World-class fishing in any direction
Pat Devney looks over his fly fishing equipment in his newly opened Moses Lake fly shop Tuesday morning. Photo by Matthew Weaver/Columbia Basin Herald
Longtime guide opens fly shop in Moses Lake
MOSES LAKE - The inspiration for the name of Pat Devney's fly shop came, of all places, from a "Far Side" cartoon.
"It shows a couple guys with mushroom clouds going up behind them and they're in a boat," Devney explained. "The first guy says to the second guy, 'What it means is, no size restrictions and screw the limit.' My ethics personally are catch and release, but that cartoon has always spoken to me."
Devney opened the shop, and separate business Pat's Atomic Fly Service, both located at 1019 W. Broadway Ave., March 1. He has been guiding since July, when he moved to the Moses Lake area.
While he didn't live in Moses Lake at the time, Devney attended school at Big Bend Community College in the early 1980s, but spent a lot of time in the area pursuing fish. He is now a resident.
Devney spent 22 years as a commercial pilot, but when the company he was with failed, he decided to pursue a career change.
"Always fished and I've guided off and on starting in the mid-1980s," Devney said. "In the airline industry, when a company fails, you basically start at the bottom again and at 48 years old, the idea of going to work for somebody else and then retiring at 60 really didn't hold any appeal for me. I enjoyed flying, I enjoyed the people I worked with, but it was time for a change."
The fly shop provides traditional and innovative products to enhance customers' angling experience, and carries products and equipment Devney has personal experience with, and in which he believes.
The guide service provides guided trips on the Yakima River, the Kettle River and area creeks and lakes, primarily for travel, but also to go after warm water species.
The business is faring well, Devney said, and he hopes to expand the inventory within the shop in the next few years and have a strong Internet presence.
"I hope to eventually employ a number of people so I can actually go out and go fishing," he said with a grin. "That's one of the hard parts, is finding time to keep connected with what I like to do. Right now it's just a soul proprietorship with one person working."
Devney said a large part of the business is going to be introducing people to the sport of fly fishing. He believes Moses Lake has never had a fly shop.
"I went to school here back in the 1980s, and they didn't have a fly shop at that time," he said. "People come through expecting to have a fly shop. This area, I mean, 15, 20 minutes any direction you want to go and you're into world-class fishing. As far as never having a fly shop, I honestly can't back that up better than my own experience."
Retailers carry fly fishing equipment, but for the most part, there's no expertise to go along with that, Devney said.
Since he opened, he's had a number of local customers and people from Idaho and Montana, and received calls from the East Coast inquiring about the fishing in the local area. Some calls are referrals, but many come directly off the business' Web site, Devney added.
He's enjoying being able to talk with people and show them new ways to do things, he said.
"Making new friends, you know," he said.
The business is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, contact Pat's Atomic Fly Shop at 509-764-9359 or access the Web site at www.patsatomic.com/flyshop.html.