Home Waters

 May 6, 2010

Dennis E. Smith

Dumb luck is often attributed to the sportsman who bags a record-book buck or lands a once-in-a-lifetime trophy trout. No doubt serendipity plays its part, but we all know consistent, year-to-year success in any endeavor comes primarily through hard work, perseverance and time in the field. Or to put it another way - Luck helps, but ya gotta pay your dues. Nobody knows this as well as Brian Chavet, owner of Elkhorn Fly Rod and Reel LLC who, though operating in relative obscurity from a tiny south side Loveland location managed to transform the little-known Elkhorn brand into a nationally recognized, highly competitive market force in a field dominated by high-end fly rod manufacturing giants like Sage, Orvis, Winston and others.

Elkhorn began life in the 1980’s supplying rod building components to high end manufacturers, and introduced a rod building kit to the retail consumer market in 1990. The company achieved notable sales success at national trade shows, but was overwhelmed by the inevitable service and delivery demands associated with rapid growth. Chavet bought the company in 2005 from its beleaguered owner and set about the onerous task of resolving the issues one by one to reestablish the brand name. Along the way, he refined and expanded the existing product line to an impressive array of over fifty different fly rod models ranging from feather light one-weight rods and several multi-piece models to two-handed switch, Spey and saltwater rods as well as a pair of hand crafted bamboo models. He developed a line of precision, machine-cut, aluminum fly reels in two styles and several sizes and created a series of matching rods and reels exclusively for serious lady fly fishers in pink, purple and raspberry colors.

Elkhorn rods and reels quickly proved the equal of any in performance, cosmetics and durability, but Chavet priced them to sell at far below the wallet-busting prices normally charged for the trendy, premier brands - a move which many say revolutionized the industry and the way anglers buy equipment. Over time, Chavet established a network of select retail vendors, built a user-friendly website (www.elkhornflyrodandreel.com), added angling accessories and locally tied flies to his store front inventory. He donated rods and reels to conservation clubs, volunteered rod building and fly tying instruction to youth and church groups and continued to service customers from his tiny shop on West First Street. In 2009, Elkhorn took top honors in the Best of Loveland survey, sponsored the 2009 Fly Fishing Film Tour and will host the event again this year at the Rialto on May 13^th. 

Elkhorn eventually grew to the point where it didn’t fit in the tiny shop anymore so Chavet began searching for a larger, more accessible location. He found it in the former Namaqua Antique Store on West Eisenhower Avenue, located smack on the Gateway to the Big Thompson River and Rocky Mountain National Park. Talk about luck!  In addition to being able to display his complete product line, add more accessories and gift items, Chavet will install permanent rod building and fly tying benches for his customers and offer in-house classroom instruction in those angling crafts. He plans a “soft opening” for May 17^th, exactly five years to the day from the date he first acquired the struggling business. Some might say that’s just dumb luck, but I think we all know better.