Fly shops are a vital part of the culture of fly fishing. Beyond a business providing flies and rods, they often function as hubs for education and community. While online “fly shops” have their place and provide gear to anglers, real brick and mortar stores provide soul.
The Casting Across Fly Shop Box is an online directory of fly shops. It gives you an opportunity to see where there are stores around you or around where you’ll be travelling.
A few answers to some good questions:
- Can’t I just Google “fly shop near me”? Of course. However, you’d be surprised how many fly shops don’t show up on a simple search.
- Why isn’t [big chain outdoor store] on the list? From personal experience, I can say that I’ve been to many Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s locations where the fly fishing employees know their stuff and offer great customer service. But there is certainly a difference in a traditional fly shop and a big box store.
- Why isn’t the rod building store, gas station with a great fly assortment, or lodge pro shop included? I can appreciate how locations like these can actually be as helpful as some full-orbed shops. Once again, these locations are great but they don’t check all the boxes of my admittedly arbitrary criteria.
- Why did you miss [shop]? Because I’m human. Send me any misses or corrections here.
- Where are Alaska, Hawaii, and international fly shops? They’re there… just not here, yet.
- I don’t like [shop]. You know what? There are some shops on this list I’ve had bad experiences with, too. And that isn’t a question.
- Could you [implement this web feature] to make this page a lot more user-friendly? I’m not the most web-savvy guy out there, but I am tinkering with ways to make the Fly Shop Box better.
Take a look around, and make some plans to head to a fly shop near you or near where you’ll be fishing: