Little Lehigh Fly Shop Closes

[TimRobinsin]

this might be old news on here. Sad to hear.

https://www.mcall.com/sports/outdoors/mc-spt-outdoors-demko-bear-20181106-story.html

 

[djs12354]

TimRobinsin wrote:
this might be old news on here. Sad to hear.

https://www.mcall.com/sports/outdoors/mc-spt-outdoors-demko-bear-20181106-story.html

Sad to read this and wish Dave well.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

He was flooded out several times this year,and from whatI saw he was n't doing much business,also his health was not good.
Hope he is doing well!

 

[Bamboozle]

That last big storm had water halfway to the windows...

The Little Lehigh for the last dozen years or so has become my ****** day Winter respite if only to get out for an hour and smoke a cigar.

Even if the fishing sucked, hanging out with Dave made up for it.

I'll miss him and I wish him only the best.

 

[lestrout]

Sad to hear, but the shop must have been a true labor of love. I liked to nab an ice cold Coke for a buck there and gab with Dave. He had some interesting tying materials that I would pore through.

 

[Jake41]

sorry to hear that. It seems like just another sad bit of history that has faded away from this once urban jewel. I only hope that it can someday make a comeback, but it will take a small miracle.

 

[Dave_W]

Yes, sad indeed.

The old building is charming. I painted the image below a few years ago.

However, being in the flood plain has revealed time and again that it probably isn't suitable for a fly shop. And this on top of all the other already hard enough realities that a fly shop must face these days. With this shop gone, our state's universe of FFing is further diminished.

 

[SirJohnny]

All:

I had the privilege of speaking to Dave Bittner earlier this week (Mon: Nov 12th). He said that the combination of declining health and constant flooding led him to make the decision to close the shop.

Dave said his health limited his fishing to just one or two days this year.

We did not discuss anything with regards to his old inventory/etc.

John Coxey
(Altoona, PA)