A Trout Town Hot Spot: Confluence Fly Shop
Fly buzz: a tie-in at Confluence Fly Shop in Bend.
Central Casting
Most fly-fishers eventually encounter water on the lower Deschutes River that requires the deployment of the hero cast: the bucket where you know a fish is holding is out there just beyond your reliable-line slinging capabilities. And you probably know your odds are better casting within those merely mortal limits. After all, fish hold all over the river, often closer to your feet than that far off but irresistible target. Hope springs eternal: most fly-fishers, giving in to a moment of irrational exuberance, will deploy that cast. The results are not always as happy as the initial impulse. Tye Krueger would like to help you with that. He loves everything about fly fishing, but he’s eager to teach the art of casting above all else. “I love to cast a fly rod,” he says, “and I love teaching people to cast. It’s very near and dear to me. The Deschutes especially is a river that occasionally requires the long cast, and I like teaching that.”
Krueger is the proprietor of Confluence Fly Shop, in the Old Mill District in Bend. Working the kinks out of your cast is just one service among many that Confluence provides. The business ethos that Krueger strives to maintain is predicated on providing the best customer service in the village. Whether it’s a trout trip or a spool of tippett, the goal is for every client to leave as happy as can be. “I can guarantee that we will always do the leg work to make sure you get the highest quality product possible,” says Krueger.
This is obvious the minute you set foot in his shop. Need to loosen up a bit before test-driving a rod? Confluence features a nine-tap bar nestled amongst all the top-flight gear. Krueger has fished all over the world, and will happily help you book the exotic angling destination of your dreams. But the Deschutes River is his home water, and he can take you there too.
Service with a smile: the beer is cold at Confluence should you need a minute to figure out what fly gear to buy.
How the Deschutes Became His Home Water
Krueger grew up fishing the pool-drop trout streams of the mid-Atlantic, steep, boulder-strewn creeks featuring wiley if not monster sized trout. He had a buddy that migrated to Oregon, and followed his lead. So in 2009, when Orvis opened a flagship warehouse style store in Bend, he wound up running the fly-fishing department. Alas, the store became a casualty of the real-estate bubble-bursting recession of those years.
But by then it was too late for Krueger to sink roots any place other than central Oregon. “It was the wide open high desert landscape, the snow-capped Cascades and the Deschutes that kind of got my attention,” he recalls. He decided to roll the dice and open his own shop in 2013. Next month marks the twelfth anniversary of the opening of Confluence. Krueger has shepherded the shop along with a steady hand. He’s hired staff slowly and strategically. Several staff members do double-duty as trip guides as well as retail shop help.
Influence from Confluence: Keep the Deschutes as Healthy as Can Be
Krueger confesses he’s spent a lot of his life visiting or living in what he calls “trout towns,” little burgs to mid-sized cities in which fishing is central to the culture of the place. “Bend is a trout town,” observes Krueger. “And among the very best I’ve seen. The Deschutes is still a fishing destination that’s on everyone’s radar.”
The Deschutes River’s health is the lynchpin of Confluence’s success. “It’s incredibly important,” says Krueger. “Coming from the east coast, I know what the rise in the popularity of fly-fishing can mean if you don’t take care of a place. The resource is delicate, you have to handle it carefully. Back east too, we have a much longer legacy of industry and the damage that’s done.”
With the cautionary tale of some east coast streams part of his experience, Krueger has cast some of his attention to the Krueger attended the Bend screening of The Last 100 Miles, and was grateful for the film’s cogent explanation of PGE’s Selective Water Withdrawal Tower and the degradation it has caused in the lower Deschutes River. “That’s good work on the part of the DRA, the film is not only informative but inspiring.”
Know your aquatic insects: a caddis clinic at Confluence.
Trout towns are rarely kept secret for very long, and Bend is no exception. Krueger has competition. “Four fly shops in a two-mile radius,” he says. He sees the other shops, and their continued success as a testament to the quality of the fishing, with the lower Deschutes River as the main course in a veritable feast of local angling opportunity. To maintain a trout town’s magic, he knows, requires something in the way of care. To care about something, you have to get familiar with it. Getting to know the Deschutes like you know a good friend is also part of Confluence’s mission. “We have to know what we have,” says Krueger. “Intact habitat that allows wild trout to thrive and reproduce. We have to be good stewards of the place if we want it to thrive.”
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