How many of you guys get a free hat from your local fly shop? After spending some serious cash over the past few years, I’ve yet to get a free hat from any of the local fly shops.
On the flip side, I have 3 caps from fly shops and stores I’ve purchased products from over the net.
Hmmm…
Hey now wait a minute…Me too.
I have never gotten a hat that i did not have to pay for.You would think that if a guy plops down several hundred dollars in one swoop they would offer a hat.All of my fly shop hats came at an added premium price.However when i bought my G-LOOMIS GLX for steelhead the shop owner asked what kind of line i used and he gave me at no charge a brand new spool of premium Cortland line and about a dozen Cortland tapered leaders to try.This shop gets alot of my return business now.You would think that the shop ownwers would give out a hat if a guy spent over a hundred bucks or so in his shop.Wearing those hats on the river is good advertising.
Rocky
I’m picky about my hats, if I got a free one from my shop I probably wouldn’t wear it. They do however give you a free T-shirt on your birthday. They know the value of cheap advertising lol
Paul,
I just stopped at a fly shop on the Salmon river here in NY. The deal was, buy 2 Frog Hair products or two Gamma products and receive a free(Frog Hair or Gamma)hat of your choice. I bought a Frog Hair leader and flourocarbon tippet material and got a new hat. It probaably wasn’t a shop promo but I came out w/ a hat. Not sure about Frog Hair or any flourocarbon but I’m trying it this friday w/ fingers crossed.
Land Em’,
Carp
I was looking at a new rod a few years ago at a flyshop in Canada ended up walking put with a new legend ultra for about ten bucks less than south of the border and the dealer threw in a new airflo polyfuse line and a half dozen flies.Now I always shop around at the end of the season when shops are willing to play"lets make a deal "so they don’t have to carry inventory over the winter.
I got a free hat from RIO. After using their Clouser WF8F line, I emailed them some positive feedback & asked how to order a hat as shown on their website (with no ordering info). I got an email back telling me my hat was on the way. Real nice surprise!
Mike
I am with tyflier . Nice discount and good advice are worth more to me than another hat . The discount would buy me several new hats if I needed them , I don’t .
Promotions are usually sponsored by the manufacturer. Small shops can not afford that kind of deal. I’ve gotten hats from Thomas and Thomas, Royal Wulff etc., but never from my local shop. Maybe one of the reasons I like shopping there is because it doesn’t look like he does it for money, but more because fishing and hunting is his passion and he basically gets by, but not much more than that.
jed
My son and I stopped by Powell Rods office last year and I bought a new three piece five weight. The owner through in a hat for me and my son plus a reel.
The discount and knowledge is nice. But since I don’t have a shop with either close by I’ll take a dang hat!
I’ve ordered from a couple of places online that with every order they have thrown in some kind of material for no charge. Heck!, I drove clear across state to a shop to buy a reel and they threw in a free fly and backing for the drive. Spent a good hour just talking. Also get free shipping on any future orders. The local place gives nothing, no knowledge no discount zip, zilch!! That is why I have pretty much sworn them off. Internet gets 90% of my business now.
I should add that the local places are not mom and pops either. And both could more than afford a hat.
Wow, you guys realy make me appreciate my local shop here in east central Pa. I have been given hats, an organizer each year, very good discounts and much more importantly I am treated as a friend. I receive information, am asked questions of conditions on streams I have recently fished etc. Maybe this is reason Ed has been in business successfully for more than 35 years. I will give him a plug. If you are in or near Pottsville Pa. stop in Ed’s Fly shop. Tell him Bruce reccommended it.
I am with Dry Fly Guy , working with our local shop is great, he may not have every thing .But he gets most stuff for you. I recomend using his shop. He is 20 min. north of a Cabela’s and we all still haunt the place!
Wet
Bruce…When I get around Pottsville (possible this summer) I WILL stop & see Ed.
Wet…Good for you! I drive over 50 miles to shop & visit with the guys at Books and Hooks in Girard, Ohio & I pass some of the larger stores on the way. ANYONE who has a good local shop in their area certainly understands why.
Mike
I bought a nice Diamondglass 3 pc, 3 wt from one of their local dealers here in NE Pa. and jokingly asked he he could get them to send me a hat. He laughed and said even he couldn’t get one from them, but when he called them in my presence to order the rod for me, he asked them to send a hat with it. Of course they did not comply, as we expected.
I am thinking of getting one of Diamondbacks parent company’s new “Sylk” lines to use on the rod. Do you think I should also request a hat from them? After all, I will be giving the business to one of their “Certified Pro” dealers! Maybe I should save my money or buy another brand? Any suggestions?
I concur with Dry fly and Wet fly guys, Ed’s Fly Shop in Pottsville. Been dealing with him for years and he’s one of the best!
Joe
The price of Cortland’s new Sylk is very modest compared to the usual fly lines today.
If you want it, buy it. I would not ever make a decision to purchase anything on the basis of getting a free hat.
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Let me get this correct, you want to buy a fly line for $45ish and expect to get a free $20 hat???
I just got a free hat from one of the FAOL sponsors! I ordered a rod blank and after I did I got an email from them telling me they are sending me a free hat. Now how cool is that??