I got to speak to some really nice guys who have worked hard on bringing a new fly box to the market called the ripplebox. Read some more about their product
At the end of July I telephoned Pete for the first time and began to nervously explain that my friend Josh and I had invented a new kind of fly-box. We were hoping to send prototypes to experienced anglers so they might offer some honest, critical, and in-the-stream feedback, and I was trying to find people that might be interested.
'Of course' I remember hearing with enthusiasm, as I began to explain our partnership with the Wild Trout Trust. “I'd be very happy to help in any way I can and a very good cause too and before we go any further I should say that I run a not-for profit fly fishing e-zine, with a fairly large readership called Eat Sleep Fish, and perhaps there's something we can do there too”
My eyes lit up, and the call ended graciously, we posted a ripplebox to Devon, and six weeks on, here we are.
Josh and I began designing ripplebox following a wet, windy and finger-numbing bicycle-fishing trip to the Isles of Harris and Lewis in early March last year. Not really sure what to expect, we had taken a few rods and filled our boxes with everything from tiny gnats right through to huge silver feathers for pollock. The only plan we had was to give it a go, enjoy the outdoors, and try to tempt anything swimming this early in the season with a fly.
Sadly and perhaps predictably the story doesn't end in with a PB catch or the one that got away, because despite many hours stalking rivers, estuaries, lochs and coastline, the only fish we saw was in Ullapool, fried deeply, and tucked neatly up in bed with steaming, vinegary chips.
After a pint of the local crofters ale to heal the soul, we packed our bikes and gear into the car and headed home, agreeing that in the morning we'd begin to make sense of the wet, scattered gear in the back. The following day after washing rods and soaking the lines, we sat down with a cup of tea, and opened our fly boxes to reveal a mess of torn slits and loose flies, totalling what seemed fewer than when we started. As we began to lament the incompatibility of cold fingers, small hooks and foam slits - the width of a knife edge - we agreed, that it would be energy well spent to use our experience as professional product designers to try and design something better.
We believe that when thinking about equipment, a good rule of thumb is that the better it functions, the less we are drawn to notice that we’re using it, and for something brand new to warrant being made, it must make a substantial improvement upon the product that it intends to replace. With these thoughts in mind it became our goal to design a brand new form of fly-box insert, one that made it easier and quicker to select and return flies, was capable of securely holding hooks of different shapes and sizes, and allowed flies to be placed anywhere for more efficient organising – no longer restricted by slits and pre-defined spacings (or even cold fingers).
A year down the line and many hours spent researching, developing, and testing we're on the cusp of launching our first ripplebox, featuring our unique rippled silicone insert.
ripplebox replaces the conventional slitted-insert with a sheet of rippled silicone creating 12 fly channels that run the entire length of the box. The ripple provides end-to-end grip, meaning flies can be placed in quickly and simply, anywhere - with no more backing in the bend to a slit - and subsequently becomes very easy to organise; whether you prefer to space flies according to pattern, packed close together for maximum capacity or a mixture of both. Being made from silicone, the ripple has no memory, meaning no stretching or loosening over time, and it should grip hooks securely, forever.
We launched ripplebox on a ‘crowd-funding' website called Kickstarter 10 days ago, the project is now LIVE, so please watch our Kickstarter video, which introduces us and ripplebox in more detail, by going to the link below:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/376443204/ripplebox-a-brand-new-species-of-fly-fishing-box
Kickstarter is a place for people with ideas - like us - to show a ‘prototype’ product that they are trying to bring to market to the public. This is in the hope that members of the public see it, see value in it, and make a ‘pledge’ to buy it. With the more people that ‘pledge’ the higher the combined pledge becomes, and if this total reaches our (ripplebox's) campaign target - which is the amount we need to manufacture the first 1000 rippleboxes in the UK - we can go into production, and post a ripplebox to everyone that made a ‘pledge’ to the value of a ripplebox during our campaign. However, if at the end of our campaign the total sum of the pledges does not reach the total we need to manufacture, those pledges that have been made are retracted automatically, no money is taken from the pledger's account, and Josh and I go back to the drawing board.
Kickstarter is a way for individuals to bring their ideas to market, without needing to take loans from a bank, or part with a percentage of their company to an investor or larger business. It is however hugely dependant on building a ‘crowd’ to fund us, and this is why we are here, to ask the readers of Eat Sleep Fish to watch our campaign video, and if you like ripplebox to please pledge for a ripplebox. Raising money in this way means we can stay independent, manufacture entirely in the U.K. and take the time to work through the design with advice from experienced anglers, to ensure ripplebox works to the best that it can.
By pledging £22 to our campaign on Kickstarter, you will help us to bring ripplebox to the riverbanks of Britain, and deliver one to your doorstep, just in time for Christmas.
For every pledge we receive, we’ll be donating 50p to the Wild Trout Trust.
We owe particular thanks to Denise and Kris from the Wild Trout Trust for their continued support, and of course to Pete Tyjas, for allowing us to share ripplebox with his readership.
Visit the ripplebox web site
