Counter Culture | Dave McCoy | Emerald Waters Fly Shop
Counter Culture | Dave McCoy | Emerald Waters Fly Shop
Emerald Water Anglers (EWA) started in 2000 as the first full-service fly-fishing guide operation in western Washington. After 13 years of helping anglers see there was more to the region for fly anglers than just anadromous fish or the Yakima, we decided it was time to bring a brick-and-mortar location to the business in order to better fulfill client needs.
When we built this store, we designed it more to be a community center for the sport. While most fly shops are transactional, we dedicate quite a bit of square footage to common space for conversation. This can be 1 v 1 or small groups to help make it more personal with each customer, but to also host larger events and presentations. Emerald Waters is a place for people to feel comfortable taking their time. With comfort comes more questions. This opens the door for us to be their conduit to objective answers and assistance, keeping their learning curve on a near vertical rise.
When we at EWA look at our sport, we see diversity in every direction. This sport is encompassed by more than just catching fish. People are tying flies for them, drawing them, painting them, glass blowing, writing about them, and filming not only the fish, but those individuals passionately expressing their love for them as well. We want to share all of this with everyone. Providing the space for fly anglers to explore everything the sport offers.
One afternoon about 8 years ago, one of our staff, Jason Rolfe, now editor of The Flyfish Journal, came to me and asked me what I thought about some writers coming in to read some of their work in front of an audience. Did I think it would be of interest to people? With that Writer’s on the Fly was born and has since been a recurring event here at the store. It has gone on the road and traveled around the PNW to other stores and venues with tremendous success. This event opened our eyes to the thirst the community has for such events.
During the pandemic, we took a hard look at our business practices. Understanding we rely 100% on our natural resources for our business, we began looking critically at who we did business with and what were they doing to reduce their footprint while still providing a high- quality product we felt confident purveying to our customers.
Scientific Anglers was taking the steps to do the same thing through biodegradable packaging, recycled products, and bulk leader sales, reducing over-all packaging. Messaging this to customers was a fantastic way to gently enter conversations with everyone on being more aware of what they bought, why and what difference that made on the very environment they were heading out to enjoy.
We are the key holders to our customers experience outdoors, on the water and everywhere in between, whether it be local or global. We have a responsibility to help them better understand what is available out there. Also, to present them a diverse array of possibilities to enhance and advance their fly-fishing journey, and then support how they choose to engage. It is a great pleasure for us to work with companies like Scientific Anglers who share these visions with us both in product design and in their brand messaging.
We now host the following on a regular basis:
EWA Library |
Book launch and signing with the authors
EWA Art Showcase |
Unique and diverse artists in our community with glass, pastel, photography, metal, wood carving etc.
West Seattle Wine |
Supporting local salmon friendly vineyards
EWA 5 Minute or Less Film Fest |
Professional and amateur films under 5 mins. Winner is played at intermission of F3T here in Seattle.
EWA Travel Theater |
Destination presentations from around the world.
Documentary Film Debut |
NGO and other feature length film Seattle debuts.
Bugs ‘n Brews |
Women’s fly tying events
Tie One On |
Co-ed fly tying events
EWA Muskie School |
SA Ambassador Blane Chocklett will be out to do a 2 day school on “All Things Muskie”
EWA Fly Fest |
Summer kickoff event with all the manufacturers
EWA Spey Day |
Full day Spey event with SA Ambassador, Jeff Liskay, and all the manufacturers
