Fly Fish Food Shop Talk Podcast · Fly Fish Food

Shop Talk Podcast Ep 37 | Madison Losee

·30 min·2 clips

Madison Losee grew up in the fly fishing industry, with her grandparents starting Hyde Drift Boats.

This episode features host Cheech and guest Madison Losee, the store manager of the Fly Fish Food Shop's new Jimmy's location in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Madison grew up deeply embedded in the fly fishing industry through her family's business, Hyde Drift Boats, where she worked for seven years. The conversation centers on the launch and operation of the Idaho Falls shop, which opened just over three months ago in a downtown location. They detail the extensive inventory at the new shop, which now stocks around 4,500 different fly patterns and a vastly expanded selection of fly-tying materials compared to the previous ownership. The hosts discuss the region's exceptional trout fishing, noting numerous renowned rivers like the South Fork and Henry's Fork are within an hour's drive. Madison shares her personal fishing preference for Euro-nymphing and fishing large foam dry flies, like size 10 Chubbies, during stonefly hatches from April through September. A memorable story involves testing a new "pink worm blob" fly, where a friend hooked fish on two consecutive casts before cutting it off to fish dries for the rest of the day. The shop plans to continue local traditions like Saturday morning fly-tying demos and classes throughout the winter, potentially with live streaming. Madison also manages a team including AJ and two employees nicknamed "the knuckleheads," who had to hand-bend thousands of display pegs during the setup. Interesting insights include the shop's appeal to general tourists seeking Idaho Falls t-shirts, who then marvel at the wall of streamers in the windows. Madison reveals the collaborative relationship with Hyde Drift Boats, where her husband Alec works, with each business referring customers to the other. She discusses the learning curve of retail management, from complex ordering processes to adapting product mixes for Idaho versus Utah fisheries. The tone is casual, humorous, and conversational, filled with friendly banter and insider jokes about the hosts and their production mishaps, like forgetting to start the recording timer. Listeners interested in the Idaho fly fishing scene, shop operations, or drift boats will enjoy this episode. Those seeking highly technical fishing instruction or a tightly structured narrative might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A fly-shop conversation about community, demo plans, and a shop still taking shape.

The episode follows Madison at Jimmy's in Idaho Falls, and the focus stays on shop work, demo plans, inventory changes, and the fly-tying crowd that keeps coming through.

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Why you'd press play

You want fly shop chaos with Idaho Falls trout-country stakes.

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