Specialties
We are a full service fly fishing store offering a selection of quality products to meet any budget. We specialize in fly fishing the Pueblo Tailwater of the Arkansas River and promise to provide you with helpful, friendly service day in and day out. Our staff of professional guides are available to help you get the most out of your time on the water. Whether you're in search of a trophy trout or your first cast with a fly rod, we will go our of way to ensure you succeed and have fun fly fishing.
History
Established in 2004.
The shop was opened originally as ArkAnglers, by Rod Patch and Greg Felt. After managing the store since 2008, Alex Zipp purchased it and changed the name to The Drift Fly Shop, as Rod and Greg are still doing business on the upper Arkansas under the ArkAnglers name.
The timing worked out well due to the recent completion of a major stream and fish habitat improvement project which has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number and size of trout on the tailwater section below Lake Pueblo dam.
The Drift offers products from leading manufactures such as Sage, Winston, Scott, St. Croix, Redington, Ross, Lamson, Simms, Fishpond, Dyna-King, Renzetti and Rio, to name a few.
Meet the Business Owner: Alex Z.
I am a Colorado transplant, moving to Boulder in 1989 to start college at CU. I grew up fishing for warmwater species in Illinois and Wisconsin. It wasn't until 1993 that I started chasing trout on a fly rod. My passion for fly fishing has taken me all over the Rocky Mountains and into Canada and Alaska. On of my most memorable trips was a 10 day float with several friends on a remote river in south west Alaska. We caught grayling, rainbow trout, dolly varden and silver salmon and never saw another fisherman.
I moved to Pueblo in the fall of 2006, just after the Arkansas River Legacy Project was completed on the Pueblo Tailwater. At the time, few people outside of Pueblo bothered to fish this stretch of the Arkansas River but that would soon change. The numbers and size of trout quickly grew and by 2010, the Pueblo Tailwater had gained a reputation as one of the top fly fishing spots in Colorado, with our peak season running from September through April.