After nearly four decades in Lake Elmo, “The Twin Cities’ Original Fly Shop” will relocate to St. Paul.

Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop, which is steeped in modern metro fly-fishing-community history, will move in mid-June to a location with an industrial heritage and a hip urban vibe. The new location, 550 Vandalia St., just north of Interstate 94, is home to Lake Monster Brewing, and the businesses will share a patio — and potentially fly fishing social events, according to the fly shop’s owners, Robert and Rhea Hawkins.

The couple decided to move after they realized that Lake Elmo was inconvenient for most of their customers.

“Nobody ever really needs to drive to Lake Elmo for something,” Robert Hawkins said. “But everybody needs to drive to St. Paul for something.”

Hawkins, a 42-year-old from Bozeman, Mont., and his wife, a St. Cloud, Minn., native, purchased the shop three years ago from Mike Alwin, who had owned it for nearly 20 years. Alwin bought it from Bob Mitchell, who opened the shop in 1978 at 3459 Lake Elmo Ave. N. The location was the result of the business’ ties to 3M, which gave birth to the Scientific Anglers company, which produced modern fly fishing lines and rods. Related Articles ND angler’s YouTube videos let him quit his day job

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The shop under Mitchell and Alwin cultivated the feel not of a retail store, but of a classic fly shop from out West, where anglers stop off in the mornings and evenings en route to and from trout streams, to coffee up or trade information on current stream conditions and bug hatches. In theory, Lake Elmo is en route to the popular Rush and Kinnickinnic rivers of western Wisconsin. But not really, Rhea Hawkins said Wednesday.

“People’s fishing styles are changing,” she said. “It’s warm-water species (bass, pike, panfish) as much as coldwater fish (trout) that are attracting fly anglers today. When we first bought the shop, the first thing we did was open up earlier. And then we sat here by ourselves.”

Knowing their three-year lease was coming up in June, the couple surveyed their clientele several months ago.

“We basically asked them: ‘What are we doing right and what are we doing wrong?’ ” Rhea Hawkins said. “The consensus was ‘I wish I could be there more, but you’re too far away.’ We’re just no longer on the way to the river.”

A road construction project scheduled for this summer that would hinder access to the business during peak season underscored that the time was right, she said.

The decision to stay in the east metro was never in doubt, she said. “We want to be respectful of the history because this shop has a major history. We have people who come in and tell us that how they bought their first fly rod here when they were children. We didn’t want to cross the river.”

Fly fishing tackle is sold in major sporting goods stores, but there are only a small number of other dedicated fly shops in the wider metro: Mend Provisions in Minneapolis, The Fly Angler in Blaine and Lund’s Fly Shop in River Falls, Wis. Kinni Creek Lodge and Outfitters in River Falls, also has a fly shop.

Robert Hawkins said that since he has arrived here, he has been struck by the sense of community among fly anglers and fly tying clubs — as well as the diversity of species that can be caught in Minnesota.

“I love trout, but I also love — really love — exploring new waters and trying new techniques, like, heck, muskies on Mille Lacs,” he said.

That was a reference to last fall, when Hawkins caught a 57-inch muskie — the official world record for a muskie on fly tackle.

“That certainly didn’t hurt us growing our customer base,” he said.