TRUCKEE, Calif. — The town of Truckee serves as a hub for rich history, rugged terrain, and outdoor recreation. With the Truckee River snaking through the city limits, one of the hobbies that Truckee locals and visitors indulge in is fly fishing. 

Trout Creek Outfitters, located just across the train tracks from the Truckee River, is a full-service fly shop that’s taking it a step farther than just providing retail in their brick and mortar location. Run by a group of close friends and family, the fly shop is paving the way to make fishing a fun, accessible, and unifying sport year-round. 

“Owning and operating Trout Creek Outfitters is a dream come true,” Miles Zimmerman, co-owner of Trout Creek Outfitters said. “With the help of a great group of people, I can’t help but feel like we’ve created something special.” 

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The root of Trout Creek Outfitters has always been a genuine passion for fishing. A decade ago, Scott Ferguson, co-owner of Trout Creek Outfitters, met Zimmerman during a winter season, where they quickly became friends. At the time, Ferguson offered Zimmerman a mountain operations position, where Zimmerman politely declined, wanting to follow his passion for fishing. 

“I was offering up a pretty fun job, and he shot me down and said he was going back to work his previous job at the hardware store so he could continue to follow fishing,” Ferguson said. 

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With the duo sharing the commonality of fishing, they embarked on pursuing their dream, and several weeks months later, Zimmerman and Ferguson were celebrating the opening of the doors of Trout Creek Outfitters. 

Over the three years since Trout Creek Outfitters has been open, they have acquired fitting staff that share a similar drive for fishing. Keeping the operation within their close friends and family circle, Miles’s brother, Austin Zimmerman, works alongside Miles in the shop, serving on the frontline of Trout Creek Outfitters.

“It’s truly always been a team effort, and just a small group of close friends connecting with a commonality about loving fishing,” Ferguson said. “As best friends and family, the two brothers compliment each other incredibly well.”

Along with the Zimmerman brothers, Trout Creek Outfitters has obtained a solid team of individuals for the summer season ahead of three additional staff members that are all lifelong fly fishers themselves, and are involved in the shop’s guide team. 

“We brought on a team of guys that have an equal amount of passion as Miles, Austin, and myself have,” Ferguson said. “We are striving to be a friendly and approachable fly shop that really serves and helps the community.” 

In an effort to further unify fly fishing culture for local fishers, the fly shop has built out an ambassadors program for Trout Creek Outfitters ambassadors to recommend the Truckee River and educate other fishers, and ambassadors then receive discounted fishing gear at the end of the season. 

Along with their ambassadors program, the shop also offers guided tours from their staff and introduction to fly fishing courses to proactively connect their staff and shop ambassadors with Trout Creek Outfitters customers and those interested in fishing. 

“You’d be amazed at how many people live here and have always said they’ve wanted to fly fish, but it hasn’t been accessible,” Ferguson said. “The rivers can be scary. So now there’s a place where people can go and take an “intro to fly fishing” course with us to learn what to do and go with guides who know what they’re doing and connect them with other people stoked on the sport. The vibe is really positive.” 

The Trout Creek Outfitters team continues to define this united passion for fishing in the Truckee community, and looking forward, the team is excited for their continuous growth in the summer season ahead; continuing to further root themselves into Truckee and continue serving as a hub for fishing, tours, and education. 

“Instead of having people meet up on the river, we’re utilizing our space to have people meet together and connect here at the shop,” Ferguson said. “It was always our vision for the shop to serve as a hub. It’s a fulfilling feeling being a part of a fly shop that serves the community in such a positive way.” 

With the fly shop’s solid footprint in the Truckee community, Trout Creek Outfitters staff remind themselves the foundation of the shop was founded on a devotion to fishing. The Zimmerman brothers created the shop tagline “find us on the water,” which continuously reinstills Trout Creek Outfitters’ founding principles. 

“This is a passion business, and there’s something really special about Trout Creek Outfitters being that it’s the only fly fishing shop in Truckee, and it’s made out of this unique location that we are at in Truckee,” Ferguson said. “With not only the Truckee River, but these amazing lakes surrounding us, there is this community that exists around fly fishing, whether we knew about it or not. The team is built behind this unanimous passion we all have for the sport, so with that, we’ve defined this one destination that’s all about pursuing the enjoyment of fishing.”

Trout Creek Outfitters is open seven days a week and is located at 10115 Donner Pass Road in Truckee, Calif. 96161. For more information on Trout Creek Outfitters, visit troutcreekoutfitters.com, or call 530-563-5119. 

Madison Schultz is a reporter for the Tahoe Daily Tribune and Sierra Sun.