The art of the fly: Larry Offner of Green Trout Fly Shop

In a small shop on Perkins Road, Larry Offner is telling fishing stories. That time he was fly fishing on a flats boat near Grand Isle and “cheated” with a spoon fly to catch a 30-inch bull redfish. That time he got the urge to fly fish in Seattle even though he hadn’t brought all the proper equipment, strolled up to a stream crowded with guys decked out like Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It and still managed to catch a sizable pink salmon on the first cast.

He still gets tickled telling those stories, probably for the 100th time. But that’s to be expected for the retired Dow engineer who opened Green Trout Fly Shop several years ago, spending his retirement meticulously crafting flies while chatting with fishermen who visit his shop.

There’s also those cupcake customers who peek in. Offner’s daughter is Allison Offner Bookman, owner of Cupcake Allie, and their shops share a front door. It might seem like a strange combination, but they do get some overlap.

“People come in all the time,” he says. “They come in to get cupcakes and they look over and say, ‘Fly fishing?’”

Offner says the Southeast is home to just as much activity as the West or East coasts, partly because of the popularity of saltwater fly fishing in Louisiana’s coastal marshlands.

“Anything you catch on conventional tackle, you can catch on a fly rod,” Offner says.

With bits of thread, chenille, feathers of all kinds, gold beads and—of course—hooks, Offner makes an array of flies perfect for fishing in saltwater, freshwater and even in cold mountain streams. The flies come with curious names that indicate their specialty: goobers, woolly buggers, gurglers, poppers, neversink divers, slow sink spiders and more.

He sells a modest inventory of gear along with his own flies, and flies by other Louisiana makers, but he rarely sells brand-name flies. In his opinion, the flies don’t have to be perfect to score a great catch.

“An ugly fly will still catch fish. I’ve tied some that weren’t very pretty at all that still caught fish,” Offner says.

But Offner is self-effacing. His flies, like the cupcakes his daughter makes, are colorful, clever and crafted with care. He’s also a painter, specializing in acrylic works that showcase the Louisiana outdoors, and of course the art of fly fishing lures. Occasionally, he finds himself beckoned over to the Cupcake Allie side to help box up confections.

He says he was determined after retirement to keep busy, which is why he can be found toiling away in his shop Wednesday through Saturday.

“What’s better than drinking a cup of coffee, eating a cupcake and talking about fly fishing all day?” Offner says. “Not much.”
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