Best and Worst Fly Fishing Manufacturers’ Websites
- This topic has 32 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated Mar 23, 2009 at 8:32 am by
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Hey guys –
I just want to spark a discussion here and see if we can’t move the meter a bit on some of these websites.
Throw out the fly fishing (manufacturers’) websites which you think to be the best and worst and tell me why. I am not looking for non-manufacturing websites since we all know that [s:f90vz1hv]The Itinerant Angler[/s:f90vz1hv] MidCurrent is the clear winner. I am interested in both design and functionality.
Best
Hardy (http://fly.hardyfishing.com/en-us/home/). Super-classy, easy on the eyes, easy to navigate. Leave it to the Brits to put together the most sensible fly fishing website. Plus, it’s frequently updated to stay up with the times. Note the curved corners on the navigational menus (this shows the designers are actual professionals who know how to use CSS).
Patagonia (http://www.patagonia.com). Let’s be honest, this site looks like a million bucks. Which is also what it cost.
Worst
Lamson-Waterworks (http://www.waterworks-lamson.com) – First, why is Waterworks even still a part of this business? Lamson is clearly where all the action has been for the last five years. Second, why has the website not been updated since 2001? Lamson is seriously making the coolest-looking, most-up-to-date reels in the industry. The style may not appeal to everyone but everyone can agree that a company capable of pushing the envelope with the reel this much should be able to put together a coherent website.
Most Improved (Special Category)
Clearly, it’s Cortland Line – (http://www.cortlandline.com). Cortland’s website was a morass of broken links with a layout that looked like a rhinoceros humping a refrigerator. The new site isn’t the most innovative but at least it won’t induce schizophrenia, and the color combinations are quite nice.
A for Effort Award
Hatch Reels – (http://www.hatchoutdoors.com/) Bonus points for great photography and sweet use of Photoshop eraser brushes. Points deducted for all-Flash layout (but let’s be honest, if you can’t afford Flash, you can’t afford a Hatch reel anyway, right?) Also, the random uncoded gibberish on the bottom of the splash page looks like a pimple on Halle Berry’s [s:f90vz1hv]ass[/s:f90vz1hv] cheek.
Bring the wood.
Zach
(Edit: I’m told TFO actually is revising their site.
OK…I’ll bite.
I agree with you Zach on the Hardy site.
Thumbs Up
Fishpond (http://www.fishpondusa.com/) – Easy to navigate and great photography.Simms (http://www.simmsfishing.com/) – Easy to navigate, good layout, nice features (product info, photos, videos, etc).
Major Thumbs Down
Lamson-Waterworks (http://waterworks-lamson.com) – I’ll reiterate what Zach already said: for a company that is producing such good products, their website is down-right disgraceful.-Tim
Thumbs up:
Fishpond. Product photography is good. Site is very easy to navigate. There are just a couple of clicks to get to the goods. The look and feel is dead on as well.
I second Patagonia as being excellent, but I think the main page could be a little cleaner. There is a lot of stuff there that doesn’t need to be.
Thumbs Down:
Scientific Anglers. Being integrated into 3m’s corporate site just makes it clunky. It also makes URL’s ridiculous. You pretty much can’t get there without Google. I don’t like the sidebar. There is just too many clicks to find the info you need.
Hey guys –
This is actually going pretty good and you’ve brought some things to my attention that I wouldn’t have thought of. I like Abel’s huge reel photos on white a lot, for instance.
Now let’s throw out a few fly shop awards. I don’t want to have a Worst category here because fly shops mostly lack the funding the manufacturers have (or should have) for their websites. And thus, the average fly shop site looks like Stephen Colbert’s fake Colbert Nation site (only it’s not a fake). But there are some very good ones. I used to comb through the nation’s fly shop websites to write the Hotspots column in American Angler.
Best Fly Shop Websites
Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters – (http://www.flyfishingoutfitters.com/) Probably the best use of a logo in fly fishing retail anywhere.
Little River Outfitters – (http://www.littleriveroutfitters.com) Less for their design (though I certainly approve the photography, ha) and more for Byron Begley’s quirky, down-home fishing report, which is one of the best blogs on the internet even though it’s not actually a blog.
The Fly Shop of Redding International Travel – (http://www.flyfishingtravel.com/) This is the travel offshoot of The Fly Shop’s main site. The main site I find a lot less engaging but this one is excellent.
Four Rivers Fishing Company – (http://www.4riversmontana.com/) The Twin Bridges fly shop; very nice site.
Zach
Four Rivers Fishing Company – (http://www.4riversmontana.com/) The Twin Bridges fly shop; very nice site.
I was going to wait til tomorrow on my lunch to post, because I wanted to take the time to really give my thoughts to all of the sites listed .. til I saw this post!
Thats my site! Super stoked that you called it out as being good and not super suck! 🙂 Worked my a$$ off on it last summer/fall! Feel free to drop Greg an email and let him know you liked it!
. I really made an effort to build off the whole ‘western’ feel/theme with the site. Planning a September trip to Montana and stumbled on the 4 Rivers website. Impressive [smiley=thumbup.gif]
You did a good job, Corey. I was wondering where they got the photography. The use of a big fat PNG logo that comes up first is very nice and I like the way you layered the DIVs to have the shadows stay consistent. Very nice.
Thanks Zach .. Was a fun site to do. Was the first time I dug in and used sIFR for my text, I think it also added quite a bit to the site.
Planning a September trip to Montana and stumbled on the 4 Rivers website. Impressive [smiley=thumbup.gif]
Cool and thanks .. I’m really looking forward to checking out their full-moon night floats on the Maddy!
As far as the big sites go…At the bottom
Temple Fork. They really NEED a better site. I even sent them an email about it a couple of years ago. It does not encourage me to buy one of their rods, even though I like them.
Lamson-Waterworks. Ouch.
At the top
The Simms and Fishpond sites are very nice IMO.
My fav that has not been mentioned is the St. Croix site ( http://www.stcroixrods.com/ ). IMO it has a real nice individual look and feel that sets it apart.
Hey Jeff –
That’s very interesting insight. One thing that none of the manufacturers have done, but which they could easily do, is actually have their designers explain in plain English what it is that they make and how they do it.
For instance, if you go to Sage’s website you’ll see a lot of terminology thrown around like “Generation 5,” etc. I’ve never been able to pin anyone down on what that term really means: I think it is Sage’s catch-all phrase for a whole cluster of little tweaks they’ve made in their scrim layout and taper design. Obviously, Sage is super good at what it does or they wouldn’t be on top of the heap.
Great thread and idea Zach…
I agree with all the above, can really comment on much else, but I will troll…
I do have one that I like for many reasons, Scott, they change it every year or so, and every time it seems to give me more info on the company, products and processes.
If I could, or if you would be so inclined, could you edit your first post and put all the “Hot” and “Not’s” in it as a post script??
As far as TFO goes, I was being facetious in my first thread and probably wasn’t very nice to them. I know that their management is aware of the need to update the site, but you have to admit that their internet marketing decisions have almost always been spot-on. They wouldn’t have become the very relevant player they are today if they hadn’t used the web well. But I do agree with you, Corey, that the time has come for an update, as it eventually does for all web sites (this one included).
Hope I didnt sound to harsh … I have a TICRX 9wt and love it. Glad to hear will be putting up a new site!
…
I would ask for regular photo essays from my guides, reps, and contributors and I’d lace them together into a This Is Fly-style monthly presentation, which would be fed out to the loyal users via newsletter.…
I would “sell” as many stickers as a user wanted for the cost of shipping, and I would hold periodic contests for useful things like new advertising ideas or product concepts, giving away logo’ed schwag to keep people coming back.I couldnt agree with you more here .. RSS feeds, contests, stickers, swag … All that stuff that ‘reminds’ your customers how cool your product is and lets them be involved. Should be key to any online marketing campaign, IMO.
Not a flyshop site, or a fly fishing manufacturer, but if you dig mountain bikes, Kona bikes has a good one,
Planning a September trip to Montana and stumbled on the 4 Rivers website. Impressive [smiley=thumbup.gif]
Please stumble on to: http://www.thestoneflyinn.com/
Rooster Leven used to be part owner of 4 Rivers until their parting two year’s ago.It seems to me that a manufacturer could easily duplicate large parts of what makes this site successful and use that to strengthen brand loyalty and recognition, but no one has really tried it yet.
I think Rio have a great (as in very useful and informative) web site. The taper layouts and the spey rod/line references are excellent.
Some companies certainly don’t take it as seriously as I think they could. There are some substantial opportunities being missed.
Morsie
I reckon http://www.umpqua.com is first rate.
You can judge a man by the size of things which annoy him.
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