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…

Plan on dropping into the store on Saturday afternoons for free open vise fly tying sessions. The coffee is on, the advice is free and the fishing stories will have you in stitches!

Many anglers in Ontario are aware that one of the other fly shops in southwestern Ontario is currently for sale and we are getting asked on an almost daily basis if we are interested in buying it. The short answer at the moment is an emphatic “no”. Specialty retail is a tough business at the best of times and the current economic climate is not exactly conducive to spending money on an acquisition. In addition, the location of this shop, while ideal during the season, makes it a very tough financial proposition during the off-season months. That said, the positive feedback and encouragement we have been getting in response to this rumour has certainly been surprising and the underlying message of support has been very much appreciated.

We have to admit that moments like this make us take a step back and say, “It would be pretty cool if we could put something together.”

Timing is as important in business as it is in fly fishing…