As we prepare to open our new fly fishing retail store on the Grand River in Fergus this spring we want to reach out to the local fly fishing community to ask for your advice. What would you like to see in a Fergus fly shop?

For example:

- What hours do you think the store should be open?
- What specific inventory would you like to see in the store?
- Is a great selection of fly tying materials critical?
- What courses would you like us to offer?
- Is guiding something on which we should focus?
- Is it be okay to ship purchases to you from our Toronto location if the item isn’t in Fergus?

We want to incorporate your wish list into our business plan so we are taking this opportunity to seek out the advice of the most important people in eyes – our customer base. We sincerely hope you will help us establish a second successful fly shop by offering us your feedback.

Please know that there are no wrong answers and that all feedback will be greatly appreciated. It is important to note that we think the folks at Grand River Troutfitters did a great job over the years but we hope with your help we will be able to build this new venture into a fly shop we will all want to visit on our way to the river this spring and in the years to come.

Thanks!

The Guys at Wilson’s

That was probably what was going through the mind of Tom Brady last night as the Super Bowl came to an end. It is also something I have said to myself over the years as a fly shop owner. Well, if the plans we have in play at the moment continue on their current path we may end up having the opportunity for a fly shop “re-do” because we are another step closer to launching a second location. Stay tuned…

With the recent demise of the only fly shop on the Grand River we have been doing some ground work to determine if opening a second WILSON’S store in Fergus or Elora makes sense – and we are currently leaning very heavily in that direction. To that end we are now accepting resumes so if working in a fly shop is something that interests you please forward a cv outlining your fly fishing and work experience to Jim@CanadasFlyFishingOutfitter.com

As I sit at home battling the proverbial “mother of all chest colds” it is emails like the one we received this week that make all of the effort of running a fly shop worthwhile. It is always gratifying to receive words of praise and we thank Ken for taking the time to let us know what he thought about our hatch chart for Whiteman’s Creek.

“I just joined your site & was totally AMAZED that u had a hatch chart for Whiteman’s Creek. I have had a 35 foot trailer 20 ft. from the creek at a gun club for 23 yrs now & many members fly fish. I have taught many younger & older members how to fly fish (as I have been doing it for about 45 yrs) & taught my 2 kids boy/girl how to fly fish at the age of 5. I will shortly be ordering a few of your flies [and] will definitely be giving your address to everyone here & am sure they will pass it on to all their friends… I am very glad I found you! Ken”

If you would like more information on hatch charts for the Grand River, the Maitland River, the Saugeen River, the Credit River, the Nottawasaga River, the Humber River, the Boyne River Nd other fly fishing destinations in southern Ontario please go to the Members area of our site. It is free to join our Fly Fishing Club and we trust you will like what you find!

We are just about mid-month and heading for a record January. Thankfully we are not talking about the lack of snow in Toronto but rather the sales figures that are piling up at the store alongside our inventory. We are hearing one thing on a daily basis from customers and it is this, “Holy cow have you guys got a lot of stuff here!”

If you are familiar with our fly fishing store here in Toronto you will be able to tell from this picture of our new Simms inventory that we are having difficulty finding space to put all of the items that have arrived in the last few days. We also just received another shipment from Orvis and more fly tying materials that will be up on the shelves early next week. We are busy but if sales for the balance of the month continue on the pace we saw in the first half of the month we won’t be complaining…