New fly fishing shop brings big name to Preston

[h2ofwlr]

By John Weiss, Rochester Post-Bulletin
Posted: Thursday, April 10, 2014 7:18 am | Updated: 7:19 am, Thu Apr 10, 2014.

PRESTON — In a small store on the edge of downtown Preston is a new fly fishing shop that could cement Preston's claim to be Minnesota's trout-fishing capital.

In fact, Melvin M. Hayner's Driftless Fly Fishing Company could put Preston on the national trout-fishing map — it's an Orvis-endorsed shop and is on Orvis' Web page. (Orvis has been selling fishing tackle since 1856 and is the nation's oldest mail-order retailer.)

But Hayner said he hopes for more than just the prestige of selling top-of-the-line fly fishing gear. He said he wants his shop to be the place to gather to talk about trout, flies and flyfishing. He has got a small area in the back with some chairs, a coffee pot and fly-fishing videos so anglers have a place to kick back and talk. Plus, it's about a block away from the National Trout Center's storefront; if the center builds its much larger permanent home, it will be down the block from Driftless.

And that makes Hayner happy.

He said he believes trout streams in the Driftless Area of southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin are untapped gems.

And this comes from a man who grew up fly fishing the better-known waters of Oregon and Michigan. He said he was divorced more than two decades ago and moved to Luverne in the prairie southwestern part of Minnesota.

When he came to Minnesota, he didn't even know we had trout streams. In that, his story is typical of a lot of anglers — they are unaware of the several hundred miles of trout water in the blufflands of this region alone.

The discovery changed his life. "I couldn't believe it," he said. He later went back to school to become a counselor for those with drug and alcohol problems, then began guiding around here on weekends. "That's they way it evolved," he said.

And like many others, Hayner, 58, dreamed of bigger things. "I thought I sure would love to move here and have a fly shop."

Economic development officials in Preston were thinking the same thing. They got together, helped him find the shop and he opened late last year, although the official grand opening happened this spring. "Everything fell into place," he said. He plans to continue working as a counselor in Rochester, guiding and operating the shop with one employee.

His fiancee, Ruth Furan, said opening and operating the shop requires a bit of craziness, "but that's why I love him. If he didn't have a bit of craziness, we wouldn't have this good of a relationship."

He will sell equipment from Orvis and other brands, flies that he has purchased or tied himself, including some local patterns. Some of his offerings are big poppers for smallmouth bass. But maybe the biggest thing he will offer is knowledge of which of those flies to use. "We are going to have the local patterns, what they are biting on today," Hayner said.

He also will have small classes he can teach in the back of his shop or on the water.

With Mayo Clinic planning to greatly expand in Rochester with its Destination Medical Center, he said he believes the need and demand for his services will grow even faster.

By the time he's 68, his goal is to work only in the shop. "It's my retirement job," he said. He loves to guide, and sell things, because it helps teach people about what he loves.

He will even spread the word about the Driftless Area in May when he speaks at an Orvis shop in Chicago. "It's great to put Preston on the map," he said. "It's certainly going to promote the area." He said he thinks trout fishing is in our region is great, and with the special regulations that are in place, it is going to get even better.