About Us

For Ascent Fly Fishing founder, Aquatic Biologist Peter Stitcher, the water and world of trout has always felt like home to him, and a place of shared belonging and community.  The river was the place where life lessons were learned, where memories and laughter were shared with family and friends, and where all conversation would stop with a hookset and only resume after the trout slid from the net back into the water.  Frankly, Peter’s passion for fishing and the water hasn’t changed much from the time he caught his first trout in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains to his most recent trip to the South Platte River in Colorado, but here is a little overview of who we are and how Ascent Fly Fishing came to be.

Ascent Fly Fishing was born from necessity back in 2013 when Peter’s Aquatic Biologist salary and cut-rate insurance couldn’t meet the needs of a family medical emergency.  Trying to generate extra income to cover deductibles, Peter started crafting fly selections for friends that matched the specific hatches and invertebrate life stages on specific waters he had surveyed or worked on.  The reports back from the water were amazing and punctuated by intermittent chest thumping as these selections enabled the user to outfish their friends and more often than not, out fish the fly fishing guides they were with!  Fueled by necessity and a lifelong passion for fly fishing, a few fly boxes turned into tying a couple hundred dozen flies per month.  Word spread along the banks of Colorado rivers that an Aquatic Biologist in the suburbs of Denver had the “secret sauce” when it came to matching the hatch and catching more fish, and a small, intimate community began to form.  Armed with a couple folding tables covered with flies and some repurposed yard signs painted with arrows and the words “Fly Fishing Sale” Peter began to open his garage door one weekend a month and what started as a trickle became a steady flow of fly fishers longing for an insiders take on the water, help matching the hatch, and quality flies sold at a reasonable price.

By the Fall of 2014 Peter decided to take the plunge, leaving Full-time fisheries management work and started Ascent Fly Fishing.  He chose “Ascent” because like a trout rising after an emerging insect, Peter wanted to create a business that took its own course, elevate the science and individual’s goals for the water, and equip anglers first with the knowledge for success before selling them flies and gear. In 2014 Peter opened his first fly tying factory with 2 tyers and a manager outside of Nairobi Kenya (just 2 hours from the UK’s Fulling Mill FlyTying factory that ties many of Orvis’s patterns) as well as started the Fly Fishing Rendezvous (A fly fishing show and educational event that grew into the second largest fly fishing show in the Rockies). 

From these humble beginnings, Ascent Fly Fishing grew from a handful of fly fishers to a community of tens of thousands spanning US and globe.  Educating anglers and breaking down the science of trout into tips and tactics that can be easily applied on the water remained the cornerstone of the business as it grew.  Over the years Peter geeked out hard and built a database of aquatic insects, allowing him to match the hatch on almost every major trout water in North America to ensure our clients have exactly the flies they need, when they need them.  A few tables of flies multiplied into more than 600,000 bugs that would travel around the front range of Colorado for weekend gorilla-style, pop-up fly shops, accompanied by free beer, live music, and eager Ascent employees ready to answer questions and drop pins on the map to mark good fishing spots and new trout species.  

2 fly tyers grew to 55 with over 500 dependents, and a weekly tying capacity grew from 100 dozen to over 2400 dozen flies.  Being a homegrown, grassroots business, Peter had the privilege of getting to know each of his fly tyers, their goals and passions, and their families.  When a fly lands in the bins at Ascent, we can tell you who tied it and what their kids are studying in school!  Therefore, when business started to boom, it was unthinkable to Peter and the US team that we could flourish without sharing those blessings with our tying family in Kenya.  While paying a living wage from our inception, in 2018 a 1% profit share was created to be shared out with the employees in Kenya.  In 2020 the profit share was increased to 3% and an interest free healthcare fund was created, allowing employees and their families to draw funds for medical care as needed and to tie that loan off $.10 per dozen flies over time.  Covid and the constriction of the global market over the last few years has put the pinch on all of us, but the Ascent family continued to grow, and so did our responsibility to care for our own, so the profit share was increased to 6% in 2022.  It’s been a few years since Peter and his family visited Kenya, but when they return, all of the tyers and their families will join us again for food, fly casting, dancing, and to recount with gratitude the growth and life we have shared together!

After almost a decade in business, in 2023 Ascent Fly Fishing moved from the garage into their first traditional business space, but don’t be mistaken, that move DID NOT MEAN we’re interested in becoming your average fly shop!  A space for gathering, education, equipping, and for celebrating the diverse joys of the river and our community, Ascent Fly Fishing is still committed to following our own path and we look forward to welcoming you to our community and hope to see you on the water sometime soon!

Learn More About Ascent Fly Fishing’s Mission and what drives us HERE