Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph courtesy of Kurt Lemons

When he's not taking on new retail challenges, Kurt Lemons takes on the challenge of upstream flyfishing, and he appears to be more than a little thrilled by his success.

Upstream Flyfishing shop opens new Palo Alto store

By Frank J. Stagnaro

According to Kurt Lemons, owner of Upstream Flyfishing at 54 N. Santa Cruz Ave., "There are no small fish, only small challenges."

While this simple maxim derives from his love of fly-fishing, it has a special meaning to Lemons, who, after a very successful 20-year career as a chemical engineer with Hughes Aircraft and Comsat Corporation, decided that what he was doing wasn't fun anymore. He needed a change, a bigger challenge.

"I quit being a corporate human resource and started up what some people thought was an improbable fly-fishing shop," he says. "But it was right for me. I had a meaningful challenge in my life once again. That was 10 years ago, and I've never regretted the move for a second."

Now Lemons is expanding his challenge by opening a second store. The new shop is scheduled to open in mid November on Waverly Street in Palo Alto. It will bear the one-word name of Upstream and will be a larger version of the Los Gatos outlet.

But why the name Upstream for his business? Lemons has another one-liner for that answer. "Fly-fishing is not drowning a worm," he says with a smile.

What he means is that when it's properly and reverently pursued, the sport of fly-fishing demands extensive knowledge, infinite patience and great dexterity.

"You can fly-fish with a broom handle," Lemons says. "All you have to do is tie a string between the handle and fly and let it float downstream.

"But if you want to be a true fly-fisherman, you have to learn how to catch them when you're headed upstream. This might mean casting against the wind, across stream currents and with a 20-foot tree behind you.

"That's fly-fishing, upstream style."

Lemons doesn't sell broomsticks, but there's nothing else related to fly-fishing that he doesn't stock. Rods, reels, flies, books, maps, names of guides, hats, vests, trousers, shirts--you name it, Upstream has it.

Lemons emphasizes that if you want to do it right, fly-fishing is not inexpensive.

"It's a progressive thing," he says. "You can start out with rudimentary equipment, but you soon learn that the real thrill and excitement come from luring that suspicious trout out from under the rock just around the bend. That requires skill coupled with topflight fishing gear."

The name Upstream Flyfishing is more than slightly misleading. Actually, 60 percent of the store's business is generated by the sale of what Lemons calls "clothing for living" and is not related to fly-fishing.

He began to carry clothing not found on the racks of the big department stores. "We offer some of the highest quality, best designed casual clothing available anywhere. And we sell it in limited numbers only," Lemons says. "It's highly unlikely you're going to run into yourself at a cocktail party."

Upstream Flyfishing will soon carry an expanded line of women's clothing, as will the shop's sister store in Palo Alto.

In addition, the Palo Alto Upstream will sell backpacks, something Lemons hasn't been able to carry in Los Gatos because of limited space. The backpacks will be high-end customized items, which reflects marketing strategy.

"There's no way small retailers can compete with the giant competitors on price alone," Lemons says. "You have to stay ahead of them by offering service, quality and uniqueness."

Five years ago Lemons put Upstream on the Internet, which was a first for his kind of business. Today there are all kinds of fly-fishing outfits on the Web, but Lemons says he was there first.

"That's how you have to think to make it," he says.

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