Fishing Becomes A Business For Tylerite
By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer
When it comes to fly fishing, Tyler's Steve Robbins has been on the ground floor up.
Outdoor Writer
When it comes to fly fishing, Tyler's Steve Robbins has been on the ground floor up.
The East Texas native began in the sport about a dozen years ago.
"I haven't done it all my life. I have fished all my life," Robbins said. "Then I started taking vacations to Colorado. That is how I got into it. From that point on I couldn't hold back."
Robbins said it was the peacefulness and serenity of fishing alone on a mountain stream that caused him to break away from the more frenetic-paced bass fishing.
"You go to Colorado to some of the high mountain streams and you are the only person on the river. You have it to yourself," he noted.
Back in Tyler, Robbins discovered a beginner's fly fishing course at Tyler Junior College. Two years later he was teaching the course.
Five years ago Robbins was instrumental in the formation of the Lone Star Fly Fishers, a Tyler-based club that today has grown to about 50 members.
At about that same time the TJC Vision Care Technology program chairman opened an Internet fly shop, The Full Creel.
"It started real small and then it grew and grew. Before long we had a full-fledged Internet fly shop," Robbins said.
Working out of a shop behind his house, Robbins was filling domestic orders as well as shipping products daily to far-flung locations such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Russia. For the foreign customers it is a matter of economics.
"Most who buy from overseas say they can get the same products there, but it is cheaper to buy from me and pay the shipping," Robbins explained.
For years the entrepreneur was satisfied working without a store front, but after both of Tyler's fly fishing shops locked their doors, he felt the urge to open a store. A month ago he started Full Creel Fly Shop. Located inside the Tyler Business Incubator within TJC's Regional Training and Development Complex, the store is currently open three days a week.
"There are still a lot of fly fishers in Tyler," Robbins said of the emphasis behind opening a local store.
"Some fish local freshwater for bass and bluegill. And there are a lot of trout fishermen. They can drive 2 1/2 hours to Beavers Bend (Oklahoma). There are also a lot of saltwater fishermen who go to the Texas coast or Louisiana. Despite not being the Mecca of fly fishing, there is still a lot of fly fishers in Tyler."
Robbins said the store caters to anglers of all levels, and carries a full line of fly tying materials.
"They buy a little of everything, but the biggest selling items are fly tying materials. There are a lot of fly tiers, and this is only place close you can get decent fly tying equipment," Robbins said.
A mostly self-taught angler who also operates a guide service on New Mexico's San Juan River and hosts an Internet fly fishing forum, Robbins understands that the sport appears to be too expensive and too difficult to some. However, with companies such as Temple Fork Outfitters and St. Croix entering the market, an angler can start for about $100.
As for instruction, Robbins still offers two classes a year through the TJC Continuing Services program.
"We have from a dozen to 20 (in each class). Most of them are beginners. They are all ages and there are a lot of husbands and wives," Robbins said.
The Full Creel Fly Shop is located at 1530 S.SW. Loop 323. It is currently open from 11:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday.
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