Company: The Saltwater Edge
Owner: Peter Jenkins, owner and Tim Shields, general manager
Type of business: Fly fishing equipment and training
Location: 561 Thames Street, Newport
Employees: four full time, as well as independent instructors
Annual revenues: WND
HAPPY AT HIS WORK is Tim Shields, general manager of The Saltwater Edge.
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Fly fishing — a sport once only considered by die-hard enthusiasts because of the costs associated with it, is growing again in popularity — and one Newport store is helping to fuel the trend.
For 10 years, The Saltwater Edge has been located along Newport’s famed Thames Street. Last year, Peter Jenkins, who then hired friend Tim Shields as general manager, bought the company. The two have set out to make their favorite sport, saltwater fly-fishing — a local pastime.
”We’ve been here for a year and business has been great,” Shields said. “This area is like the Montana of saltwater fly fishing. You can fish off the rocks and cliffs on Ocean Drive, in the surf of one of our many beaches, in the estuaries, and the Narrow River. It’s very diverse. ”
According to Shields, the sport is now attracting a more diverse following.
”About a year and a half ago, the manufacturers started coming out with equipment that was good, but more affordable,” he said. “The industry seemed to realize it needed to change itself and it has.”
Now, Shields said, the sport is attracting everyone from the single man or woman to entire families vacationing in the area.
”The sport is much less intimidating now,” he said. “People are trying it, sticking with it and their skill level just continues to grow.”
In only a year, Shields said he has already gotten to know his customers.
”In the spring and fall, our customer is the local fisherman,” he said. “In the summer it’s definitely the regional fisherman here on vacation with his family. More and more vacationers are bringing their families fishing.”
Shields said much of the company’s business comes through instruction and planned fishing trips.
Through the store, people can sign up for classes, kids can sign up for a weeklong camp on fly fishing, or families and friends can take a chartered-fishing trip. Boat trips start at $185 and go up depending on the type of trip.
“We are creating an atmosphere here,” Shields said. “We love to fish and to teach others. We have clients that call the store at 3 a.m. to tell us what and where they are catching.”
The most common catches, Shields said, are striped bass and bluefish. And he said, he doesn’t mind sharing his “secret spots” with customers.
”A big part of what we do is sharing,” he said. “Access to the coast is a public right for everyone.”
This year, the company also offered a women-only fly fishing course, and another is expected to be held in the fall.
”We say when it comes to technique, women go to grace, and men go to power,” he said. “The women really seemed to enjoy themselves.”
In the winter, named “fly time” by people in the industry, the company continues to offer classes and seminars.
”The off season is called fly time, because that is when people make their flies,” Shield said. (Flies, in this case, are the individually designed lures made of wire, silk and feathers skillfully made to look like various insects, which, when cast into the water and drawn through it attract the attention of hungry fish. The fly cast is a special technique developed by fly casting fishermen using a pole, a line and a reel.) “It’s during this time that we offer fly-tying classes which are very popular.”
Though the heart of the store is based in the fly fishing industry, Shields said the retail shop carries supplies for both fly and spin fishing, including poles, clothing, literature and maps.
”It goes back to the needs of our customers,” Shields said. “We don’t want to be too narrow. We consider ourselves a coastal living store.”
But for Shields, the Thames Street storefront isn’t the best location.
”There is a gap in shops in front of us, and nothing really behind us, so we don’t get a lot of walkers,” he said. “But we do have parking. Ideally we would like to be in a place downtown where we could walk behind the building to a marina and have our boats right back there.”
Still, Shields and his employees are confident that the business will continue to prosper as interest in the sport continues to grow.
”Growing up for me, fishing was always a priority,” said Corey Pietraszek, a part-time employee at Saltwater Edge. “It’s knowing that the fish are out there that draws you out.”
”It’s a life lesson,” Shields said. “It’s being humble. That’s why they call it fishing and not catching.”
