About Us

About Northern Skiff Outdoors

Great Lakes Born. Veteran Driven. Angler Inspired.

Northern Skiff Outdoors was born on big water—shaped by the Great Lakes, the rivers that feed them, and the lessons only fish can teach.

We’re anglers, builders, makers, and lifelong students of the water.

What started with a passion for fishing has grown into something bigger: a place to design better fishing gear, hand-tie flies, experiment with conventional tackle, supply materials to fellow creators, rebuild boats, guide anglers onto the water, and celebrate the culture that surrounds Great Lakes fishing.

We aren’t interested in making things simply because they’ll look good hanging on a wall or sitting on a shelf.

We build things we want to fish.

And if they aren’t good enough for our water, they aren’t good enough to carry the Northern Skiff name.

Built Around the Way We Fish

Northern Skiff doesn’t fit neatly into one corner of fishing—and that’s intentional.

Fly fishing. Conventional tackle. Shallow water. Open water. Wading. Trolling. Forward-facing sonar. Old-school techniques. New-school technology.

We appreciate all of it.

Fishing changes with the water, season, species, weather, and angler. Sometimes the answer is a hand-tied fly presented quietly in skinny water. Sometimes it’s a custom-painted lure, a trolling spread over deep water, or electronics showing you exactly where the fish are.

We don’t believe one method has to be better simply because it’s the way we’ve always done it.

We’d rather understand why something works.

That’s the philosophy behind everything we do.

Bespoke Flies

Hand-Tied. Fish-Driven. No Shortcuts.

Our Bespoke Flies collection is where craftsmanship meets time on the water.

Every pattern starts with a fish, a situation, and a reason. From there, it’s developed at the vise, refined through experimentation, and ultimately judged where it matters—on the water.

From technical Great Lakes patterns for steelhead, bass, carp, and other species to oversized predator flies built for musky, we pay attention to the details that affect how a fly actually fishes: profile, movement, balance, sink rate, durability, hook choice, and materials.

Some patterns are rooted in tradition. Others come from asking what happens if we do things a little differently.

Either way, they’re not tied simply to look good in a fly box.

They’re fishing tools built to be used.

JB’s Fly Foundry

Materials for Anglers Who Create.

Sometimes we’d rather sell you the ingredients and see what you come up with.

JB’s Fly Foundry is our collection of hand-selected, custom-prepared, and small-batch fly-tying materials for anglers who take pride in what comes off their vise.

You’ll find specialty fibers, flash, tying components, unique colors, proven staples, and materials we use ourselves when developing Northern Skiff patterns.

We select materials with the same considerations we use when tying our own flies: movement, durability, consistency, color, and fish appeal.

Some will help you recreate familiar patterns.

Others are there to make you look at the vise and think:

What could I build with that?

Because the best part of fly tying isn’t always following someone else’s recipe.

Sometimes it’s creating the next one.

The Drip Bench

Custom Tackle. Built to Get Bit.

Fly rods aren’t the only rods in our boat.

The Drip Bench is where the conventional side of Northern Skiff gets creative.

Custom-painted lures, purpose-built tackle, experimental colorways, predator baits, inline bucktails, and other fish-catching ideas come through the bench in small batches with an emphasis on action, durability, presentation, and giving anglers something different to throw.

Some designs begin with proven concepts and get the Northern Skiff treatment.

Others start with a question, a pile of components, and an idea that probably sounded better before we started taking things apart.

That’s part of the fun.

We’re not interested in filling shelves with thousands of identical baits.

We’d rather make something interesting, put it in front of fish, learn from it, and make the next one better.

Painted different. Built with purpose. Made to fish.

On the Water

Different Water. Different Fish. One Great Lakes Obsession.

The skiff is part of our identity, but Northern Skiff Guide Services extend far beyond one boat or one style of fishing.

Our On the Water experiences are about matching anglers with the right water, opportunity, and approach.

Depending on the season and conditions, that can mean quietly working shallow flats aboard an oar-powered skiff, stalking fish from shore, putting on waders, chasing seasonal bites, heading into open water, trolling the Great Lakes, or joining one of our trusted guides and captains aboard a larger charter boat.

Fly or conventional.

Shallow or deep.

Quiet water or big water.

Sometimes we even leave the species up to the day and simply go looking for the best opportunity available.

We aren’t interested in putting every customer through the same packaged fishing trip.

We want good water, good people, some learning, a few laughs, and hopefully a fish or two worth remembering.

Pick your water. Pick your pursuit. We’ll take it from there.

Skiff Works

Same Hull. New Story. Built to Fish.

Some boats just need someone to see what they could become.

Skiff Works is Northern Skiff Outdoors’ boat customization, rebuild, and upgrade service for anglers who would rather build the fishing boat they actually need than settle for someone else’s idea of the perfect setup.

We have a particular appreciation for boats with history—the scratched-up skiff, forgotten aluminum hull, old river boat, or fishing rig with good bones that’s ready for another chapter.

Projects can range from targeted upgrades to more extensive transformations involving deck and storage layouts, flooring, paint and finishes, electronics, electrical systems, rigging, seating, hardware, trailers, and fishing-specific modifications.

The important part isn’t making a boat look good sitting in the driveway.

It’s making it work better on the water.

Every project starts with the same question:

How do you fish?

Then we build around the answer.

Build. Customize. Fish. Repeat.

SWAG

Wear the Life, Not Just the Logo.

Fishing has always had its own language, inside jokes, traditions, arguments, bad ideas, and stories that somehow get better every time they’re told.

Our SWAG collection celebrates that side of the culture.

Northern Skiff apparel and goods are inspired by the Great Lakes, boats, fly fishing, conventional fishing, forward-facing sonar, giant flies, questionable decisions at the boat ramp, and the people who understand why waking up at an unreasonable hour to stand in cold water sounds like a good time.

Some designs represent Northern Skiff.

Others simply represent anglers being anglers.

Either way, they’re made for people who would rather be on the water.

Why Northern Skiff?

Because fishing should still feel personal.

There’s something different about catching a fish on a fly you tied.

Throwing a lure you helped design.

Finding fish using something you learned rather than simply following someone else’s waypoint.

Watching an old boat you’ve rebuilt slide back into the water.

Or helping another angler put all those pieces together.

Craftsmanship matters. Experience matters. Knowledge matters.

But curiosity might matter most.

Northern Skiff exists somewhere between tradition and experimentation.

We respect where fishing came from without believing it has to stay there.

Old-school knowledge and modern technology don’t have to compete. Fly anglers and conventional anglers don’t need separate worlds. A Great Lakes fisherman can appreciate a quiet shallow-water presentation one day and stare at forward-facing sonar the next.

We’re anglers.

We’re allowed to enjoy all of it.

Great Lakes Born

The Great Lakes aren’t simply something we put in our logo.

They’re our proving ground.

These waters can be beautiful, unforgiving, and completely different from one day to the next.

Shallow flats. Tributaries. Harbors. Rivers. Breakwalls. Reefs. Backwaters. Shorelines. Open basins.

They demand versatility from anglers and their equipment, and that’s exactly what makes them special.

Our roots are here, but our curiosity isn’t limited by geography.

If something we build, tie, paint, learn, or develop on Great Lakes water helps an angler somewhere else catch another fish, we’re perfectly fine with that.

If it swims and there’s a reasonable way to catch it, we’re probably interested.

Veteran Driven

Northern Skiff Outdoors is veteran owned and operated, and that background influences more than a badge on our packaging.

It shows up in our approach to preparation, craftsmanship, accountability, problem-solving, and time on the water.

We believe equipment should have a purpose.

We believe details matter.

We believe there’s always something left to learn.

And if you’re going to put your name on something, you should be willing to stand behind it.

More Than a Fishing Store

Northern Skiff Outdoors isn’t being built to become another warehouse filled with the same products available everywhere else.

We’re building something more personal.

A place where an angler can buy a hand-tied fly, pick up materials to create their own, throw a custom lure, book a day on Great Lakes water, breathe new life into an old boat, learn something new, or simply grab a shirt that makes another fisherman laugh at the boat ramp.

Some things will become Northern Skiff staples.

Some will be small batch.

Some will be one-offs.

Some experiments won’t work.

And some will probably be a little strange.

That’s the point.

Build it.

Tie it.

Throw it.

Fish it.

Learn from it.

Then make the next one better.

Welcome to Northern Skiff Outdoors

For the fly anglers and the conventional guys.

For the shallow-water addicts and the big-water trollers.

For the musky hunters, steelhead chasers, bass fishermen, walleye nuts, carp stalkers, and anglers who don’t particularly care what eats—as long as something does.

For the tackle builders.

For the fly tiers.

For the boat projects that got slightly out of hand.

For the people who still look at a piece of water and wonder what’s swimming underneath it.

And for anyone who believes the next cast could always be the one.

Fish different. Fish with purpose.

NORTHERN SKIFF OUTDOORS

Great Lakes Born. Veteran Driven. Angler Inspired.

— JB