The San Juan Angler has long been one of the two premier fly-fishing shops in downtown Durango.
But what many probably didn’t realize is that the business was not locally owned, until now.
Store manager Cole Glenn took over the shop on Dec. 1 after purchasing it from the previous owners, who live in Gunnison County and own several other fly shops across the state.
“They kind of wanted to retire and it was just time,” Glenn said.
He became store manager at The San Juan Angler in 2012, with a determination to one day buy the business.
“This is a dream job,” he said. “I told myself early on, ‘I’m gonna work here (until) the owners have no choice but to sell to me.’”
Glenn doesn’t want to change anything in particular about the shop, but he said his primary goal is to get more people interested in fly fishing.
He said fly fishing is often seen as an elite sport, which creates a barrier for people interested in participating.
However, according to Statista, the sport saw a large increase in participants in the U.S. from 2019 to 2020, going from 7 million to 7.8 million over the course of a year.
It fell off slightly in 2022, but was still at 7.6 million participants.
“We have a lot of first timers that do our guided trips, and they have zero experience. Their expectations are low and they think, ‘If I can come out with one fish, I’ll be satisfied,’” Glenn said. “They’ll ended up catching like six and it blows them away.”
He said people often feel like because they don’t have the gear, they can’t fly fish and don’t want to spend all of their money on the gear in order to get into the sport.
That’s where the guided trips help a business like The San Juan Angler. It provides a customer with the gear, plus an educational guide on how to fly fish. Glenn said more often than not, customers come back to buy their whole fly-fishing setup because of the trip.
He said The San Juan Angler has been involved in Snowdown events in recent years, and that has helped with sparking people’s interest in the sport.
Earlier this year, the business hosted a fly-tying competition and a fly-casting competition. Glenn said it usually gets 20 to 30 people to participate in the fly-tying competition.
He said the fly-casting competition is fun because it welcomes people from all skill levels and gives people a chance to learn while enjoying friendly competition.
“ … There’s a lot of people that don’t know a damn thing about it,” he said. “And after they’re done, they’re like, ‘It’s fun, but I suck. I want to get better.’”
More specifically, Glenn would like to set up a booth at the Durango Farmers Market, allowing the business to give out information, sell minor products and possibly sell handmade rods from Between Two Banks.
He said the Durango Farmers Market usually starts in May when the water on the Animas River is high, and it would be a perfect time to hand out reports to inform people how fast the water is running and the current state of the river.
While Glenn just recently took over the shop, he said people always thought he was the owner.
“I’ve been sort of the name and face for the shop for so long that I get a lot of that,” he said. “You know, ‘Are you the owner?’ I’m like, ‘I’m just the manager here.”
It’s been a long time coming for Glenn, who said he had an ambition to work in a fly shop and become a guide in 2012. He recalls visiting The San Juan Angler on a consistent basis until they gave him a job.
“I wanted to work in the shop, just get my foot in the door and then I want to be on the water,” he said.
However, he ended up becoming the manager and has been able to get the best of both worlds through his involvement with the store.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
