A fly shop emerges in downtown Waunakee from online retailer Musky Fool | Business News

WAUNAKEE — The inventory in this village’s newest retailer can all be easily purchased with just a click of a mouse.

There are fly rods, reels, leaders, racks and bins of flies and fly-making material along with waders, T-shirts and caps.

Dan and Jenn Donovan’s Musky Fool Fly Fishing Co. was founded in September 2020 online and has blossomed thanks to aggressive social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, their appearances at fishing shows and at Madison area angling events. And, if your timing is right, they can also be spotted on lakes Wingra, Monona and Waubesa in pursuit of muskellunge, the state fish since 1955.

Only now the couple has a brick-and-mortar shop next door to the Gold Nugget Bar & Grill and across the street from Lone Girl Brewing Co. in Waunakee’s downtown.

And while the 980-square-foot space is packed with gear and tackle, its greatest asset may be the front door. This is where the customers enter to talk about muskie fishing on the Madison chain of lakes and in northern Wisconsin. Others tell tales of smallmouth bass fishing on the Lower Wisconsin River or flailing for trout in the Driftless Region.

The discussions, interactions and emotions of catching fish on a fly would be difficult to replicate in an online message board. But here, in a historic building that at one time housed the village’s fire department, the fish stories are an integral part of the shopping experience as Olive, a mellow 6-year-old chocolate lab, snoozes in a corner.

“The history of Wisconsin fishing is deep and rich,” Dan Donovan said. “We want to redefine what it means to fly fish in Wisconsin. Not to dismiss trout but to rebrand it.”

As the name of the company indicates, muskie, the top predator in the state’s aquatic food chain, are central to the brand. But Musky Fool is also catering to those who use a fly rod to chase bass, trout, carp, northern pike and even bluegill.

The shop is one of just a handful of standalone fly fishing shops in Wisconsin. Others include Driftless Angler in Viroqua, Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co. in De Pere, We Tie It Fly Shop in Boulder Junction, Hayward Fly Fishing Company, Lund’s Fly Shop in River Falls, Superior Fly Angler, Fall Line Outfitters in Stevens Point and Fly Fishers in Brookfield.

In Madison, Dorn Sporting Goods and D&S Bait, Tackle and Fly Shop have fly fishing sections as does Cabela’s in Sun Prairie. Orvis opened a fly fishing shop in Greenway Station in 2006 but the retailer pulled out of the shopping center in 2021 leaving Dane County without a dedicated fly shop, even though it’s home to lakes, rivers and streams ideally suited for Wooly Buggers, poppers, nymphs and, in the case of muskie, colorful flies that can be more than a foot long.

Orvis is scheduled to return in smaller version this fall as Rutabaga Paddlesports will incorporate the brand into its new $3 million facility that is being built along Rimrock Road and scheduled to open in early November. It won’t be nearly as comprehensive as the former Middleton Orvis store but a neighboring pond will allow for casting classes and seminars, said Rutabaga owner Darren Bush.

Recreational fishing in Wisconsin generates nearly $1.5 billion dollars annually from direct expenditures for fishing trip-related equipment and creates almost $2.3 billion in economic activity. The vast majority of that is created by those using conventional gear such as spinning rods, bobbers, hooks and worms, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Fly fishing, however, is growing and, like other outdoor activities, was boosted by COVID-19 as more people sought to expand their recreational activities. The industry is also trying to shed its snobby reputation and appeal to those not interested in or who can not afford, $1,200 rods, $400 reels and $600 for a set of waders. Beginner setups can be had for around $100 while most smaller flies are under $3 a piece.

The addition of Musky Fool is being welcomed by Patrick Hasburgh, who in the spring purchased D&S Bait and Tackle and added a fly fishing department to the store, located near Warner Park on Madison’s North Side.

“I’m very excited for him. It’s great to see fly fishing expanding,” Hasburgh said of Donovan. “There was a void to fill and I think between my shop and Dan’s shop we do that pretty well. It’s different than other types of fishing. It’s like a hike combined with fishing. You’re out in nature and there’s a lot more to it than just catching fish.”

The Orvis closing is what sparked the Donovans, both 31, UW-Madison graduates and high school sweethearts from the Milwaukee area, to begin searching for a space to fill the void and so they would no longer need to work out of their home on Madison’s Southwest Side where their basement was jammed with products.

They searched the region before spending $350,000 to buy a brick building at 105 E. Main Street originally constructed around 1880 for the Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal organization, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The building in later years was home to a pumper truck for the Waunakee Fire Department, the village library and ultimately office space. A $250,000 remodel, that included removing nine layers of flooring, has transformed the space into a store with charm, history and the latest in fly fishing gear.

The effort is backed by a near perfect combination of fishing passion, numbers and retail strategy.

Dan Donovan, who caught his first muskie as a child on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in far northern Wisconsin, has a finance background after stints in Madison with Bluetree Network, an Epic Systems consulting firm, and Redox, a healthcare data company.

Jenn Donovan continues to work as the director of merchandising for Duluth Trading Co. in Mount Horeb, a company that has helped write the retail manual for taking an online company into shopping centers and downtowns. In 2010, Duluth, founded in 1993, opened its first brick-and-mortar store in downtown Mount Horeb and has since grown the roster to more than 60 stores around the country.

The Musky Fool store is expected to account for about 25% of the company’s revenues and for now is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dan Donovan is hoping to extend those hours to weekends, plans bolstered by last weekend’s grand opening that drew more than 250 people to the shop. And unlike a bait shop, that relies on proximity to water, the Musky Fool store is designed to be a destination. 

“People are finding us,” Donovan said. “It’s the power of social media.”