Montrose Anglers is located in the Colorado Outdoors complex at 1325 Mayfly Drive. Owner Nolan Egbert purchased Toad’s Guide Service and Cimarron Creek and merged the two businesses.

The original location for Montrose Anglers was at 309 E Main in the Mercantile Building before it moved to Colorado Outdoors in 2017, one of the first merchants to tenant the Colorado Outdoors development.

Nolan was born in Denver and grew up in Littleton until his father was transferred to Texas, working for Mobile.

However, the Egberts (Nolan, his wife and their four kids) returned to the Front Range every year for vacations and visiting family. In 1996, Nolan brought the whole gang to the Western Slope for the first time, and the family fell in love with the San Juans.

When a partner in a previous business asked Nolan to partner in a start up business here in Montrose, the Egbert family jumped on the chance to move here in 2013, which is when youngest son, Caleb, then age 13, discovered his love of fly fishing.

“I spent my first week, not catching a darned thing,” Caleb recalls. “I was so frustrated I nearly gave up. But I decided to keep on trying and eventually I figured it out, which is the story I tell everyone new to the sport. We all start like that. There are no dumb questions, and no shame in not catching anything on your first cast or even in your first week!”

Caleb was the inspiration Nolan needed to purchase the fly fishing and guide businesses and says, “I never would have dreamed of owning this kind of business if it wasn’t for Caleb. His love for the sport grew on our whole family. In fact, Caleb became a fly-fishing guide for Toad’s during high school, and when the opportunity came up to buy the business, well we were in.”

Montrose Anglers bills itself as the go-to source for all things fly fishing in Western Colorado. From premium fly fishing gear rentals, premium gear for sale, expert-led casting lessons, private fly-tying lessons, on-water rigging class, to unforgettable guided trips (both walk-wade and float), and all the excellent clothing and gear anglers will ever need to get them on the water with confidence.

“We are one of the biggest dealers of Mayfly Outdoors products, who are located just down the block from us,” says Nolan. Mayfly Outdoors designs, manufactures, and tests products right here in Montrose including Abel Reels, Ross Reels, Dyna-King and the UK Airflo.

Caleb is now a fly fishing guide for Montrose Anglers, as is Nolan, plus the business has three other extremely talented guides available for walk-wade and float trips. The team loves guiding locals and visitors to special fishing holes and good waters.

“Montrose is the best of basecamps where anglers can count on catching Rainbows, Browns, Cutthroats, and Brook Trout, as well as the occasional Kokanee Salmon,” says Caleb. “During summer months, fishermen can access even higher alpine waters in this surrounding area of unparalleled beauty.”

Montrose Business Times: What were the biggest challenges you experienced when you merged the two businesses and created Montrose Anglers?

Nolan: There are three aspects to our business — the retail store, the online store, and our guide services. Balancing all three aspects and doing them with excellence was, and will always be, a challenge.

At heart, I am a football coach (back in Texas and as an assistant coach at Montrose High School), so I’m always advancing the goalpost, and it is never just good enough.

Caleb: It is our job to create responsible anglers, who respect our great water resources on the Western Slope. For people not from here, it is often a challenge to explain the delicate balance we maintain here in the West between water and recreation.

All our employees fish regularly, so we are proud to have ‘boots-on-the-ground’ knowledge of the waters all over the area and to guide our visitors to good water and to avoid over-fishing certain spots.

MBT: What is your biggest challenge today, now that your business is well established?

Nolan: Happily, the bulk of our gear is Made in America, so we aren’t having to wrestle with supply chain issues and tariffs. However, Montrose has finally been discovered, so we are having to take even more care of our natural resources, where we guide and where we send anglers, in order to conserve the natural beauty of the Western Slope waterways.

That being said, I believe our biggest challenge today is the weather. Every year is different and brings different water challenges for our business. We attend the meeting every year in April to find out when water will be released from Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Some years it is in April, sometimes in June or even later. Naturally, snowpack and water releases play a huge part in where we guide our guests, as do Monsoon storms.

The last thing we want to do is disappoint our anglers, so we have to stay on top of everything in our watersheds that affects the flow and clarity of our waters.

MBT: What are doing to be good stewards of the waterways?

Caleb: We belong to Trout Unlimited, an organization that focuses on the care and recovery of wild and native trout and salmon watersheds.

The organization provides a strategic map to protect, restore and reconnect waters, so future generations can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. In addition, we are members of several other organizations to help protect and restore the rivers in the area.

MBT: Do you offer any special events or services?

Caleb: During the summer, we offer a free Fly Fishing 101 Class for beginners. Our next class is coming up on July 9, so give us a call at 970-249-0408 or shoot us an email at info@montroseanglers.com if you are interested in participating.

Every Saturday morning during the winter, we host fly-tying mornings to help our enthusiasts prepare for the coming season.

We provide coffee and donuts, share stories, tie flies, and enjoy the company of like-minded anglers. Feel free to join us any Saturday morning during the winter and see what it’s all about.

MBT: What is your favorite part of the business?

Nolan: I’m old school. I treat people the way I want to be treated. That’s why I love it when we’ve equipped a local or a visitor and he or she comes back in the store in a few days raving about the experience and are so grateful for both our equipment and knowledge. That’s the best feeling!

MBT: What is your all-time favorite fishing spot on the Western Slope?

Caleb: The Gunnison River, from the headwaters all the way to the Colorado River offers amazing stretches of water, all different.

I really love the freestone stretch — that’s the stretch from Almont to Blue Mesa Reservoir, also known as the upper Gunnison. It’s a classic freestone river for nearly 20 miles before it spills into Blue Mesa.

MBT: What is your all-time favorite fishing spot ever.

Caleb: That’s a hard one. Because I guide all summer long here on the Western Slope, I don’t often get to visit other great fishing spots in the country. Honestly, it’s pretty hard to beat what I have in my own back yard. However, I did get a chance to fish in Idaho a while back and that was an amazing experience. I’d go back there again in a heartbeat.

Jen Wolfe is a freelance contributor for the Montrose Business Times.