My approach to business has always been to combine my skills and my lifestyle. With the children’s books Kristen and I create through The Brave Union, my 4 kid family is my muse. We also make shirts and stories to celebrate our sports teams. Our creations span a variety of designs tailored to what we like, thinking if we like it, others will too. Really, if we don’t see something on the market that we want to read or wear, we try to make it!
So naturally, when my entrepreneurial instincts began to stir, I thought to myself ‘What loves can I sandwich together?’ ‘What do I want to see or what would I find useful?’ On a drive down for a fishing trip, I found myself verbally processing (as I usually do) with my buddy Brandon Snell. He shared with me how he had started a new hobby/obsession of tying flies. Boom! Inspiration hit us both! Our new mission would be to combine fly fishing and illustration.
The passion project of Whistle Fishing Co. was born, where Brandon and I would create apparel that we’d love to wear, and beautiful vintage-inspired posters that we’d hang in our houses, and flies that we’d actually catch fish with. We’ve been on that mission for the past year, just launching WhistleFishing.com last month.
The name Whistle is something that we are pretty proud of. Whistle Bridge is an iconic feature to our first fishing base: Bennett Spring State Park where a loud whistle signals the beginning and end of angler hours. I grew up fishing at Bennett and we thought it would be a fun way to honor the gem of a park in Missouri.
Below are some of the sketches that Adam Anderson, designer extraordinaire, and I used to arrive at Whistle’s logo, along with explorations for tees, hats, and posters. This is our second commissioned logo from Adam. He also is the artist behind our Brave Union bear. When you need a beast of a logo, Adam is the man!
So naturally, when my entrepreneurial instincts began to stir, I thought to myself ‘What loves can I sandwich together?’ ‘What do I want to see or what would I find useful?’ On a drive down for a fishing trip, I found myself verbally processing (as I usually do) with my buddy Brandon Snell. He shared with me how he had started a new hobby/obsession of tying flies. Boom! Inspiration hit us both! Our new mission would be to combine fly fishing and illustration.
The passion project of Whistle Fishing Co. was born, where Brandon and I would create apparel that we’d love to wear, and beautiful vintage-inspired posters that we’d hang in our houses, and flies that we’d actually catch fish with. We’ve been on that mission for the past year, just launching WhistleFishing.com last month.
The name Whistle is something that we are pretty proud of. Whistle Bridge is an iconic feature to our first fishing base: Bennett Spring State Park where a loud whistle signals the beginning and end of angler hours. I grew up fishing at Bennett and we thought it would be a fun way to honor the gem of a park in Missouri.
Below are some of the sketches that Adam Anderson, designer extraordinaire, and I used to arrive at Whistle’s logo, along with explorations for tees, hats, and posters. This is our second commissioned logo from Adam. He also is the artist behind our Brave Union bear. When you need a beast of a logo, Adam is the man!
We appreciate the support, please take a look through our site and if you see something that interests you add it to your cart!
-Kevin
Being inspired by vintage fly fishing art I began to create all kinds of pieces of art hoping they'll be used in some way.
Thank you for looking!
