Moving Towards a "New Normalcy"

In these videos, Brian takes some time to explain the current state of Mad River Outfitters as we move forward as well as instructions for curbside pickups.

****5/28/20 Update- We have now moved to 10:00 a.m.- 6:30 p.m. Monday- Saturday for Customer Service Hours and Curbside Pickup. 

• Thanks for the tremendous outpouring of support during this time. Our online store has kept our "skeleton crew" extremely busy and has allowed MRO to uphold the promise of keeping our employees' paychecks coming, even for those who have not been working at all due to concerns. We thank you all for that support and please keep it coming.

• Today we move to "full staff" and will be gradually getting everyone back to work. This will allow us to start up "Customer Service Hours" as well as "Curbside Pickup". More details below and in the video. These two customer service options will start on Wednesday, May 13th.

• The BIG news here is our New Store, which should be ready early Summer. The new store is 5 doors down from the current location and will be one of the largest and most complete fly shops the industry has ever seen. New vendors, new departments, new employees, full-time classroom, it's going to be a showpiece for the country and we can't wait for you all to see it. Our employees will begin preparing the current store immediately for the move to the new location. We'll of course keep you updated as we progress.

• "Customer Service" hours will be 10:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Basically, we will be available by telephone for service and consults. Feel free to give us a call and we'll do our best to help. Outside of those hours, please leave us a message and we'll do our best to get back to you. E-mail will remain the best way to contact us during this time.

• "Curbside Pickup" will also be available during those same hours. 10 - 6:30 p.m., Monday- Saturday. Place your order online and wait for the e-mail confirmation that we have your order processed and ready for pick-up. When you arrive, simply give us a call and we will set the order outside of the front door. More details and a video coming tomorrow on exactly how this process will work.

• The retail store will remain closed to the public until further notice.

Here at Mad River Outfitters, our mantra has always been: Exceptional customer service is what we do. Fly Fishing is what we love and sell.

That being said, with the current restrictions on retail, such as limiting the number of customers who can shop at one time, or limiting the amount of time that those CAN shop etc., we just don't feel that we can offer our usual "Exceptional Customer Service" under those circumstances. Combine that with the reality that we will need the full staff in order to run the online store AND prepare the current store for moving, we don't feel it is the right choice to open the store right now. In addition to this, with the fact that we will be preparing the store and stock to move and we don't feel we can currently offer the retail experience that Mad River Outfitters is known for.

• The online store is of course fully operational and we are not experiencing any drastic delays in processing or shipping.

Any questions, you can reach us during our "Customer Service" hours stated above or send us an e-mail and we'll do the very best that we can to help.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding, as well as your support through this challenging time. Stay tuned for updates as things change. As usual, we ave a lot in store for you, it's just going to take some time.

The Staff of Mad River Outfitters,

Brian, Andy, Patrick, Linda, Ryan, Justin, Cristina, Judy, Roger, Paul, Liam, Joe, Dev, Josh, Rogue and Bella.

Minimum Basic Operations

Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

Please Note: From 4/1/20 to 4/5/20 we were experiencing some technical difficulties related to our Google account. As a result, we did not have ANY access to e-mails and also had to temporarily shut down the online store. We we not able to send order confirmations, tracking numbers and general communications about orders.

As of Monday, 4/6/20 these issues have been resolved and the online store is OPEN for business again and we ARE able to send and receive e-mails.

Mad River Outfitters will be closed for business in accordance with the Governor’s “Stay at Home” order which went into effect at midnight last night. We will be operating under article 13- Minimum Basic Operations as outlined in the Order:

13. For the purposes of this Order, Minimum Basic Operations include the following, provided that employees comply with Social Distancing Requirements, to the extent possible, while carrying out such operations: 

a. The minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of the business’s inventory, preserve the condition of the business’s physical plant and equipment, ensure security, process payroll and employee benefits, or for related functions
b. The minimum necessary activities to facilitate employees of the business being able to continue to work remotely from their residences

Here’s what this means exactly in regards to Mad River Outfitters retail store in Columbus, Ohio:
1. The store is Closed to the public.
2. “Curbside Pickup” is no longer an option on the website. The practice has been deemed illegal for a non-essential business like our under the Governor's Mandate.
3. We will be operating as described above, with a very limited staff who will be adhering to very strict quarantine standards.
4. Therefore, we will be unable to answer the phones as we normally would- please leave a message ONLY if you have an emergency or a problem. We will be checking voicemail periodically throughout the day but will not be able to return calls related to general fishing or retail store questions. These will be welcome though via e-mail.
5. We will be shipping orders as we can and receiving merchandise as delivered to maintain the value of our inventory-as stated above
6. We will be monitoring e-mails basically 24 hours a day. This will be the best way to reach us….by far. We will respond, as we always do, to every single e-mail.
7. Again, the online store will remain open and orders will be shipped, just know that there will surely be a delay in processing and shipping time as per our normal routine.

We would like to thank our friends and customers for the overwhelming outreach of support. We greatly appreciate your willingness to support a small business like ours. As of right now, our full staff is being paid a full salary regardless of whether they are working or not. Most are not right now, in accordance with the order. Mad River Outfitters also has 26 years of reserves and we will survive this shutdown, as long as it is over soon.

Let’s all work together and get through this. Please stay at home.

Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions.

Leave us a message if an emergency or you have a problem that we can help with.

Thanks again for your support and understanding,

The staff of Mad River Outfitters,
Brian, Andy, Patrick, Linda, Ryan, Justin, Judy, Josh, Dev, Roger, Cristina, Dick, Paul, Rogue and Bella

April Fools 2020

Friends, we are of course on hiatus here from filming videos so we wanted to let you know that there won't be an April Fools episode this year. We know that many look forward to it and we're sorry that we can't get it done this year.

In the meantime, we think that last year's was pretty epic so maybe have a look back here. We hope it brings a smile to your face. Stay tuned and stay in touch. We hope to get back to normal silliness soon!!!

3-21-20 Update

Quick update from Brian at the shop. We are closed to the public but we are here and working, safely. Online and phone orders are shipping out as normal.

For our local customers we are offering “Curbside Pickup” as well. Place your order online, choose this option, and we’ll have it ready in about 15 minutes and send you an email. Call us when you get here and we’ll walk it out to you. Easy. Hope all of our friends and customers are well and thanks for the overwhelming support.

- Mad River Outfitters

Update on Recent Events

Friends,

Thanks for signing up for our Free Beginners Program scheduled for this coming Monday. We greatly appreciate it.

We do although at this time, feel that it is a prudent and responsible action for us to postpone this event due to the current concerns.

We have over 70 people signed up and although still legal according to the State of Ohio, we don't feel that it would be a responsible action to hold the event.

The value of the health or our friends, customers and employees is worth way more than the value of a free fishing class. It's only fishing.

The make-up dates will be Wednesday, April 8th and Wednesday May 6th.

***Please respond here and let us know if you will be able to rescheduled for either of those dates. There is no need to re-register. We will simply move you over.

***If you can't make either date, and registered online, we will be happy to arrange for a refund of your online registration fee or we can roll it into store credit.

Please though let us know that you received this message and as to whether you will be able to make one of those dates.

We hope that you understand and respect our decision here and think that it is in the best interest of all at this time.

We'll look to hear and thanks again for your support.

Sincerely,

Brian Flechsig

President

P.S.- are are open for business as usual and are available by phone or e-mail if you have any questions or concerns.

2020 Fly Fishing Film Tour

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is always an event we look forward to. For many years now, it's been a huge privilege of ours to see the Ohio fly fishing community come together to to laugh, enjoy some beers, movies about the sport we love and more importantly support charities that are changing lives. This year's Fly Fishing Film Tour will be on Thursday, March 5th and hosted at Studio 35 | Drafthouse & Cinema.

Every year tickets sell out as fast as we can publish them on the website and this year is looking to be the same. With hundreds coming together we're certainly excited for the movie lineup. Featuring exclusive shorts that tell the stories of everything from fishing guide fairy tales, to serial steelhead semantics, canyon conservation in Colorado, mountain biking for marlin, jumping jaguars and jungle fish in whitewater rapids and the audacious Aussies who explore the largest coastline in the world. From saltwater to fresh, this year’s film is geared to get you stoked for another incredible season on the water. Check out the stoke reel for yourself below:



Yeah, if that doesn't get you excited, we don't know what will. Having just spent some time with Flip last month, we couldn't be more excited to see what he's bringing to the silver screen this year. The films, camaraderie and brews are only half the event. This year, we're giving a majority of the proceeds to our friends at Casting for Recovery and Trout Unlimited Madmen Chapter if you want to learn more about who they are, how they're impacting the world and more, go head over here.

Every year we hold a raffle for general prizes, specific prizes and grand prizes. Stay tuned, as we're going to be announcing all of our prizes very soon. Needless to say, this is going to be a big year. We've also got a couple sponsors who we can always depend on making this event a memorable time, so big thanks to both Centeral Ohio Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited.We're grateful for their support in such an incredible event.

Well, that's enough from us. if the stoke reel, raffle and all-around-kick-ass-time doesn't have you sold, you can stay home Thursday, March 5th, 2020 and watch our YouTube Channel. Pick up your tickets here and learn more about this years Fly Fishing Film Tour here.

The Wild Golden Dorado

The Golden Dorado is a fish that not many have heard of. But when you see it for the first time you may find it unforgettable. The Golden Dorado is one of the most wild fish in the world, native to the Amazon, it is an incredible predatory gamefish.

Our guide here at Mad River Outfitters, Pat Kelly, is hosting a trip to the Tsimane (pronounced SA-MAAN-EE) Pluma Lodge in July where he and others will be fishing for this wild gamefish. Needless to say he's excited. The Golden Dorado feed on bait-fish called Sabalo that swim through gin clear headwaters. They're a freshwater fish that hunts in packs and fight like hell. The folks we've talked to about fighting these fish say they almost never leave the air during a good fight.

In the excitement of this trip, we sat down with Pat Kelly to shoot a brief video where he shares some information about the Golden Dorado, the Tsimane Pluma Lodge and the adventure in the Bolivian Amazon in general. Check it out below!

We're stoked about this trip and can't wait to learn more about this fish and the adventure that awaits Pat Kelly down in the Bolivian Amazon. Fun fact: The Amazon goes across 9 different territories in South America!
Want to learn more about this trip? Click here!