Hello Fred, let's make it simple and get straight to the point. What is French Touch Fishing?
Fred Miessner âeuros FTF is first of all a passion for lure fishing which started with Lucky Craft, a Japanese brand for which I worked at the time with Thomas Vogels (Illex product manager) ndlr ) and David Mery (Fish Connection ndlr ) until 2009, when I created French Touch Fishing.
What was the idea behind wanting to create your own brand?
Fred Miessner âeuros The idea was to develop brands that were not previously present in France, innovative brands that embodied new ways of fishing, the new generation of fishermen.
French Touch Fishing is very marked by the codes of the street, a street culture that you have largely conveyed.
Fred Miessner âeuros The company being based in Paris, this will to make people discover these new brands was combined with the desire not to wait for the weekend to go fishing, and gave birth to what I called Street Fishing. In the same way that there was Street Ball for basketball, I put a name to a practice. The things that we were going to put in place also found their origins in the street, this fishing that you can practice in your backyard, very fast where we will use small soft lures to maximize the chances of making a fish. The perfect ground for the arrival in 2009 of Reins, a brand unknown in France that I had gone to Japan to find.
Indeed, among the ways of fishing that FTF has reported, there is a good place for the Finesse fishing of the perch, among others.
Fred Miessner âeuros With the Reins Rockvibe Shad in 2 inches associated with the Aji Meba lead heads, for 15euros you had a bag of 20 soft lures and 5 TP 100% made in Japan that allowed you to catch perch galore! It was perfect for the kids who were starting to fish without going through the "jigging" stage and, as I said, for the street fisher who wanted to be sure to catch fish even on short sessions.
And FTF is one of the brands that have contributed to restore the image of the chub, a fish denigrated at the time and considered as a second class trout.
Fred Miessner âeuros In parallel with the finesse fishing, there was also sight fishing which I like very much. I had analyzed that you could catch chub with floating insect imitations and in particular with the Aiba Mushi of Tiemco, which we distributed very early. The only ones who did that in Japan at the time was Tiemco. We were pioneers on trout spoons as well with the Tiemco Lightning Wobbler that we launched back in 2012, long before the Area was widespread. This spoon is part of the references that remained in the catalog for a long time without moving too much because we did not have the strength to communicate widely to the general public.
Certainly, but French Touch Fishing has nevertheless marked its time, whether on the technical approaches or on the way of communicating.
Fred Miessner âeuros We were small but we had ideas, we were very active. We had our blog, the FTF Fishing School, etc.. The idea was to introduce new techniques, new trends, such as casting and especially the Bait Finesse but also the Big bait! In 2009, with Deps we had the Silent Killer then in 2016, the big shads Svartzonker mounted on Shallow Rig, lures with which we could go fishing for pike at the weekend. Always this alternation of street fishing and fishing in the great outdoors mostly by boat.
A way of living fishing that totally exceeds the framework imposed until now by its practice, fishing as a real lifestyle.
Fred Miessner âeuros With William Fichard (creator of the Big Fish 1983 brand) ndlr ) we brought the "Lifestyle" aspect. Street Fishing is an integration in our way of life, which means that we don't have to dress up specifically to go fishing, because afterwards you can meet your friends for a drink on the terrace for example. So fishing was not limited to technique, it became something cultural. I am really proud of this spirit, this heritage that I have managed to keep alive over the years. When I was in high school, I was ashamed to say that I went fishing, while my son is known on the banks of the Seine as "Ferdinand the fisherman". Street Fishing is now integrated in the urban culture as well as skateboarding. Walking the city with a rod in hand and feet on the concrete, it is not by chance that a brand like New Balance has chosen us as ambassadors.
So when you look back and take stock of where you've been, you feel a certain satisfaction?
Fred Miessner âeuros Reconquering young people through fishing in the cityâeuros¦ If you had set me this challenge 20 years ago, I would have thought you were crazy. Today, and no matter what happens, I am proud to leave these traces behind me, this FTF signature which is to bring new techniques, new brands and new trends. My other passion, as you will have understood, is to find brands! And the FTF story continues with the launch of the Pro Shop.
