From Backyard Casting to Silver Bow Fly Shop: Sean Visintainer’s Spokane Story

Sean Visintainer didn’t set out to build one of the Northwest’s most respected fly shops. He just loved fishing.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build something real—something that lasts—this conversation is worth a listen. Sean’s story isn’t about chasing trends or rapid growth. It’s about steady progress, good people, and doing the work every single day.

Spokane’s Silver Bow Fly Shop Owner Sean Visintainer episode Transcript

Welcome to the Exploring Washington State Podcast. My name is Scott Cowan and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington state. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re going to like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Well, we’re jumping in today. I am sitting down with Sean Visintainer

Scott Cowan [00:00:30]:

We’ve had some technical challenges. I’ve had some pronunciation challenges. Sean, welcome to the show.

Sean Visintainer [00:00:36]:

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it, Scott.

Scott Cowan [00:00:38]:

All right, so we’re talking a subject that I’m an expert on called fly fishing. I know nothing about fly fishing, but I got. I gotta set the stage. Okay. Sean is here because of his mother. I mean, we just have to put that out there. His mom.

Sean Visintainer [00:00:54]:

Thanks, Mom. What’d you get me into, Mom?

Scott Cowan [00:01:00]:

Yeah, exactly. Sean’s mom responded to one of our newsletters. We struck up a conversation. We were talking about her dog and my dog Bosley. And then she mentioned her son, and she said in just kind of in passing, oh, he has a fly fishing shop. And I said, oh, wait, tell me more. And then all of a sudden, I get this, like, link and proud mama moment. And she’s obviously proud of you and your brother.

Scott Cowan [00:01:23]:

And so I reached out. You agreed to do this. And so in advance. I’m sorry.

Sean Visintainer [00:01:29]:

Okay, well, hopefully it’s not too painful, but I think it’ll be just fine.

Scott Cowan [00:01:34]:

It should be just fine. What little I know of your background, though. There was an article in the Spokesman Review. In around nine, you started fishing.

Sean Visintainer [00:01:45]:

Yeah, probably about that age.

Scott Cowan [00:01:46]:

Who got you into fishing?

Sean Visintainer [00:01:48]:

I had some weird inner desire to fish. I don’t know, something spoke to me about fishing and. And so I started gathering all information, tidbits I could back then. As you know, that’s pre Internet days, so it’s books, magazines, TV shows, whatever. Yeah, so. So take me out.

Scott Cowan [00:02:12]:

Okay. I was gonna say a family member had to probably.

Sean Visintainer [00:02:15]:

Yeah, I couldn’t get to the local lakes or anything, but, yeah, the. My dad would take me out, my mom would take me out. So, yeah, I would con one of them to take me fishing.

Scott Cowan [00:02:27]:

Okay. All right. And then a few years later, like. Like you were like preteen right around teenage years, got into fly fishing. What. What drew you into fly fishing?

Sean Visintainer [00:02:39]:

That I had read about it in a book. So it was like some fishing encyclopedia type of book from back then. And, yeah, I read about it in a book and was really intrigued with it. And there was at a relative, a cousin of my mom’s that fly fished and he was going to teach me. He was in the Air Force, so he was. He was gone a lot. But my mom had got me a lesson for my birthday. A gentleman at a.

Sean Visintainer [00:03:10]:

At a fly shop that was around at that time came out for my 12th birthday or so, gave me a fly casting lesson in our backyard. It was super cool old timer. And yeah, I just took it from there and spent in my allowance at the shop and lawn mowing money and whatever I could scrape up. So.

Scott Cowan [00:03:32]:

All right, so you got. And I think my camera’s frozen. So if you’re. If I’m. I’m actually moving, even though you get a really. Folks, if you can see this really stupid look I have on my face right now permanently for Sean to have to look at, I apologize. But all right.

Sean Visintainer [00:03:46]:

Yeah, that’s what I noticed.

Scott Cowan [00:03:48]:

Yeah, it’s kind of a. Okay. Anyway, I am actually still here. You grew up in Spokane in the area?

Sean Visintainer [00:03:55]:

Yeah, Yep, grew up in Spokane. Born and raised. Stuck here. No, actually I love Spokane. So, yeah, I’ve had to have the business and Spokane for. Well, it’s been a 20 year anniversary. So yeah, it’s been a long time now.

Scott Cowan [00:04:10]:

But there’s more to that story than this. So you started working at the shop. How old were you when you started working there?

Sean Visintainer [00:04:18]:

Well, see, it would have been.02. So I was. Well, yeah, it was probably 1920 was right in there. I was 1920 years old. I’ll give you the fur versions is a little bit of a sad story. Well, a little bit is that story. Unfortunately. I had a friend pass away from high school on a fishing boat accident.

Sean Visintainer [00:04:43]:

And I was supposed to be on that trip. I wasn’t. But him, his grandfather and two cousins passed away in that fishing boat accident off the coast of Washington. And it was that connection that I got to meet the previous owner of the shop and he. It was. There was a family connection between that family of my friend that passed away and the previous owner that I bought the shop from. That. That family connection brought me into the fly shop to start working there.

Sean Visintainer [00:05:18]:

So this is in 2002. And yeah, so I started working the shop and kind of got to know the ropes and doing a little of everything and eventually most everything in the shop within a couple years. And it was 2005. The previous gentleman, Wayne, he had a different business, so this was kind of a side business for him. He needed to sell the shop and I didn’t have any money. So he gave me an opportunity to buy the shop, you know, making some payments and whatnot with a reasonable interest. So, yes, he gave me an opportunity to buy the shop and let me continue to do what I was doing with the shop on my own terms. And that’s when I had to move it, though, from its previous location.

Sean Visintainer [00:06:13]:

So, you know, I’m. This is 2005, so, yeah, I’m still pretty young, 43 now, so you guys can do the math. So, yeah, I moved it and started. Started chipping away as a business owner at a young age with no real experience. Here I am, I haven’t, I haven’t screwed it up too bad yet. We’re still, we’re still kicking, still kicking.

Scott Cowan [00:06:39]:

I want to ask you though, so let’s go back. So you were 19, 20 years of age when you were in, in growing up, did you ever think you were going to be a business owner? What, what did you want to do growing up? I.

Sean Visintainer [00:06:50]:

Well, I mean, you really don’t know truly what you want to do. I think for. Most of, most of us don’t know what we want to do. So I thought that was a. I would like to own a fly shop or the fly shop that I was at, but I didn’t know that would ever happen, you know, so I didn’t, I didn’t really truly know that this would be an opportunity. So I wasn’t quite sure exactly what I wanted to do in the rest of my career.

Scott Cowan [00:07:18]:

Okay, so the owner made you an offer you couldn’t refuse. I mean, basically he set you up with terms that were obviously manageable for you to keep the business going and grow.

Sean Visintainer [00:07:30]:

I mean, okay, yeah, he understood business. He’s a very successful businessman in town and great human, great person, good friend. Still is today. I actually still talk to his boys all the time. So. Yeah, but yeah, he set it up so, you know, it would have to work. It wasn’t, wasn’t a gimme, but, you know, it was, it was set up so I could make payments and continue to keep it, keep it thriving. So.

Scott Cowan [00:08:04]:

So here we are 20 years later and you’re, you’re still here. We’re still talking about fly fishing. So obviously you’ve done some things right.

Sean Visintainer [00:08:12]:

Yeah, I’ve done a few things right. And I mean, really just getting the right guys in place at the shop. You know, I’ve got a, I got a great crew. My brother being, you know, the main guy that keeps the machine really, really moving. You know, I’m kind of have the overall vision. And then Mike. Mike manages the store. He doesn’t manage the store.

Sean Visintainer [00:08:36]:

He manages inventory, manages accounting, helps me with a lot of graphics and. And stuff like that. Everything. It. Anything technical Mike does, I’m just. I just kind of defer to his knowledge on that stuff. So then. Yeah, yeah, I got some.

Sean Visintainer [00:08:55]:

Bo and Canyon are phenomenal at the shop. So Beau manages our guide staff and is one of the main guys you’ll see on the shop floor in Kenyan. Kenyan guides and is also in the shop, and they’re both phenomenal. And. And we have a. We have guides as well. So.

Scott Cowan [00:09:14]:

Yeah, well, I’m on the. I’m on. I’m on Silver Bow’s website, and there was one thing that caught my eye. And so this might be a question for your brother, but you’re here. It says over 50,000 items in stock.

Sean Visintainer [00:09:31]:

Yeah. That’s a lot. Yeah, that. That would include flies. Flies is a huge category. So.

Scott Cowan [00:09:36]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:09:38]:

Yeah, but, yeah, we stock. I’ll go ahead.

Scott Cowan [00:09:41]:

Here’s my question.

Sean Visintainer [00:09:42]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:43]:

What’s the single most popular item you guys have?

Sean Visintainer [00:09:47]:

Well, it’d be flies. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:49]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:09:50]:

Flies is a, you know, consumable. It’s. It’s. You’re using them. You know, they may last a fish. They may last 10 fish or more. But yeah, you’re going through flies.

Scott Cowan [00:10:01]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:10:02]:

You know, that’s your. That’s the. That’s the deal. So can’t. Can’t fish without them, and you can’t fly. Fish without them.

Scott Cowan [00:10:09]:

Can’t fly for something.

Sean Visintainer [00:10:10]:

Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:10:11]:

Since I know nothing about fly fishing, this may seem like a really silly question to you, but you just said it could last for one fish or maybe. Maybe ten. Right. What’s the. What’s the typical range in cost for a fly?

Sean Visintainer [00:10:26]:

Yeah, that’s. That’s a good question. It’s kind of weird. It hasn’t really changed drastically over the years, but a basic fly that doesn’t have too many materials or steps involved in it. $2.25.

Scott Cowan [00:10:40]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:10:41]:

All right, so that’s. Yeah. And then it goes up. Expensive trout fly would be like four or five dollars, and there’s some that will go up to eight dollars.

Scott Cowan [00:10:50]:

These are pretty small. These are small ticket items then. I mean, in the grand scheme of things.

Sean Visintainer [00:10:54]:

Yeah, it’d be like selling coffees and burgers and stuff like that. You got to sell a lot of them to make some money.

Scott Cowan [00:11:01]:

Right. Now, are you guys. Do you sell supplies for people to tie their own flies?

Sean Visintainer [00:11:09]:

Yeah, that’s another Big part of the shop. So we have, we have all the, all the gear, but we also have the materials and supplies to make flies. So there’s kind of a whole nother niche within fly fishing is time flies. And it’s kind of cool because you can take, you know, you can create your own flies, you can mimic flies, you can alter, you know, existing patterns to your liking, or fisheries. It’s really kind of a neat aspect. It is a difficult thing to stock because just like the variety of flies we have, there is a ton of materials and it’s constantly evolving and trends and things like that. And that’s where, thank God I got Mike, because I can’t do. I can’t do that detailed stuff anymore.

Sean Visintainer [00:11:56]:

My, My, my brain don’t ask me fly tight where the fly time material is in the shop anymore. I, I just defer to the guys.

Scott Cowan [00:12:06]:

Now, once again, I know these are very general questions, but, like, what’s the. These got to be. These flies have to be quite light. Correct. I mean, what’s, what’s a fly? Like, what’s a typical weight for a fly?

Sean Visintainer [00:12:21]:

Well, almost nothing because it’s furs, feathers, and synthetic material. Something. Some do have weight. So there’s. You have dry flies that sit on the surface, and then you have subsurface flies that can be referred to as, like nymphs or streamers.

Scott Cowan [00:12:37]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:12:38]:

So like, a dry fly, being that it floats, is going to be made of lightweight materials, foams, deer hair, elk care materials that help support it. So it’s not the lure, or I shouldn’t say it’s not the fly. The. That, you know, carries the line out. It’s actually the, the fly line carries. That loads the rod and carries the fly to where you want it to go, if that makes sense.

Scott Cowan [00:13:05]:

Yeah. Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:13:06]:

Yeah. So, yeah, it’s kind of the opposite of spin. Spin fishing is a weighted lure, you know, or weight on your line, and then you. You tilt the rod back and fire it away out in front of you. And that, that weight carries the line out.

Scott Cowan [00:13:20]:

Got it. All right. So, you know, when you see movies or TV shows or whatever of guys tying. And typically it’s. Guys tie in flies. You know, it looks, you know, they’ve got magnifying glasses, you know, on, and, you know, it looks like it’s quite intricate, you know, detailed work.

Sean Visintainer [00:13:38]:

Mm.

Scott Cowan [00:13:40]:

And yet. Yeah, and yet I’m looking at this from a retail standpoint. If retail on the big. The high end items in $8. I mean, you got to be able to tie a Fly pretty quickly. Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:13:52]:

If you were into production time. Yeah. For selling. Yeah, yeah, we, we. We don’t. We do. Do. Do some custom flies.

Sean Visintainer [00:14:01]:

We have a gentleman. He’s been time flies for 60 years, commercially, believe it or not. 50, almost 60 years. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:14:09]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:14:10]:

He’s phenomenal. When Bob quits tying, sorry, folks, no more custom. But yeah, we, there’s, there’s fly companies that manufacture flies, you know, that have facilities set up for. For producing flies. So we can, we can order flies, you know, by the dozens. Hundreds of dozens. Thousands.

Scott Cowan [00:14:30]:

Yeah, yeah, lots of them.

Sean Visintainer [00:14:32]:

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. You wouldn’t want to make a living tying flies though.

Scott Cowan [00:14:38]:

No. Yeah. Okay. So what else besides flies? What else in the store? If, if I were a typical fly fisherman and I’m walking into your store for the first time and maybe I’m coming over from the Wenatchee area, right. So I’m coming over to go fly fish on the Spokane. I’m a stop in your store.

Sean Visintainer [00:14:59]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:15:00]:

What am I probably looking at? I mean, what is somebody who knows what they’re doing, what am I coming in to see that you have?

Sean Visintainer [00:15:08]:

Well, the flies, of course, you know, what’s, what’s the local flies. And really even before that, it’s. You’re coming in for the local knowledge.

Scott Cowan [00:15:18]:

Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:15:20]:

You know, the, the whole crew fishes. I fished last night actually on the Spokane, and the whole crew fishes all year round. And you’re coming in to see, you know, what, what we are up to speed on, you know, know, for the local fisheries. So. And then from there. Yeah, then it’s more than likely you’re probably checking out flies. And each fly shop kind of has different types of equipment in there, different brands, you know, and maybe some different styles of it. So, you know, it’s kind of fun.

Sean Visintainer [00:15:53]:

I even. I go into different shops when I’m traveling around. It’s kind of fun to see what everyone else has. Even though we carry most every brand, you know, everyone’s still unique. Each fly shops unique.

Scott Cowan [00:16:06]:

So with 50,000 items, even though flies are small and you know, El care is not going to take up a lot of space, you know, and things like that. You’ve got to have a pretty, I’m guessing a fairly large warehouse space, if you will.

Sean Visintainer [00:16:22]:

No, we cram it all into about a 1700 square foot building, so no way it’s packed. Yeah. When you’re, when you’re coming through 1700.

Scott Cowan [00:16:31]:

Square feet and you’ve got 50,000 items.

Sean Visintainer [00:16:33]:

Well, a lot of that number is flies and flight Time.

Scott Cowan [00:16:38]:

That’s. Yeah, that’s, you know.

Sean Visintainer [00:16:39]:

Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s packed. I mean, that’s usually one of the comments we get. People walk in and they’re like, wow, you guys got a lot of inventory. So we, we’ve utilized most spaces in the shop. Okay. You know, so it’s, there’s not too many blank walls, let’s put it that way.

Scott Cowan [00:17:00]:

All right, well, I’m on the, I’m on your site and I’m looking at the Lamson Purist 2. Reel Whiskey. Okay. Why whiskey?

Sean Visintainer [00:17:14]:

It’s the color.

Scott Cowan [00:17:15]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:17:16]:

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Newer model reel.

Scott Cowan [00:17:21]:

Okay. And what makes. Honestly, it looks like a bike derailleur. You know, to me not knowing what I’m looking at. I’m looking at it going, huh, yeah. So what makes this. Well, okay, so I’m reading this. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:17:34]:

It’s composed of only 15 individual parts. So there’s not a lot of. It’s not very complex.

Sean Visintainer [00:17:39]:

No, it’s not complex. Yeah. I’m guessing you’re asking why. Why is it the price that it is?

Scott Cowan [00:17:46]:

I’ve learned that, look, when it comes to hobbies and you know, people pay what I might think is unreasonable, but you might think my hobby. You like? No, I’m, I collect old baseball cards. You’re. You’re going, you’re going to pay, you know, X dollars for a piece of cardboard? No, man, I’m not going to do that. So I’m not, I’m just looking at this going, okay, what makes this. Why is this one so cool?

Sean Visintainer [00:18:11]:

Yeah, yeah. Machine work. The strength to weight. Made in the usa. How smooth they are. Yeah, Yeah, I guess like you mentioned, you know, a derailleur, you know, on a bike, it’s kind of like buying high end components for bikes, you know. Right. Yeah.

Sean Visintainer [00:18:33]:

Not all the time, but typically the premium equipment is going to work flawlessly most of the time.

Scott Cowan [00:18:42]:

For, for longer periods of time too.

Sean Visintainer [00:18:44]:

Yeah, longer periods of time. It’s very durable. Yeah. Just overall, you know, the weight. Super light. Yeah, it, it’s. That stuff is typically built to last for a very long time.

Scott Cowan [00:19:00]:

And I mean, I’m looking at other stuff and then you got an Orvis superfine graphite rod for 598 bucks. And I’m familiar with Orvis and all that, but. Okay, so here’s a question. I’m gonna come into your shop, I’m gonna tell you, hey, I want to get started in fly fishing and I have a budget.

Sean Visintainer [00:19:20]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:19:21]:

And you go all Right. What’s your budget? Well, so what if you were going to set some. Let’s, let me, let’s rephrase this. Let’s say it’s a, a grandfather and his grandson coming in wants to set the grandkid up. We don’t know that the kids, you know, he’s 12 years old. We don’t know that he’s going to end up owning a shop like you. We don’t know if he’s going to be interested in it. But what would it take to set the grandkid up with a, you know, reasonable.

Scott Cowan [00:19:48]:

Yeah, something reasonable.

Sean Visintainer [00:19:49]:

Yeah, yeah. We sell, there’s kits and a lot of people, oh, it’s a kid. It’s probably not that good. Well, actually the, the kits that are sold by some of these manufacturers are actually really good. So one in particular for that situation, a brand called Echo. It’s a fly shop only brand. You’re not going to see it in box stores. It’s a great product.

Sean Visintainer [00:20:17]:

They make rods and reels of. I’d call them entry level pricing, up to moderate pricing. They’re not premium brand, but you know, you could get a really nice rod reel set with line, then a leader at the end piece that ties your fly for a couple hundred bucks out the door. So.

Scott Cowan [00:20:39]:

So for less money than a Nintendo Switch.

Sean Visintainer [00:20:42]:

Exactly. Yeah. And they just created a lifetime hobby out outdoors, hopefully.

Scott Cowan [00:20:48]:

Right, right.

Sean Visintainer [00:20:49]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:20:49]:

Okay. So a couple hundred bucks to get started.

Sean Visintainer [00:20:52]:

Yeah. Yes, you can, you could go to, you know, a box store and probably find some, you can find some sub $200 kits. But we like to sell stuff that we know you’re going to be happy with and it’s not going to fail you right now.

Scott Cowan [00:21:07]:

The flip side is I’m some, you know, SaaS company billionaire who just made more money than I know what to do with. And I’m going to, I’m walking into your store and money is no object. And I want the same starter kit, not the same kit like, but the same components as in that Echo kit. How crazy could we go?

Sean Visintainer [00:21:31]:

Oh well, I mean, to spend 2,000 on a rod reel line, that’s no problem. We can do that pretty quick.

Scott Cowan [00:21:41]:

You can do that pretty quick.

Sean Visintainer [00:21:42]:

All right. Yeah. I mean a premium, premium fly rods right now are, you know, they’re 900 something dollars up to 1200 dollars for a premium fly rod right now.

Scott Cowan [00:21:52]:

And how long would that, that rod last under? If I’m careful. I mean, if I fall and I break it, you know, things like that. But you know, is that something that would last a lifetime?

Sean Visintainer [00:22:03]:

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It’ll last forever. You take care of it. It’ll last forever. There are warranties on rods. A little bit of a heated topic in this fly fishing worlds or lifetime warranties.

Scott Cowan [00:22:15]:

Who’s lifetime?

Sean Visintainer [00:22:17]:

Exactly. It’s kind of interesting. Like what product do you buy out there that has a lifetime warranty?

Scott Cowan [00:22:23]:

What’s the warranty for manufacturers defects? Is that. Are they saying.

Sean Visintainer [00:22:28]:

Yeah, manufacturers defect, you know, but it’s hard to prove that all the time. So if you have a rod breaks, you know, you slam it in a car door, window, whatever on rock. Yeah, it, they will, they will repair it or replace it for a fee. You know, some depending on. Some companies have switched to more of a tiered system where you know, older rods. Yeah, you’re gonna have to pay more to get them fixed. So. Yeah, it’s kind of interesting.

Sean Visintainer [00:22:58]:

Yeah. Like you don’t buy a car and get a lifetime warranty or anything like that. Kind of an interesting concept that the fishing world got itself into. And it’s thing is trying to figure out how to make it a little more balanced for both the manufacturer and the consumer.

Scott Cowan [00:23:15]:

Right. Well, you said earlier, you said you went fishing last night. What gear did you take out with you last night? Here’s a guy who owns a fly fishing shop. You could demo anything, right? Just ask the boss. I’m gonna take this out. What did you take with you last night?

Sean Visintainer [00:23:31]:

That’s a good question. I actually I didn’t take anything. Super crazy high, what I would call high end. I’ve been checking out some rods from a company that is getting kind of revamped and back into the fly fishing game. And so I was taking out one of their rods. I wanted to get a little time with that and I would call it a mid price rod. It was think of in the 595 range.

Scott Cowan [00:23:58]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:24:00]:

And then a reel that was about a, about $400 reel. So it’s kind of getting to that premium category. And then my friend, this is an old friend, I showed him how to fly fish back when we were in high school. And post high school he was actually a friend of. We were all friends of my friend that passed away that I mentioned earlier.

We, we’ve reconnected and we’re. He wanted to learn how to fly fish again. So I took him down to the Spokane and I had a, I’d call kind of a, a nice entry level kit for him to use.

Sean Visintainer [00:24:38]:

And most importantly the fly line on it was A good fly line, that’s like putting good tires on a car. So you get a lot of performance out of a nice fly line, even on a moderate rod and reel.

Scott Cowan [00:24:51]:

What makes a good fly line?

Sean Visintainer [00:24:55]:

The coatings and the taper. Yeah. The coating in particular, the finish. Yeah. Then selecting the right taper, which ultimately, that’s one of the biggest things.

Scott Cowan [00:25:06]:

What do you mean by taper?

Sean Visintainer [00:25:08]:

So fly lines, there’s a core and then they’re built with PVC or polyurethane on top of that. And they have a. There’s a taper to it that helps the fly rod load and that when it loads the rod. And that obviously delivers your. Your almost weightless fly. So different, different rods will react well, each rod will react to different tapers of fly line differently.

So there’s kind of some all around tapers that will know. Cast a variety of flies on a variety of rods.

Sean Visintainer [00:25:46]:

And, and that’s kind of the stuff like when you come into the shop, that will guide you through selecting the right line, you know, for that particular rod if you’re not buying a kit or something like that.

Scott Cowan [00:25:58]:

So I can see that the reason you have 50,000 SKUs is because this gets pretty. There’s a lot of variables depending on where you’re fishing, what the river’s doing, you know.

Sean Visintainer [00:26:12]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:26:12]:

What you’re. Yeah. What you’re fishing. Okay. All right. So yesterday you went out.

Sean Visintainer [00:26:16]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:26:17]:

How long were you guys out fishing yesterday?

Sean Visintainer [00:26:19]:

We, we met up at the shop, gave him some, some casting pointers on the lawn, just as a good, safe starting point. No trees, no bushes, things like that to catch your fly. So. Yeah, we did some, did some casting there and kind of made sure, you know, that things were progressing. And then we, we ran over to the river. That’s a great thing, having the Spokane just right in town. It’s super close, so we, we fished until just about dark. Spokane fishes really well in the evening and it, it was super nice, overcast, kind of humid.

Sean Visintainer [00:26:56]:

He hooked some fish, he didn’t land them. Which on your first kind of short, you know what, two and a half, three hours of fishing. That’s okay. That’s all we can ask for. We. We can do our part. The fish have to do their part too.

Scott Cowan [00:27:11]:

So did, did you, did you catch any?

Sean Visintainer [00:27:16]:

I did, yes. Okay. I made a few casts in between when he’s taking breaks and caught a cut, a nice trout. Had a couple other looks. We were just fishing dry flies, flies that float and the Spokane river fish. The trout in there they will eat flies off the surface, but they’re. They’re. You’re more apt to catch fish on subsurface flies, but we just felt like fishing dry flies.

Sean Visintainer [00:27:41]:

It’s more fun to watch them eat on the surface.

Scott Cowan [00:27:43]:

Okay, now, you mentioned for the.

Sean Visintainer [00:27:47]:

For the two minutes I fish, I was happy.

Scott Cowan [00:27:49]:

All right, Two minutes. All right. You mentioned you guys were, you know, you know, casting out on the lawn for practice. I got to imagine that there’s. Being that we’re all human and we’re all, you know, inherently competitive, there’s got to be, like, casting competitions where people are. Yeah, I can, you know, I can cast this in through that tire, you know, 100 yards away or whatever it might be. Are there. Are there things like that where people are out there, like, showing off?

Sean Visintainer [00:28:17]:

Oh, yeah, yeah. There’s, you know, there might be fly shops or clubs or stuff that have casting competitions, you know, and then there’s. There is. I think there’s like a. There’s like a team usa, you know, like a worldwide kind of circuit that people can compete on. It’s competition and fly fishing. You know, it’s not like bass fishing, where you have, like, the whole, you know, bass master kind of stuff going on. So there’s.

Sean Visintainer [00:28:45]:

There’s very, very minimal competition stuff. But, yeah, humans are inherently competitive. So, yeah, we.

Scott Cowan [00:28:55]:

How accurate of a caster are you?

Sean Visintainer [00:28:59]:

Well, that’s a good question.

Scott Cowan [00:29:01]:

You know, we all know fishermen tell tales, so you can say anything you want. No one’s gonna fact check.

Sean Visintainer [00:29:06]:

I mean, there’s probably. Depends on the day. Okay, I get the job done. Let’s put it.

Scott Cowan [00:29:11]:

You get the job done. So. So who’s a better. Who’s a better?

Sean Visintainer [00:29:15]:

World’s best.

Scott Cowan [00:29:16]:

Who’s the better caster, you or your brother?

Sean Visintainer [00:29:18]:

Oh, that would be. I’m gonna save myself. I have a lot more experience.

Scott Cowan [00:29:22]:

You have a lot more experience.

Sean Visintainer [00:29:23]:

He’s pretty damn good, though. He’s. He’s. He has his own style to it. Everyone has their own style. But, yeah, he’s. He’s pretty good, you know, for. Not.

Sean Visintainer [00:29:34]:

I. I grew. I was fishing more, younger and really into it a lot more than he was, so.

Scott Cowan [00:29:39]:

Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:29:40]:

But yeah, for him coming into it, little bit later in life, yeah, he’s. He’s pretty damn good. All the shop guys are awesome casters.

Scott Cowan [00:29:48]:

I was going to kind of imagine there’s everyone that’s working at a. At a fly fishing shop, probably is sampling the product, if you will, and out there. Yeah, I mean, do people call in? I’M sorry I can’t come in. I got to go fishing today. Type sickness or do I. Yeah, I’ve.

Sean Visintainer [00:30:06]:

Had requests from the guys to, hey, I want to go fishing. You know. You know, they’re in their vacations oftentimes revolve around fishing, so. Yeah. But is pretty common.

Scott Cowan [00:30:15]:

Isn’t that tough, though, for. To. For. Okay, so they want to go fishing, and they should. And. But they probably want to go fishing when it’s good business time for the shop to be open and well staffed. Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:30:27]:

Yeah, that is tough. Yeah. Yeah, it’s. Yeah. You know, the spring, summer, fall, which is your best fishing around here. Right? Yeah, that is tough because. Yeah, you got to be in the shop or guiding and. And.

Sean Visintainer [00:30:43]:

But we. We try to make it so, you know, they get. Get a couple days off a week or they can squeeze a few extra days here and there during the good months. Yeah. So we’re. We’re not slave drivers at the Silver Bow. There needs to be a work. Work life balance.

Sean Visintainer [00:30:59]:

For sure. You.

Scott Cowan [00:31:00]:

You kind of. You alluded to that in the article. That was. That. That article was a long time ago, though, so I was curious if you changed your. Your ownership philosophy, if you will.

Sean Visintainer [00:31:11]:

I have to go back and read that, actually.

Scott Cowan [00:31:14]:

You say. What did you say? Here, I’ll. I’ll read it to you because it was kind of fun.

Sean Visintainer [00:31:17]:

Yeah. C.P. got it. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:31:22]:

Well, you know, he asked you what you like about the job, what you don’t like. You know, we’ll. We’ll probably come back to that. I like the fact that you said they asked, have you thought about expanding? And you go, the idea of having multiple locations crossed my mind, but I think that the model spreads the folk. That model spreads the focus too thin. I’d rather have one regional location work on other projects. So I think that’s kind of cool.

Sean Visintainer [00:31:52]:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, you could easily. I’ve seen that, you know, or businesses start expanding and then they’re. Yeah, they kind of lose their focus and they’re not doing a really good job at either location now rather than just a really good, solid location, so.

Scott Cowan [00:32:10]:

Oh, okay. So here, Here. Here’s how you described. They asked you, how would you describe your management style? So I want to say that this article was published in 2012, so 13, 13 years ago. So has your management style changed? You said. How would you describe your management style? Pretty relaxed. Everyone knows they need to pitch in and get the job done, but I don’t crack the whip too hard.

Sean Visintainer [00:32:39]:

Yeah. Where was this Article from this is spokesman.

Scott Cowan [00:32:44]:

Spokesman review.

Sean Visintainer [00:32:45]:

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Getting old and senile, apparently, that is actually exactly my current philosophy. I mean, I. I do expect everyone to. To do the job. I mean, that’s what you’re paid to do, right? And, you know, and I. I try to just be a good boss and leader and, you know, I’m not a micromanager, so.

Sean Visintainer [00:33:13]:

And I don’t. People don’t want to be micromanaged, so. Yeah, I just. They know what to do. And from that, there’s a lot of freedom with taking time off, you know, skating out of the shop early X, Y, and Z, and little perks to the. To the gig. So, yeah, you know, it’s kind of a give and take. So hopefully I may have been in a shot.

Sean Visintainer [00:33:37]:

Everyone’s been at the shop a long time, so hopefully that speaks volumes to kind of what our philosophy and work life balance is like. So.

Scott Cowan [00:33:47]:

Well, I mean, and you can literally, I mean, hang the gone fishing sign on the door, and it would be truthful. I mean, you know, it could be.

Sean Visintainer [00:33:52]:

That is. Yeah, when we did, we. Yeah, we did that in May. We need to do it a little more often. We close the shop down because we have a really small crew. We actually, you know, probably could use one more guy. So, you know, we closed shop down, went fishing up on the Coeur d’ Alene river in North Idaho and had a blast. So.

Sean Visintainer [00:34:12]:

But a lot of, you know, we’ll fish because, like, in the summertime and having the Spokane river right in our backyard, we’ll. We’ll go fishing after work together, you know, so that’s. That’s something we can do without having to close the shop down completely.

Scott Cowan [00:34:26]:

Right. I really don’t ever like to talk about COVID anymore because it’s like, I want to move on from it. But how? How. And you survived.

Sean Visintainer [00:34:33]:

Part of our life, though.

Scott Cowan [00:34:35]:

The shop survived Covid. How did you guys navigate that window of uncertainty?

Sean Visintainer [00:34:41]:

That was interesting. Well, it was interesting. I. I stepped back into kind of the main role because, I mean, I didn’t know if we’re gonna ever be able to be open. So I went back to just, you know, the guys were at home, and I. You know, the shop was. We couldn’t have people in the store, but I was just taking orders over the phone and having people meet at the front door kind of deal. So we did that for a month or two or whatever it was, and then, you know, we just tried to follow whatever new rule came out, I guess, and Navigate those waters, you know.

Sean Visintainer [00:35:25]:

But also we had to keep our doors open. I got to feed the machine, the bills still need paid, electricity needs paid. Like I couldn’t completely shut the business down. That was impossible. We’re a small business. So I just ran things myself for a bit. And then, you know, once things started to kind of loosen up just a touch, I got the guys back in there and we still, you know, had to. Yeah.

Sean Visintainer [00:35:55]:

Do whatever policy was in place at the time. But it was, it was interesting. I didn’t know. Yeah, like, holy crap, are we going to even be around in a few months kind of deal. You know, I’ve been through the recession and whatever other business things have happened over the last couple decades, so add that one to the list of stuff.

Scott Cowan [00:36:19]:

Well, kudos to you for navigating it. You know, a lot of people didn’t. Some people, you know, some businesses actually really thrived.

Sean Visintainer [00:36:28]:

Yeah. Well, once. Once things open back up, you know, being in the outdoor industry was good as long as you had inventory. You know, getting inventory was the challenge. We had a robust inventory, so we weren’t too bad. But you know, if you need, if you ran out of something, you might be sol for getting something back in stock. Because of the supply chain was. Yeah, supply chains were broken.

Sean Visintainer [00:36:55]:

Demand is high for outdoor industry stuff. You know, fishing, bikes, hiking, camping, over landing, whatever it is. So thank God we had a fair amount of inventory helped out in 50,000 items.

Scott Cowan [00:37:10]:

Yeah. Well, exactly.

Sean Visintainer [00:37:13]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:37:15]:

What do you think I’m going to ask you to put on your two to five years in the future hat what do you think? What do you want the business to look like? What do you think? Are there opportunities that you see in the fly fishing space for the, for silver bow to. I don’t want to necessarily expand, but what, what do you see on the horizon?

Sean Visintainer [00:37:39]:

A good question. I don’t know if I’m going to divulge everything, but.

Scott Cowan [00:37:44]:

Oh yeah, not asking it for trade secrets.

Sean Visintainer [00:37:47]:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s a bit more competition around right now, so trying to navigate that competition with big dollars. So we’re just a mom paw shop. So we’re just trying to navigate that right now. Yeah. So I mean, nothing will change as it is right now. We’re going to continue offering good service and try to have the right inventory in all the time, you know, and, and the knowledge about fishing so that none of that stuff will change. But.

Sean Visintainer [00:38:24]:

Yeah, that is a good question. On, on, you know, is there new things to do in our area? I don’t know.

Scott Cowan [00:38:31]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:38:32]:

We’ve done it for so long. I, I’ve explored a lot of ideas. You know, it’s kind of hard to come up with something really creative that’s completely different that nobody’s ever done so well from an equipment circle back in two years.

Scott Cowan [00:38:46]:

From, from an equipment standpoint, are there, are there a lot of advances? Is the equipment getting better? I mean, I guess maybe we’re putting in high tech materials.

Sean Visintainer [00:39:01]:

Yeah, I feel like it plateaued a little bit. Like, I don’t know, you know, I look at new equipment every year and I wouldn’t say there’s anything super drastic over the last decade. Probably this, you know, change, but I mean stuff has improved even in that last 10 years. But it’s not like, holy smokes, this is the newest technology that’s mind blowing. You know, I think making rods more durable, you know, there can be that. There’s still room for some improvement there. I don’t know how you can make a fly real portion, you know, better than what they currently are. Fly line coatings are getting better though, you know, so.

Sean Visintainer [00:39:48]:

But yeah, it’s, I’d say for the manufacturers it is hard, very hard to innovate right now. You have to dig deep to find new ways to come up with better products. So yeah, waiters boots, there’s some, there’s some room for improvement still. And like waiter materials, more durable boot. The boots that you wear with your waders, you know, there’s some, you’re, you’re in the water. So the, like the rubber soles on those, I’m sure there’s still some technologies out there that could be even better than what they’re currently using. So just for improved grip and safety and traction.

Scott Cowan [00:40:32]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:40:32]:

So. But it’s getting, it’s getting harder. I mean it’s pretty damn good right now.

Scott Cowan [00:40:38]:

Okay, so you said you. There hasn’t been any major technological breakthroughs in the last decade in. What do you think was the last big breakthrough in fly fishing tech? Like what was in your, in your 20 years of owning the shop? Is there been something that came out that you’re like that really is a game changer.

Sean Visintainer [00:41:00]:

Well, that’s. Let me dig. Dig back into the old cobweb right here. Yeah, I mean in. Waders have gotten really good over the years. You know, the fabrics overall, I mean, Gore Tex of course has always been good, but I think everybody else is really caught up to the Gore Tex world. And for waiter material, that was that just as a whole, that’s Been a big change. Fly lines have gotten a lot better.

Sean Visintainer [00:41:38]:

And then actually, I kind of think about it like flies. There’s so many more synthetic materials now with flies, not just like, you know, 20 years ago, there was more natural materials, less synthetics. Synthetics meaning, you know, like, foam or. Or some sort of, like, vinyl type of material that goes into it or a flashy material. So actually, the fly materials, that’s probably the biggest change that I’ve seen. You know, it didn’t all come out at once. It’s been a progression over the years. But, yeah, flies have changed drastically.

Sean Visintainer [00:42:18]:

There’s so many freaking flies, I can’t even keep up with it anymore.

Scott Cowan [00:42:21]:

You can’t. So I want to say how I’m gonna go back. You. You. You mentioned earlier you went fly fishing yesterday. I asked you what specific gear you took out. I’m going to treat you like you’re a musician now, and if you’re a guitar player, the question is, how many guitars do you have? Some guys go, oh, I’ve got two. And other guys go.

Scott Cowan [00:42:39]:

They look at the camera and they go, please don’t ask that. My wife’s going to hear this, and I’m in trouble.

Sean Visintainer [00:42:44]:

Well, my wife fly fishes, and that’s how we met.

Scott Cowan [00:42:47]:

All right. All right, cool. All right. How many rods and reels do you think you have at home?

Sean Visintainer [00:42:56]:

I. Oddly enough, I’m not. I’m not crazy about. I don’t. I mean, I do love gear. I’m a big gear guy, but, like, I. I sell off my old gear, so I might have. I’m just gonna say 20 kind of setups right now, which is not a crazy amount.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:15]:

Or BO at the shop has double that, plus.

Scott Cowan [00:43:20]:

Really? Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:22]:

Yeah. But, yeah, I’m in the business of new, so my philosophy is. And I don’t have a sentimental attachment to most of my gear, so.

Scott Cowan [00:43:31]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:31]:

I just. I sell it off. You know, once it’s discontinued, I get rid of it. So.

Scott Cowan [00:43:36]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:36]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:43:37]:

So you’re going. The Spokane is kind of your backyard. That’s your. You know, we’re just gonna go. I’m gonna say y. Let’s go down to the corner bar and have a beer. That’s like. We’re gonna go down the corner river and, you know, throw, you know, fish for a few hours.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:48]:

Yeah, totally. Yeah. It’s our home. It’s our home. Water.

Scott Cowan [00:43:51]:

But let’s say you. Let’s go outside of Spokane. Give me. Give me another river in Washington state that you like to fish.

Sean Visintainer [00:43:58]:

The Grande Ronde Okay. Phenomenal.

Scott Cowan [00:44:01]:

All right, so how many, how many, how many setups would you take to go down there?

Sean Visintainer [00:44:06]:

Well, if we’re, there’s kind of two seasons on the Grande Ronde. There’s bass fishing for smallmouth during the summer, and then that’s completely different. But the main, the main appeal to the Grand Ronde is Steelheading.

Scott Cowan [00:44:18]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:44:19]:

In the fall. So Steelhead start showing up late September. October is the prime month. November. And then depending on winter conditions, it’ll, it’ll fish all the way through the winter. But you know, I’ll, if I took, I wouldn’t take lesson four, probably. Okay. All right.

Sean Visintainer [00:44:40]:

There’s a couple of different tactics that you can use for catching steelhead. And, and one of them is a, a two handed fly rod called a spay rod. And that’s definitely going to bring a couple of those. And there’s other tactics with regular fly rods. I’m going to bring a couple of those as well. So, yeah, I’d say four.

Scott Cowan [00:45:00]:

All right. Now you mentioned Bo had twice as many, you know, setups as you. If Bo was going with you, how many would he bring?

Sean Visintainer [00:45:07]:

He’d probably at least have six. But we’ve, we’ve all kind of learned if we’re fishing together, we all have good equipment.

Scott Cowan [00:45:17]:

Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:45:17]:

And we bring too much crap. So. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:45:20]:

Right.

Sean Visintainer [00:45:21]:

I mean, we all, so we, we have to pair it back. If we’re all fishing together, we’re not bringing that all into the raft.

Scott Cowan [00:45:26]:

Okay. Oh, yeah. So you’re on a raft. So. Yeah. You’ve got limited space, you know, to, you got to kind of leave stuff behind. All right. All right.

Scott Cowan [00:45:36]:

When you’re not out working, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re a business owner, you know, that’s a full time job. I was going to make a joke. That was a part time job. But no, let’s be honest, it’s a full time job.

Sean Visintainer [00:45:45]:

Actually, in that article you mentioned, mentally it’s a full time job. Physically. Yeah, it’s not. It’s not.

Scott Cowan [00:45:52]:

So in that article, in the spokesman review at that it back then, you know, you’re working 50 or 60 hours a week, sometimes up to 100.

Sean Visintainer [00:46:00]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:46:01]:

Have you been able to get a little different balance to.

Sean Visintainer [00:46:03]:

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it’s, it’s changed drastically and thanks to the, the crew at the shop and we’ve just done it for so long, it’s, I mean, we know there’s not too many surprises these days at the shop. So. Yeah, it’s a We’ve got it. It’s a pretty well oiled machine Between Boat Canyon, Mike and I, we all have our roles and, and yeah, nobody, nobody really works past 40 hours. So. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:46:33]:

So with this new. We’ve minimized work with this new quote unquote lifestyle balance. When you’re not fishing and you’re not at the shop, what do you like to do?

Sean Visintainer [00:46:43]:

Well, I love, I love camping, I love mountain biking. That’s always been a long time passion of mine and so I’ve gotten back into that more last few years. You know, paddle boarding, photography. Yeah. Just kind of travel around enjoying home actually. Could be. I don’t know about the hobby but like you know, I’ve bounced around to so many rivers and spend so much time on the road traveling the fishing spot. Sometimes it’s nice to relax at home.

Sean Visintainer [00:47:15]:

So. Yeah, what else? Yeah, it’s, it’s kind of, those are kind of the main, the main deals. Mountain biking, photography, camping. We love sightseeing for an, you know, watching animals. We’re out in Yellowstone park or something like that.

Scott Cowan [00:47:32]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:47:32]:

Not always about fishing a lot, but it’s not always about fishing. It’s about having a good balance of all that stuff.

Scott Cowan [00:47:40]:

Awesome. Well, questions I always ask my guest, you’re like okay, so this about Spokane now, right? These are. I need answers about Spokane. I’m a, I’m a huge coffee guy. Where’s a great place for me to get coffee in Spokane?

Sean Visintainer [00:47:55]:

Well, we have a lot of coffee. It’s like kind of like Seattle and there’s tons of coffee. So. But First Avenue coffee is a great one. Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s a solid one.

Scott Cowan [00:48:06]:

Where, where do you go? Where’s your.

Sean Visintainer [00:48:08]:

Everyone.

Scott Cowan [00:48:09]:

So you’re out, your shop is out in Spokane. It’s, you’re, you’re out in brown.

Sean Visintainer [00:48:14]:

We’re technically the Valley.

Scott Cowan [00:48:16]:

The Valley. So is there coffee, is there, is there good coffee in the Valley?

Sean Visintainer [00:48:20]:

Oh gosh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:48:21]:

I never go out to the Valley, so.

Sean Visintainer [00:48:24]:

Yeah, yeah, you can go. I mean they’re kind of your drive thru style. But like wake up call coffees are great. Yeah, there’s, there’s a, there’s so many coffee places. Yeah, that’s, that’s what I would do. I mean that’s, I am a bit, I’m a busy guy so I don’t usually have a lot of time to sit down at a coffee place. Right. So.

Sean Visintainer [00:48:47]:

Well, it’s usually grab some from, from, from a place like that on my way to work.

Scott Cowan [00:48:52]:

What’s Your go to coffee drink.

Sean Visintainer [00:48:55]:

I’m just a straight up black coffee Americano.

Scott Cowan [00:48:59]:

As it should be. As it should be.

Sean Visintainer [00:49:02]:

I don’t add a bunch of stuff to it, but I like a good, rich, dark coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:49:08]:

All right, I’m with you on that. All right, you. I asked you this question when we talked on the phone. I told you this one was coming. But before I ask you the question, I asked you a follow up question and I told you that my wife and I were going to Spokane, which we were there this last weekend before we recorded this.

Sean Visintainer [00:49:27]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:49:28]:

And we went to where you suggested for dinner.

Sean Visintainer [00:49:31]:

Okay, good.

Scott Cowan [00:49:32]:

And I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you, I had three tacos and I tried three different tacos. I tried a pork cheek, an asada and a charred octopus.

Sean Visintainer [00:49:46]:

Oh.

Scott Cowan [00:49:46]:

And the pork cheek taco might be the single best taco I have ever, ever had. I was, I was so disappointed. What? I mean, I’m not disappointed. That’s not the right word. I had that one first and I went, I wish I wouldn’t have ordered these other two because this was so good. It was amazing, man. So thank you.

Sean Visintainer [00:50:08]:

Yeah, you’re welcome. Packed? Yeah. Good.

Scott Cowan [00:50:12]:

It was. Yeah, that was. I’m not even going to say the name of the place because I don’t want more people to go because I don’t want to wait in line next time I go there.

Sean Visintainer [00:50:19]:

Oh, we can give them, we can give them a plug. They’re phenomenal. That place is plug away.

Scott Cowan [00:50:23]:

Where should I go for lunch? There you go. I teed you up.

Sean Visintainer [00:50:26]:

Yeah, there you go. If you like tacos, go to Cochinito’s. It’s downtown. It’s phenomenal. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:50:33]:

I guess they have another location out in Hayden.

Sean Visintainer [00:50:35]:

Yeah, Hayden. Yeah. I haven’t been out there yet, but yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:50:38]:

Which is, you know, we don’t talk about the show. Okay. But no, they were. I gotta tell you. And then I had a. I had a cocktail. I had their bourbon.

Scott Cowan [00:50:47]:

The bourbon renewal.

Sean Visintainer [00:50:50]:

Okay, good.

Scott Cowan [00:50:50]:

Which is not, you know, not a Latino style drink, but it was, it was. My wife hated it, which means it was a great cocktail. She. She had something else. But I, it was a man. I would, I’d go back there tonight for dinner. It was so good.

Sean Visintainer [00:51:03]:

Oh, it’s so good. Yeah, I, it’s. I love that place. They do a great job. So Cochinito’s.

Scott Cowan [00:51:10]:

Yeah. If you haven’t, thank you very much for that. That was. Yeah, that was a huge, that was a huge win. Where else in Spokanes for lunch though? Where’s a. Where’s another good place for. For lunch if you’re.

Sean Visintainer [00:51:23]:

If you’re grabbing a sandwich. If you’re out in the Valley, Seamus’s is great for a sandwich and High Nooner, which they have a few locations around town and one in the Valley as well. That’s another good sandwich shop. So. And if you’re a late night, like you just got off the river and you need some late night grub. Atillano’s Burritos are. I love them. So good.

Sean Visintainer [00:51:48]:

I had one last night.

Scott Cowan [00:51:50]:

Okay, so what type of burrito are you grabbing?

Sean Visintainer [00:51:52]:

Oh, I actually. I grab one called the Washington. So it’s guacamole, sour cream, french fries, chicken, cheese, way too big and not exactly healthy. But you know what?

Scott Cowan [00:52:05]:

Who cares? You were out exercising in the river. Come on. You were.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:09]:

We were walking and hiking and. Yeah. We earned it. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:52:14]:

There you go. Now, I. Yeah, we had a really nice time in Spokane.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:20]:

Good.

Scott Cowan [00:52:20]:

Other than the weather was. It was okay. Yeah, there was a little. Few drops of rain, but that’s okay. Downtown’s a mess with traffic, and if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s. It was a little annoying.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:32]:

Cochinito’s easier than it used to be.

Scott Cowan [00:52:34]:

Yeah. Cochinito’s streets closed in front of it, so we’re, like, trying to get there and we can’t. And like.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:39]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:52:40]:

But it was totally worth it.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:42]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:52:42]:

So good.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:45]:

Dreaming about it.

Scott Cowan [00:52:46]:

Yeah, it was awesome. All right. This other question I told you about, and you promised to play along and say yes. Right. Okay. So.

Sean Visintainer [00:52:54]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:52:55]:

So it’s a. It’s a simple question, but I need to know the answer and I need to know why. Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:53:01]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:53:04]:

Cake or pie?

Sean Visintainer [00:53:08]:

Oh, man. I feel like my answer’s changed over the years, so. God, I don’t. I’m so torn on that. I’m gonna go PI. Okay, good. Classic apple pie. So good.

Scott Cowan [00:53:33]:

Why?

Sean Visintainer [00:53:36]:

Just more texture and variety to it then. You know, cake is a little more straightforward, so.

Scott Cowan [00:53:43]:

Okay. The follow up to that question, I keep asking it, and I keep getting the wrong answers from people. I’m trying to. I’m trying to find the right. So here’s the question. Growing up as a kid, what did you guys have more cake or pie as a kid?

Sean Visintainer [00:53:59]:

I don’t feel like I liked cake as much growing up.

Scott Cowan [00:54:04]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:54:05]:

But I mean, we had both. I don’t see one more. I don’t recall one more than I asked my mom, actually.

Scott Cowan [00:54:12]:

See, I. I keep this premise that the answer that you give as an adult is Almost. I keep thinking it should be, not should be, but that it’s been influenced by what you grew, what your family did as growing up. So if you were like a big cake family just had a lot of cake. So you like cake?

Sean Visintainer [00:54:30]:

Yeah, yeah, we, we, yeah, we had, we had both. I mean, birthdays, it was cakes and, you know, holidays, it was pies. So.

Scott Cowan [00:54:38]:

Okay. All right. See, and I’m gonna stop asking the follow up because nobody’s confirming this for me and I feel like I’m just dying on this hill and nobody’s backing me up. That’s okay. It’s okay. All right, so we got, we got good coffee in Spokane. We got, we got amazing Mexican food in Spokane. And we got good.

Scott Cowan [00:54:56]:

You’re telling me we got good sandwiches. What else should people know about Spokane that you don’t think enough people know?

Sean Visintainer [00:55:07]:

Well, I mean, we’re, we have a lot of outdoor stuff. Right. You know, within the city. Like there’s tons of hiking and biking trails, you know, between Riverside State park and up Saltis and the Minnehaha area and some others around town. And then you got like the bike path along the walking path. It’s the tail trail right on the Spokane. And then you’re close to. I mean, gosh, you got skiing, you got five mountains within an hour and a half of Spokane for skiing and snowboarding.

Sean Visintainer [00:55:43]:

You got a bunch of rivers and lakes. You know, Spokane has 75 lakes within an hour of it.

Scott Cowan [00:55:51]:

Really?

Sean Visintainer [00:55:51]:

That you can fish. Fish or recreate. Yeah, within, you know, within an hour of Spokane. Yeah. So tons of lakes. Spokane, right through town for, for recreating on. I mean, this is a Washington podcast, but we’re right next to the North Idaho Panhandle. Yeah, there’s lots of stuff to do there too.

Sean Visintainer [00:56:09]:

So, you know, there’s, there’s just a lot of things to do. Yeah, it’s a great, great place. I love. And it’s still the big city, but it’s still a small enough vibe.

Scott Cowan [00:56:21]:

Okay.

Sean Visintainer [00:56:21]:

You know, that’s not too crazy.

Scott Cowan [00:56:25]:

What didn’t we talk about the people need to know about Silver Bow?

Sean Visintainer [00:56:29]:

Oh, you know, we’re just kind of one of the. I’m not say the last, but we’re, we’re one of the style shop. You know, if you like kind of old school businesses like that, hopefully good customer service. If you don’t have good customer service, let me know, you know. But yeah, come come see us. Or just the friendly bunch of fishing dudes that want to see you succeed and have a good fly fishing journey in your life and yeah, we’ll will take good care of you.

Scott Cowan [00:57:06]:

Awesome. Well, thanks for sitting down with me and enjoying the technical challenges. My camera’s still frozen. I’m sorry you had to look at that, the particular pose the entire time. You’re a trooper. Anyway, thanks so much and thanks for having me.

Sean Visintainer [00:57:24]:

Appreciate it.

Scott Cowan [00:57:25]:

Good. I hope, I hope the next time you go out fishing you get to spend more time actually fishing and less time helping your buddy. And, you know, you get that.

Sean Visintainer [00:57:34]:

I’ve, I’ve been fortunate. I’ve fished a lot. That’s. It’s not about catching fish for me these days. It’s just hanging out outside with some good folks. So there you go.

Scott Cowan [00:57:44]:

Thank you so much for being on.

Sean Visintainer [00:57:46]:

Awesome. Thanks, Scott. Appreciate it.