Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Freestone Fly Company ships a monthly fly subscription from British Columbia: twelve flies in six patterns, a six-page fly guide with recipes and pro tips, a vinyl sticker, a rotating bonus item, and a one-year Trout Unlimited membership with every new subscription, mailed free across Canada and the United States.
Peter is the founder and owner of Freestone Fly Company, a British Columbia fly subscription service he now runs alone after an aquatic sciences and conservation career.
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How can a Canadian subscription box afford free shipping?
Freestone Fly Company started with a rigid box roughly eight by four by two inches, because subscription customers expect a box. Canadian shipping on a parcel that size was cost-prohibitive. Once Peter worked out that the same contents fit into a soft mailer, the shipping cost dropped far enough that Freestone could offer free shipping across Canada and into the United States - something close to unheard of for a Canadian direct-to-consumer brand at the time.
What comes in a Freestone Fly Company box each month?
Each Freestone shipment carries twelve flies: six patterns, two of each. The mix is deliberately different month to month - sometimes dry fly heavy, sometimes weighted toward midges and small nymphs, usually with a couple of streamers if the month runs that way - so the contents look visually different every time. Alongside the flies come a six-page fly guide, a high-quality vinyl sticker using artwork from a Canadian artist, and a rotating bonus item: a leader one month, tippet rings another, a pocket river journal another.
What is in the six-page fly guide?
The fly guide takes more work than anything else in the month. It names each pattern, gives some history and how the pattern is deployed, includes a tying recipe, and carries a pro tip - a knot, a way to rig an indicator system, or techniques for photographing a fish with the least harm done to it. Peter also uses the guide to run subscriber-only sales and giveaway contests, and posts past guides to the company blog so prospective subscribers can see exactly what a month looks like.
How does the Freestone fly tying kit work?
Freestone added a fly tying kit option in December, ahead of the Christmas season, and it still took about two months after launch to run smoothly despite the pre-planning. Each kit carries the materials to tie a dozen flies, portioned out per order, plus a tutorial, a recipe and a sample fly. Subscribers can move between the trout fly option and the tying kit to see what the other one is like.
Why does Freestone pay more for its flies at wholesale?
Freestone's flies come from an overseas wholesaler that has supplied the company since day one. Peter tested samples from other wholesalers, both overseas and domestic, and pays more for the one he kept. The reason is durability: subscribers report back that the flies hold together through repeated fishing rather than coming apart as soon as they hit the water, which is the complaint people carry about fly shop flies they paid three dollars each for.
Why does a fly subscription include a Trout Unlimited membership?
Every new Freestone subscription comes with a free one-year Trout Unlimited membership, which brings the magazine and other member items. Trout Unlimited runs an endorsed-business program with slightly different terms for guides and for fly companies; Freestone sponsors Trout Unlimited and passes the membership through to its subscribers. Peter's reasoning is that Trout Unlimited is the largest freshwater conservation organization in North America, so there is no argument for staying out of it.
What is the hardest part of starting a fly fishing business?
Peter had no business background, and it took about twelve months before Freestone ran methodically rather than spontaneously. The most expensive lesson was capital allocation - money spent in places that, looking back two years later, should have gone somewhere else, which he thinks is a realization no business plan can hand you in advance. Registering the business, choosing between sole proprietorship and incorporation, and building the site were the intimidating parts, and he leaned on friends and family who had done it before.
Key takeaways
- A Freestone month is twelve flies in six patterns, two of each, plus a six-page fly guide, a sticker and a rotating bonus item.
- Switching from a rigid box to a soft mailer is what made free shipping across Canada and the US possible.
- The company pays above-market wholesale for flies specifically for durability, on the basis of repeat subscriber feedback.
- Featured tyer collaborations run biannually or quarterly rather than monthly, so they stay a surprise rather than a fixture.
- Every new subscription carries a one-year Trout Unlimited membership through the endorsed-business program.
- Christmas and Father's Day are the two peak seasons for a fly subscription business.
