Seasoned sport shop

Perhaps the most important element of fishing is to find a good spot. The finest equipment in the world won’t catch fish if they’re swimming someplace else.

The same thing holds true for retail shops.

Sean Visintainer found a good spot.

Visintainer’s Silver Bow Fly Shop moved from Liberty Lake to a choice location at 13210 E. Indiana Ave.

“We moved in here over Labor Day weekend last year,” Visintainer said, breaking into a laugh. “I’m hoping we’ll be here for a good, long time because I don’t want to go through another move.”

The new shop enjoys great visibility – the shop, with its huge trout, backs against Interstate 90 and can easily be spotted between Pines and Evergreen.

“This is a good location for us,” Visintainer said. “We’re closer to town, so we have more visibility. We have a better atmosphere here in the new shop. This is the best street in town.”

Closer to town, customers are much more likely to drop in, he said. Daily traffic is up significantly.

“We’ve seen a lot more new faces in the shop since we moved in here,” Visintainer said. “And we’ve seen a lot more familiar faces coming back, too.

“There were a lot of customers in Spokane who didn’t want to drive all the way out there, and I don’t blame them. Now we’re five miles closer to town and we definitely have a lot more traffic into the shop.

“And we see a lot of out-of-towners dropping in. They see the big fish on the roof and drop in to see what’s up.”

Fly fishing can be intimidating to the beginner. A good fly rod must be matched with the right line, and the whole set-up requires some instruction to operate properly together.

Visintainer and company cater to the beginner as well as the experienced fisher.

“We do get a lot of seasoned fishermen in, but we try to make things as easy as possible for people just getting into the sport,” he said. “We’ve been running a lot of free introductory courses for people on weekends that have been good for everybody, not just the complete beginner. They’ve been really popular.

“It doesn’t matter whether you like fish for bass, trout or steelhead, whatever it is, we’re going to do whatever we can to help you out.”

The shop maintains a Web site, www.silverbowflyshop.com, which lists upcoming classes. The shop will continue with its introductory classes throughout the summer. Classes in fly tying will begin in the fall and Visintainer plans to include rod-building classes in the winter months.

The shop also helps match fishermen with guides throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“It always helps to go to a new area with a seasoned guide,” Visintainer said. “That way you can learn about the area faster and have someone along to answer questions about the various hatches and geography.”

Fishing locally, he said, there are some interesting options.

“Spokane is kind of unique,” he said. “We have a good, urban trout fishery going right through town. You can still go out along the Spokane River in the morning or after work and potentially catch a pretty nice trout.

“There are quite a few lakes in the area within an hour’s drive. But if you really want to get into good stream fishing, you really have to get into North Idaho and Western Montana.”

It should be noted, however, that the Spokane Regional Health District and the Washington State Department of Health issued an advisory in 2003 that remains in effect, warning people to avoid eating fish caught in the Spokane River between Upriver Dam and the Idaho border. It recommends catch-and-release only in that area. It further recommends eating only one meal per month of any fish caught between Nine Mile Dam and Upriver Dam.