Glenwood Bait & Bow: A sportsman’s dream
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By Missy Klatt
GLENWOOD CITY — If you are an avid fisherman in the area or perhaps a bow hunter you probably already know that there is a shop in town that caters to your needs. And that shop is Glenwood Bait & Bow owned and operated by Sean and Miranda Lybert located on Syme Avenue just across from the fairgrounds.
While the bait part of the shop has been up and running since May of 2020, the bow part is a new addition that happened this past spring. “The bow shop has actually exploded, it has been busy. A lot busier than I thought it was going to be,” remarks Sean
Sean and Miranda have four children ranging in age from 2 to 12; Lainey, Paisley, Brycin, and Raylynn. All are avid bow hunters or wanna be hunters. Sean states that his four-year-old already wants to get into bow hunting. Fortunately the shop carries “mini” bows that Sean states go all the way down to a five pound draw and up to 50 pounds.
As well as selling new and used bows, Sean also does repairs. They are a dealer for Bear bows so they can get any Bear bow in and at some point he plans are adding PSE and Hoyt.
Sean is originally from the Colfax area and Miranda is from the Baldwin-Woodville area, were living with their family on County Road E before their furnace went up in flames. When they moved to Syme in January of 2020 they decided that since they were living on a main drag and they were home most of the time (Sean works from home and Miranda is home with the kids most of the time when she’s not busy driving ambulance for Glenwood City or with the kids activities) that it would a good time to open a shop. They were also encouraged by a buddy of Sean’s who owns a bait shop in Menomonie to open a bait shop here.
Sean and his family who are also avid fishermen states that besides fishing locally at Glen Hills, his favorite spot to fish is Lake Pepin, and for him to get live bait he had to go out of his way to get bait. So besides providing bait for locals, the shop has allowed him to have plenty of bait for himself.
Right now the shop is closed on Mondays but if you really need something you can make an appointment and Sean or Miranda will gladly help you. And if the older kids don’t have school they may help you as well, as Sean says they all love to be around and help out. Also if for some reason they need to close during the week, he’ll wheel the fridge out and he does self-serve.
Even though the shop doesn’t open until 7 a.m., Sean will open up early for those fishermen who like to get out early as long as they call him the night before. Same with after hours (they close at 5 p.m.), if you need bait, give him a call and they’ll work something out. Generally they are always home so they can work something out.
Other than a Facebook page and word of mouth and the sign out front, they haven’t done much in the way of advertising but are happy the way their business has been growing.
Sean decided to add the “Bow” part of the shop to bring people in when the bait side of the business gets slow. “Once it gets hot in the summer time until it freezes up you don’t sell a lot of bait,” notes Sean. So they wanted something that would help keep the shop open in the off season.
Besdies the house and shop, they sit on 12 acres of land. They created a 3D course set up with 22 different targets out there to shoot bow at. They had bow leagues going throughout the summer and they plan on having a winter league and a spring league and then another summer league before next year’s deer season for people to get warmed up shooting. People can also come and shoot without being on a league. They just need to come and buy a pass and sign a waiver. They do yearly passes or daily passes. Those with yearly passes can come anytime during the year. The only time they are closed is during deer season.
Sean who was in the army as a para trooper for 12 years is no stranger to hard work. He did two tours in Iraq and probably would have finished out his 20 years if it wasn’t for an injury on his second tour. It was either early retirement or a desk job. “I spent almost 12 years kicking down doors and jumping out of airplanes so I didn’t want to sit at a desk and still wear the uniform. I can come home and sit at a desk,” laments Sean. Sometimes he thinks he should have stayed in, when a lot of his buddies are now about to retire after 20 years of service.
Sean said that they are still growing. He didn’t want to take out a loan from the bank and have an extra bill so pretty much everything they make goes back into the business for improvements and growth. Springtime and ice fishing are his busiest seasons. “It’s crazy,” Sean enthuses. Repairing bows has also kept him busy, sometimes he’s working on bows till 1 a.m. Although running the business as his only job is a ways off, Sean is happy where he is in life right now.