About 40 years ago a young man came in my little fly shop.......

........and told me he was going the 'Sac State' and wanted to catch a Striper on a fly in the American river.

He wanted to buy a fly fishing outfit but did not have much money.

We had the Cortland 'Crown' complete starter kits for about $55 so I sold him the 8'6" #6/7 in 2 piece.

Then I put on a 7'6" 0X leader and tied on a #2 Lefty's Deceiver, Green over White. No Clousers back then.

He already had some fly casting skill but we did go out side with one of our parking-lot outfitters and cast some.


I told him to go to the Watt Avenue Bridge access and below it, wade out to this island and fish off the back of it, AM or PM.


The next weekend he came back in with the outfit and told me had landed 7 stripers.

He told me that he had gone out every evening that week.

He said the last one was bigger? and took out most of his backing before it broke off.


He asked me if he could buy anther fly and would I tie it on for him?





PS: I probably have thousands of stories like that I could talk or write about.

If you spent 50 years selling fly fishing equipment then you would have thousands of stories too.

It wasn't me but I remember going into two shops that had fly gear about that time. Maybe even a little longer than that?
One shop was at the corner of Howe Ave. and Marconi and later changed to a ski shop.
The other shop I remember very well was on Arden across from THirfty and the old White Front store. I think it was called "Sports" something ?

I started fly fishing with my dad a little earlier than that on the American up near what is the Sunrise bridge now. Later, when I was old enough to get a Honda Trailbike I was all over the American and eventually did go to Sac State too.

My first semester at Sac State I cut classes a lot to go fish at Paridise Beach and got put on academic probation. Viet Nam was in full swing then and it was either that or stay in school. I stayed in school.

Fishing for me then was for shad and trout (probably smolt) and an occasional striper too. Later as I got older and more serious about fishing steelhead, and salmon became the fish of choice, with a few stripers in the mix too.

Geez, the American was a great river to grow up around.
Tony

At 12 years old I delivered 156 Sacramento Bee news papers in South Sac near the Zoo.

Went to Christian Brothers High School at 21st and Broadway and afternoons I worked at a BF Goodrich tire shop.

While going to Bishop Armstrong High School I worked at Lawrence's Department Store on 21st Avenue or Freeport Blvd.

I worked at JV Brabant's Dental laboratory at 27th & Q street for a while too.

I worked at Sports Unlimited on Arden Way which had the most fly fishing equipment at that time, 1960s.

After they closed SU down I went to work West Capitol Rod & Gun in West Sacramento.

After that I went to the Tower of Sports at Howe Avenue near Alta Arden that had the most fly fishing equipment.

Then I started "The Fly Hutch #2 in Sacramento" with partner Neil Bohannon........first real fly shop in Sacramento.

Next I opened my own fly shop, "Fly Fishing Unlimited" at Town & Country West.

Then I got divorced and took a "Sabbatical" from the fly fishing business.

Work for Teichert Construction for a while as a concrete form carpenter.

Framed news houses with the Paul and Craig Ziegler and Forrest Oldham in Elk Grove,

Finally, I opened "Kiene's Fly Shop" at Fulton & Marconi Avenue.

After 30 years we retired........