End of an era on the Salmon River as a 50

Aug 18, 2023

A young fly fisherman from Connecticut named Zach Daugherty recently walked into the Salmon River Sports Shop in Pulaski. He glanced around at racks bristling with fishing rods and green pegboards studded with bags of fishing gear.

“Can I grab something for ya?” said Zana Gervaise, the shop’s 31-year-old owner.

“I see salmon out there,” Zach said, pointing the tip of his fly rod toward the window in the back of the shop that overlooked the most popular stretch of the Salmon River.

“How do I rig my stuff up for them?” he said.

Gervaise practically grew up in the shop, counting hooks, working the counter. Most importantly she learned the delicate art of teaching anglers how to fish the Salmon River from her father and grandfather. She had a sharp instinct for sizing up a customer’s skill level and temperament.

Zana Gervaise (right) convinced Zach Daugherty (left), a fly angler from Connecticut fishing the Salmon River for the first time, to go with lighter line to catch more fish.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

Daugherty laid his rod on the counter for Gervaise to examine.

“This is a good set up, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Gervaise said. “But honestly, you’ll hook into more fish with lighter line.”

Daugherty hitched his thumb in the strap of his chest waders. He was skeptical anyone could fight a 20-pound king salmon on ten-pound line running straight from the reel to the hook.

Gervaise leaned across the counter and raised her eyebrows. “Do you trust me?” she said.

“Yeah,” Daugherty replied with a sheepish chuckle. “I’ve seen your videos on YouTube.”

Gervaise is something of a celebrity in Pulaski. Anglers come from all over the country, driving past bigger tackle shops with better selection, seeking her advice. So news traveled far and wide when she announced recently that she was selling the shop.

“I wanted to do this quietly but that’s not a possibility,” Gervaise said. “People have asked me, ‘Are you going to move anywhere else?’ But it wouldn’t be the same. This spot right here—that’s the draw. It’s right in the middle of the action.”

Laurie Gervaise (left), Zana's (right) mother, sorts sinkers into bags. Laurie visits the shop every day to be with Zana, who leaves town after the salmon run is finished.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

At the other end of the counter, Zana’s mother, Laurie Gervaise, poured split-shot sinkers onto the counter and began sorting them into bags. She visits the shop every day to be with Zana, who only returns to Pulaski to operate the store during the eight-week salmon run, from mid-August to mid-October. Then she’s gone again until next year.

“I keep hoping somebody will buy the store and then turn it into an AirBnB and let her come back in here,” Laurie said. “She’s right, it’s a great location, but it’s also her.”

When Zana locks up the shop for good later this month it’ll mark the end of an era. Anglers will still flock to Pulaski next year. They’ll still buy hooks and sinkers and fishing rods at other tackle shops. They’ll still catch salmon.

But for the first time in more than 50 years, a member of the Gervaise family won’t be around to help them do it.

The Salmon River Sports Shop is located on the bottom floor of this 72-year-old building on the corner of Route 11 in Pulaski. The building needs structural repairs that Zana Gervaise can't afford, so she put it on the market in hopes someone can save it.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

The real estate listing for 4826 Salina Street taped inside the Salmon River Sports Shop’s front window entices potential buyers with the opportunity to “Own a Piece of History on the Salmon River.”

The asking price? $175,000.

Kevin Clark, an avid angler and long-time customer from Lake Desolation, Saratoga County, leaned against the counter, munching a bagel.

“Got any buyers yet?” he said between bites.

Sipping coffee, Gervaise shook her head, no.

“What’re you doing with all these fish mounts?” Clark said. “I’ll buy one. I want one for my fireplace.”

Everything in the shop had a price, including the fish mounts decorating the wood paneled walls. But Gervaise wasn’t sure what to do with the snag, a cross-shaped piece of driftwood encased in a heavy Plexiglas box the size of window frame. A handwritten label reads: “Fisherman’s Nightmare, caught 1986, Little Black Hole.”

“It’s famous,” said Gervaise. “People come in just to see that snag.”

Gervaise is selling everything in the shop, but not this "snag," a collection of flotsam pulled from the Salmon River by an angler in 1986. As a unique piece of Salmon River history, Gervaise wants to donate it to a local business where people can appreciate it.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

The snag resembles a deformed religious relic made of river flotsam: old fishing lures, broken rod tips, tangled fishing line. It’s a unique piece of Salmon River history, like the shop itself. Gervaise hoped to find the right home for it.

“I don’t want it to end up in someone’s man cave,” she said.

A customer named Jacques Bell asked Gervaise where to catch salmon. He was visiting family in Watertown and had dreamed about fishing the Salmon River ever since he’d read a magazine story about it as a kid growing up in New Orleans.

“I never salmon fished before, so this is my first time,” said Bell. He’d watched Gervaise’s instructional videos and salmon reports, he said. He trusted her.

Gervaise ticked off a list of fishing holes, quizzed Bell on his preferred fishing rig. She recommended he try a noodle rod, nothing too pricey. Inevitably, the conversation came around to the shop closing.

Gervaise has had this conversation so many times her response was almost scripted. She had a way of imbuing it with sincere feeling, however, so that the other person walked away feeling better for having inquired. Still, she said, it was emotionally draining going over it again and again.

“If I hit the lottery, I’d give them money to keep them going,” Bell said on his way out. “You need places like this. You have Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s and all that, but you don’t get the service. You have to have places like this, it’s important.”

Zana Gervaise (left) stands outside her family's tackle shop with her dad, Brant Gervaise (right), holding her first salmon, which she pulled from the Salmon River in 2005. The fish weighed 30-pounds and measured 40.5-inches in length. A mount of the fish has hung in the Salmon River Sports Shop ever since.Zana Gervaise

Zana’s grandfather, Ron Gervaise, opened the Salmon River Sports Shop in 1972, just as Oswego County was gaining national recognition for its superb salmon and trout fishing. He educated everyone who came through the door with a genial expertise that kept them coming back, year after year.

“My grandpa just wanted everyone to fish and have a good time,” Gervaise said.

She recalled a story about a local kid, a mechanic, who came into the store years ago. He knew nothing about salmon fishing but he’d saved up money for gear and needed help getting set up. The owner of the first tackle shop he visited took one look at the kid’s grease-stained hands and told him he couldn’t afford it.

The kid crossed the street to the Salmon River Sports Shop where Zana’s grandfather got him fitted out, gave him some tips. Her grandfather even printed a fake receipt for $800 which he showed to his competitor as a lesson in what it costs to underestimate people.

The other tackle shop is long gone; but the kid, now grown up, is still a loyal Salmon River Sports Shop customer.

“Her grandpa was so good with people, and she’s just like him,” said Laurie. “Grandpa’s girl. What you see is what you get.”

Ron Gervaise (left) opened the Salmon River Sports shop in 1972, around the time this photo was taken. Gervaise also operated the Salmon Hotline, which anglers could call for the latest information on the annual fall run. The hotline was still popular with anglers when Zana Gervaise, Ron's granddaughter and current owner, discontinued it last year.Zana Gervaise

Zana’s grandfather died in 2007. Then her father ran the shop before retiring in 2018. Ignoring her father’s advice, Zana quit her office job in Wisconsin and cashed in her retirement account to buy the shop and stock the shelves.

“I thought about it for half a minute,” she said.

The covid pandemic was in full swing in 2020, her first season as owner. Business was brisk; and last year was her best season yet.

“But I knew ultimately that the problem was going to be the building,” Gervaise said. “The problem’s always been the building. No one’s ever put really major work into it.”

The 72-year-old, three-story building seems fine if you look past its peeling façade and boarded-up windows on the empty upper floors. The shop itself has the look and feel of a large den last updated during the Carter administration.

The view from the back window of the Salmon River Sports Shop in Pulaski overlooks the most popular fishing hole on the river.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

A hammock hangs in one corner. Rod segments sprout from buckets against a wall sheathed in plastic. Faded photographs of customers holding fish are tacked haphazardly to cork boards. Where the creaky floor isn’t covered in worn carpet, the painted boards are chipped and scraped from countless screw-soled boots tramping on it.

But that’s all cosmetic stuff. Structurally the building needs work, Gervaise said.

“For someone that has money to put into it, it’s a beautiful spot,” she said. “It’s going to make them a lot of money. I took over the business knowing I was never going to get rich. And that’s fine because I love being here.”

Gervaise estimates a complete renovation would cost between $350K-$400K. She applied for a state grant but was turned down. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking.

“This building has given so much back to my family and to everyone else over the last five decades,” Gervaise said. “I don’t think it’s fair for me to hold onto it and let it get worse. There’s got to be a time where I say enough is enough and let someone come in that can make it beautiful again.”

Zana Gervaise, owner of the Salmon River Sports Shop in Pulaski, put her building up for sale recently in hopes someone will renovate it because she can't afford to do it herself.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

Gervais hates the idea of abandoning her customers, especially the town kids who wander into the shop, digging in their pockets for enough change to buy a few hooks, which Gervais frequently gives away for free along with a dad-like admonishment to stay out of trouble.

In fact, “Dad” is Gervais’s new nickname, given to her by a customer in the comments section of the shop’s Facebook page. She embraced it, and even bought a baseball cap with “Dad” written on it.

“It’s been weird when some grown men come in and call me daddy,” she frowned. “I prefer dad.”

Zana Gervaise, 31, is the third-generation owner of the Salmon River Sports Shop in Pulaski, which will close its doors for good at the end of October. The building the shop is located in is for sale.Steve Featherstone | [email protected]

Gervaise never planned to spend the rest of her life standing in her dad’s shoes, selling fishing tackle in Pulaski. One of the great things about owning the shop, she said, is the freedom it gives her to do whatever she wants the other ten months of the year.

Her original plan was to get the shop running on autopilot and work as a Salmon River fishing guide, travel around, see the world. But the crumbling building forced her hand; it’s become a snag, and she has no choice but to cut her line.

“I can’t tell you how many guys I get in here in their 70s, and they’re like, ‘One of these days I’m going to go to Alaska,’” she said. “And in my head I’m going, no you’re not. You’re not, or you would’ve done it by now.”

“Nope, I know about that,” said Zach Daugherty, the fly angler. He was planning a trip to Alaska’s Kenai River, he said. He wanted to trout fish with a Spey rod.

The line winding machine whirred as the two talked about places they’ve fished or wanted to fish. Colorado. New Zealand. Argentina. The machine stopped and Daugherty paid for the line.

“I hear you’re selling the place,” he said. “You’ll still be here in a couple of weeks?”

“Oh yeah,” Gervaise said, “probably until third week of October.”

Then she paused, as if she’d forgotten the script about how things got to this point. And for the first time that day, she addressed the subject with businesslike finality. She was having a big blowout sale on Columbus Day weekend, she said. Get rid of as much as she can.

“I want everything cleaned out by Monday,” she said.

After that, who knows.

Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.

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