The Fly Fisher in Olympia Is No More

[Divad]

Our little local fly shop in Oly, The Fly Fisher, has closed sadly. Bjorn closed up shop earlier this month and does not plan to reopen. Reoccurring local winter closures has been tough keeping customers in the shop he said.

Great guy, great shop, great loss.

With no fly shops in Thurston, Mason or Grays I hope the void is filled one day.

 

[Shad]

Damn. That was MY shop, and Bjorn was one of the last good ones. Now, there's nothing between here and Seattle or Portland. OUCH!

 

[Shad]

There won't be any new fly shops in Oly, ever, for the same reason Bjorn closed. We're officially online shoppers now.

How long til' all the local shops are gone, everywhere?

Sad....

 

[Divad]

There won't be any new fly shops in Oly, ever, for the same reason Bjorn closed. We're officially online shoppers now.

How long til' all the local shops are gone, everywhere?

Sad....

I hope going forward Kelly Susewind and the rest of the negotiation teams can push for a C&R fishery at the least if talks are leaning towards winter closures. I see keeping opportunities in the winter hugely impactful for local business and citizen health, most importantly youth health.

The dopamine rush can be had fishing or through the plague of drug use. I don’t think these factors are weighed enough during winter negotiations.

 

[flybill]

Great shop, great materials and Bjorn was awesome the few times I met him!

Shad, try Avid Angler for materials and service! There are other great shops up here too! I go to them all, but really don't need much of anything for tying, fishing or otherwise. Other great shops are Creekside, Patricks, Pacific Fly Co, Gig Harbor Fly shop and Pacific.. seriously no specific order.. I hit them all.. pick up what I need at the time, which isn't much.. although I do plan on picking up a 7wt, probably a Winston next year.

And that doesn't even include shops on or near the Yakima river.. Cle Elum, Ellensburg and in the canyon...

 

[Jake Watrous]

Damn. That was MY shop, and Bjorn was one of the last good ones. Now, there's nothing between here and Seattle or Portland. OUCH!

Isn’t Matt running Puget Sound Fly Shop in Tacoma now that Anil went to work for Far Bank?

Edit: Fly SHOP, not Fly Co. I’m gonna mess that one up for a long time.

 

[RCF]

While not talked about a lot Spawn Fly Shop in Ilwaco is in Western Washington. Brick n Mortar and great online shop.

Many fly shops have gone by the wayside. Both large and small. Fly shops can not survive on fly tie supplies, rods and reels only. Not enough margin nor quantity of sales. They have migrated to clothes and higher priced items e.g. floating devices, with a back corner of fly tie materials.

If we want local places we need to buy from them either in person or on-line. BUY LOCAL!!!

 

[Stonedfish]

I wish Spawn Fly Fish was closer. Same with Waters West.
SF

 

[RCF]

I wish Spawn Fly Fish was closer. Same with Waters West.
SF

Only an internet click away. LOL

I understand the need to touch n feel materials. Include me in that camp. Make it an afternoon trip to their shop, with some surf fishing and then fresh fish for dinner? Winner, winner winner...

 

[Jake Watrous]

I wish Spawn Fly Fish was closer. Same with Waters West.
SF

Agreed. Josh and I were talking a while back, and he said “the next time you’re down here…”.

Unfortunately, even when I’m “down there”-ish (Westport) he’s still an hour away. Takes a dedicated trip. Worth it, and he and Pete are fricking awesome, but it’s definitely out of the way.

 

[FinLuver]

I hope going forward Kelly Susewind and the rest of the negotiation teams can push for a C&R fishery at the least if talks are leaning towards winter closures. I see keeping opportunities in the winter hugely impactful for local business and citizen health, most importantly youth health.

The dopamine rush can be had fishing or through the plague of drug use. I don’t think these factors are weighed enough during winter negotiations.

There’s more money available in the “plague of drug use”
It’s a sad state of affairs.

 

[Josh]

Support your local shop. Once they are gone, it's likely you'll never have another one.

 

[clarkman]

Any fly shop worth their salt has a decent online selection these days. Certainly makes it easy to support area shops. Shoot, I just got a few things from Spawn a few days ago without having to make the trek.

 

[Wetswinger]

Crap.! Where will I get tying materials now. Bjorn was always so helpful with suggestions. The local Cabelas fly shop is a frustrating joke of nothing. Now I'll pay $10 shipping for anything I need. A monthly drive to Spawn in Ilwaco.?

 

[clarkman]

Also, there are really only a couple of shops in the country that I can get dependably top notch bucktail. I have no interest in pulling every single one of the retread Hareline "premium" (yeah right) bucktails only to find one that maaaay work from my local fly shop. Where I order from, I trust them. The vast majority of my tying materials come from smaller shops whether local to me or local to somewhere else. I honestly can't remember the last time I found acceptable materials at any big box store.

Crap.! Where will I get tying materials now. Bjorn was always so helpful with suggestions. The local Cabelas fly shop is a frustrating joke of nothing. Now I'll pay $10 shipping for anything I need. A monthly drive to Spawn in Ilwaco.?

What's the cost in gas to drive down there?

Yeah, Cabela's is pretty much a joke regardless of what you're after.

 

[Cabezon]

While not directly along I-5, Lost Creek Fly Shop in Unalaska has a great selection of fly tying materials, especially for steelhead and muskie flies. It is owned and operated by Mike Sturza, a great guy and a very experienced guide for Cowlitz River steelhead and searuns and for tiger muskies in PNW lakes.
Steve

 

[Divad]

While not directly along I-5, Lost Creek Fly Shop in Unalaska has a great selection of fly tying materials, especially for steelhead and muskie flies. It is owned and operated by Mike Sturza, a great guy and a very experienced guide for Cowlitz River steelhead and searuns and tiger muskies.
Steve

I really like Mike and his shop. He has a lot of stuff crammed in there and very knowledgeable as well.

 

[Stonedfish]

Crap.! Where will I get tying materials now. Bjorn was always so helpful with suggestions. The local Cabelas fly shop is a frustrating joke of nothing. Now I'll pay $10 shipping for anything I need. A monthly drive to Spawn in Ilwaco.?

The good online shops won’t kill you with shipping charges like some places you order from do. Many also offer free shipping if you hit a certain $$$ amount.
While I’d enjoy driving to distant shops in the state, I’d rather just order online if there are things I need from them and save the gas money for fishing trips.

@clarkman
I think I know, but which shops are your bucktail sources? As you mentioned, the quality you get now for the price isn’t great.
SF

 

[clarkman]

While not directly along I-5, Lost Creek Fly Shop in Unalaska has a great selection of fly tying materials, especially for steelhead and muskie flies. It is owned and operated by Mike Sturza, a great guy and a very experienced guide for Cowlitz River steelhead and searuns and tiger muskies.
Steve

I've never been in Mike's shop, but can confirm, he's a top notch musky guy so it would only make sense that he'd have some good musky stuff.

 

[doublespey]

Mike @ Lost Creek has a great selection of flytying materials. Like Waters West, he's picky about what he stocks. @Stonefish, I remember last time I was there looking at some bucktails in his shop and marvelling at the length and taper of the hair.

And Spawn Fly Fish - I've bought a bunch of stuff online but really want to visit that shop in the coming year. IMO they take the award that Waters West used to have (many years ago when Dave Steinbaugh was there) as the shop with the most innovative/quality products you can't find anywhere else.

That's one reasons I support local shops - you won't find a lot of what's in Spawn's catalog at the big box retailers.