Discover Fly Fishing at WILSON'S CanadasFlyFishingOutfitter.com

Belated Happy New Year! We hope you had a relaxing holiday and that 2015 ended on a high note for everyone. This past year capped off a rocky road for WILSON’S and the issues and obstacles we encountered from 2013 through 2015 required that we take a step back from our business. The intense naval gazing we have done over the last 9 months has not been an altogether pleasant experience but it has been beneficial on a number of fronts. First and foremost it has caused us to look at what we do, why we do it and, in light of what happened, whether we want to continue operating our Toronto fly fishing store. The answer to the last question took no time to answer because it was an emphatic “Yes!” but answers to the first two questions took a little more time to uncover…

Many believe the foundation upon which WILSON’S was built is retail fly fishing because sales are what a fly shop is supposed to focus on. As hokey as it may sound, while we run our fly shop to make money we also do it because we love fly fishing and, as importantly, because we enjoy meeting people who love the sport as much as we do. Seeing a fly rod tube being carried in an airport, watching someone skimming a fly fishing magazine in a book store, catching a glimpse of the top of a fly rod being carried through high grass or simply by saying “Hi!” to a stranger at a gas station who has a fly fishing decal on their car are just some of the cues that constantly remind us why we love being in fly fishing retail – it is about meeting people who share a similar passion for the sport.

Over the years we have made a lot of friends through the store and ironically some of our closest friendships have been with people who have absolutely no interest in the sport.

One person on that list in particular was Eleanor Doda. Ellie lived on the Forks of the Credit Road in Caledon near the Dominion Street bridge where she ran an ice cream shop through the summer that catered mostly to hikers, motorcyclists and tourists who wander up to the Forks of the Credit every year to take in the autumn colours. I knocked on her door several winters ago to ask if it might be possible to rent space in her store because I was interested in seeing whether a seasonal fly shop on the banks of one of the most popular fly fishing destinations in the Greater Toronto Area might be viable. Long story short, we sold more ice cream than fly fishing gear (which isn’t saying much) but Ellie and I struck up a friendship that grew into one of the closest non-family relationships in my life. Ellie did not have an easy life but she had a great outlook on it, was smart as a whip and she made a great cup of tea. Over the years I would drive up to the Forks under the guise of fly fishing but would plan on having a visit with Ellie to discuss the latest motorcycle accident on one of the various bends and dips in the Forks of the Credit Road (a regular occurrence), family (“Are you married yet?”) and politics (we were diametrically opposed). One hot summer day when I was filling in for one of the summer students we had working in the store Ellie and I sat on the benches facing the road at the front of the building and listened to the sound of the river while watching cars drive past us and I shared a story from my childhood in North Bay. As we sat there having ice cream I explained there used to be an Ontario Psychiatric Hospital on Highway #11 just north of where I was raised and patients were known to sit on the side of the road and wave to traffic as it went by. Being the precocious child I was I often thought while watching these people wave that their actions proved they belonged in a mental health institution because no one in their right mind would do something so silly as to wave at strangers driving on the highway. As I sat on that bench relating my story to Ellie she and I realized we were waving at each car as it drove by and with that realization we shared a laugh as long and hard as any I had experienced since I was a child. We operated a satellite fly shop in Ellie’s ice cream store for two seasons and in hindsight I think we stuck it out for the second year in part because I enjoyed going up to spend time visiting Ellie. She heated her home with firewood that was delivered every fall leading up to Thanksgiving weekend and it arrived that second year while I was having a visit with her so I delayed my departure home and helped stack the wood at the back of her house (and found out that day how large two cord of wood is…). She appreciated the assistance perhaps as much as I appreciated the opportunity to help and when she found out I was not able to go home the following weekend to spend the holiday with my family she invited me to share Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family – and she would not take no for an answer. The honour I felt at the invitation and the privilege in spending that evening with her family on the banks of the Credit River cemented a relationship which reached beyond friendship. Ellie became one of those people I called through the year just to say hello. We talked when my day was going well – and at times not so well – and we always ended our conversations with, “I look forward to seeing you – take care!”.

Sadly, the breast cancer Ellie battled in years past revisited her and she was taken years before her time but our last visit a few days before she died involved laughter rather than tears. Ellie came into my life through fly fishing but she remained part of my life because of friendship and the same can be said for countless others I and the rest of the team at WILSON’S have had the privilege of meeting since we first opened. Those friendships are what WILSON’S is all about so in spite of the issues we have faced or perhaps because of them we have realized we are very fortunate to be involved in the fly fishing industry because it allows us to meet and hang around really cool people. The support and words of encouragement we have received from those people over the last few months in particular has cemented our resolve to get back on track as quickly as possible and we look forward to doing so.

Welcome to 2016 – let’s give ‘er!