Iconic fly shop owner set to retire after nearly 30 years
March 8, 2023
Tim Homesley, owner of Tim's Fly Shop, in Cassville, has announced plans to sell his iconic fly shop and retire after nearly 30 years. Photo: Adriana Keeton
Ezra DeVore
After nearly thirty years, Tim Homesley has announced that he is selling his fly shop. Opened in 1994, the business was opened after over a decade of work at Roaring River, which Tim recalls fondly. Tim’s opening inventory was a loan from a friend who was in the wholesale business, and Tim’s Fly Shop would go on to experience three decades of success.
A 1981 Cassville graduate, many of Homesley’s earliest memories are fishing at Roaring River with his family. In his adolescence, many of his fishing memories involved skipping school to do so.
“I had teachers who used to invite me to talk to kids,” Tim laughed, “and they’d ask how I got good, I’d tell them, ‘I skipped school a lot and fished a lot,’ and they’d say ‘Well, you can’t tell kids that.’ Well, it’s the truth! It was hard to sit in class when it was 70 degrees outside and you knew the fish were biting. Hard to go in at all. We got caught most times, but it was worth it.”
After finishing school, “We didn’t have money for college,” Tim states, so he went to work. Among his first jobs after school was a cashier at Roaring River, working there 13 years.
Over his lifetime fishing, Tim has learned a lot from personal experience, but also from others.
“I’ve been out West a bunch, been overseas a bunch. You talk to different people, learn different techniques. Helps a lot. In New Zealand, all the trout guides I talked to there were different, but they all had good ideas. It was fun to watch them, and I learned a lot from people over there. The fishing is just phenomenal there.”
Tim says one of his greatest joys owning the shop is helping locals and tourists alike improve their own techniques, and their equipment, with the things he's learned in his travels and experiences.
“A lady came in and told me she had been here twice and never caught a trout - she wasn’t very happy. I told her ‘I can help you, I can get you to catch a trout. Trout are stupid, I can help you.’ Well, I fixed her up Tuesday evening. I didn’t take any money from her - I told her to pay me if it works. She went down and caught four fish, her husband caught four fish on her rod, and somebody else borrowed the rod and caught four fish. I like stories like that, I’ve done that a zillion times. People think I’m trying to sell them crap, and I am, to a point, but I want them to catch fish. I enjoy it when people come up and say, ‘Hey! It worked!’ I get a lot of those emails.”
Tim says that fishing also gives him a sense of calmness, in the quiet of the natural water.
“It’s very peaceful. You don’t have to worry about anything. I think it’s good therapy for a lot of people. There’s a lot of people who come down here and have high-stress jobs, and you can tell it helps them out a lot.”
Regarding travel, Tim takes any chance to fish in New Zealand he can get, visiting the island nation eight times in his life. Tim also favors the lakes and rivers of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, near Durango and the surrounding areas. “I love the New Mexico desert. The high desert is beautiful,” he says.
Tim now spends his time hunting and fishing with friends, or biking and hiking with his wife.
After nearly thirty years, Tim Homesley has announced that he is selling his fly shop. Opened in 1994, the business was opened after over a decade of work at Roaring River, which Tim recalls fondly. Tim’s opening inventory was a loan from a friend who was in the wholesale business, and Tim’s Fly Shop would go on to experience three decades of success.
A 1981 Cassville graduate, many of Homesley’s earliest memories are fishing at Roaring River with his family. In his adolescence, many of his fishing memories involved skipping school to do so.
“I had teachers who used to invite me to talk to kids,” Tim laughed, “and they’d ask how I got good, I’d tell them, ‘I skipped school a lot and fished a lot,’ and they’d say ‘Well, you can’t tell kids that.’ Well, it’s the truth! It was hard to sit in class when it was 70 degrees outside and you knew the fish were biting. Hard to go in at all. We got caught most times, but it was worth it.”
After finishing school, “We didn’t have money for college,” Tim states, so he went to work. Among his first jobs after school was a cashier at Roaring River, working there 13 years.
Over his lifetime fishing, Tim has learned a lot from personal experience, but also from others.
“I’ve been out West a bunch, been overseas a bunch. You talk to different people, learn different techniques. Helps a lot. In New Zealand, all the trout guides I talked to there were different, but they all had good ideas. It was fun to watch them, and I learned a lot from people over there. The fishing is just phenomenal there.”
Tim says one of his greatest joys owning the shop is helping locals and tourists alike improve their own techniques, and their equipment, with the things he's learned in his travels and experiences.
“A lady came in and told me she had been here twice and never caught a trout - she wasn’t very happy. I told her ‘I can help you, I can get you to catch a trout. Trout are stupid, I can help you.’ Well, I fixed her up Tuesday evening. I didn’t take any money from her - I told her to pay me if it works. She went down and caught four fish, her husband caught four fish on her rod, and somebody else borrowed the rod and caught four fish. I like stories like that, I’ve done that a zillion times. People think I’m trying to sell them crap, and I am, to a point, but I want them to catch fish. I enjoy it when people come up and say, ‘Hey! It worked!’ I get a lot of those emails.”
Tim says that fishing also gives him a sense of calmness, in the quiet of the natural water.
“It’s very peaceful. You don’t have to worry about anything. I think it’s good therapy for a lot of people. There’s a lot of people who come down here and have high-stress jobs, and you can tell it helps them out a lot.”
Regarding travel, Tim takes any chance to fish in New Zealand he can get, visiting the island nation eight times in his life. Tim also favors the lakes and rivers of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado and New Mexico, near Durango and the surrounding areas. “I love the New Mexico desert. The high desert is beautiful,” he says.
Tim now spends his time hunting and fishing with friends, or biking and hiking with his wife.