After I penned yesterdays blog I saw some exciting news posted on Facebook. Squimpish Flies is teaming up with East Branch Outfitters and the Knotweed Farm Dispensary to bring you Fish Whistle Trading Post. That'll bring Steph and Dave Nelson and Ben and Cindy Tinker together offering a fly shop, float trips, some specialty cannabis, and a place to lay your head.
I started going to the Upper Delaware shortly after the movie A River Runs Through It and I had graduated from the streams and rivers of New Jersey. Again, back to the good old days. The fly shops were such a big part of the Upper Delaware experience. They are a source now of current things like hatches and flows but back int he day they WERE the only source. Now everybody knows everything and has a pulse on what's happening just by sitting down at the computer and content stealing.
I remember the fly shops in Roscoe and Livingston Manor. Of course Hancock had their share. There was the ones on Front Street snd over by the 191 Bridge, I can't really who owned that. Then there was the one down near the Shehawken launch and a little up on the west Branch the Delaware River Club. My favorite early times up there were when I stayed and fished at the West Branch Anglers. Each spring my friend Tom Buel and I would take the trip up and stay there. That's Tom below at the West Branch Anglers Fly Shop in April 2007. Boy time does go by.
The names of the fly shops escape me as does where I put my keys each day. I do remember the early days when taking the drive "all the way up" into Deposit was a trek and if you needed anything Hornbeck's was the place to go. They didn't have much, but that had the essentials, and they were right near prime water.
These days though people, well consumers, are different. There's nothing like a fly shop, but to run a successful one you need loyal customers. Customers that understand and value the knowledge and experience a shop has about the local fishery and gear needed to be successful. Fly anglers, trying to shop around on the internet to get the best price, only hurt themselves and the fly shops they call home. I recall the day back in the 1990's when a customer came into The Fly Hatch and guy who had purchased a fly reel off the early internet asked Dave to put backing and line on it. That's when Dave said, "This is the end", and he was right. So many shops have closed over the years. Everything is so different.
So when you go to the Upper Delaware this year swing by the Fish Whistle Trading Post and support the local fly shop. If it's not there then support another, although I don't think you'll be able to get some smokey smoke if you do partake.