Friends start fishing line, hope to encourage more women to fish
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REEDSBURG, Wisconsin (WiscNews) — Two friends from Reedsburg have turned a hobby into a business with the goal of getting more women involved in the sport of fishing and the outdoors.
Samantha Minor and Cortney Fry have been best friends for 13 years. Both love fishing and do it year round with any type from lake, shore, river, ice or on a boat. Fry and her husband also enjoy bow fishing.
In October, both women launched Bait N Babes, an online store offering accessories and apparel geared towards female anglers after noticing there isn’t a wide variety of stylish fishing clothes designed for women. Before starting their company, Minor said she was a brand ambassador for another fishing line and was encouraged by her husband, Joe, to start her own. She ran the idea by Fry and both women jumped at the chance to venture into business together and become owners of their own apparel company.
Bait N Babes sells various apparel through its online store from hats and shirts to sweatshirts and hats with their logo, a fishing hook through a pair of lips. According to their business Facebook page, a long sleeved, V-neck shirt showing a woman fishing in the form of a heart monitor design was recently released.
Both Fry and Minor hope to add additional apparel options and accessories to their store, including custom fishing jigs and lures with their logo, a toothpick to remove a hook from a fish and mini UV lights for glow jigs for ice fishing. A list of apparel is on its website baitnbabes.com.
Minor said Bait N Babes fishing line differs from other companies as it is designed with women in mind and is a small, independent business compared to other larger outdoor and sporting goods corporations.
“I think now a lot of the (other) fishing lines and fishing apparel is geared towards just men,” Minor said. “We’re not like a huge corporation putting stuff out, it’s literally the two of us doing it.”
Another way the online business differs from other companies is it uses local vendors to support local businesses as much as possible. Checkered Flag in Reedsburg takes care of the apparel and both owners are looking to work with other independent Wisconsin based vendors to supply their accessories.
Both Fry and Minor said they take suggestions on what the public wants to see with their products. Anyone can do so by messaging them on their Bait N Babes Facebook page or email through the Get in Touch tab on their website.
While both women have big goals for Bait N Babes, including attending expos and having followers and product in all 50 states, Fry said the ultimate goal is to attract more women to fishing and the outdoors.
“It’s about getting people in the outdoors and getting fishing and getting kids introduced to it and everything else rather than just making a big profit on anything,” Fry said.
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