50 Years at Umpqua Feather Merchants
Russ Miller is committed to a life of adventure with a fly rod in hand. When I became obsessed with fishing from a young age, I had no idea where it would take me and who I would meet along the way. After spending my career in the industry starting with guiding, fly shops, and working for Sage, Fishpond and currently Umpqua, I consider myself to have a lucky life. I love fishing with my kids, competing for Fly Fishing Team USA, swinging flies for steelhead, and passing on my knowledge to others.
About Russ's presentation:
Umpqua has built an empire in our industry, a brand that is world-renown and synonymous with everything fly fishing, especially flies. It started with an A-frame cabin on the banks of the North Umpqua River. By all accounts, it should not have happened. It was such an improbable story you would never imagine most of it. There are so many aspects that no one had ever done before. And yet, it happened.
In the process, Umpqua changed the way the fly fishing industry was able to scale and grow through the production and delivery of fly tackle and the highest quality flies, designed by Royalty Tyers. Umpqua is built on a legacy of innovation and has encouraged innovation at pivotal moments. The modern history of fly fishing is told through the flies and most of those flies are in the pages of the past 50 Umpqua catalogs.
This is the Umpqua Story told by some of the people who were witnesses to the events.