A long time ago as a non-fly fishing young man, I walked into Eyler?s Sport Shop in Ardmore, PA store looking for 10? plastic worms that I was convinced were what I needed to land the ?hogs? the pros all seemed to be catching. The clerk in the store proudly pulled out a box full of the requisite sized worms and I had my first experience with a tackle shop having EXACTLY what I was looking for. The worms never did produce for me but the array of fly tackle in the store garnered my interest. What I didn?t realize was that I would keep walking back into that store for more than 30 years and experience many more firsts in my fly fishing life:
My first fly rod; a custom built 5 foot graphite, (remember those short rods)?
My first fly reel; a Hardy built CFO II
My first bamboo rod
My first ?fancy? fly rod; an Orvis Limestone Special which I still have.
My first fly tying vise
The list goes on and on but the end result has been a 30+ year love affair with a fly shop where one of the primary features of the store were chairs to sit on and engage in conversation about fishing, and a coffee pot too; imagine that! It was a place where you never felt like you were overstaying your welcome; and where you always felt welcome. But more importantly Tom & Alice Forwood the proprietors were always willing to order out of stock and special items, without making me feel like I was asking them to pull out their own teeth. Throw in an occasional discount or two and you have the best of all worlds in a fly shop.
These days in my experience this type of service is slowly becoming a thing of the past. I constantly have to shop around because some shops can?t be bothered ordering a small cost item even when they don?t have a minimum to fill. Surly clerks and disinterested associates make ?other? shops a place I avoid except when I have no choice. And chairs, the only place I see them is BEHIND the counter for them, not us.
So in a minute I?m heading down to Bryn Mawr, PA to say goodbye to my friends and favorite fly shop because Eyler?s Sport Shop is closing today after 50 years on the Main Line of PA. Tom & Alice are retiring to Montana or Wyoming or someplace with great fishing and family. The store will close and new owners will take over the space in the building, but not in my heart and memories.
So if you are lucky enough to have a great fly shop that you frequent; enjoy it while you can, while it?s great; because great service, conversation, and company can be a hard thing to find.
There were two in Petaluma sorta like that many years back…Milners and John & Bob’s. Not “fly only”, but plenty for a youngster to covet. Now gone.
…lee s.
Jay’s Sporting Goods over in Clare, MI. Today I purchased an Okuma 4/5s for my new 9’ 3 wgt. The salesperson (must be political correct!) showed me two reels, the other was a Phluger. When I explained that current set up seemed a little top heavy he reccomended the Okuma, the cheaper of the two. He then let me watch him load the backing and line, showed me how to put a small loop to loop connection in the line and the leader and spent time making sure I understood. What did he get? My buddy bought a 5/6 wgt Okuma,backing and line. Large store, one on one help!!
I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!
I’ve shopped in their shop in Ardmore (my sister lives in Bala Cynwyd) over the last 12 years when I can east to visit her. I can say that they always been very helpful. Now that I live in Baltimore and get up that way more often I’ll be sorry to see them go and wish them great luck in Montana.
I do know the new people taking over the shop are not new to the business. I don’t know them personally but from dealing with thier shop over in Reading when I drive up to the Tulpehocken. TCO will treat you right and over time they will grow on you to where you feel like family.
Wow, I must be pretty lucky. The fly shops I frequent have always been more than willing to special order something as insignificant as a box of hooks, a bag of dubbing, etc.
Bam,
My favorite flyshop, “Books and Hooks” in Girard, Ohio (Youngstown area) closed last week. Same type shop…coffee always there, a table where you could sit, read, shoot the bull…breaks my heart that it’s gone, but far more valuable to me are the friendships I established with the owners & staff. NOTHING can take that & we will share many times fishing together in the years to come.
GREAT post!
Mike
I hope you took some pictures of “Books & Hooks” before they closed their doors. I know I made sure to take lots of the inside of Eyler’s.
One of life’s lessons I learned the hard way is IF you are a shutter bug or do the video thing, MAKE SURE you take pictures of places and things in addition to people. Especially you folk?s with kids. I would KILL to have pictures of some of the old stores I bought candy in, toys I played with, streets that I lived on, or neighborhoods that I played in as a kid. Unfortunately my parents like most were busy snapping pictures of us kids standing in front of this or that without a few landscape or inside shots just to remember what THINGS looked like.
For that reason I now make sure to snap plenty of pictures of the places I visit to remember what they looked like when, instead of just now. I know I?m getting old; I don?t need lots of pictures to remind me of that!
I love my fly shop. River Run Outfitters in Branson Mo. The owners and mangers are great. They even help my wife and kids to buy me gifts. I can always call down there and get what I need sent up here to me, and always a fishing report. I do shop at other shops, and mail order, but they are the closeset locally owned fly shop to me. My hat is always off to River Run Outfitters.
BillMC
I love a good fly shop now, but how about that house on the corner in every small town that everyone just sorta knew sold crawlers at 25 cents for a very large styrofoam coffee cup…usualy uncovered in the days before many cars had cup holders.
I wish they were all like that, too. Unfortunately, most are not.
So many fly shops today are staffed with pretentious punks who have no idea what fly fishing means, and who are so heavily influenced by magazines and “the party line” rather than their own experiences. They try and sell you what they have rather than what you want (and which they’re always out of), and they try and convince you that their product is somehow better or superior to what it is that they’re out of.
I have found a handfull of shops I enjoy doing business with, but none of them are in Oklahoma. So I mail order and I’m a very loyal, if long-distance, customer.
Bam,
I FORGOT to take my camera & I am KICKING myself after being reminded by you about taking pictures…you can bet I won’t be so absent-minded next time!
Mike
I used to live in East Stroudsburg, PA and was once told of a great place to buy worms; the “Worm House” on a house on a back street in E-Burg.
Before I went there I was told to just bring an old coffe can. When I went to the door the people who lived there had a giant worm bed RIGHT IN THEIR LIVING ROOM! They filled my can for next to nothing while I tried to not look like I just saw a ghost.
Just like to second BillMc’s plug for River Run Outfitters or Branson, MO. Not only do the Parkers run a good shop, but Stan and Carolyn are also top rate guides and never fail to give 100% to the clients. Just yesterday, Stan was with clients and drifted by the wife and recommended she put on an olive soft hackle. Even offered her a couple in case she didn’t have any. That’s just the kind of folks there are! Can’t recommend them highly enough.
Crackleback (Bob A)
The Parkers are great folks!!! Carolyn is helping me with a little Christmas shopping for my fly fishing wife. I always try to drop in on them when I am in Branson. Going down for app. 11 days. Hoping to get a little fishing in and a car show with my sons.
BillMc
