If you see a faded sign at the side of the road …

Stop and check it out. You may just love the Smoke Shack.

Question: So what does a Senior Editor at Snowboard Magazine do during the offseason?

Answer: He decides to open the June Lake Smoke Shack, fittingly located next to Trout Town Joe in downtown June Lake.

Nate Deschenes, 37, launched his new business during Mammoth’s July 4 parade. He operates out of a former rock ‘n roll band van he repurposed over a three-month period.

Deschenes, who has lived in either Mammoth or June for the past 20 years, said he got the idea for the business quite a while ago, while working as a boat boy at Convict Lake.

“People always tried to give me the fish [they caught] because they just didn’t want to deal with it [cleaning, transport, etc.]. Say a family of four catches 20 fish … what do they do with them?”

Then there’s the second part of the equation. “A lot of our trout, frankly, don’t taste very good,” said Deschenes. “The planted fish don’t really have the flavor. Smoke ‘em and you turn them into a delicacy.”

Already, Deschenes said he’s had customers drive some of their trophy catches over from the Lakes Basin for smoking.

There is more than one aspect to the business. In addition to smoking fish, the Smoke Shack also sells fish and serves meals/offers catering services.

While he originally envisioned driving his van around the area to drum up business at the local lakes, “bureaucracy dictated a physical location,” said Deschenes. Business hours are 10-6 (closed Mondays).

Deschenes operates the Smoke Shack with his mother, Patsy Wilson, and his girlfriend, Shaina Pearlman.

Wilson, who moved to June Lake for the summer from the San Diego area to help her son launch the business, said Deschenes had developed all of his own recipes for the business. “My son is a creative genius,” she declared proudly.

You can decide that for yourself by simply heading over to June Lake – and remember, the June Lake Mountain Music Festival is next weekend.

Also, the newly opened June Lake Brewery is within shouting distance of the Smoke Shack and already, customers have begun pinging between both businesses.

Sheet: So what happens if the Smoke Shack becomes a wild success? Would you quit your day job?

Deschenes: I’m not quitting that [Snowboard Magazine]. It enables me to snowboard all over the world.

Snowboard Magazine is also somewhat responsible for the Smoke Shack’s cool logo, which was designed by Snowboard’s John Alvino.