Off The Clock: Gone Fishin’

The rivers and streams of fly-fishing provide a refuge for Einstein Noah Restaurant Group’s Paul Murphy.

By Maya Norris, Managing Editor -- Chain Leader, 7/1/2007

Catch and release: Paul Murphy, CEO of Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, usually throws back the trout he catches during his fly-fishing trips. “The number of trout have declined a little over the years as their environment has been impacted,” he says. “So I’m just trying to make sure that there’s fish there for my sons and hopefully their sons or daughters.”

Paul Murphy has been hooked on fly-fishing for the more than 40 years. The CEO of Lakewood, Colo.-based Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, the parent company of Einstein Bros Bagels, Noah’s Bagels and Manhattan Bagel, finds that fly-fishing lets him relax, spend time with his family and admire the natural scenery around him.

"Fly-fishing slows everything down," Murphy says. "It brings a certain amount of calmness."

A River Runs Through It

As a resident of Evergreen, Colo., Murphy doesn’t have to travel far when he wants to go fly-fishing. Four or five times a year he drives to the South Platte River, North Platte River, the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork River, where he spends the day fly-fishing for a variety of trout. In the summer, he fishes in the evenings at a pond less than a mile from his home. His sons, Paul IV, 21; Clay, 19; and Parker, 16, sometimes join him.

Murphy’s favorite place to fish is Missoula, Mont. He and some family members, including his sons; his father, Paul Jr.; and younger brother, Bill, spend three or four days every year fishing the Blackfoot River for rainbow trout, brown trout, cutbos and bull trout. It’s where Murphy caught his biggest fish to date: He landed a 29-inch bull trout three years ago.

The Blackfoot River and its surroundings have also proven to be a distraction at times. Five years ago Murphy missed catching a trout because he was admiring the Montana landscape. He doesn’t remember how big it was but says he could tell it was a large fish based on its stripes. "It would have been the biggest fish of the trip," he says. "That’s why they call it fishing, not catching. I think I was more part of the scenery than actually fishing at that moment. I still think about it."

But for Murphy, fishing is less about catching fish and more about rest and relaxation. He particularly enjoys this annual fly-fishing trip to Montana because of its remote location: He can spend time with his family without interruptions from the office.

"That’s why I love to go to Montana. My cell doesn’t work, and I don’t get anything on my BlackBerry," Murphy says. "So you have three or four days when you can recharge and just tell everybody, ‘Hey, just deal with stuff, run the company. You know what, I’m just going to go up there and revitalize myself.’"

Passing the Torch

Murphy traces his passion to his father, an avid fly-fisherman who learned about the sport from his own father. He taught Murphy and his younger brother how to fly-fish when they were 7 years old and 5 years old. They had to practice casting for handkerchiefs in their backyard before their father let them fish in the rivers and streams near their home in McLean, Va.

Now Murphy gets to bond with his own sons over fly-fishing. While Parker and Clay fish with him occasionally, Murphy’s oldest son, Paul, is the most enthusiastic about fly-fishing.

"My proudest accomplishment is that I’ve been able to pass it on to one of my sons—the love for it. Same thing my dad passed on to myself and my brother," Murphy says. "I’ve been fortunate that one of my sons enjoys it as much as I do."