Tech teacher, a Lynn native, starts fly fishing company

LYNN – Zach Johnson has been teaching English at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute for the past eight years, but it is the time he spends on weekends and summer vacations that has inspired him to embark on an entrepreneurial journey this summer.A fly fishing enthusiast since he was a young child, Johnson has decided to share his passion with anyone in the area who is interested, opening the Taking Out Line Guide Service out of his Beverly home.The business is intended to help get people interested in fly fishing, and to show them how to get started through either one or two day fishing tours. The tours include a good amount of hands-on instruction from Johnson, who says his primary goal is to teach individuals about the sport and raise more interest in it as a lifelong activity.”I really want to focus on instruction and learning and try to kind of make it like a full instructional day,” he said. “We talk about the reel and how to cast, how to go about choosing a fly. We spend a lot of time reading the water up and down the river, too. One day is a good intro to it, and I also offer what I call a 2-day mini-camp.”Johnson first took up fly fishing as a hobby as a 12-year-old growing up in Lynn. He taught himself the sport on local watering holes like Flax and Sluice pond, but said he got away from it during his teenage years at Lynn English High School.After re-visiting the hobby in his 20s, Johnson has dedicated his free time to wading through rivers across the country, and says he now wants to turn others on to what he enjoys so much.”Fly Fishing is a good lifetime sport, and it is something you can do with a very small initial investment which in an economy like this is always good,” he said. “I kind of got away from it for a while, but when I was in my 20s I fell in love with it again. I actually just spent three weeks fishing in Colorado and I was in California recently, too.”While jet-setting across the country is a fun luxury for a fly fishing enthusiast, Johnson says there are plenty of great fishing areas in Massachusetts where locals can get started.Aside from the two Lynn ponds, Johnson enjoys heading up to Hamilton and remote areas in the western part of the state, where he says fly fishing can be at its best.”There is really great pond fishing here in Lynn at Flax Pond, and Sluice Pond is stocked with trout by the state,” he said. “I do a lot of trips to ponds out in Central and Western Mass., too.”Taking out Line Guide Service is off to a modest start in its first month, as Johnson says he has already accumulated a short client list. He is hoping that he can get out the word to others on the North Shore who may be willing to try his favorite hobby, so that he can lend a helping hand in getting started.Anyone interested in fly fishing or Johnson’s business can visit his Web site at www.massflyfishing.com where he lists details on his excursions and his contact information.