Hello Readers, and welcome back to the Emerging Anglers senior project blog!
A lot has happened since our last post, and we are eager to share it with you! We have continued to strive to reach our goals this week, and are happy to announce that we have made good progress, and hope to continue to build on our momentum these next few weeks. We would like to make our time count and actually be able to show something for our work! So far, we have thought about several options, including fishing meetups, school fly fishing field trips, and demonstrations. Essentially, we want you to get involved with emerging anglers; we will have some more concrete plans in the coming days.
To recap our 2nd week, we kicked it off with some fishing at the lake to hone our fly casting skills, and Teagan went into the shop to get a head start on learning how to run the POS system, including taking calls, ringing up customers, and more. On Tuesday, we had a lesson on customer service, and all got some practice working the main desk. Over the next couple of days, we began fishing most mornings and evenings, trying our luck at hooking the elusive carp.
On Wednesday, we finally succeeded and landed a 15-pounder! This marks one of many fish we hope to catch during our time here. We also had a lot of educational days, and learned how to safely handle fish outside of the water. This goes hand in hand with fish photography, so we learned how to do both effectively, prioritizing the health of the fish. When taking a picture of a fish, we learned to keep it in the water as much as possible and limit handling it, even with wet hands.
We also spent time learning about other aspects of customer service at the shop, including how to put fly line on a reel. So far, this experience has been busy, but fun, and we are slowly becoming more proficient in the fly fishing space.
One of the most beneficial aspects of working here at Emerald Water Anglers has been the connections we have made with business owners and affiliates or friends of Dave. We are so lucky to have the opportunity to meet all of these amazing people, and we have learned so much in the process. Talking with them has given us insight into what it means to really love the sport and be a valuable member of the community. Everyone has a part to play, and we've seen firsthand how collaboration with everyone can lead to the pursuit of a shared vision.
EWA, and really every fishing company has so many different facets to them, and now we are beginning to understand what that really means; there needs to be people answering the phone and running POS, there needs to be people maintaining the social media accounts, there needs to be professional and experienced guides, and there needs to be people to connect companies so that they can collaborate to sell and order products. One common thread is the connections between these folks, and the vast amount of resources they have built through reaching out to people and communicating with people who have similar goals.
Talking with Greg Thomas was particularly special. Greg Thomas is a famous writer with multiple fly fishing books under his belt, and he is very skilled at his craft. He is also a journalist, photographer, and guide. To Orlando, who had read his book “Fly Fishers Guide to Washington” as a child, this was a very surreal moment. Dave, who happens to be a long-time friend of Greg, decided to call him, and we had the chance to pepper him with questions and just chat with him.
Beyond just being able to talk to Greg, he also shared some insight into his personal favorite Washington fly fishing locations, including the Sun Lakes area and several others. This experience also helped us realize how involved Dave is with the sport and how many connections he has made over his career. There have also been numerous times when customers come in and stay just to talk with us. These people who stay are always eager to talk with us, and are excited that there are young anglers who are ready to learn.
While Dave's friends and associates have both shown us and taught us much, we also try to do our part and do our best to add to the great environment Dave has built here at EWA. Dave has done his best to foster an inviting, warm, and friendly atmosphere; he makes an effort to really get to know all his customers. Because of the environment that has been created here at EWA, the shop has become a hub for all kinds of people who want to share their stories and just catch up. No matter how far they go, they know they can come back to connect. There has been so much to learn from many amazing people, and we are inspired by their advice and stories.
Going forward, we hope to someday host a community gathering for young, hopeful fly anglers. This would hypothetically be a celebration of the sport of fly fishing, and people could gather and share stories of their time on the water. This event would be a great opportunity to share our visions for the future of youth fly fishing. We hope to have local folks better understand what we do.
Another idea that has sparked our interest is a checklist of local fish species that we could target. This could become a series on the emerging anglers' Instagram, and people could follow our progress there.
More and more, people are switching to short-form content, and this could be particularly effective in getting youth to follow our efforts. Be sure to follow emerging_anglers if you have not done so yet.
We hope you continue to follow and support us here at EWA, and we would love to see you at the shop soon!
Orlando, Graham, Teagan
