New fly fishing shop offers flies – and advice

By Ethan Sprouse | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – For anyone who fly fishes, walking into Quinn’s Fly Box is like a kid walking into a candy store. Owned by Quinn Still-Zinsel, the new shop features a brightly-lit display that contains hundreds of “deadly” flies – to quote an online reviewer. 

Still-Zinsel grew up in many different places in the United States, but landed in the Catskills in 2017. After working at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum and at Roscoe’s Beaverkill Angler, Quinn decided to establish his shop in Livingston Manor. 

When asked about how hard fly fishing is, Still-Zinsel said, “I think there is a preconceived notion for people on the outside that this must be really super difficult. But it’s no more complicated than spin fishing. It’s really just all the differences in  gear and how the rod works.”

Still-Zinsel’s best advice is to know your environment. “As a fisherman, once you learn the kind of environments that fish like and what they need in terms of cover from predators, you don’t need to wait to see them. You can just say, ‘That piece of water looks pretty nice. Let me see if there’s a fish in there.’”

As far as technique goes, Still-Zinsel thinks of a river as a conveyor belt of food. “Basically, the goal is to get your fly to drift along at the same speed as the other insects on water to create a convincing invitation. Hopefully, a fish will see your fly, think it looks like a real one, and will go up and grab it.”

Still-Zinsel believes that the worst an angler can do is to pigeonhole his or her particular style of fishing. “You have to just fish the style the conditions demand,” he said.

Quinn’s Fly Box is located at 90 Main Street. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. Still-Zinsel sells his highly-rated handmade flies both in the shop and online at etsy.com/shop/QuinnsFlyBox; samples of his work can be seen on Instagram at @quinnsflybox.