On the Fly
Mike Mercer, fly guy…
As the longest-serving employee of The Fly Shop and a fly-fishing travel agent for the Redding-based business whose ports of call include Alaska, Chile, Russia, New Zealand and Argentina, Mike Mercer spends a lot of time on the water. But for Mercer, the magic really happens under the water. That’s where the excitement of angling, and fly-fishing in particular, first took hold during Mercer’s boyhood growing up on a Chico almond orchard.
It started at about age 5 when Mercer’s family would camp along Hat Creek during the summer for a month at a time. Mercer’s father spent a part of each growing season delivering beehives to farmers in Nevada, and the campground was along his route. When Mercer wasn’t visiting his dad, he was fishing in Hat Creek. He even remembers one of the first tips he received: make note of where the fish-planting truck unloads its rainbow trout cargo. “I was hooked,” Mercer says, cheerfully unaware of the pun.
After taking a fly-fishing class at the Chico YMCA as a 12-year-old, his angling world blossomed. Mercer’s fly-fishing obsession was aided by his association with the late Walton Powell, a Chico resident whose split bamboo fly rods have reached legendary status in the angling world. (Powell was hired as a consultant and rod builder for the film “A River Runs Through It” and his rods have been praised by both President Jimmy Carter and Robert Redford.) Powell’s wife, Earline, taught Mercer the fine points of tying flies.
“That really started my trajectory,” Mercer says, noting how his parents even allowed him to open his own fly shop in the family home before he had graduated high school. His was a deep dive into fishing: “I just went nuts. I love everything going on under the water, all the bugs, the life cycles … I know how they live. What does the fish see? How can I incorporate that movement? How can I tie a fly to get that correct profile?”
Mercer spent a year and a half at Butte College but his heart wasn’t really into it, so it was not a big surprise when he ventured north to Redding in 1978 and Mike Michalak, owner of The Fly Shop, offered him a job. Back then it was a “rag-tag, one-room, hole-in-the-wall with a few hundred flies and a couple rod outfits for sale,” notes the store’s web site.
“In no time he came into his own as a fly-fishing and fly-tying prodigy, spinning out tips and flies for the waves of California anglers streaming through the shop on their way to NorCal’s famous trout waters. As he began to guide on Hat Creek and Fall River, his reputation as a revered and highly skilled angler grew. People sought out Mike’s advice because it was the best you could get,” the site says.
After about five years of steady guiding, Mercer was brought back indoors to serve as retail manager for a shop that was now booming, thanks to the advent of catalog sales and a growing travel business.
During his quarter-century as retail manager, Mercer continued to create fly patterns and even published “Creative Fly Tying” in 2005, a richly detailed guide to the whys and wherefores of some of most popular patterns like the Gold Bead Biot Poxyback Stone Fly and the PMD Trigger Nymph.
Says the publisher, Wild River Press: “To creative minds, designing trout flies can be a never-ending puzzle. It’s always on their minds, teasing at their thoughts. Northern California’s Mike Mercer is a card-carrying, dues-paying member of this group. Fortunate to have fished most of the planet’s great fly-fishing destinations in his 50-plus years, Mike brings fresh and thought-provoking insights to the art of fly tying. These concepts are drawn from a lifetime spent on the water fishing and guiding, studying the prey and feeding habits of fish.”
“I always wanted to be an artist but I’m not, so that’s what I do,” Mercer says with a modest chuckle.
These days, Mercer is able to mix business with his lifelong passion as a fly-fishing travel agent, exploring fly-fishing destinations, lodges and outfitters to be able to match up The Fly Shop clients with one-of-a-kind fishing opportunities.
Alaska continues to be the top destination, although the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia was gaining in popularity until the invasion of Ukraine halted outside travel. Mercer says his personal favorite is Chile – “amazing food and great dry fly fishing” – while saltwater “flats” fishing in Florida and the Bahamas appeal to a lot of anglers.
After more than 50 years of fishing, Mercer says the spark is still there, but age has prompted an adjustment to his attitude. “When I was younger, it was all about trying to catch the most fish. Now, it’s all about being able to look at a piece of water and figure out where the fish are and why. “I’m not so driven. I still love going out, but I really enjoy taking someone new out and watching them experience that first fish. Now I just enjoy it all, experiencing the wind, the sun and the water.”
The fly-fishing community has enjoyed Mercer’s work, as well. On Nov. 8 in Lafayette, Calif., the Northern California Council of Fly Fishers International will induct Mercer into its Hall of Fame. The distinction “recognizes the recipient for his/her contribution to the improvement of the art, science, literature, techniques, enjoyment, and conservation of fly-fishing and our natural resources. •
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