I have never been a smoker and do not enjoy the smell of cigarettes. That said, there is something about cigar smoke that I like and I don’t know what it is. More than that, I have to admit that I like to smoke the occasional cigar while fly fishing. I’m not talking about chain smoking but rather having a cigar every now and again. I like doing it because it is relaxing and I also like the fact that it keeps the bugs away. It’s kind of like having cuban muskol…

This is one hell of an easy way for you or your fly fishing club to make $100 ! WILSON’S is looking for images to put on our website of fly fishers casting in front of city skylines across Canada [Note: The picture should resemble the current image of the angler on our main page in front of the Toronto skyline]. We want pictures of anglers in front of cities and towns across Canada for our web page. If we use your photo we will give you a $100 gift certificate to spend in our store. The rules are as follows:

1. High resolution digital jpg images are required
2. Photos must be in colour
3. You must have taken and own the photo
4. The photo must show a fly angler casting in front of a recognizable skyline for the city in which it is taken
5. You agree that all rights to the photo will be transferred to WILSON’S if chosen

Please send your submissions to jim@wilsonstoronto.com. Hell, you’ve got a long weekend coming up – go make some money !

Very Best,

Jim Wilson

WILSON’S
“Canada’s Fly Fishing Store”

199 Queen East @ George
Toronto, Ontario M5A 1S2
Fly Shop: 416-869-3474
Toll Free: 877-347-4460
www.wilsonstoronto.com
info@wilsonstoronto.com

Like many of you I had to look twice and give my head a shake when I read the other day that the Bank of Canada had officially declared the recession over in Canada. Given what I have been reading in the news I thought the Governor had done one of two things: first, lost his friggin’ mind or secondly, had a testicular implant – because no one else was saying what he was saying…

Fly shops are arguably an economic indicator (at least in our self-important minds). We are specialty retailers who are high on the list of ‘discretionary’ expenditures and therefore one of the first things to be affected when the economy takes a downturn. Being located a 10 minute walk from King & Bay (which for the uninitiated is ‘center ice’ for Canada’s financial sector) our sales typically follow gains and losses in the stock market. To that end if it wasn’t so frustrating it would be amusing how quickly stock brokers and bankers stop coming in our doors when the TSX takes a hit.

Well, oddly enough we have started to see something in our store lately that we haven’t seen in a while – cuff links. Like the first salmon to swim up the Miramichi to spawn, stock brokers are coming back to the store… I don’t know that this would qualify as a principle of finance going forward but it is heartening to see pin stripes again – even if they are not yet spending.

We are in the process of helping launch a new fly fishing club for those who live in or near downtown Toronto. For information go to www.meetup.com/Fly-Fishing-Club/calendar/10911329/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dAUQgMcpok