We are now 2 weeks into trout season in southern Ontario and many anglers are scratching their heads because of the weather we have had wondering what flies to use and where they should be fishing. We are pleased to be able to report that the Grand River is getting back to seasonal norms in terms of flow and we can also tell you that hatches are at least a week to 10 days ahead of historic norms. Some of the regular readers of this blog may also be wondering why we have not been posting on a more regular basis and the reason is we have been up to our a$$ in alligators with the opening of our Fergus store. During this period we have been doing some employee training and part of that training has included how to access this blog and write entries. In the grand scheme of things we will admit that writing the blog has been put on the back burner but our new life with a second store to look after is starting to settle into a manageable pattern and you will see us returning to more regular entries shortly.

Trout opener in Ontario is always an exciting time and it was of course especially so for us this year because our new fly shop on the banks of the Grand River in Fergus is now open! We also started our seasonal store hours in our Fergus shop on the same day so the doors were open at 6am on the first day of the season and we were delighted that we had our first customer within 20 minutes of turning on the lights. We were not sure how the day would go because we have not yet done a huge amount of advertising and we ended up holding our breath after that first customer came and went because customer #2 did not show up for another 2 hours – but thankfully he started the flood. By the end of the day we all had smiles on our faces because there were well over 50 people through the doors and sales were excellent thanks in no small part to our friend Gary who purchased 2 Winston rods(!). I spent much of the day being a ‘WalMart Greeter’ chatting people up and buying coffee while Rob and Mike handled sales and while I did not get onto the river because we were so busy it was a great day by any measure. After we closed the doors we had a quick meeting to discuss how the day went and I realized that the opener for me hinged on one moment in particular…

Towards the end of the day I took a break with my friend Gary and we headed around the corner to the Brew House for a late lunch. When we came back to the store we walked in and saw a handful of guys decked out in Simms waders who were buying flies and one of them was wearing a WILSON’S cap. I did a double-take when I saw him standing at the counter because for some reason it struck me that he had not purchased his WILSON’S cap in Fergus because they have not yet arrived (they will this week). Looking back on the moment I have to laugh because the thought that went through my mind was, “Where the heck did he get that cap?”, and then it suddenly dawned on me that he had purchased his cap in our other store in downtown Toronto.

Stupid as it sounds, at that moment I realized we were no longer planning to have a second store in Fergus but it was in fact a reality. It came down to a cap…

Today is a special day here at WILSON’S because it is the beginning of our 15th year in business! Our store opened on April 20 1998 at the corner of Wellington and Scott Street in downtown Toronto and it is both ironic and humorous that as we prepare to open our new store in Fergus this Sunday we are experiencing the same trepidation we had all those years ago. What goes around comes around…

We are truely thankful to be some of the lucky few who are involved professionally in the fly fishing retail community and we appreciate the opportunity to meet people on a daily basis who share our passion for the sport. To that end, please join us tomorrow between the hours of 9am and 5pm for the ‘soft’ opening of our new store at 105 Queen Street West, Unit 6 in Fergus We are excited about this next chapter in our history and look forward to sharing it with you!

We are having a ‘soft opening’ of our new store in Fergus this Sunday April 22. What this means is the store will not likely be completely ready to open but we cannot wait because the season is almost upon us. So why won’t we likely be ready? We only found out a few weeks ago that the opportunity to open a fly shop in Fergus was available and although we had not budgeted the time or money to do this we decided to do it anyway – and we have been scrambling ever since.

Ever since this ball started rolling some really cool things started to happen. The first one was the call we received from Rob Heal who said in our initial conversation, “If you are going to take a run at Fergus I want to be a part of your team!” Having Rob on board has made this project that much easier to both envision and achieve and we are delighted to have him on board. The second cool thing that happened was finding out that Unit 6 at 105 Queen Street West in the Fergus Marketplace might be available. This space naturally lends itself to fly fishing retail because of its central location on the upper Grand River but also because it is a ‘brick and beam’ building with a lot of character that exudes warmth and a similar sense of tradition that is associated with our sport. The third pleasant surprise was finding Mike Pratt. Mike used to work at another fly shop in Fergus and has returned to the area after some time at school in New York City and is a welcome addition to the team at WILSON’S Fergus. But the biggest surprise we have experienced is the ground swell of support we received from the fly fishing community at large once we announced we were opening. It is difficult to convey how much this support means to us as we hit the final stretch on the path to opening because the financial commitment and effort necessary is daunting (and at times withering) but the emails and words of encouragement have been a welcome antidote to the occasional doubts we have had along the way. So after all is said and done, as with any project, it comes down to hard work, a bit of luck, planning, and listening. And ‘listening’ is what we hope this coming Sunday will be all about.

We invite the Ontario fly fishing community to an informal ‘Town Hall’ this weekend at our new fly shop in Fergus so we can get your feedback on what we have done but, more importantly, what it is you would like us to offer. We are doing this because we recognize that running a fly shop in Fergus is different from running a fly shop in Toronto so we will appreciate receiving any advice you can give us. We are giving away “Ontario Fly Fishing” t-shirts to the first 20 attendees and we are also springing for the coffee so we hope you can join us between 9am and 5pm.

On a final note our new phone number in Fergus is 519-787-3474 but we have not yet set up our permanent store email address (we’re still scrambling…) so you can use Rob’s old email rob@thehomepool.com

The deposit for the lease on our new premises has been paid, the landlord has our comments on the lease, the current tenant is advertising a “Moving Sale”, our inventory for our new fly shop in Fergus has arrived and we are now looking at when we can book a truck to get our fixtures and inventory moved.

It would definitely appear that “WILSON’S on the Grand River” is on track!