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In 1983, Terry Gunn moved to Lees Ferry to guide for a year or two as he pondered what he was going to do with his life. The fish were massive, the river was flowing at 45,000-cfs, and he lived in his boat. A couple years later he met the love of his life, Wendy Hanvold, who was waiting tables at the nearby Marble Canyon Lodge. She asked Terry if he would teach her how to fly fish – and the rest is history. (Wendy is one of the best female fly casters in the world)

During most of the 80’s, he spent the summers in Alaska and co-founded Crystal Creek Lodge. In 1989, he decided he’d had enough fun in Alaska and an opportunity to open a fly shop at Lees Ferry presented itself. Russell Sullivan, Wendy Hanvold and Terry Gunn decided to open Lees Ferry Anglers Guides and Fly Shop at Vermillion Cliffs Lodge. They leased a “sprawling” 300 square feet in an old gas station and proceeded to make a $15,000 opening order with Orvis (yes, they were originally an Orvis shop and Orvis endorsed outfitter). The day that the UPS truck arrived with their opening order the 3 of them were standing by with hand trucks to help unload the heavy boxes. The driver hopped out of the truck and carried 3 boxes which contained their entire opening order into the shop. They spread it out the best that they could over the 300 square feet and the shop still looked pretty empty.

Their first guide (besides Russell and Terry) was Bill Shultz. Jeff English joined the staff a year later. They opened their business during the largest fishing down-turn in the history of Lees Ferry (experimental flows of 1989-1991) and despite the down-turn they survived and grew the business. During the 90’s the fishing got better and in the process they became one of the largest retailers of fly fishing equipment in the southwestern US. Their guide service became one of the largest guide services in the country employing 14 full time fishing guides. They expanded their fleet of guide and rental boats to more than 20 boats and Ted Welling invented the ‘Bead Head Zebra Midge’ in their shop.

In 2000, Jeff English became a partner in the business. Jeff came from a real estate background and suggested that they needed to own real estate. A short time later Cliff Dwellers Lodge came up for sale. The lodge was run down and in desperate need of way too much work. It took them a while but they decided that this was the best move that they could make for the business. So they bought the lodge and went to work renovating it and moved the fly shop and all operations to Cliff Dwellers in June 2001. Their timing was great! The same year they moved in, the western US went into the worst drought in history and the Lees Ferry fishery began another decline that lasted for a few years. Once again they survived… Since then the fishing has experienced a dramatic improvement, they have done well in the lodging and restaurant business and their enterprise continues to grow.

Russell Sullivan retired from the business in 07 and is living the good life. Jeff English and Terry still guide full time. Wendy “Hanvold” Gunn, Terry’s wife of 13 years is general manager of Lees Ferry Anglers and Cliff Dwellers Lodge. They have a fly shop, guide service, rental boats, rental equipment, gas station, convenience store, restaurant-bar and hotel. Their staff (during our high season) usually exceeds 40 people and their are proud to work with each and every one of them. They recognize that it is because of them that they are where they are today. Terry states “I have never had so much fun in my entire life as I have had watching this business grow and it has been a great ride. On behalf of all the staff of Lees Ferry Anglers and Cliff Dwellers Lodge we want to THANK YOU, OUR CUSTOMERS, for making it possible for us to celebrate or 20 year anniversary”.

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