The Manic Team
Rene Vaz - Managing Director
The Big Boss Rene, since the age of 19 has been highly involved (obsessed!?) in the NZ fly fishing and tackle industry. Rene is a past New Zealand Fly Fishing Champion and NZ team member, he is an FFF and STANIC Fly Casting Instructor, holds a Masters Degree with Honours in Fisheries Biology and Management and has worked for and advised a number of tackle companies throughout the globe. Basically Rene lives and breathes fly fishing.
Along with his wife Susan, Rene started Manic Tackle Project in 2008 from their garage at home and after a few years of hard work, late nights, large glasses of wine and some great customers they have successfully grown the company into Australasia's largest and most respected fly fishing distributor.
On working in this industry " Who would have thought a misspent youth of playing with fishing gear in your room as a kid could turn into a career....."
BEVVY OF CHOICE: The way to this man's heart is via a nice Barossa Shiraz. Honourable mentions also go to a nice Pinot Noir or a classy scotch. Basically anything above 10% ABV and it's mission accomplished.
Susan Vaz - Director, Special Projects
Susan manages the operations side of marketing for Manic whilst also overseeing the design and production of our Simms artist program.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Krug... Oscar Wilde once said “Only the unimaginative can fail to find a reason for drinking Champagne”, and who are we to argue with that!
Ben Munro - General Manager
Ben is our General Manager, which basically means he manages to keep everything running smoothly around here at Manic—generally. He’s also famous for pioneering a new fish-fighting technique for dealing with big kingfish in small vessels. Ask him to show you if you ever catch up with him.
Ben has a professional background in graphic design and project management, but a lifelong passion for all things fly fishing inevitably landed him here at Manic.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: His calm demeanour belies the fact that this man loves himself a Woody or two, but without the associated brawling and grievous bodily harm charges.
Ben Goldfinch - Australian Account Manager
Ben is the more commonly known as Warehouse Ben and now he's also 'the Aussie guy', which is quite handy as that's his job.
He tells us that he is also into boxing, we know that, that's why we have him in the warehouse. Or how about "Ben likes boxing so much he even does it in the weekends"? Either way, he's a good chap to have on your side in the warehouse or ring.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: The former private school boy in him cant go past a dash of Penfold's Grange, but in reality he wouldn't turn down a slab of VB given half a chance.
Scott Diprose – Account Manager
Covering the Upper North Island, Scott is relatively new to the fly fishing world — but don’t worry, he’s already spent far too much money on gear for his newfound addiction to salt fly, and when conditions aren’t playing ball, he reverts to his soft bait roots in the Hauraki Gulf.
Before joining the tackle trade, Scott racked up years in the apparel industry, which makes him dangerously qualified to talk at length about zips, stitching, and why your fishing shirt really matters.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: If it says "Hazy Pale ale" on the can, he’s in.
Kyle Adams - Account Manager
Without a doubt, Kyle, is now officially the best looking person in the fly fishing industry, worldwide. Based in the hub of the Naki Hardcore, he's our roaming account manager that spends a heap of time in the stores both getting the Manic product out there but also upskilling the staff into better fisho's.
Kyle is a singlehand spey whiz having recently taken over the mantle of “The Tongariro Roll Cast Guy” for NZ, so if you bump into him on the river make sure to get a quick demonstration, it’ll blow your mind. Or just simply just stand there and stare at him. Gorgeous.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: A cheeky crafty tickles this mans fancy.
Sam Russell - South Island Account Manager
Sam’s the link between Manic and the Mainland. Based in Christchurch, Sam’s the guy keeping shops stocked, anglers stoked, and good banter flowing from Nelson to Invercargill. When he’s not fishing for spooky browns, he can be found feeding golf balls to various ponds and bushes around the South Island.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Speight’s - God’s apology for sending him to Invercargill.
James Gibbons - Operations Specialist
Struth mate, James has a solid background in operations, previously working for another well-known tackle distributor. While he is well versed in fly fishing, Gibbo's abilities with conventional tackle are a sight to behold. He is also the only man in the world that can fix everything in the warehouse/office and any reel too.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: No salty sea dog would be worth his, well, salt without developing a taste for the real fisherman's friend, rum. But there's no Do-Da Coruba or Black Heart bogan antics here, James' taste in rum is more 50ft yacht than 12ft tinny.
Wayne Barnes - Operations Specialist
In an attempt to escape the furore of the RWC in 2007, Wayne hid away in the repairs department here at Manic. Wayne has been along time Manic Mate, having fly fished up and down the country for number of years. He's known around the river as the Trout Boss, so don't be surprised if he catches more fish than you.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Wayne is far too concerned with healthy eating even to consider offering his opinion here.
Tom Winter - Operations Specialist
Tom came to us from a small island west of here. He's our man out in the depths of the warehouse. He can find that random shirt or pair of 4XLK waders that we never even knew was there.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: VB mate, whadda else do'yah think...maaaaate.
Andrea Mattioli - Operations & Customer Experience
When it comes to euro-nymphing, we all ask Andrea. Not just because he is Italian, but also because he's the natural choice for how to do it properly. Fishing has been in his blood forever, his wife fishes and his new born bambino will probably start fishing before he is out of nappies. Oh, make sure you pronounce his name with an Italian accent, not your accent.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: We didn't ask, but feel a nice Chianti, sans the fava beans, probably with some form of pasta wouldn't be too wrong.
Chris Dore - South Island Legend & Technical King
Chris Dore is our man in the South Island and a human fly fishing encyclopaedia, or to put it in modern terms, he's basically google. You'll see Chris' fingerprints on a huge amount of Manic content, especially the instructional stuff and has been with us since day dot. In his other life he's pretty much NZ's best fly fishing guide and if you want to catch some fish and learn a thing or ten then a day or two with Chris is money very well spent, www.chrisdore.com
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Central Otago Pinot all the way, anything from Marlborough or the Wairarapa would just offend him.
Chris Hon - Graphic Design
Chris is the other Chris here at Manic. He's easy to spot as he is not the elite fisherman that Chris Dore is. What he is though is the man behind all those pretty pictures on our website, our catalogues and everywhere else we let his creative genius reign.
Considered to be one of the best graphic designers in the country... by his mother, his tools of choice are coloured pencils and crayons. But he is most famous for a smile that captures the hearts of women both old and middle aged alike.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Coffee, it's the most important meal of the day
Sophia Deng - Financial Accounts Executive
Sophia is all things finance here at Manic and is our Financial Accounts Executive. Sophia is all things finance and loves numbers, reconciliations and basically everything that we all cant get our heads around. Hence she is perfect for the job.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: We assume it's water but most likely it's straight vodka. It's allows her to get through a full days fishing banter everyday without batting an eyelid.
Josh Power - Australian Account & Community Manager
G’day mate! Josh spent 20 years working for various fishing tackle retailers in the land down under, from there he did a stint in the circus as the world’s tallest man, that’s when we found him and gave him a new gig at Manic. When he’s not fishing, you can find him wrestling drop bears or slipping a shrimp on the barbie (BBQ).
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Cane Cutters Cordial aka Bundaberg Rum
Chris Schrueder - Content & Community Manager
Chris joins the ever growing number of Chris’s at Manic Tackle but he is possibly the second best at Wordle. He helps post big fish photos and cute cat videos to the Manic socials as well as showcasing the bling to fly shops in Victoria. He also guides for Wilderness Fly Fishing and Millbrook Lakes when he’s not repairing fences on his hobby farm that his wife’s horses keep breaking.
BEVVY OF CHOICE: Dark beers in Winter, Gin and Tonic in Summer, Spiced Rum in the Tropics.
You? Yeah, we have openings occasionally.
If working for NZ and Australia's largest fly fishing distributor interests you then keep an eye our job page here.