Shop Profile: The Deschutes Angler
Lupine, official canine of the Deschutes Angler.
The Trouble with Running a Fly Shop…
For fishing guides who chose their vocation based on a love of being on the water, the possibility of being sentenced to working in a fly shop–indoors–can look like a prison sentence. So imagine Amy Hazel’s reaction to the news that her husband, John Hazel, was opening a fly shop. Back in the late 1990’s, Amy already had several seasons under her belt as a sought after Deschutes River guide. “John was in his mid-40’s, thinking about a future where he couldn’t guide any more,” recalls Amy. “He was worried about how his body would hold up, or where we’d have any income if guiding wasn’t a possibility.” John is now 70. “And guess,” says Amy, “who’s on the water today and who’s managing the shop?”
Contrary to her initial misgivings, Amy has seen a massive upside to spending too much time indoors at The Deschutes Angler. “It’s where I meet all kinds of people I probably wouldn’t have,” she says. “On the river, you’re trying to avoid other people. And here of course we try to make you feel welcome.”
The Deschutes River’s—and Maupin’s—Loyal Ally
It’s rare that a fly shop is one of the retail hubs on main street in any size town. At first glance, it seems especially unlikely in Maupin, population 500. But Deschutes Angler is one of the busiest fly shops anywhere. “We’re here with the hardware store, the grocery store across the street, and the bar down the street,” says Amy of Maupin’s downtown. “Not a lot of our customers are local people, but more than a few of our employees have made themselves locals. It’s been satisfying to see them make a living, buy a house here or in one of the surrounding communities. We’ve employed many, many people in this town. And when our clients stay here, they shop at the grocery store, stay in the hotels, eat at the restaurants.”
Amy attributes the success of their shop to she and John’s insistence on walk-in customers remaining the focus of their client base. “Other shops have moved to an online model, and that in turn has created a new kind of customer who’s just combing websites for the cheapest deal. We do a fair bit of web business. But we also have cultivated quite a bit of expertise that you only get if you walk in the door.” She offers a quick example. “John Hazel brought spey casting to the U.S., says Amy. “So either he or I can pick up a spey rod, give it a wiggle, and tell you exactly what kind of line to match with it. We still think of our walk-in customers as our bread and butter.”
Amplifying the Urgency for a Colder, Cleaner Lower Deschutes
The shot in the arm the Hazel’s business has given to Maupin’s small town economy is threatened by declining water quality in the lower Deschutes River. If for no other reason than its location, to remain a viable venture, the Deschutes Angler needs the lower Deschutes River to be as healthy as possible. Unlike many other fly shops in the state, the Hazels don’t have the luxury of sending clients to a wide variety of nearby waters. The river that runs through Maupin is the only game in town.
For Amy, observing the negative changes has been a personal as well as professional tribulation. She enumerates the signs of the downturn. Algae covering rocky runs that 15 years ago were clean rock—and much easier to wade through. “Now they’re like snot-covered basketballs,” she says. Ceratonova shasta infecting spring chinook. Black spot disease on trout and steelhead. And routine violations of water quality standards that not enough key decision-makers seem to care about. “It’s been hard to watch,” says Amy. “It’s like watching a friend get sick and kind of drift away toward death.”
But the Hazels aren’t ones to let their beloved Deschutes go gently into that good night. Both have served on the board of the D.R.A. since its inception. Their shop serves a second purpose, as a means of amplifying the message behind the D.R.A.’s science-based advocacy. “What I would like to say to the folks at Portland General Electric, if somehow the reams of science we’ve conducted isn’t enough to convince them, is that this world that we live in is to them a little microcosm that they can afford not to care about. Well that world is my macrocosm. It’s everything to me. And that’s true not only for me, but for a lot of other people.”
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