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Tied to Maine - Fly Fishing Shops Face a Changing Landscape

November 30, 2010 - RANGELEY -- Last month the fly fishing shop in Rangeley was sold to a local guide.

A month from now another fly fishing institution on the banks of the Kennebec River may change hands.

And two years ago the fly fishing shop in Greenville was nearly sold, until its owner started guiding in Florida in the winter to supplement his retail income.

These deals reflect a period of adaptation for Maine's classic fly fishing shops.

The unique specialty shops signal to tourists they've arrived in a fishing town and welcome fishermen looking for that unmatched peace found on a rushing river.

Fly fishing shops typify Maine.

And while Mike Holt may be trying to sell Fly Fishing Only in Fairfield to move closer to retirement, he and others say fly fishing shops in Maine still have staying power.

Dan Legere, who has owned the fly fishing shop in Greenville for 30 years, agrees.

Both men think Maine will still have fly fishing shops 15 years from now, even as the Internet grows as a way to trade wares and share information.

Fly fishing shops offer the in-person service anglers want and can't always find in chat rooms, Holt said.

"People want to be able to ask questions and get answers. What are the access points? Is the water level safe to wade? If they come in and ask me how to tie that fly on, I'll grab monofilament and tie the fly. They can't get that on a website," Holt said.

For Holt in Fairfield, the prospect of keeping a specialty fishing shop going took a hard turn when the Shawmut Dam section of the Kennebec River lost its prized brown trout fishery.

The fish are still there, but by state biologists' estimations, not like they were.

"There were some issues with the Shawmut fishery," said regional fisheries biologist Robert Van-Riper. "It's time had really come. Something happened with high water. A couple of years there were really some pretty good discharges. A lot of water changes a lot of habitat. It might have wiped out the insect population."

But Holt said what he found after 15 years of running a fly fishing shop in Maine is that sitting near I-95 was just as good as being beside a popular trout fishery.

He is less than 2 miles from the road to Moosehead Lake and Grand Lake Stream and the wild trout ponds along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

"It's been more of our life blood than the river," Holt said.

At the end of the day, Holt said, fly fishermen still seek his advice and wares.

"I like to think if we closed we'd leave a void. And I do think someone would step in and fill that void."

MORE TRADITIONAL

Gertrude O'Brian found out how in demand fly fishing advice in Maine is when she and her late husband moved up from New York City in 1962 to run the fly fishing shop in Rangeley.

"Gerry wanted to quit the rat race. He was standing in a river and asked George Fletcher if he was willing to sell his fly shop and George shook his hand and said, 'You just bought yourself a fly shop.' That's all it took is a handshake in the middle of the river," O'Brian said.

Over the next 14 years, O'Brian helped run the only fly fishing shop in a mountain town surrounded by wild trout and salmon waters.

The customers, she said, came from around the world.

"We sold outdoor clothes and Bass shoes in our catalog. We were busy. We had customers in Australia, Norway, Japan, everywhere. It was fun. It was a great time," recalled O'Brian, 91.

This month, Brett Damm is taking over that shop and changing the focus, making it exclusively about fishing.

Damm is mixing his guiding and fly-tying business with the work of running a fly fishing store.

It will look more old-fashioned, of Maine and traditional, Damm said.

"We're pretty interested in history. We'll try to get some of the old ways. For one thing, I'll set up a fly-tying bench right there in the store. In the old days, whenever someone walked in, there would be a guy sitting there tying flies when he's not waiting on people. So we'll do that," said Damm, 50.

INTERNET MARKETING

And in Greenville, near other legendary fishing waters, Dan Legere has felt the hurt of the economy, but like his colleagues in the fly fishing business, he found a solution that has to do with fishing.

Legere and his wife, Penny, started going to Naples, Fla., in the winter, where Dan guides.

It kept them from burning out on the small fly shop -- and kept it viable through the heart of the fly fishing season.

And Legere didn't change his business. But he did change how he markets it. Up at the doorstep of the North Woods he plugged into the Internet.

"A number of years ago I paid close attention to our website. I put a lot more information and all of a sudden, young faces started showing up. The website brought them in," Legere said. "I don't think you can do it with just a brick-and-mortar store."

Now Legere, 58, isn't thinking of selling the renowned Maine Guide Fly Shop anytime soon.

"We were having a hard time making a living. We're doing fine in Naples. But the next generation of fly fishermen coming along, they are really hard-core Internet users. I can't say I've done a survey, but probably a lot of the stuff they buy, they buy online," Legere said. "The reason to have a destination shop is people stop in there for information."

By Deirdre Fleming dfleming@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer , November 28


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago, Belgrade, Rangeley, Moosehead


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