Silver Creek near Picabo, Idaho. My moms favorite place in the world along with Ernest Hemmingway. The creek was closed due to low water, high temps and excessive pressure these fish experience, all of which can cause unnecessary stress and even death. I will say Picabo Anglers is probably one the finest fly shops I've ever been to. The staff was helpful, willingly helpful, which is rare in the fly fishing industry. I was baffled walking into the shops near Ketchum, a million-dollar business ran by clueless children who have no idea what theyre doing in a fly shop. Age has nothing to do with my discontent. At Picabo Anglers there had a young kid working there but he was extremely knowledgeable and knew the rivers well. I showed him my catches and he was legitimately excited for me and got pumped up just from others catching fish. Something like that is special.
Ketchum isn't the only area that we've run into incompetent fly shops. I came across a fly shop, which won't be named, ran by a female owner. Something to be proud of right? No, she complained and blamed all her shortcomings on her young guides, from who she gets all her info. I don't know how you can be a female business owner and be so shallow and incapable of running a business. She even asked if we wanted to buy it! What I'm seeing is fly fishing become commercialized. The sport has been "walmarted" so to speak. Few have the passion that I was nurtured into having. It's almost a spiritual experience for me. Now it's who can get the most likes and most follows on IG. Who gets endorsed or a picture reshared by a company. Not going to lie I found myself in that crowd but finally realized it was toxic and ruining the sport.
I love finding the less attractive streams. The ones you'd never pull a hoss out of but that you can take a 3 wt bamboo rod down to and catch beautiful little brookies all day long. The ones John Gierach dreams about. I've done enough rambling now but just wanted to say how a little bit of passion and effort goes a long way. I would rather drive 2 hours to go to an awesome fly shop just to avoid giving money to one that isn't. Passion goes a long way, my friends. Hope all is well.
