This is big news! We are very pleased to announce that Ontario fly fishing guide & outfitter Rob Heal has joined the team at WILSON’S and will be working in our new Fergus fly shop when it opens in the coming weeks. Rob has been given the task of heading up and coordinating our fly fishing education and outfitting programs and we could not be more delighted to have him on our team!

If you are familiar with Rob Heal you already know that he is one of the most experienced and respected fly fishing drift boat guides in Ontario. Getting someone of Rob’s calibre is a coup by any measure and it is a union of strengths that will produce a level of outfitting, education and fly fishing retail in Ontario that has never been seen in the Province. To be honest, we can’t wait to get started! Anyone who has fished with or been guided by Rob over the past 16 years knows that he is passionate about teaching people and being on the river. This is a great opportunity for WILSON’S to take our fly fishing guiding and fly fishing school programs to a new level. Rob has been given the responsibility of putting together our new program and he has gathered together some of the other most skilled, experienced guides and pro-staffers in Ontario to create the most formidable team of drift boat and walk & wade fly fishing guides in the Province. Keep watching our website for more details in the coming days…

To learn more about what is happening with our new fly shop in Fergus, our schools and our guiding program please make www.CanadasFlyFishingOutfitter.com a favorite. We will continue to keep everyone updated via this blog and on Twitter @WILSONSFlyShop. In the interim please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you may have – and of course guided trips! Rob is currently booking guided walk & wade trips on a number of destinations including of course the Grand River, the Credit River, Whiteman’s Creek, Bronte Creek, the Niagara River, the Humber River, the Ganaraska River, Bowmanville Creek, the Trent River, the Bighead River, the Mad River, the Beaver River, and the Saugeen River. We are also now booking fly fishing drift boat trips on the Grand River, the Saugeen River, the Maitland River, the Sauble River, and the Nottawasaga River.

We trust you will agree this is very cool but we have more announcements coming!

Stay tuned…

We would appreciate the readers of this blog taking a moment to tell is what fly fishing travel seminar topics most interest you. You can find the new poll on the right side of this post below our Twitter feed. We appreciate your feedback – thanks!

We post this on Christmas eve so please forgive the repetition if you remember it from last year…

Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the store
The coffee was brewing
As friends came in the door.

The fly rods were leaning
In the corner with Bill,
And Danny had his eyes
on the reels and the till.

The waders were hung
on the wall with the boots,
And the customers came
in long jackets and suits.

We sold tools and books
and nippers and things,
fresh water patterns
and many with wings.

There were duffels and vests
and dry bags for Jim Wilson,
by Orvis and FishPond
and Simms and by Filson.

Some caddis and streamers
And hackle and flash,
The orders kept coming
For fly fishers to cast.

Customer questions
came out of the blue,
On Loomis, On Nautilus
on Patagonia too!

The day ended at four
with our staff on the run,
but the customers were pleased
with their boxes of fun.

As we gear up for the winter
We thank one and all,
for your business and friendship
In Spring Summer and Fall.

We hope you have enjoyed
your visits this year,
And want you to join us
in the New Year for some cheer!

Hugo will be in the office
inputting new stock and new flies,
And Sheldon will be here
To teach some new ties.

We have many things planned
that we hope will excite,
but for now it is Christmas
And to all a good night!

Thank you & Merry Christmas to all of our customers. We hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday.

NOTE: We will be closed on Boxing Day but will be open on Tuesday December 27.

I attended a funeral service yesterday in Fergus for Tim O’Sullivan and was very pleased to see so many people in attendance. There were a few tears, a lot of laughs and it was a good send off for a man who was taken before his time. My mother passed away in August 2008 and I think she was a great lady. She was a bit of a fatalist and one of her favourite sayings was, “Things happen – and don’t – for a reason.” I could hear her speaking these words as I sat in the funeral parlor yesterday and, as usual, I took comfort in the memory of her voice. I also took comfort in the stories that were related of Tim and hope that his family was able to do so as well.

After the service I took the long way home so I could drive through the countryside and when I got to my computer I had the following link waiting for me that I thought under the circumstances was the perfect way to end the day.

Tim – here’s to you. And Mom, I hope you’re doing well… I am thankful for having known you both.

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/embed/player/container/1280/666/?layout=&content_type=content_item&playlist_cid=&media_type=video&content=S0V11804QXQR55CR&read_more=1&widget_type_cid=svp&referrer=http%3A%2F%2F36ohk6dgmcd1n-c.c.yom.mail.yahoo.net%2Fom%2Fapi%2F1.0%2Fopenmail.app.invoke%2F36ohk6dgmcd1n%2F9%2F1.0.35%2Fca_rogers%2Fen-CA-x-rogers%2Fview.html

I was at the Forks of the Credit on the weekend to see some friends who live in the area and was able to take a few moments to check out the river. It looked much like this photo except there was not as much snow. I have to admit that just standing there on the side of the Dominion Street bridge watching the water flow beneath me made my day. There may only be 6 shopping days left until Christmas but I spent the better part of the weekend thinking about seeing the Forks of the Credit.

I have a friend who is an avid angler and she once admitted to me with a bit of embarrassment that in the middle of the winter she sometimes finds herself taking her fly rods out of their tubes and just looking at them. When she told me this I smiled knowingly because, well, I get it.

Standing along the banks of the Credit River does the same thing to me…