Mike Michalak is the owner of the Fly Shop, along with his wife Bertha.
When not extolling the virtues of our world-class Travel packages to prospective customers, Mike travels to several locations each year to personally experience each of the quality fly fishing destinations.
E-Mail Mike Michalak

Mike Mercer has moved to The Fly Shop's Travel Center. A well traveled angler, Mike has fished many of the worlds fly fishing dream destinations. Mike is also one of the West's leading fly designers. He is an Umpqua Feather Merchants contract tier and many of his fly designs are being used successfully around the world.
Mike has been with The Fly Shop for 28 years. Starting as a stock boy in the first store he has now climbed the ladder of success and is in-charge of all Alaska Destinations.
E-Mail Mike Mercer.

Pat Pendergast is our Director of International Travel.
Pat has been a part of our International Travel department for eight years. Coming to us from Santa Rosa, California via Cordova, Alaska he has a solid understanding of our local fisheries as well as over 15 years experience in international fly fishing destinations. Pat has traveled to the majority of our international destinations including Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Bahamas, Belize, French Polynesia, Christmas Island, Honduras, Kola & Kamchatka Peninsula or Russia, Canada... Pat was a fishing guide in Alaska for five years, and before joining The Fly Shop Team managed a sportfishing camp on the Gulf Coast of Alaska. Pat is an avid hunter for big and winged game. His other interests include camping with his family, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, hiking, photography, mountain biking, and boating...
E-Mail Pat Pendergast

Ryan Petersen a Travel Sales Specialist here at The Fly Shop since 2005.
Ryan has spent 2 years in Alaska Specialty Fly Fishing Travel, 4 years as a guide in Alaska, and the past few years in Kamchataka, Russia. He is also a photographer, fly tier, noted conservationist and has fished extensively in: Alaska, Canada, Kamchatka, Cuba, Mexico and Scotland.
E-Mail Ryan Petersen.

Bills Marts is the Saltwater Travel Sales Specialist here at The Fly Shop.
Bill has spent 16 years in specialty fly fishing travel sales, 34 years in specialty fly fishing retail sales, and was the Director of Sage Fly Fishing Clinics for 3 years. He is an author, lecturer, photographer, casting instructor, fly tier, and a spey casting specialist. Bill has fished extensively in: Alaska, Tahiti, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Florida Keys, South Pacific, Mexico, Bahamas, Belize, Canada, and every steelhead rive in the Pacific Northwest.
E-Mail Bill Marts.

Michelle Quinlivan is the bookkeeper for our Travel Department.

Michelle is new to The Fly Shop and has just started. You will speak with her when you are paying for your trip to all of our wonderful International destinations. She has been living in Redding for quite some time and is a wonderful addition to our staff.
E-Mail Michelle Quinlivan


Martha MacDowell has been an integral part of our international travel team for nearly 3 years, working hard to make sure every detail of our clients far-flung fishing adventures goes off without a hitch. Phone numbers, hotels en route, lodge contacts, meeting points, flight times – you name it, if Martha doesn’t already have an answer to your every question, she’ll find it! A former non-angler, she now spends weekends on many of our local watersheds with her family, indoctrinating them into the "brotherhood of the angler".
E-Mail Martha MacDowell.

Tim Fox is the Retail Manager for the shop.
He is an outdoorsman who came to us from the Chico area. Tim handles just about everything regarding retail here at The Fly Shop. When not on the computer or working retail in the shop he may be found chasing fish and game in Northern California and several other states.
E-Mail Tim Fox.

Terry Jepsen is our local Web Designer & Personel Manager.
Terry has intimate knowledge of The Fly Shop and its workings. He has been associated with the shop for 20 years and has worked here on and off for 12 of those years. You may not see him when you visit the shop as he may be working on the website or working on some other form of computer issue. However, he may also be the person helping you pick your flies for your local fishing excursion. Terry is in charge of handling all internet sales and managing the entire website.
E-Mail Terry Jepsen

Duane Milleman is responsible for creating one of the finest private water programs in the country. Having lived in the Redding area since 1963, he is intimately familiar with most places trout might call home in Northern California.
Duane is continually finding new and exciting waters in which to book for our Private Waters program.
E-Mail Duane Milleman

Michael Caranci started with The Fly Shop in 2001, teaching at our acclaimed FISHCAMP program www.flyfishcamp.com. That led into several years of guiding for the shop, specializing on the Lower Sacramento and Trinity River. This summer, Michael agreed to trade in his rowing bench for the Outfitters desk, helping to manage the Guide Service and operate The Fly Shop's Fly Fishing School's and FISHCAMP. He is also an FFF Master Certified Casting Instructor.
E-Mail Michael Caranci

Sandy Watts has been a friend and employee of The Fly Shop for many years. Prior to his becoming an employee he was a long time friend of Mike Michalak.
Sandy is one of our most popular retail staff members. He has been with The Fly Shop for nearly 16 years now. On the days he is not working he's likely to be found drifting nymphs to the wild Rainbows of Northern California's Pit River or the Steelhead of the Trinity River.
E-Mail Sandy Watts.

Woody Woodland has worked for The Fly Shop for the past 16 years and is a Federation of Fly Fishers certified Master Instructor who loves sharing his passion for casting with those wishing to begin this fascinating sport. He has been on the staff of the Family Camps since their beginning and has watched some of the earlier campers grow to become counselors. In the shop he is known as the librarian, and is very proud of the book and DVD section he developed and maintains. He enjoys freshwater fishing but admits to being a saltwater fanatic and claims if he could only fish for one species it would have to be the wily permit.
E-Mail Woody Woodland.

Cory Williams is The Fly Shops Casting Instructor and Sales Manager.
He came to us from Yuba City and has been here for 9 years now. Cory is also a part of our excellent retail staff and has spent two years guiding in Alaska. He is a certified casting instructor through The Fly Shop's International School of Flyfishing.
Cory also gives private casting lessons when he is not working in the shop. This is a one-on-one lesson in which he can take you through the basic fly casting techniques or improve your already formed casting stroke.
E-Mail Cory Williams.

Greg Kennedy is one of The Fly Shop's marvelous retail staff members. Greg has spent his entire life involved in fly fishing. His parents owned a shop for the majority of his life and he's been involved since he could crawl. Greg has fished almost the entire pacific coast and all it's water ways. If you've had the pleasure of doing business with this young man you'll know what we are talking about here. He's easy to find in the shop as he stands at 6'7" tall.

Justin Miller started teaching at our FISHCAMP program during the 2004 season. He has since proved to be a dedicated retail staff member and instructor, working and studying in his free time to master a variety of casting techniques, including spey casting. He's added a lot to our program over the past couple of years, and is now an FFF Certified Casting Instructor as well.

Zack Thurman is the newest employee on our retail staff. Growing up within walking distance of the Sacramento River and local bass ponds, Zack has fished nearly all his life, focusing the last 10 years on fly-fishing. Being one of the shops Northern California natives, Zack is very knowledgeable of our local fisheries and one of the shops Stillwater experts. The youngest member of the retail staff, but don't let his age fool you, he is an excellent fly tier and has experience in teaching fly fishing schools and fly-tying classes.

John Dietz is back at The Fly Shop. Many of you may know John from his manufacturer representative days, but John started his flyfishing career here at The Fly Shop. Weary of the road, John is back in the shop and assisting customers in all aspects of flyfishing. John has seen it all and is more than happy to share his experience with you, the angler.

Richard Zellman is the newest retail staff member here at The Fly Shop.
Richard came to us from Oregon where he has been honing his fishing skills on the many wonderful waters of Oregon.

Doug Simpson is the new Director of Graphic Design.
Doug has been doing this for the past 8 years, and we were lucky enough to stumble across him during a job transition. He will be working to update our site and increase the graphic nature of our publications.
E-Mail Doug Simpson.

Kari Chatin is The Fly Shops book keeper.
Kari has worked this type of job for many years and we were lucky enough to find her three years ago. She has been a wonderful asset to the shop and continues to learn more about fly fishing everyday.
E-Mail Kari Chatin.


Eric Fields is The Fly Shops Receptionist and List Manager. He answers all incoming phone calls and handles all catalog requests, taking care of our customer lists.
Eric has been with The Fly Shop for several years. The staff has grown to enjoy not having the responsibility of answering incoming calls. Eric is missed greatly on those few days that he is not here.
E-Mail Eric Fields.


Jeremiah Houle is The Fly Shop's shipper.
Jeremiah has been working here at the shop for a while now. He started working on the floor assisting customers while he finished high school. He has graduated early and is now in charge of our shipping department. Jeremiah loves the outdoors and we are happy to have him as a full time employee. His knowledge of the sport continues to grow.
E-Mail Jeremiah Houle.

Bill LaPaze plays here on weekends and spends the rest of his time fishing the lakes of the West coast. He enjoys catching large fish on tiny flies and is a member of the "20-20" Club several times over.
E-Mail Bill LaPaze.


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