Colo. Fly Shops Fish for Thief Using Social Media

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Several Denver-area fly fishing shops have been robbed in recent weeks, and now store owners are hoping to use social media sites to reel the suspect in.

In all, it's estimated the thief has stolen as much as $10,000 worth of gear from seven stores in the Denver metro, as well as two stores in Pueblo.

"We think of folks as being good people -- our neighbors, fellow anglers on the river," said Shannon Long, with Hook Flyfishing. "You're stealing from a person in a shop like this. There's no corporate entity behind us."

Long and his business partner, Andrew Huber, were robbed last week.

A man posing as a customer told them his mother was on the way to the shop and the two of them planned to buy a present for his father.

Long and the man went outside to try out a rod.

"He could talk the talk and cast the cast," said Long.

Then, Long said, the man asked to see another rod.

When Long brought it out, the "customer" and the $620 rod were nowhere to be found.

Long and Huber started contacting other area fly shops to warn them and soon learned their thief had been busy.

"It was been pretty much the same story," said Huber.

At least seven fly shops in the Denver Metro area said they had recently been hooked by the same man telling the same story.

At Trouts Fly Fishing in Denver, he was even caught on camera stealing two $600 reels.

"We've got his picture posted on Twitter, Facebook and different blogs around the Front Range area," said Tucker Ladd, Trouts' owner. "So we're trying to use the Denver angling community to bring this guy to justice."

The affected shops have teamed up to offer a reward -- one Sage Fly Rod for anyone who helps them catch the thief.

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