Slick Stuff: An Interview with Steve Fournier

Hang around with guys who work with machine tools and you quickly learn that they are a different sort. They tend, for example, to take their work very seriously. That’s why we weren’t surprised that Steve Fournier, who manages Dr. Slick’s fly fishing tools business from a small shop in Belgrade, Montana, knows his business inside and out. Whether it’s Chinese steel vs. French steel or the likelihood that plier grip materials will grab a fly line, Fournier knows the numbers.
We got a chance to talk with him recently about the challenges of running a niche fly fishing business, about outsourcing, and about how things like catch-and-release fishing and synthetic materials have changed the design of tools for fly fishers.