What do cassette tapes, climbing rope handles, recycled fishing nets, and carbon fiber nets all have in common?

They're part of one of the most unlikely journeys in fly fishing. Today we sit down with Johnny Lakoke, the founder of Fishpon, but long before Fishpon changed the way we carry gear on the river, Johnny helped build case logic into the global leader and music storage.

From designing ski boot bags in the 80s to disrupting the fly fishing industry in late 90s,

with the first modern chess pack, Johnny has spent a life rethinking how we carry things that matter.

This is the wet fly swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to

for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip

and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Johnny LaCoke is here today

and we are going to find out about fishpon. We're going to get the whole history, including

how they became the first B corporation in fly fishing, why waterproof bags fail and what most anglers don't know about the zippers.

We're going to find out about the origin of the tacky flybox line and how he created and why

science on the fly and how that's turning anglers into citizen scientists across the country.

If you've ever clipped tip and dispenser for your pack carried a nomad net or wondered how a fly fishing brand

can actually influence conservation, this conversation is going to hit home. All right, here's

a story behind fish pond, Johnny Lecoq. How you doing, Johnny? Good morning. You're talking to you from Mexico this morning, but love what you're doing, Dave, and so proud of all the content you've done and happy to be and humble to be a part of one of your episodes. Amazing. Amazing. No, it's kind of cool how this stuff works because, you know, your name's been on my mind, you know, and just what you've done for a long time.

I think you guys have been a industry leader. And it's kind of cool because all these years, we haven't connected until now. And finally we get a chance to dig into fish pond, right? The story of of how you built this brand. And now you're doing these amazing things in conservation. We're going to talk about that today. I'm really excited.

So maybe take us back first.

You know, I'd love to hear like fish punt. Was that something

that was always on your mind as a youngster? Or how did that come to be? Yeah. Well, you know,

angling, like a lot of the people that you've interviewed on your podcast, I mean,

angling starts for most of us at a young age, right, in some

form, interest in fish or water or, you know, it may not just be fly fishing, but it's, it's

an interest in, in water and catching fish. And that magic happens to a lot of us early in life

...