Favorite Fly Shops

[Coach Potter]

The Blue Dun in Spokane was my favorite, but mostly because when I found it I was brand new and they welcomed me with open arms. I fished with a couple of the guys who worked there randomly when I met them on the river and they said let’s go fish. One time I came in when I was first starting to tie and said I was struggling with wings, and one of the guys said come back when we close and he tied with me for an hour showing me two or three different methods. They were just good guys and never made me feel stupid or like I was not part of the club. They have been closed for a long time now.

That was probably Jan Sadlo…he was an awesome dude!

 

[Mukman]

Front 20 fly shop in Perham, MN. All the more impressive since they're in the middle of Rapala, Daredevil and Lindy Rig country. They've carved out a nice place for themselves on the Ottertail chain!

 

[Aufwuchs]

I really liked Swede's in Woodinville but they moved to Spokane years ago. I think the Spokane shop is still going but I haven't been there.

 

[wanderingrichard]

A couple others I’ve had great service from when it comes to mail order are The Bear’s Den in MA

2nd the vote for Bears Den. Those folks work their butt off for you.

A bit of sad news though; The Charelston Angler in the West Ashley district of Charleston, SC is showing as permanently closed. They always had good assortments of flies for redfish and other local species.

 

[DerekWhipple]

I don't think I've been to a "bad" fly shop in Oregon, they have all been enjoyable to visit. Deschutes angler is probably my favorite, they have just about everything, and I stop in there every time I am in town whether I really need anything or not. At the beginning of the pandemic, they seemed to have everything that the Portland shops were out of.

Portland Fly Shop is probably my local favorite. Jason and Nick are awesome, and the fly-tying section has some real primo shit.

 

[G_Smolt]

When in Florida, I have liked the Ole Florida Fly Shop in Boca Raton. As I begin to spend more time on the west coast of Florida, I am looking forward to checking out Mangrove Outfitters in Naples.

Mangrove Outfitters is a good shop. Be sure to check out 239 Flies in Bonita Springs too.

 

[Fishfly]

I have to go with Grizzly Hackle in in Missoula, although alt the shops here Kingfisher, Mangler and BRO all have great qualities. Kootenay FlyShop in Fernie B.C. Is also a great place to drop a Benji, just cause that happens a lot to me.

 

[fkajwg]

Since I am using Tenkara and Keiryu rods for nearly all of my freshwater fishing I'm not getting to local shops all that often.

But another praise for Anil @ Puget Sound Fly Co. Always super helpful. When a jaw set screw was stripped on my Renzetti vise I was dismayed at the cost of a replacing the vise. Anil dug through his parts bin producing a screw. I asked "How much do I owe you?" He said "No Charge" so I bought a stripping basket. Other times, he was out of say; some partridge I wanted for fly tying, and gave me a small skin off of his bench that he had been using to tie flies for stock with plenty of feathers for what I needed to tie at no charge and I bought several other items. I'll be in the area and stopping by again today to see if they now carry the competition - style hooks I use for Tenkara flies.

I also want to mention Gig Harbor Fly Shop. They were super good to me on my first trip there when I wanted to upgrade my "beach" setup. I was either going to buy a matched outfit or perhaps buy just a line if that was all I "really needed". I brought my 2-piece 9' 6wt Loomis Signature IMX rod and line with me to make the comparisons. I had one rod in mind that they had in stock and they suggested two others plus two lines for me. We went over to the park outside the shop. The shop guy waited patiently in a driving rain while I compared the 4 rods with both of the new lines, and the Loomis with my current line. I bought the outfit that was the clear winner; not the rod I had in mind. I paid MSRP for the rod & reel, and they gave me a great discount on the line. The GHFS website is super helpful for salt noobs. I ordered from the e-commerce portion of the website for some things PSFC didn't have and Delivery was super fast. I don't know what Scoones' beef with them was but if I wanted to show my appreciation for outstanding service and typed "Gig Harbor Fly Shop" in a WFF message it would display as "Puget Sound Fly Co." so I figured out how to make the name display properly. As "Elmer" would say; "How wude."

I also have had great service from The Fly Fisher in Lacey.

I started a Tenkara thread over in Gear and Techniques
J

 

[Buzzy]

Curious - what is it about the Gorge Fly Shop that makes you rank it #1? They don't even stock tying materials.

Weighing in on your question: I've had very good customer service from The Gorge Fly Shop on several purchases including test casting three rods. Red's, like the Gorge Fly Shop, doesn't sell tying materials, but usually has a good selection of gear you can look at and rods you test cast.

Steve at The Worley Bugger has a great selection of tying materials.

 

[tumblefly]

I gotta give a shout out to Peninsula Outfitters in Poulsbo. I can't wait to see Bill's new shop

Won't go there again. I got burned big time.

 

[albula]

Always enjoyed the tying selection and the quality of the materials at W.W. Doak in Doaktown NB. I still order bronze mallard pairs from them. Quality mallard makes a finicky task much more pleasant.

 

[PhilR]

Curious - what is it about the Gorge Fly Shop that makes you rank it #1? They don't even stock tying materials.

They don’t? I thought they had a selection downstairs.

 

[Bruce Baker]

Weighing in on your question: I've had very good customer service from The Gorge Fly Shop on several purchases including test casting three rods. Red's, like the Gorge Fly Shop, doesn't sell tying materials, but usually has a good selection of gear you can look at and rods you test cast.

Steve at The Worley Bugger has a great selection of tying materials.

I've experienced good customer service at the Gorge Fly Shop as well.

 

[Scottybs]

In London today… stopped in Farlow’s, supposedly oldest fly shop in the world.

 

[copperJon]

Another vote for Avid Angler here. Not really close to home, but my go-to for everything, because they always have what I need. Just stopped by after an absence of a couple years, and shot the shit with Ryan for over an hour, and got to introduce my 3yo daughter to the legend that is Mr. Miyawaki.

 

[Divad]

Lost Creek Fly Shop.
Mike is a great owner and guide, he runs the shop from his house with a thick selection and the type of personable interaction you would expect. He also has an absolute ton of wisdom in the sport.

The Fly Fisher
Bjorn has a smaller shop in Olympia, with the same personable interaction I come to search for. Wisdom drives his purchasing and likely if a material isn't in the shop is because he has a substitute. I enjoy his laissez-faire style to the approach and humbleness, you'd never know the demand his flies warrant.

 

[rooftop]

A couple callouts primarily for how these shops have treated my wife, who is a noob.

• West Bank Anglers in Wilson, WY
• Frontier Anglers in Dillon, MT
• The Portland Fly Shop in Portland, OR

 

[Hobbyranch]

North 40 Fly Shop in Omak, until the corporate culture pulled it.

 

[Mingo]

PSFC. Love that place. Great people and fly gear and stuff.

 

[Dloy]

The Avid Angler is closest to home, although I visit Puget Sound Flyfishers pretty often too . I drop in occasionally for “adult supervision”, and after BSing for a while, head home an hour later. Where did the time go?