Five years ago last week, we launched the Orvis News, and today marks the fifth anniversary of my becoming an Orvis associate. (I had been working a freelancer for a few months already.) So I thought we’d quickly look back and see how far we’d come.
Our very first post was “In the Loop 9.20.10,” an early version of what we now call “Short Casts,” featuring links to other interesting stories around the Web. (Sadly, those links are now dead.) Next up, was our first video post: the trailer for “Tapâm – a flyfishing journey.” That turns out to have been a pretty prescient choice, kicking off our commitment to featuring great videos from around the world, as “Tapâm” trailer has racked up more than 208,000 views on vimeo since then.
That first day also offered posts on fishing big, ugly streamers in fall, as well as my introduction as the blog editor. Our first Trivia Challenge came on November 18, followed by our first Film Festival (not yet dedicated to Fridays) on the 24th. When you look at these old posts, there are formatting problems, due to our redesign and switch to WordPress in 2013, but many of the photos, videos, and tips hold up well even today.
When we started, none of us knew where this project would take us, but we had high hopes. Many of those have been fulfilled, thanks to a great online readership.
Huge thanks to all of you who read the Orvis Fly Fishing blog and who help make this a vibrant community by commenting below posts, submitting your original content, offering suggestions for how we can make things better, and letting us know when we’ve dropped the ball. We look forward to the next five years!
Who remembers the original layout of the blogs?
Happy Anniv. to your blog.
Thanks to all at Orvis for supporting Fly Fishing and educating all us new flyfishers.
Congrats. and keep up the good work Phil. Between this and the podcast, you provide such a great resource. Thanks Orvis
Thanks for your hard work. You’re in my feedly, and I check you out nearly every day. Your partnership with Tim Flagler, along with Tom’s podcast and the Tuesday tips are main reasons I tune into this blog. Thanks again.
Congrats, Orvis team! Thank you so much for all you’ve done over the last 5 years! The blog and podcasts have been a huge blessing to the fly fishing world! Keep up the good work!!
Happy 5. Have enjoyed this blog very much.