Top 25 Fly Shops in America
In consultation with the readers of Fly Fishing Treasures across the country, we have now selected the Top 25 Fly Shops in America.
The purpose for this list is to recognize the outstanding customer service and key role that our nation’s most outstanding fly shops play for the fly fishing community.
“I love great fly shops, and as the sport with the most equipment associated with it, we as fly fishers really enjoy browsing and speaking with the owners and staff of the leading fly shops.” said Steve Woit, author of book Fly Fishing Treasures.
Here is the List of the Top 25 Fly Shops in America:
(in Alphabetical Order):
The Avid Angler, Lake Forest Park, WA
https://avidangler.com/
The Bear’s Den, Taunton, MA
https://www.bearsden.com/
Caddis Fly Shop, Eugene, OR
https://www.caddisflyshop.com/
Charlie’s Fly Box, Arvada, CO
https://charliesflybox.com/
Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters, Chicago, IL
https://www.chifly.com/
Compleat Angler, Darien, CT
https://www.compleatangleronline.com/
Dette Flies, Livingston Manor, NY
https://detteflies.com/
Emerald Water Anglers, Seattle, WA
https://emeraldwateranglers.com/
Feather Craft Fly Fishing, St. Louis, MO
https://www.feather-craft.com/
The Fly Shop, Redding, CA
https://www.theflyshop.com/
Gig Harbor Fly Shop, Gig Harbor, WA
https://gigharborflyshop.com/
Kismet Outfitters, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
https://kismetoutfitters.com/
Little Forks Outfitters, Midland, MI
https://littleforks.com/
Lost Coast Outfitters, San Francisco, CA
https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/
Missoulian Angler Fly Shop, Missoula, MT
https://www.missoulianangler.com/
North Platte River Fly Shop, Casper, WY
https://www.wyomingflyfishing.com/
Red’s Fly Shop, Ellensberg, WA
https://redsflyfishing.com/
Shannon’s Fly and Tackle, Califon, NJ
https://www.shannonsflytackle.com/
Silver Creek Outfitters, Ketchum, ID
https://silver-creek.com/
Stone River Outfitters, Amherst, NH
https://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/
Tailwaters Fly Fishing Company, Dallas, TX
https://www.tailwatersflyfishing.com/
Taos Fly Shop, Taos, NM
https://taosflyshop.com/
TCO Fly Shop, Bryn Mawr, PA
https://www.tcoflyfishing.com/
Trouts Fly Fishing, Denver, CO
https://troutsflyfishing.com/
Urban Angler, New York, NY
https://www.urbanangler.com/
Congratulations to all of the Top 25 Fly Shops in America!
Dun Magazine: "Women and Fly Fishing Through the Ages"
Women and Fly Fishing Through the Ages: A More Complete Picture Emerges
By - Moirajeanne FitzGerald and Steve Woit
12-31-2020
Much has been written about the role of women in fly fishing over the ages, and much more has been forgotten over time. Women have always fished and have made many notable contributions to advancing the art and practice of the sport around the world. The record of many early pioneering women fly fishers of the early days would be lost without the photos, prints, and postcards rescued by collectors from the stream of time. What can we learn from the women and the memories captured in these images?
Before the 1920s, it was common for men and women to fish and hunt together, as one can see from this photograph of a British fishing party.
Read the entire article at Dun Magazine here...
"Cast from the Past" - New Feature on "Moldy Chum"
I am excited to announce that I am starting a new regular feature on Moldy Chum, one of the top three fishing sites in the world, called "Cast from the Past". It will l include a photograph of a fly fishing treasure and a short description with historical and craft notes.
Here are the first six:
Cast From The Past: John Krider Pack Rod and Pistols
Cast From The Past: Early Bass Flies
Cast From The Past: The Golden Kosmic Rod, Flies and A. G. Spalding Brothers Catalog
Cast From the Past: Herb Welch Trophy Brook Trout Mount
Cast From The Past: H.L. Leonard Rods, Reels and Gun
Cast From The Past: Early Charles F. Orvis Trade Card
"Hatch" article: Antique tackle collectors: Packrats and Historians by Steve Woit
Antique tackle collectors: Packrats and Historians
Hobbyists with an obsessive taste for fly fishing treasures from the past are helping to preserve the craft and history of our sport
by Steve Woit - Monday, Mar 23rd, 2020
Collectors of antique fly fishing tackle are a unique breed. Motivated by a passion for the sport and the excitement of the chase, they often search and compete for decades to acquire a single object of desire.
In doing so, they help preserve the craft and history of fly fishing history one rod, reel or fly at a time. Some have gained celebrity in the fly fishing community, reaching the status of elders in the tribe.
Take Hoagy Carmichael, the son of the famous musician and composer of Stardust Memories, who grew up fishing and playing with Hollywood actors like Clark Gable. Hoagy apprenticed to the legendary bamboo fly rod maker Everett Garrison, and made over 100 fine fly rods, which are now collector’s items selling for thousands of dollars apiece.
Carmichael’s book A Master’s Guide to Building a Bamboo Fly Rod inspired an entire generation of fly fishers to try their hand at crafting their own rods. He purchased all of Garrison’s workshop from his estate and the master rodmaker’s workbench and tools are now enshrined in the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum in Livingston Manor, New York.
When I first met Hoagy, he was working around an antique tackle show in Boxborough, Massachusetts with a deerskin bag, from which he pulled out a massive antique Philbrook and Paine salmon reel. I asked him if the reel was for sale, to which he replied: “I suppose.” “Well, how much?” “About $15,000 would do it,” was his reply.
Read the whole article here...
'Fly Fishing Journeys' Podcast with Steve Woit by Rob Giannino
Steve Woit – Fly Fishing Treasures, The World of Fly Fishers and Collecting
LISTEN HERE OR ON FLYFISHINGJOURNEYS.COM
[ Start at the 3 minute mark ]
Episode Summary...
"I am not a huge history buff like my buddy Jeremie Loble of Water Master Rafts. After visiting France this past summer, he brought me a beautiful keepsake from Omaha Beach after he had visited Normandy and some other World War II sites. I do like to research history and value its importance to having a better understanding of today’s times.
In fly fishing, our history involves the people who impacted our sport over time. The early and fine equipment has become treasures for us to uncover.
In his stunning, coffee-table style book, Fly Fishing Treasures, Steve Woit dove into the world of fly fishing history and collectibles. These collectibles are like the finest fly fishing antiquities and they are fascinating and beautiful behold.
The art of collecting fly fishing antiques is in and of itself an amazing undertaking. To spend seven years of your life, traveling around the world, studying, documenting and photographing these collections is simply amazing; and that’s just what Steve did.
In this chat, I speak with the author, Steve Woit and two of the many collectors he featured in the book, Jerry Girard and MJ FitzGerald."
Rob Giannino is an outdoor speaker, writer, photographer, videographer and flytographer (aerial camera operator). He has written for numerous outdoor publications including FlyFishing New England Magazine and Peche a la Mouche (Fishing with a Fly); a beautiful destination flyfishing magazine based in Quebec, Canada.
Rob lives in Greater Boston, and one of his passions is connecting with the local fly fishing community, sharing experiences and planning for more. He is a guest speaker at flyfishing shows, Trout Unlimited chapters and other outdoor events all over the northeast.
Orvis Book Excerpt: Preserving the Heritage of Women Fly Fishers
January 6, 2020
by Phil Monahan
[Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from Fly Fishing Treasures: The World of Fly Fishers and Collecting, by Steve Woit. The book offers a colorful review of the world of fly fishers and collecting, including 30 interviews with leading collectors, experts, museum and club curators, tackle manufacturers, auctioneers and traders and dealers of antique, vintage and collectible fly fishing tackle.]
Moirajeanne FitzGerald’s home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania could easily qualify as a leading museum dedicated to the fascinating history of women who fish. Mj, as her friends know her, is a one-woman powerhouse on this intriguing subject, reminding us all that women have been fishing as long as men have. This is a fact that hasn’t always been recognized by the fly fishing community.
In the U.K. and around the world, it has been documented in the record books that women have landed some of the largest Atlantic salmon. The prioress Dame Juliana Berners’ landmark work Treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle, Printed in 1496, is believed to be one of the first published works on fly fishing in the world.
Women have also been inventing and tying flies since the beginning. Mary Orvis Marbury in Vermont wrote the landmark American book Favorite Flies, and Megan Boyd in Scotland was perhaps the most famous salmon fly tier of all. With the advent of commercial fly tying, in terms of overall fly production, women have probably tied more flies than men.
In addition to commercial production, many notable women also contributed to the evolution of fly design and created and tied innovative new patterns, including Carrie Stevens of Maine, whose streamer patterns, such as the Gray Ghost, were both novel and beautiful.
Theodore Gordon’s fly fishing companion was often a woman, although due in part to the social mores of the time little is known about her. Margaret Penn, the daughter of William Penn, the founder of the Pennsylvania, was also an early flyfisher in the 1700’s. One of her rods, imported from England, is held in the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
One of Maine’s most famous flyfishers was Cornelia “Fly Rod Crosby”, one of the pioneers in promoting angling as a destination sport in the 1890’s. She was in fact the first Maine Guide registered by the state in 1897.
Today, many of the leading fly fishing and outdoor brands such as Orvis, Patagonia, Columbia, and Simms have directed their marketing attention to promoting their brands to women flyfishers, who represent one of the most rapidly growing customer segments for the industry.
Mj has been fly fishing for decades, enjoying the sport with both men and women. Years ago, a chance find of some antique cabinet cards from the 1880’s in upstate New York featuring a woman fishing in the Adirondacks led her to the accumulate and curate of one of the most extensive collections of photos and ephemera featuring women anglers.
She has also collected hundreds of real photo postcards of female anglers. The early invention of a powerful portable and easy-to-use Kodak camera that produced real photo postcards captured women fishing and fly fishing alongside men, with their families, their fathers, brothers and sisters or by themselves.
Photos of women fishing, hunting, or traveling the rodeo circuit and enjoying other traditionally male oriented sports are a fascinating reminder that women have always been part of our outdoor sporting heritage. Some of photos reflect the pioneering nature of women in the U.S. West and Midwest, when women settlers spent much of their time outdoors, along with the men.
Now a very active category for collectors, images of women fishing and fly fishing have become very valuable and collectible. Mj culled many of the postcards in her collection from more general accumulations of postcards at paper and postcard shows.
She is fascinated by history and by the exploits of women who do interesting things, so the search for photographic and artistic representation of women in the outdoors became a passion.
Mj is an adventurous and accomplished flyfisher and a member of many fishing associations and of the angling clubs founded for women, including the International Women Fly Fishers, the Delaware Valley Women Fly Fishers, the Chesapeake Women Anglers and others. She has also served on the board of the Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Association.
She is a graduate of the Reel Women Fly Fishing Adventures guide school in Montana, co-founded and run by Lori-Ann Murphy, the first woman to be named an Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide.
Midcurrent: "Why Collect Antique Fly Fishing Tackle?"
By: Steve Woit
You may have a friend who collects vintage or antique fly fishing tackle, and you may sometimes wonder about them. Or you may have collected a favorite rod, reel, or some flies over the years that you are particularly fond of.
So, why do fly fishers collect all of this stuff?
One reason is that fly fishing has more equipment associated with it than any other sport. Fly fishing tackle craft has a long history of craftsmanship and innovation dating from the 18th or 19th century.
Fly fishers, like other collectors, become intimately attached to these objects, which are deeply imprinted with fond memories of times spent on their favorite rivers or lakes. They may also have shared this time with a parent or grandparent who may now be long gone.
These memories live on, often in the form of an obsession to possess rods, reels, flies and other gear that reminds us of the good times in the outdoors pursuing our sport.
Collectors also serve a very useful purpose in preserving the history of the sport, saving objects and know-how that would otherwise be lost. They relish telling each other stories about their latest finds—a rare rod, or a scarce reel or something that has been rarely seen before.
The wide availability of online bidding, online research tools and social media has turbocharged what was a somewhat obscure hobby. These tools also helped level the playing field so that all could participate in an activity that had been reserved for the wealthy or the elite.
In addition to eBay, there are specialized fishing tackle auction sites like Lang’s Auction and The Angling Marketplace.
Some start out collecting a little bit of everything for their man cave or to put on the wall of a cabin or to remind them of time in the outdoors.
While finding a rare piece of tackle can be a lucrative event, it can be just as meaningful to find something that has great personal interest as well.
Collecting is also a fun and easy way to learn a bit about the history of the sport without reading a bunch of dusty books and journals. Listening to and sharing stories about the latest finds is also entertaining and there are some real colorful characters involved in the collecting community.
So what can be learned?
Well, you might not know that many of the early fly rod makers were also gunsmiths, who began making fishing tackle with the availability of more leisure time for sports.
To this day, there are literally hundreds of rod makers using old and new techniques to develop the best tapers for their bamboo rods, to add new features and to take the craft forward for the benefit of all fly fishers.
Fly reels are fascinating mechanical contraptions with a whole host of parts and features that have evolved over hundreds of years, as reel makers and engineers sought to improve their performance. They went from simply holding line to helping to play the fish on the line in motion.
You might also be interested to know that some of the earliest, clever American fly reels looked like birdcages, like the Billinghurst birdcage reel from the mid-1800s, which were side-mounted on the rod (photo at top of page).
The first really popular American fly reel that was mounted vertically on the rod was the classic Orvis Fly Reel from the 1870’s. You might also be interested to hear that the reel also was produced in a special gold-plated version for prizes, presumably for fishing tournaments in 1876.
A collector found this gold-plated reel online and only two examples have ever been located.
Now, how about collecting a few antique salmon flies to put on your wall? Salmon flies are particularly beautiful example of fly fishing and fly tying craft, fashioned with the features of exotic birds during Victorian days.
You might also be surprised to know that one of the most famous fly tiers in the world is a woman: Megan Boyd of Brora, Scotland, now gone, who tied well into her 80s.
It’s also interesting to see some of the early trade cards and catalogs that the fly fishing tackle houses used to promote their products. They contain a great deal of valuable information on different models and features of rods, reels, and accessories.
Here is a photo of one of the rarest early American color trade cards:
Last, but not least, the whole world of fly fishing accessories is a tiny world onto itself, with all kinds of small gizmos and do-dads—Just think of how many things like this you might have in your own fly vest.
So, every time we wonder about collectors and the future of collecting, I am reminded of all of the stories everyone tells me about their favorite rod, reel, or fly.
I can report that collecting in the fly tackle world is alive and well and likely to thrive as long as there is fly fishing and the memories that we cherish from our time on the water.
“The collector as I conceive him, has a double function. Sometimes he brings up out of the flood objects whose real beauty entitles them to the reprieve—things of intrinsic value.
But more often, his choicest spoils are such as in themselves have no claim to be rescued from the general doom, yet, for the sake of some man or some event whose memory has been preserved, inherit a worthy place in our regard.
We are grateful to the collectors, almost as to the historians, yet I cannot but wonder at them.”
–“Fishing Holidays” by Stephen Gwynn, 1904
Read this article online on Midcurrent.com.
Antique Week: The allure of fly fishing collectibles: Sport from the 1400s
I've just had an article published in Antique Week Eastern Edition (April 29, 2019) entitled The allure of fly fishing collectibles: Sport from the 1400s. Here's an excerpt...
"The sport of fishing has more equipment associated with it than any other sport, and the development of fly fishing tackle has a long history. This means collectors can find all manner of items. The earliest written record for the first fly patterns dates back to 1460. There is also resurgence in the sport of fly fishing, meaning fly fishing tackle continues to sell well in antique shops and in specialized auctions. The success of regional fly fishing shows and the emergence of new bamboo fly rod makers and fly reel makers have also enlivened the field."
