and that's okay, but we made it through. Yeah. We just, you know, we were like, I don't wanna deal with, like,

more people being in our space during this crazy time. Yeah. So we all decided to sacrifice and work a little harder and and it's alright. But now we've got a team of four, which is awesome.

Yeah.

And

So hopefully, Garrison will be able to find more time on the drawing board.

That's cool. So... And then I can point things out that I need changed.

Do that... Like, I listen to that. I'm just, like,

and, like, I

I play music and I I tie flies. Those are about as artistic as I get. And... Hey. Those are skills. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I... The the last thing I would ever claimed myself to be a skilled, but like, I've practiced a lot. Let's put it out one. Yeah. So,

like, I could only imagine, like, if I was, like,

recording something

or, like, messing around on the on a guitar or tying of fly and my wife was there being like, yeah, no. That's not okay. That's not like that. Like,

is it tough? Vale Hogan? Yeah. I was gonna say is it tough work... I mean, you know, the old analog you never go to work with your wife, but it is it tough? I mean, you guys have been...

You figured it out, but it's, like,

it's gotta be a little tough.

Yes. And also,

no. And Out, like, I always joke with everyone who asked me that question, you know, just friends or Yeah. Whoever, people are, like, people are fascinated. You know, we live together Yeah. Have children. We're not going to have children. We have our sweet old dog. We go on, like, international trips

together.

And then we work together all day long. And everybody asking that question. And I say, you do realize that by

joining households with someone you're running a business together. Right? Oh, totally. That's a hey. You know what? Like, that is straight up. That is a very intelligent answer. Like that. You have to make very serious Yeah. Financial and lifestyle decisions. Yeah. When you decide to live with someone, whether you decide to bring children into that home. If you're gonna purchase a home, you know, there's so many little things that people don't realize that they're in partnership about. Yeah. And for us, we decided to do that on the home and the business side. Yeah. And, you know, And and

if if Garrison doesn't return from the next, like South American adventure, and you say it was an accident, no one's gonna ask any questions. It's just, you know that right. Just disappear. Yeah. Some people just disappear.

So

I know one other thing you're incredibly passionate about is

your D I work.

Yeah.

And

I always have had the

utmost respect for

women in our industry, which when I first started probably twenty some years ago was, like, a freaking unicorn.

Right.

But over, like, the last... I don't know. I mean, I had to put a year number on things, but, like,

it seems to has from a, you know, person like me, it seems to have improved.

You know, I still though don't like have any coworkers on the river that are women. I have at times, but

you know, being a a woman in the industry and in in the business side of the industry, which is,

I think Barry male dominated. Have you...

Which kind of your experience since let's be real. Most of my listeners are probably male? You know? Right. And, obviously, like, you and I know this as well as I'm sure everybody else does. It's not just male dominated. It's white male dominated and it's older, white male dominated. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Obviously, I can only speak

to my experience as a white woman.

But, like, on a personal side, I've always felt really

welcome in the industry. Yeah. But part of that is just my personality. I've always had a lot of male friends I learned to fish with men. So that was all I was around, and I got really comfortable with that. And so

I never really felt

looked down on or anything.

Yeah. On the industry side. Yeah. I will say

there are still some

spaces where it's, like,

it's very obvious that I am other.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. Like for sure.

I serve on the board of Apt with you, and then I'd also have served on,

the board of Colorado T Limited. Mh. And

that, even more than the aft

industry side

is so extremely male

white older male dominated. Because you're kinda touching that political world. And that in that... You're catching politics. You're also...

Like, I love out unlimited, and it's an incredible

organization, but it's also

powered by volunteers.

And the people who have time to volunteer

tend to be retired. And wealthy.

Animal wealthy, you know, these are the people that who had

a successful career. Now they wanna give back and it just... It usually is older white men. Yeah. Because they fished. They had the money to, like,

really get into fishing when

it really was more exclusive. Yeah. I think one of the cool things that's been happening recently is, you know, we've seen the Red of the world and

the or of the world putting out these really great

entry level

starter kits for people who wanna get going. You know? Yeah. I mean, there's definitely been, like,

you know, a democrat amortization of technology

almost. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like,

And and, you know, you said something like, I I I feel and I... I don't know if I feel this way because I've gotten older, but

the sport does feel like there is more young

people or younger people in it.

Then there was when I was a young person getting Think so. And I've only been fly fishing for fifteen years, and I would even been in the industry for, like, ten and a half.

So

obviously in in the scheme of the history of fly fishing, that's not a ton, but even in my

short experience, it's definitely

reaching a younger audience,

sooner. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah. There were definitely people who were like, yeah. I went fly fishing with my dad one time and Yeah. It was fine. But now it's, like, whole families are out,

kids are learning really young

Yeah. The mom is maybe the one that's teaching everyone. Yeah. And it's not this assumption that it's a pass down from dad to son. It's like, no. No. This is... Yeah.

Everyone is capable of doing this and finding enjoyment out of it. So... Yeah.

That's the other thing is there's just a little bit of an attitude shift, and we have a lot of more work to do to make sure that people know it. This is a sport that anyone is capable of doing. Oh, for sure.

And enjoying and finding

all of the joys that we find out of it. Mh. You know? Like, I I like to say it's medi, but then it's also, like, incredibly frustrating.

Oh, yeah. No. It's Doing it test every part of your emotional bandwidth, which is great. Yeah. Not. It it definitely runs the full bandwidth.

For real. Yeah.

So I think it's

we have a lot of work to be done.

Obviously, we have made headway since

since

even since I've been in the industry. Yeah.

But,

you know, we have to... We have to keep powering forward, make sure that we

create

safe places like, where people feel like they can come to a

travel unlimited meeting or that they can go to an Yeah. Intro to fly fishing or a meet up

you know, at their local flash shop and Yeah. And feel like that's their space as well. Yeah. And... It's funny because I've always...

You know, it's easy as a a white male

to say that we're inclusive. But,

like,

I've always kinda felt, like, I don't got any problem with anybody. I'm cool everybody. You know? Like... But,

you know, with the the growth of, like, I know in our local area, there's a a Nor cow women on the fly, and, you know, there's always these kinda sub

united women on the fly groups. And I I kinda thought the other damn. I'm like, man. If, like,

if the model worked,

if everything was inclusive, then that wouldn't need to be. You know what I mean?

And it was kind of like, very good point right? Like, I'm, like, I was kinda thinking about it. Like, because I'm... I'm I'm trying to work with, like, my local women's group and clubs, and, you know,

and I'm, like,

god, dude. Fly fishing cool. Like, everybody's cool. Like, I've never met anybody that's not cool. Like, we're all cool and then I'm like,

yeah. That's not really good thing if we gotta have some clubs for people. You know.

And I have heard from

you know, women of color that they have approached those groups and it's very much like

a white woman. Oh, it's... Yeah. No. It is white worse, like nobody's justice this. Yeah. And so it's like, well, then

definitely not

covering all your bases. Like, you as, you know, women on the fly in x y z location

felt a certain type of win, you needed to Yeah. Create this safe space, and then there's this other exclusion that's happening.

And so it it is interesting. It has to be,

like everything. It has to be from the inside out and Yeah. We all need... We all need to do our part I do know there are people that really just feel more comfortable

fishing with women. You know, women Totally with women. Total it's totally fine. Obviously, that hasn't been my experience.

But

I think everybody has to kinda of feel

great about the sport in in the way that they wanna feel.

You know, some people only wanna go to a private ranch because they don't wanna deal with I total. If you've got the money in the means, I guess that's the way. Yeah. I mean, way. Everybody finds their own path and their way to,

you know, enjoy or, you know, do whatever, get whatever they wanna get out of the sport. So... Yeah.

It's just been interesting because I I

I always enjoy guiding women because...

And I I started guiding a a group women, God probably fifteen years ago that when

You know, and women's clubs are not new, like Fannie K

you know, had the Golden West Women's fly club for Right. As long as I've been in the industry. You know,

and those women guide that club, the years that I did for many years. They're a hoo. Man they have more fun than

some wild women, man, you know, The... I've heard I've heard from guides that women

actually listen to what you tell them. Oh, absolutely. Well, like... So I always tell guys. Like, I always tell clients In the boat. I'm like, dude, I can take a woman and,

like, coach her up faster

than any man. Because, like,

women have them

obviously, they're better listeners. Like, that's... I mean, I... Somewhere there's probably a biological study that proves that. But

women are better listeners, you know, women usually tend to have a better sense of rhythm.

You know? Okay. In position as well... In my experience, that's... You know, and the big one that Ollie always tell males, I'm like, look dude, like, there's this male like,

thing

that, like, the farther you want something to go, the harder and more force you apply to it.

And, like, that is so back passwords words of everything that is far fishing.

Yeah. That, like,

we have so many, like, male tendencies that we need to overcome to, like, make this thing happen

that, like, and women just don't have that. You know what I mean? There's no, like,

they pick it up so much quicker.

You know, and then you had the fact that they actually listen and you're, like, cool. We're gonna we're gonna catch some fist today. You know yeah. Well, I am not a guide at all, but I do

guide for casting for recovery once a year. Yeah.

And I just did that on Sunday, and it was such a blast. Yeah.

And the the woman I was paired with, she would listen to every single thing I said. We were just, like, starting with a little flip cast, You know what I'm like, we can definitely catch fish with this. Like, Yeah. No worries. And I'm watching her foot cast and I'm like, oh my gosh. You can fall cast. No problem. I like, like, here we go. I give her, like, one demo on a false cast and immediately She's like, oh, I like that way better.

Okay. So do I. So do I All running. Yeah. Let's go. Yeah. You just, like, you got to the top of the pool, like, I wanted you do with that. Yeah oh like, here we go. That's awesome.

So

so you each You said a another thing that's a common topic that I talk about at times is your your home garden.

So you are a gardener.

Well, I'm a garden

enjoy.

Okay. Yeah. So you like to you like to eat the produce

but you don't do the labor.

Yeah. So... You're kinda like my family. I'm not gonna lie. That's that's like my entire family. So... Basically the best position to be in.

I I would not argue with that statement. It's his dad actually lives on our property in an apartment above our garage. Yeah. And he's retired, and he was tinkering. Right? Yeah. And yeah. So... And we have an old man dog who's fourteen.

And so Garrison and I joke that it's just the old men together all day, like, watering the garden. I think that's really what they do all day long. Is, like, water the garden and kinda, like, look at it. You know. You can picture it. Like... Oh, no. I... You're you're talking about... Coming down.

You're talking about my, like, weekly night after I put the boat away in the same Like, yeah. Grow baby. Just stares. Yep. So

Garrison is really good at the

like, the big projects, you know, like. A big turnover

or, like, get a big load of compost and Yeah. And,

you know, mix it in. Honestly my contribution is I catch the copy that we may talk that of, and then we put under the tomato plan. Yeah. That's an important job as well. So so you and Garrison the like, I'm gonna do one thing, and then I'm gonna eat out of this baby for the next, like, four. One hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. I need to, like, I need to build an apartment for a retired guy over my garage and just be like, alright. Dude You got one job. You got one. Yeah. But then you have a retired guy living on your property. This... Yeah. Think about the full day. Totally totally totally.

That's true.

So what what do are you got in the? You you got tomatoes?

Yeah. We've got tomatoes.

We've got some incredible yellow and zucchini that I think we just got our last

freed off of last night night. I'm surprised you're still getting tomatoes in Colorado.

It's been beautiful. They're starting to kinda atrophy. Yeah.

Yeah But

we've got... We've gotten enough. We also froze a ton of them. Yeah. What do you... Or what's your what's your program? Because, I mean, Lord knows

no family can eat all the tomatoes they produce.

No. We... So we'd, like, just chop them up and

put them in, like, the vacuum sealer, you know? Okay. Just straight up raw vacuum seal. Straight bra and then a assuming they'll be going into a stew

pasta sauce later. Yeah.

We don't do any of, like, boiling and skin and... It's a lot of work that. That's a lot of work. A lot of work. Yeah. And we just let the vacuum sealer do the work for us, and then we move on. We got a lot of squash in the freezer. We also have ton of pesto.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Our base

were very prolific this year, they're still going,

we could probably make, like,

ten more cups of pesto. Now when you do your to Mace... So here's my thing with Pesto. Do you use pine nuts?

We do walnuts.

Okay. Because see, when I go to the store and I look at the price of pine nuts? No. It's out a control. I'm like, why the hell am I making pesto, it's gonna cost me more to me? Into a walnut.

Pesto. Okay. That is my hot tip for. Yeah. Yeah. That's good stuff because I I was all on the... Like, I'm gonna make buckets of pesto

and then just eat pesto pasta from basically, like, November through, like, May.

You know, when I can grow more basil. Right. But

the math on the price of pine nuts and labor involved in making it and I was like, this is a totally financially losing venture. No.

Crazy.

Well, what I like to do, Garrison is also the cook Yeah. In the family.

So we do the Walnut pesto. But then sometimes it's nice to just buy a couple pine nuts, and you can just sprinkle a couple toasted pine on top of your pest though? Oh, yeah. Yeah And then you get that really nice

richness from the pine nuts, but yeah didn't put it in your pesto. Totally. And that's, like, ten cents worth of pine nuts instead of, like, ten dollars. Dude there grip. I was the idea. It was like, two years ago I'm like, I'm gonna make buckets of pesto. I gotta go, you, looking for the pint of, like, holy crap.

So... Yeah. No. Walmart all the way. Yeah. So you guys also travel a ton.

You are

suns kids without kids. You are you are mobile.

Yeah. That's right.

So what... I mean, I mean, I I kinda know some of the trips you have done, but now that the world is

knock on wood, hopefully reopening in in more than one capacity.

Right. What do you guys have coming up?

So

we both were are, like, total travel geek before we realized, like, you can travel places. To fish.

Oh, okay. We really Didn't really know that that was, like, a combo or we knew it, but maybe we thought it wasn't something we could ever make happen for ourselves. Yeah. And we both traveled pretty extensively

as children and then as young adults together.

But as soon as we realized, like, oh, we can put these two things that we love together.

We started we started doing that. And so we've been down to jurassic lake,

down in Argentina twice,

and it's just an incredible operation. The fat rainbow trout.

Yeah. That they're wide.

From the pictures are incredible. Yeah. I mean, the proportions on their those fish are just incredible. No.

Buttery fatty

incredible fish. Yeah.

We have also been to

Bolivia twice

for Golden Dorado. We actually just got back, like, four weeks ago.

So you're, like, double dipping at this point now. Like, you've been all places you wanna be and you're going back.

Yeah. Well, it's funny. That that ties into our different

personalities.

Garrison really wants to, like,

continue to do new.

Put pins in the map. Yeah. Like, keep, like, taking it off. Yeah. I love that too, but also, you go for a week to an internet setting like, a lodge,

Yeah. And

these are, like, suddenly,

your best friends. You didn't know that you were best friends Totally how you are. Yeah. And so I'm like,

am I gonna get to see these people again. I need to go back to that lodge to see them. Yeah.

And so I get really excited about the repeat places, and also,

like, take

Bolivia, for example.

By the time you're leaving, you're like, now I know how to fish for Golden Dorado. Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah.

Ed if I could compare the way I fished,

were there in twenty

eighteen, maybe? Yeah. For the first time.

I don't know. I'd have to look back, maybe twenty seventeen for the first time,

And then just now in

late twenty twenty one.

Obviously,

I am a better angle now than four years ago because I feel like every time I go fishing, I learned something. But also just

comparing

the two ways that I approached that.

I already knew some base level dorado behavior. Yeah. For the second time. And so then it was just really, like, remembering that we're casting huge

hold

giant flies on and nineties.

Yeah.

For seven days straight. Yeah. So

it... Like, the learning curve is so crazy with these different places. That I kinda like to go back and be, like, okay. Now I really

can nail it. Well, there's, like, that competitiveness

of, like, god. I could've gotten done better those first couple days or I... You know. For sure. I mean, you gotta feel like, a fool the first couple of. You're like, oh, my God. What was I doing? Yeah. Just

If you ever fish for Golden Dorado, if anyone fish for Golden Dorado, just don't t set and you won't get in trouble. Oh, yeah. No. I I mean, I guide stripe and, yeah. You're to go. Yeah. No. I... I'm... Like, if you asked me to actually t set on a fish, I'm a probably. Yeah. I'm gonna break it off. Like that. Well, we came we came back and we just, like, hit our local creek here, You know, and we're talking, like, six to ten inch brown trout. Oh, yeah. And

we fishing hopper dropper and one of the fish ate a N and garrison and strips said on it? Oh? I was like, what are you doing? Oh, Dude. When I go from, like, my stripe, like... Because that's pretty much all I do anymore. If I go from that to trout fishing, it's like, dude. I'm dumping, like, fifty bucks and flies breaking them off on fish and just whack and. It's... Yeah. It's not pretty. I'm not much of a trout angle anymore. So... That's alright. Yeah. Not. So we've we've also been to Chile, Pat Chile.

And then we also got to go to Iceland earlier this year right when they opened up. Wow.

Yeah. So we got the fish for brown trout in their native

land, which was...

Or, I guess, native water would be more appropriate.

So

that's so brown trout. I've always thought brown trout were

we're German, but they're icelandic. I did learn that. Well, they're European.

Okay. There's some weird thing, like, when they first introduced them to the Us, You. Called them the German brown. Yeah Right? Like, that's my dad called them. You know? Exactly. And that's totally that generation My grandfather went the same way Oh, The German brown grandfather. Yeah. Like...

And I think that's probably because maybe the first strains came from Europe, but they're native.

Mean they're native in the Uk. They're native in Iceland,

Norway,

Sweden,

all three Europe.

That's cool. Now when you

Germany. Yeah. Yeah.

I I didn't... I I had learned that. I think a couple weeks ago I was talking one of my buddies and he explain that all to me and I'm like, oh, that's interesting. I didn't know. Yeah. But it is funny. The Us people do refer to them as the German brown drought.

Right? That's...

Yeah.

It's it's the European brown draft, if you wanna get that specific. Yeah.

So

when you go to these places, because, I mean, that's interesting. You guys were kinda travelers before. So you obviously appreciate, like, going and see in different cultures, eating the like, being tourists basically. Right? Do... Yeah. I always talk with my buddies, like, how much,

you know, for most of our twenties and even into our, you know, early thirties, like, when we traveled, all we did was like, fish fish fish. Right? Like, you're staring at the water for seven, eight days. And, like, I look back on all the places I've been now that I'm like, in my forties and I'm, like, I coulda have gone to this. I could have gone to that museum. I could've have gone to these ruins. I could've have seen all this stuff And now I got kids, and it cost me five times and, you know, now I can't sleep in a truck or on the dirt, like, I'm... Right. And it, you know, I missed all these opportunities to see

you know, all these things, and I got all the great memories efficient and stuff, but, like, do you guys do any touristy type of stuff when you go to these places or is... Are they... Yeah. We do. I mean, when you get to the lodge, obviously. Yeah. Most most of these are, like, pretty isolated lodge. That's what you're doing.

But the first time we went down to jurassic Lake in Argentina, we

spend a couple days in Buenos Aires, which is just... I'm not a city person. Yeah. But buenos Aires is such a cool city.

Incredible food,

just beautiful

architecture,

and then we also spent

a couple days down in a very far southern town called Il C bay. Mh. Which if anyone's ever been to, like,

I've never been to Tahoe, but I imagine it's, like any

ski Okay. In colorado. You know, Like Ka is really... It just reminds me of a resort ski town. Yeah. Tahoe Bridge in Colorado. Yeah. Yeah. I imagine it's sort of, like, all of those same places, but

Is just like, they've really gourmet restaurants because they get that clientele held that comes down,

you know, to escape the big cities and Yeah. And whatnot.

And we're also bird watchers.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. Yeah. So we spend a lot of time. We keep a list of birds for every

Dude place that's a Gary and Connie hobby.

I know Gary and Connie are gonna be doing that late into. That's a scary economy Yep. No. Yeah. Total nerd alert, but it does make you experience places in a different way because you have to slow down. Total. You have to take in it and and kind of identify the bird and and see it and and whatnot. So we do a lot of eco tourism type. Yeah. That absolutely just fishing. Obviously eating do a lot of fishing. Yeah. And then we try to

try to hit good restaurants and and see the sites as well. What cool allows of... Yeah. That's cool. That's funny. The eco tourism. I have a buddy one of my dear friends, he's a a fisheries biologist,

and he's been on the show a few times just because he's that interesting, but he,

like, I don't know what it was probably ten years ago now, like, maybe even longer than that. He you know, he's fishing hunting guide, and he's like, hey. I'm gonna start doing eco tours.

And I'm like, Yeah. You're in Like what? I'm like, dude you're in the insane? Like,

ain't anybody gonna pay you to take him out and show you all the birds. I mean, I know you're like, I call him the most interesting man in the world because he's that guy that, like,

every time you're around him, he's showing you something and you're like, oh, wow, man. I never seen that. That's cool or, you know, just he knows all the stuff. Nature geek are the best. Totally, He is the definition of a nature geek. No. And

like, this dude, like, I don't think if you called them for, like, an eco tour, like, I don't think you're getting on the books, like people eat that stuff up. And the bird watcher

Like, that dude's paying mortgages on bird watchers. Like those people are. I serious reverting to her. Totally, like... Yeah. You know, And and I'll see him out on the river, and it's like,

these burgers got cameras and, you know, mono

and all this stuff, and I'm like, that is

that is just as much money if not more money

than any client fly opinion Yeah. Than any color tell you that right now. Than any client that shows up with, you know, a couple rods and reels. You know? Yeah. Well, the the burden industry is crazy. One of my best friends from

college, her brother is a bird guide runs his outfit fitting service for burning tours.

International burning tours,

local burning tours.

We like to make the joke because those are our two favorite activities would be fishing and burning. Yeah.

We like to make the joke that

burden is one of those activities where you want to show up and see other people because that means they've already spotted the bird. Oh, okay. Yeah. I'm is the sport where you don't wanna show up and have everybody there because you want

sell. That's funny.

Yeah. No. I have, like, a whole, like, palette of, like, bird facts for the lower Sac where I guide that I've learned from him. So, like, Fishing guides need to have those bird facts because first all people wanna know, and also if the fishing slow, you can be like, so this is a great.

Totally totally. Check them out. Totally.

You, it's just funny as, I... I'm like, you know, getting up early time fly hump and coolers running Jet boat, doing all this stuff, and he, like, tout out at, like, you know,

ten o'clock and, like, or you know, is out there for.

Yeah. Very... I'm like, god, damn. I missed the father vote on this.

We did a burning tour in Oaxaca, Mexico, which

such a cool part of Mexico. We had never

been. You know, we always did, like, the kind of more beach Mexico stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And

I think we would pretty much have breakfast at Sunrise when we already where we were supposed to be for the day. So that was leaving the hotel room at four Am. Yeah. I mean, Sunrise it's sort of, like, fishing. Sunrise and sunset, there's a lot of activity because... Yeah. He's definitely... He definitely does the sun sunset too or... You know what I mean like, that's a thing. Be gorgeous. Oh, it's awesome. Dude. Yeah. I mean, he's bringing, like, bottles of wine and I'm like, fuck, I got this all wrong. Yeah this all wrong.

So... Hey. You could be bringing bottles of wine for your car. I do, but like, yeah. I don't... You know,

yeah. I gotta drive the boat. Exactly. Like, it's not the same. You know, when your nature guy having a little, you know, align with you. It's a little different than your fishing guide. You know? So... Well, on our,

last day of Bolivia, I was

partnered with one of our good friends Birch and he's based out of Montana,

and we

were coming back from the upper part of the river and

we

noticed that our guide in the back. So day everyday in Bolivia, you're with two native guides in the tribe there is called.

Okay. And then one fly fishing guide. So it's, like, three guides to two humans. Gotcha.

And the Sham shimano guides

drive the boat, you know, they're the experts on the area. Yeah. And we look back

and

got like, the motor taken apart and really like, the motor.

You know, we had been upstream and then we're heading downstream. So we're like, well, this is the better scenario Yeah the opposite. As a guy who runs motors on boats for a living. Like, you always wanna be upstream of the boat ram. When shit goes south.

Exactly. And so... And we look back and we're kinda discussing, like, oh, should we, like, try to get an Sos to have someone come and, you know, the Guys talked to each other and like, no. We'll get back at the push pulls like, no problem. So Birch and I look at each other and we're were like, oh my god, We have like, a romantic sunset

canoe ride total on our last day and I was like, wow. Yeah you go. And I was like, where is the bottle of wine? Yeah. Oh, no. I've I've definitely had that, like, hey, guys. So we're gonna have to run the trolling motor for the next three miles because. Big motor Yeah. The big motor starting. So

enjoy the sunset. Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. There we go. So... Well, hey, I I really appreciate you coming on the show. We're sniffing up on an hour and you and me never have problems talking. So,

I usually try to keep them about an hour, but why don't you everybody know where they can learn more about rep your water and kinda what you guys are doing.

Yeah. Well, we are on all those social platforms, of course. So it's just rep your water, r e p y o u r w a. P,

Instagram, facebook and all of that.

If you wanna look at my own Instagram. It's c s b eight one seven. Correct. Go. It is... And you guys are really active. You guys do a really good job on on social. Keep it interest thing on yeah on the social media, nice variety, and Yeah. And we really try to have pretty content, You know, Yeah so for sure. The fish for fish sakes how to have it look nice. So... And what's the website if people wanna check out all the products?

Rep your water dot com. Yeah. And you guys do an email list too that is is very well timed. It does not feel intrusive and heavy, and you always got some good stuff... You a million. Yeah. So Yeah. You can just sign up on our website. There will be a pop, of course. Says. Do you wanna stay in touch and and pop on to the the email list too. Yeah. And for all our listeners, they do a ton of great Northern California stuff. Believe it or not, Colorado people are aware of Northern California.

So... We know you're off

I don't know. On directions anymore. Yeah.

Well, hey, I really appreciate you coming on. Thank you for taking the time out of your day. I know you're... At the end of the work. So thank you for coming on and Oh, again, it was very fun chat. Absolutely absolutely. So Hey. I wanna gonna sign off everybody. I wanna thank our sponsors, Luna outdoors and sierra about a brewing, and we'll be here in another two weeks.

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