Rubber Meets Road for Fly Shops Seeking to Build Community

This article was originally titled “Going Mobile” in the February-March 2025 issue of Fly Fisherman. Click here to subscribe.

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Fly fishing needs fly shops. We have all heard this before, it has been stated almost ad nauseam. Yet, the fact remains that fly fishing thrives through community and camaraderie. What better venue exists for this diverse and quirky cult of feather slingers to flourish than our local fly shops? Without fly shops the culture of our sport diminishes through isolation from one another.

Sure, you can keep up with influencers and trends on social media, or buy online to get the tackle and gear you need, but does it really make you feel part of a community? Fly shops give us a home away from home when we’re traveling to distant waters. They educate us to be better anglers and stewards. They are the locals, guides, and in-the-know fishy folk who foster our vibrant community.

The creaky and dimly lit fly shops I haunted in my fly-fishing infancy have slowly faded into oblivion. A new era of modern, fully stocked fly shops with passionate owners are engaging anglers and non-anglers alike with exciting ideas to build relationships across multiple outdoor enthusiast communities. And in this digital age they are taking their fly shops on the road. Working from a refurbished food truck from Montana and a towable 28-foot trailer, respectively, two Eastern fly shops are putting the rubber to the road and venturing into territories unknown, with amazing success.

I miss the days of those dank and bygone shops that smelled of mothballs and cigarettes—but that’s just my own personal nostalgia for a simpler time. Those owners relied on local and destination anglers, healthy and predictable hatches, and the seasonal influx of new products that excited consumers to open their wallets. Modern fly shops are faced with various hurdles in trying to procure new business, and more importantly loyal customers. Direct-to-consumer buying, e-commerce competition from other retailers including big-box stores, year-round product releases from manufacturers, and shifting climate extremes are all obstacles they must navigate in an ever-evolving landscape.

Mossy Creek Fly Fishing (MCFF) of Virginia and Precision Fly and Tackle (PFT) of Pennsylvania and Maryland recognized these challenges, pivoted to become more flexible, and are reaching new audiences with mobile fly shops. As Walt Disney once said, “In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.”

Going Back For the Future

There’s no substitute for in-person interactions when it comes to being a fly angler. Whether you are buying your first rod and reel outfit or planning a bucket-list trip, the expertise, service, and trust that develop between a customer and employee is what strengthens the bonds of community.

“We always want to make sure new fly anglers are outfitted responsibly and appropriately. You just can’t get that level of service without being face-to-face with your customer,” says Colby Trow, co-owner of MCFF and former chairman of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA). “Ten years ago, I tossed around ideas regarding retail education and engaging new audiences to become fly anglers to the AFFTA board, which included Jim Klug, CEO and founder of Yellow Dog Flyfishing. These conversations and the need for our industry to innovate were factors that started our journey to go mobile.”

MCFF was not the first fly shop to dive into the mobile shop concept. Toby Swank, former owner of Fins & Feathers in Bozeman, Montana, repurposed a food truck into an artful mobile fly shop. Subsequently this truck was sold to Yellow Dog Flyfishing as part of a larger acquisition, and then sold again to MCFF.

“My first thought when I heard about Toby’s truck was ‘Ah! Somebody beat us to it!’” jokes Trow. “Toby did a great job with local events. He got fly rods into customers’ hands and built community outreach through local colleges. It was a good model for us to build on.”

Soon after acquiring Fins & Feathers, Klug sold Trow the mobile fly shop. Brian Trow, co-owner MCFF, flew to Bozeman and drove the truck back to Harrisonburg, Virginia within four days. With a white-knuckle grip he raced to beat an imposing January storm system and made it home safely—otherwise they would have had to wait until spring.

MCFF and PFT reside in fertile agricultural valleys nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley—locations containing large populations of anglers. The valleys are home to clean, cold rivers filled with trout, warmwater rivers that hold smallmouth bass and muskies, and native brook trout in higher-elevation streams as well as in some spring creeks. They are not the only fly shops in these areas, though MCFF is the only shop in Harrisonburg. Murray’s Fly Shop in Edinburg, Virginia and South River Fly Shop in Waynesboro, Virginia are directly north and south of MCFF by 35 to 60 minutes along the I-81 corridor.

In my home region, the historic Cumberland Valley, PFT shares territory with TCO Fly Shop, a well-established shop with five prime Pennsylvania locations. PFT has three additional brick-and-mortar locations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—home to a burgeoning community of male and female fly fishers— Hagerstown, Maryland, near the well-known Beaver Creek, and most recently in White Haven, Pennsylvania upon a January 2025 acquisition of the former Evening Hatch fly shop, which is nestled in Pocono mountain region. It’s in the territories surrounding these locations that are devoid of fly shops where the mobile fly shops are making an impact.

Anglers who were once an hour or more from a fly shop can now visit a mobile shop in person to have a tangible experience to test gear, cast rods and lines, see and feel fly-tying materials, and support and join nonprofit groups. For the owners, it’s another alternative to meet with customers beyond the confines of the stores or the annual traveling consumer fly-fishing shows.

“There are many positives about the consumer fly-fishing shows, but there’s also a lot of liability and risk,” says Trow. “Weather, traffic, and other factors can make or break a successful show. My brother (co-owner Brian Trow) and I kicked around the idea of how we could reach anglers on our own terms. In Virginia, we have a lot of fly anglers and diverse fishing, with talented fly tiers like Chuck Kraft and Blane Chocklett. But overall, most people don’t see Virginia as a major fly-fishing destination. We wanted to focus on getting in front of underserved areas to get gear in hands and make those connections to our shop,” he emphasized.

“The consumer shows have been good for us,” says Justin Pittman, owner of PFT. “And like MCFF, we wanted to gain more control over hosting and organizing our own events, and not be locked into our retail locations outside of the show season. I must give credit where credit is due for our mobile fly shop. Colby and Brian inspired me to take the leap into a mobile shop. Our approach was to home in on areas lacking a local fly shop and focus on what we do well, which is fly tying, education, gear, and accessories. We want to reach those anglers who can’t otherwise touch the newest and greatest fly-tying materials from Hareline, Fulling Mill, Wapsi, Nature’s Spirit, and more, as well as gear.”

Pittman has been at the core of Cumberland Valley fly fishing, conservation, and historic preservation for more than two decades. “Every business shares the same struggles, and we’re constantly trying to get better and gain new customers. We collaborate with breweries and outdoor associations to cross-promote the mobile fly shop events, so all businesses involved can benefit and reach new audiences.”

Exposure

The outdoor industry is branching out in its marketing approach to collaborate with other brands that share similar audiences. Both Pittman and Trow are utilizing their mobile fly shops, not only to reach new anglers but other outdoor enthusiasts who may have an interest in fly fishing.

“At our mobile events this past spring and summer, we had a decent turnout of people who had never fly fished before but were eager for information. We held an event at Stick City Brewing Company in Mars, Pennsylvania. Hikers, beer lovers, and outdoorsy people who’d never touched a fly rod came through our mobile shop. That kind of exposure is priceless and may spark their interest to become future fly anglers,” explains Pittman. “We are now seeing some of the same patrons who attended these events get the full fly shop experience to begin their fly-fishing journeys. It’s inspiring. I’m blessed to have a fantastic and diverse staff who are passionate fly-fishing experts and excel at developing trusting relationships with our customers.”

“Our current model has been to visit towns about an hour or so away from Harrisonburg, such as Lexington, Roanoke, and a handful of longer trips like Virginia Beach,” Trow explains. “We like to set up fly-fishing and fly-casting instruction, which really gets people excited. This expands our reach into other audiences, and likewise for businesses like breweries. Anglers are attending and buying drinks, food, and merchandise from the breweries as well as supporting MCFF and local nonprofits. They gain new customers, we gain new customers, and the nonprofit support we can facilitate with our mobile fly shop builds a thriving community.”

It is not just fly shop owners and anglers who have taken notice of these mobile shops. “I’m always looking at ways to gain exposure to new audiences and get products in the hands of anglers,” says Joe Wolthius, Scientific Anglers marketing manager and current AFFTA secretary. “Walking into a fly shop with no prior experience can be a daunting experience simply because of lack of knowledge. These mobile shops expose fly fishing in a friendly and communal atmosphere, opening the gates to the sport.”

“No business is immune to innovation. The mobile shops are great examples of fly shops being innovative and proactive about going out and reaching people,” says Rich Hohne, chief marketing officer at Skwala. “If you build a series of events that reaches people, that’s pretty powerful and thoughtful when it comes to promoting our sport. The best fly shops are the ones that leverage the things they have that no one else does. Fly shops are rally places for passionate anglers. You can’t get the decades of experience, local patterns, and the best guides by sitting at home. MCFF and PFT are invigorating people to join them in their journey. This kind of innovation will make fly fishing flourish not only for anglers, but for the industry as time moves on.”

Community Support

For Pittman and Trow, supporting nonprofits is a cherry on top. The events they attend are connected to local nonprofit chapters, with a percentage of proceeds going to support their initiatives. “We reach out to the nonprofits such as Trout Unlimited (TU) chapters, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and veteran support groups like Project Healing Waters (PHW) within those territories. It really is a win-win situation for everyone,” Pittman explains.

“MCFF works with many breweries and the local nonprofits such as TU chapters, PHW, and fishing clubs to help support their efforts. A great example is one of our first events near Winchester, Virginia. We worked with a local TU chapter, and they registered over 20 new members,” says Trow. “That kind of cross-pollination is tremendously important to all of us at MCFF. The response we’ve received is so positive and overwhelming it makes us look forward to each event we do.”

I witnessed a serendipitous example of these shops giving back on October 25, 2024 with PFT at Cushwa Brewing Co. in Williamsport, Maryland. PFT employee Howie Fischer was speaking with a woman who approached him about the mobile fly shop while she was having pizza with her coworker.

Fischer introduced Pittman and me to Kristy Gross. Gross is a high school special education English teacher who happens to be the granddaughter of fly-fishing legend George Harvey. We chatted with her about her grandfather’s legacy and Harvey’s time with President Jimmy Carter. Pittman, a board member of the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Association (paflyfishing.org) encouraged Gross to visit the museum to see her grandfather’s fly-tying table, which is displayed as he had it in his home. “I remember what that room looked and smelled like . . . and him sitting in his chair explaining to me all the types of feathers,” she said. It was a touching moment and made me realize the importance of being present.

Gross has a collection of memorabilia from both Harvey and President Carter. She admitted she did not know whom to contact about the collection but was adamant it should be shared with the public. We encouraged her to consider the museum and provided her with the proper contacts. Visiting the mobile fly shop inspired her to speak with us and to remember her grandfather’s enormous contributions. In turn, she was inspired to honor him by offering the entire fly-fishing world an as-yet unseen collection of fly-fishing history. It’s one of only a thousand successes where only a mobile fly shop can make inroads.

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Dennis Pastucha is the art director for Fly Fisherman. An avid angler and fly tier, he resides in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania.

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