Research

 

“It was a long-overdue fly-fishing trip.”

That’s how my ad agency partner Tom Dombrosky started telling his story. It was Monday. We were enjoying a Tullamore Dew at Stan’s. Like we did every Monday.  

“I’d booked a local guide, a quiet, sun-wrinkled man named Ted who had been fishing these mountain rivers longer than I’d been in the ad business.

“We met just after sunrise. The air was cool, the kind of crisp that presses reset on your thoughts. I had my waders, vest, and a brand-new fly rod. I was ready to fish.

“Ted led me down a trail through thick pine and eventually to the edge of a smooth, glimmering stretch of river. I set my gear down and began assembling my rod.

“Ted walked a few feet from the water, leaned his back against a tree, and sat down. Hands in his lap, eyes on the river.

“We don’t need the gear yet,” he said.

“After nearly an hour, I finally asked, ‘So, uh… when do we actually start fishing?’

“He didn’t turn to look at me. Just nodded at the river and said, ‘We’re already fishing. First step is to observe. Gotta see what bugs are hatching. What the fish are eating today. Won’t catch anything if you don’t know what they want.’”

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RIP Stan's and Stanley: Stan's Lounge was located on the Intracoastal and Commercial Boulevard. A quick Internet search found a post from 2011 indicating the building "has become abandoned and in disrepair." Sad. I had many great times there from meeting baseball's Billy Martin to BS sessions with folks from the advertising community. A little more research indicates that in 2014 the place was renovated (rebuilt?) as Kaluz Grill and Bar and that Stanley Stratton, Stan's founder, died in 2021. If I'm ever in the area, I might stick my head in the door of Kaluz. It's probably very nice ... but it will never be Stan's.