Ray,
I spent 30 years in dealing with the largest and plenty of smaller retailers in Canada and worked for “…”, known worldwide for retail excellence…
You could make a business teaching others how to run a small biz.
I’m not blowin smoke, I just appreciate talent and passion.
Hey Ray,
Just wanted to thank you again for the deal on the Dyna King vise yesterday. It is an absolute pleasure to tie on. Also, that Veevus thread is amazing. Best stuff I have ever tied with. Keep up the great work on bringing new and innovative and specialty tying products into your shop. There isn’t a better selection anywhere!
Thanks Again!
Thanks Ray – I was thoroughly impressed with the knowledge and service from you and your staff, very glad I chose to make the trip over. I’ll definitely be back, and I may see about booking a walk n wade trip with one of your guides.
Ray,
I promised Joshua that I would send you some pictures of his Bumble Bee fly, he was pretty excited about visiting your store for the materials and then you made his day when you gave him the ‘example’ to work with.
When I volunteered with Big Brothers 2 years ago and was matched with Josh had never been fishing. He started with bait and a bobber that summer and has progressed to soft baits. Now he tying his own flies so he can try fly fishing this spring and he’s only 8 years old.
Thanks for making his day!
Hey Ray,
Got out to the Credit this morning. River was dirty but not that high. No tugs unfortunately. Anyways got to use the waders. Want to say thanks so much! Such a good idea to go with the G3’s, definitely worth the extra penny. Love the fit! Had a pair of long johns on and fleece pants and they were perfectly comfortable. Also the booties fit into my wading boots better than my last pair. Had on just one pair of socks and my feet were warm and the boots weren’t tight. I just wanna say thanks for you helping me out again, with the advice and cost. I know you don’t have to do it but it really helped a lot!
Hi Ray ,
I think the new web site looks great. I personally use the site all the time just to see whats going on and the river conditions all trout season for patterns to use and water info so I think what you do is awesome. I also seen the clearance and used section and I know that is something I will check in on all the time.
One last thing Ray is that Id like to let you know that my father passed away last month, and I just wanted you to know for I guess personal reasons because you were always kind enough to ask me how he was doing and you had met him on other occasions. I hope you don’t mind me telling you as I know my father thought your store was great and I will only use your store so I justed wanted you to know.
Thanks.
Just recieved my rod! So stoked! Can’t wait to hit the pools! I will order from you again, amazing service!!! Thanks a lot! Too bad we don’t have shops like yours around here… Probably going to fish in ontario this summer ill pass by the shop. Thanks again!
Received my lines this morning. Thank you and I’ll likely be ordering more stuff from you (when the budget allows).
Take care,
Joe Penich donated a box of flies to spey clave for the raffle on his behalf and The First Cast Fly Shop. Joe Penich has always been a “class act guy”.
Once again thank you for your support of the spey clave and Friends of the Grand River through yourself and your clientele.
Ray, love your new web page. Well done, “first class” just like everything you do!
It was a pleasure meeting you Ray. Mom was real happy with your store. She’s used to getting ignored by the staff in most shops. Very pleased with your service.
Many thanks, Alec,for your advice on the caddis larva pattern. I’ve really been pounding them on it these last few days! I also tied up a toned-down version with a black bead, dark brown squirrel dub for the thorax, and cream antron with olive caddis dub (and a little ice dub) for the abdomen.
This did the trick when things slowed down with the other pattern. I can’t believe how realistic the abdomen looks when wet, so I’m guessing this technique would work for a pupa pattern, given that it too has very pronounced segmentation. Anyway, I’ll give it a try and let you know how it works.
Thanks,
Ray, when I was in briefly today, I noticed AGAIN that yoiur store looks perfect. Obvious pride really shows.
I’ve been in a LOT of tackle shops, through the years, but you’re always looks like it’s the Grand Opening of a new shop.
You’ve put a lot of work in, to keep it looking like that. Sometimes an owner doesn’t get an “atta boy”, like employees do, but you’ve impressed this old guy!
Well done! See you soon.
I am back in the office, but my mind is still lingering around the beautiful Grand River and my splendid day fishing with you . It was a great inspiration to me to learn the nymphing techniques from you, and I will definitely take it up on my next trip for graylings in Norway at the end of July.
I went and bought the necessary indicators, lead and a few other things in Ray’s shop, so I’m ready for the season.
Take care Brian and good luck fishing.
with kind regards,
I really don’t have any complaints or suggestions on how your guides could of made the trip better. I had an awesome time and felt like I learned a lot.
I have been out with other guides before but what makes your guides different is that I felt like there was special attention to improving what skills I already have to make me better.
Thank you again for helping us get on the water in our short time-frame.
It was great coming to your shop today, I was impressed with your knowledge and your help in selecting what I needed to get me started spey fishing was much appreciated.
Anyone can sell a product, but the time you spent with me to explain what I needed and the reasoning behind it makes doing business with you that much more appreciated.
I know now that I have a place to shop for my fishing needs where I can get knowledge along with the correct product. I like doing business with a class guy, and a store dedicated to the customer.
Add me to your contacts and to any events that you have going on in your store so I can be a part of learning new things around our sport. Rick Whorwood said you would look after me…and he was right.
Thanks,
I cannot believe you beat me to the punch in sending out an e-mail before I got home. That is something I would do and have done for many years.
I was amazed when I got home that there was already a message from you but based on the experience I had last night is should not have surprised me at all.
As I cannot remember a time that I have ever had a better experience in a retail environment. I enjoyed our time immensely.
In that I have always thought passion is such an important part of success with any business you proved it last night. When I got into the truck and it was 10:15pm and you normally close at 8pm your passion was very evident. I can tell you for a fact that you not only gained a new customer you have gained a loyal one at that. I look forward to seeing you often as I travel through Guelph and getting to know you and your business more with time and I can say without hesitation the thing I look the most forward to is to developing a strong relationship based on friendship and a passion for the greatest sport, pastime, hobby that I know, FISHING.
Thank you for making my day yesterday.
It was great meeting you today & you really helped Robin, Nick & myself. We appreciated all the time spent with us & ensuring that we chose the correct equipment to get off to a good start.
Now all we have to do is practice, practice, practice. As our interest grows I am sure we will have a number of questions, but at least we know who to approach to help us make the right decisions & supply all of our fishing needs.
Thanks again for all your assistance.
Thanks for all the help man. Ur a good guy and got a great shop. With. Loads of selection:) wish I had more time to Look around, perhaps next time I come in I will. Dave was tellin me u startin tieing lessons soon. Can u give me some more Info on that? Once agn, thanx! I’d say that I look forward to meeting u agn but in all honesty, I know that’s gonna cost me $$$ lol. Cheers Ray!
A quick note to say thank you again for your help this afternoon! I love making the drive up to Guelph to visit your store — so far beyond any other fly/tackle shop in Southern Ontario. I just wish I could visit more often! mHave a great rest-of-your-weekend.
Cheers
Looks like you have a great selection of beads. I have told a lot of people that you may not have the largest store, but in my mind, you have the best store in terms of quality, service, and product knowledge.
In addition, I really think it is important that your store has kind of become ” the gathering place” where everyone can meet and share information and opinions. You seem to make everyone feel welcome.
Thanks for everything,
I was in last week and you gave me some tips on floating. Well we got out this past weekend on the saugeen and it was awesome, I managed to land six and lost four more, all on beads. I appreciate all the advice you gave me.
Thanks Again
I just wanted to thank you again for the help with everything yesterday!That fly turned out pretty well… your choices of feathers was spot on.
Thanks,
I would like to thank you for the excellent presentation back in November. Best wishes for Christmas. Yours Truly,
We met a couple months ago in your shop – I was there with my baby son Jack picking up some straps which was ordered for me for an outcast pontoon boat that I had purchased from him.
Anyway, I was very impressed with the gear in your shop and the friendly service I received while there…..I would like to order a few accessories for my new pontoon and was wondering if you could do this through your shop?
I priced the items on line through outcasts web site, although have been unimpressed with shipping and surprise duty charges lately when ordering off the net.
Received my lines this morning. Thank you and I’ll likely be ordering more stuff from you (when the budget allows).
Take care,
Nice store you have. Thanks for all your help. I’m sure I’ll be in throughtout the year.
Best regards,
It was a pleasure meeting you Ray. Mom was real happy with your store. She’s used to getting ignored by the staff in most shops. Very pleased with your service.
I was glad to visit you in your shop – you have a great place and I will be stopping by from time to time as I go back and forth between St. Catharines and Fergus.
It was great to meet Mike and Brian and to gain a bit more knowledge from all three of you. Being a newbie to serious fly fishing, as you well know, my learning curve is steep, but the rewards totally fulfilling.
Thank Brian for the pattern recommendations and for pointing me to (a spot) – I spent a couple of hours there for the first time and will return for sure.
That kind of experience will come in handy and thank him too, especially for the information about fishing for chromes over the border.
Brian, Thanks for sending the images so quickly. They look awesome!
I enjoyed both the fishing and instructions you gave me. It inspired me to look for some fly casting lessons and get back into fly fishing.
Thanks for the information below it will be very useful.I also looked up the fishing at ChileTrout It looks awesome!!
Thanks,
