Insights into Fly Fishing and Business

Insights into Fly Fishing and Business

Am I a good fly fisherman? Well, I am a work in progress. Each time I go out, I learn something new, something I can do better next time. Just like business, there is always room to grow and improve.  

I have been fortunate to find friends across the places I’ve lived over the past 20 years (Oregon, Colorado, and now Georgia) that are part of the 90/10 club: the 10% of the population that catch 90% of the fish.   

I honestly used to get frustrated fishing with them. I would look over and see them catch and land fish after fish while I stand waste deep in the river untangling knots in my line or dislodging a fly out of my forehead (yes- that happened…more than once).  

 It took me awhile, but I finally quit feeling sorry for myself. I decided to set my mind on improving my performance, analyzing their behaviors, and putting forth the effort to replicate their results. And most importantly, humble myself and ask for help. In short, I was ready to learn from them. 

In my first writing in this series, I discussed how river conditions can quickly change making fly fishing undesirable, and that we have a choice to either quit or endure. Today, I will explore how preparation (research and insights) can lead you to a better outcome when it is game time (or fish time).

This story takes place during my time in Colorado.   After working in Colorado Springs for the day and cutting out of the office a few minutes early, I picked up my fishing buddy, the Jedi Master.  After a short drive cutting thru the canyons, we arrived at our destination for the evening, the South Platte River in Deckers, CO.

After watching the Jedi Master land a few fish, and me catching (and losing) a fish, dusk starts to set in as the sun hid behind the mountains. Thirty minutes before visibility required headlamps, it was game time. In a flash, hundreds of fish noses start popping out of the river. A fly hatch is on, and the trout are in feeding mode!   

This was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. I start casting my line as quickly as possible to try to capture one of these fish (should be easy…right????).   Unfortunately, in the moment when it matters most, I am failing miserably.

I rifled thru flies every ten casts. Each time I rip my fly off my line, I need tie on a new one.   Daylight is not my friend as it gets darker and darker. Frustrated at my lack of production, I take a moment and look down river. There, I see the Jedi Master landing fish after fish. On this particular evening, my happy place had become a den of frustration.

As we drive back into town, I asked the obvious question of a fisherman who just watched a successful evening on a river, “what were you using”?  

The Jedi Master kindly answered “a size #18 caddis fly, with green body and greyish blue hackle”.   

Huh. Intrigued by the specifics of his answer, I follow-up with “and how did you know what to use”?  

Again, the Jedi explained “during summer, you can expect a caddis fly hatch about 30 minutes before sunset”.    “Since I know you will ask, I found most of this information on the internet. You can go online and track fly hatches by month. And, if you are lucky, you can find a blog by a local that shares the approximate time each day of different hatches, and other cool information.” 

I am amazed that all this was available on the internet.  However, he was using a fly color  I had not seen before.   I follow-up “and how about that color”? 

The Jedi shared “from my experience, the green body with grey/blue hackle (wings) tends to work best on this river. But, you aren’t going to find that in many stores, so I tie them myself”. 

Hungry for more information, I follow-up with….”and how did you know size #18”.  

The Jedi Master responded, “well, that is where you just need to be prepared and test a bunch of sizes of flies.  Get out in the river, get your fly in the water, and see what works at that point. These fish can be finicky, and on any particular day they might be feasting on anything from a size #16-#24 fly.  You just need to be as prepared as possible to quickly identify the size based off either the “eye” test of what is flying around or just trial and error.”

And there you have it.   The Jedi Master taught his student a thing or two about fly fishing the South Platte River.  

So, if I am being an effective storyteller, hopefully you are starting to catch my drift and can start to see some synergies between what I learned on the river that night and business. 

Lesson 1:   The Value of research and analysis

• Spending time upfront assessing your business challenge/opportunity.   This can take the form of either formal research or foundational analysis from your existing data.   I prefer starting with your internal data first to identify a few key insights/opportunities, then support with qualitative/quantitative research as a backup to dig deeper (as necessary).  

   

• From a fly fishing perspective, there are many blogs and resources online that can specify the hatch for any given month/season.  Leverage blogs of local fly fishers to pick up additional nuggets of information to improve performance.   

Lesson 2:   The value of insights

• Identify a key insight (or two) to increase your success rate.   This typically comes from going “one level deeper” into your analysis to find those hidden gem insights.   These insights can be corroborated by internal institutional knowledge from your teams that are “in the weeds” on a daily basis.    Identifying these insights will help you find a competitive edge and enable you to be more successful at the point of execution.

• From a fly fishing perspective, the Jedi Master had the competitive edge of knowing the optimal color of fly at dusk (identified via his own institutional knowledge). This insight did require him to tie these flies himself (since this color schema was not something readily available in a store). However, this additional work was justified because he was successful at the point of execution with his success of catching these elusive South Platte trout.

Lesson 3:   Acknowledgement upfront that in-market testing will be required.   Get into market (or the river) and test!

• You will never have “the perfect strategy”.    Those who strive for the perfect strategy  prior to market never make it to market.   Get a rock-solid plan together, and get into market and start testing (A/B testing is a great place to start).  The goal is to be agile, fail fast, and optimize your plan based off performance.    

• From a fly fishing perspective, the Jedi Master knew the fly to use, he knew the color scheme, and he knew he would need to do some “in-river testing” to find the right size that would attract the trout. He tested out several sizes of flies prior to finding  the one that worked.

In a nutshell, analyze, find a key insight (or two) to gain your competitive edge, and get into market and test. This is a simple model that any organization can apply to improve your performance.

That evening in Deckers has stood the test of time for me, both in the river and in my business experience.  I hope you enjoyed this fishing trip in the beautiful state of Colorado.    I hope you come back for the next installment when I explore strategic planning and teamwork pre, during, and post a day in the river.   

If you feel inspired by what you just read, I encourage you to share/repost this blog with your colleagues, friends, and fellow anglers.   Until then, happy fishing!