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…

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…

We are trying to find the time to put our Christmas decorations up in the store and haven’t quite got around to it yet because we have thankfully been busy. I asked our manager Bill the other day what our inventory is at the moment and he turned to me, paused, smiled and said, “Good. Very good.”

I like it when he does that…

If you have a fly fisher in your family to buy for we are still easily the place to come for all of your fly fishing needs. In fact, although the GTA now has another new big box retailer that has opened in Vaughan and Oshawa we have already been told by customers that they don’t hold a candle to our selection – and our pricing is as good if not better.

I like it when I hear that…

One last note, if you haven’t noticed Christmas is now just under 3 weeks away. It’s time to get fly shop…ping. Get it? I crack myself up sometime.

I woke this morning to frost on my car and temperature of -7C with the wind chill and the first thing that came to my mind as I headed outside was, “There’s no bad weather, just bad clothing…” Needless to say, tomorrow’s drift boat trip with Tyler Dunsmore of FlyWaterGuiding.com is going to be cold! Tyler lives in Paris Ontario and he runs perhaps the best drift boat guiding service on the lower Grand River.

If you have not booked a trip with him or any of the other hard working fly fishing guides in Ontario we think you should consider doing so – each one of them is worth their weight in gold!

The Canadian National Fly Fishing Championships were held October 17-23 at Montebello, Quebec and WILSON’S is pleased to have sponsored the “Dredgehogs”, a local team of anglers comprised of Kim Rood, Keefer Pitfield, Ian Troup, Brad Baker and Dave Forgeron and ably coached by Ian Collin James. The following was submitted to us by Kim for the readers of our blog and we hope you enjoy reading it…

Competitive fly fishing? At first this sounds like something totally foreign and out of place in what most consider a hobby and way of life than a true “sport”. Like the vast majority of my peers who enjoy simply getting out and enjoying time on the water with likeminded individuals or completely alone, the thought of throwing a competitive element into our experience doesn’t sit well with us. Or does it? C’mon admit it. You’re fishing the same stretch of water and your fellow angler is raking them in. It #@&*’s you off they seem to be doing something better than you, and you start to question what you may be doing wrong. This happens between both friends and river acquaintances.

I am a very competitive person by nature and have competed at the top level in Canada in another sport in my glory days. Knowing this, earlier this summer I was invited to be a member of Team Dredgehog led by Ian Troup and coached by Ian Colin James. They indicated my competitive background was key to being selected for the team. I seriously doubted this as those days were 20 years behind me and I’ve managed to develop a good friendship with these guys over the course of my fly fishing addiction. I thought they just wanted to spend more time with me on the water and do the cooking (I make a mean sandwich) during the event. I was wrong…

As you may have noted, this is a team event. Team Dredgehogs keeps a stable of about 10 members. However due to family, career and financial commitments not every member can participate each year. This year the team consisted of Ian Troup (Captain), Dave Forgeron, Brad Baker, Keefer Pitfield and myself. All of them had previous competitive experience and I was the rookie. What made things even more interesting is this year the competition would be held on lakes and fished Loch Style which is something I had never done before. Knowing this, Ian Colin James was kind enough to offer me two separate coaching sessions. Preparing for competitive fishing was an eye-opening experience. After my first three hour session with Ian I was thoroughly exhausted. Not only physically but mentally. There was so much more to be mindful of but due to my 10 page nondisclosure agreement I am unable to share anything further about these coaching sessions so I will tell you about the competition and our preparations for it.

The bi-weekly team conference calls began about 3 months prior to the event. Topographic maps of the competition lakes were sourced and laminated, flies discussed, equipment assembled (and purchased at Wilson’s!), biggest (legal) nets acquired, logistics discussed and a carload of food for 5 guys for 7 days was purchased.

The practice sessions were held Monday through Wednesday. The team was divided up and spread across the competition lakes. Let the games begin! You’ve heard it said before, 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Knowing where the 10% is was what we needed to figure out while not alerting our fellow competitors. Landing fish during the practice sessions was not important and in fact highly discouraged. The sound of a fish jumping/splashing the water or on the side of the boat would have heads spinning to see where the action was. Think ‘supermodel walking past a construction site’ and you get the picture.

The competition is set up as follows: Each team of 5 competitors is broken out into a different group consisting of a one member from each of the other teams. There were 9 competitors in each group. You move to each lake with your assigned group throughout the entire competition and only compete against them. Who you have in your group can have a very real impact on your overall result. Most of the time. Despite some gamesmanship and the overall competitive nature of the event the camaraderie and sportsmanship among the groups ends up feeling like you’re fishing with buddies in no time. Essentially the competition is measured on number of fish and then total length of fish. You measure your fish, call out the measure to your fellow competitor who you are sharing a boat with, release the fish unharmed (single barbless) and then write down the measurement on your scorecard which is signed by your fellow competitor. Back to sportsmanship for a second… I had my first fish measurement double-checked by my fellow competitor and she actually measured the fish longer than I did. That was the first and only time I had a fellow competitor check my measurement (which she has every right to do and I did not fault her for it whatsoever). I fully believe this spirit of competition and mutual respect among a growing community of competitive anglers remains.

Every night we would take formalized turns sharing what we learned on each lake. Location, flies, speed of retrieve and depth was discussed and noted on dry wipe maps scattered around the cottage. These notes would even be made and left during the competition for our teammates fishing the lakes in the afternoon sessions. It made all the difference in our overall 6th place team finish. Dave and I would be milling around in the kitchen preparing dinner, Brad would be refreshing everyone’s wine/scotch, Keefer would be stoking the fires and Ian would be supervising the entire operation. Put 5 different personalities in a remote cottage for 7 days and things could get testy in a hurry (especially with Brad’s snoring). But put 5 guys together and let them talk about fly fishing and politically incorrect topics for 7 days and you have what some may refer to as fly fishing Mecca.

The competition ended with a stellar tenderloin dinner hosted at a beautiful cabin with all of the competitors clinking glasses and sharing stories of what could have been. Old friends got reacquainted from competitions past and new friendships were made. What a wonderful total experience. Well done Fly Fishing Canada!

In the end, we finished 6th out of 9 teams and our individual results were as follows:

Kim Rood, 6th
Keefer Pitfield, 7th
Ian Troup, 26th
Brad Baker, 40th
Dave Forgeron, 42nd

A thank you goes out to the guys at Wilson’s who kindly sponsored our team by providing us with shirts and hats. Next year we are bringing home a team medal!