Bow River Troutfitters & Country pleasures - My Experiance

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So before everyone gets their panties in a bunch.... NO I do not work for them or am affiliated in any way, period!

I have been to all of the shops around town and I have never had someone spend so much time with me to help me out. The staff is very knowledgeable and very willing to help out with a no pressure approach.

My wife & I started fly fishing this past summer as we love fishing in general and always wanted to get into it. So we went to a few shops around town and only two stood out from the rest. We like to support local small businesses as big box stores really lose out in my books. The smaller shops help you out if you have issues with warranty and tend to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Bow River Troutfitters - Located downtown and a great +15 walk to their shop during my lunch hours. I am sure their staff are probably thinking "ohhh crap not this guy again" every time I call with a question or walk in But every time I go there I am greeted by my name and being new to the sport Chris helps me out quite a bit and teaches me new things all the time. Once I go in and have determined to make a purchase Chris helps me out and teaches me about the new flies I am buying and how they should be fished.

Country Pleasures - We visited them quite a few times and everyone is great and very knowledgeable. Mike is very knowledgeable and has steered us in the right direction any time we had any questions. Just a great overall outfit and truly could spend a lot of time in there. It is on the way home so I try to stop by whenever I can.

It has truly become an obsession of a sport for the wife and I as it is something we really enjoy and love. These two stores have helped us out tremendously and I want to thank them for it. Everywhere else we have gone it was very intimidating and not very helpful. We found mostly stuck up people or an off day the odd times we have gone to other stores and just did not appeal to us. It was either overpriced or not good value for money, it just does not feel like a "family" kind of place. When I go to the other two places I feel like we connect and they put themselves in our shoes and try to give us tips as they were also beginners once.

If you are in Calgary I would highly recommend you check these places out. Bow Rover Troutfitters seem to have better pricing even though they are located downtown.

Good luck and I hope this helps a few people out narrow it down and not waste gas. Once again this is my experiance and opinion if you dont like it