Being the owner of a shop that sells angling supplies is special. You get to interact with fellow anglers, beginner to experienced veteran. Bringing joy to a fellow angler brings joy to the Shop owner’s soul. It’s what makes all the effort worthwhile.
However, there are several times during the year that it is super special to be the owner of a fishing shop. One of those times is the holiday season. Not only do you get to bring joy to the gift giver by filling their angler’s gift list but, you get to see the smile on the angler’s face when they come into the shop with their shiny new toy.
Part of the fun is helping the gift giver keep their intentions from the gift recipient. Each year, this deception takes different twists and turns. This year, the most requested act is to mail gift certificates with no return address or a non-shop return address. Maybe it will help keep the gift a secret, but a North Conway postal date stamp is a dead giveaway.
Gift certificates have gotten more popular each year and it is no wonder. An independent retailer can create any type of gift certificate the gift giver can dream up or that the gift recipient has put on their wish list. We have done gift certificates for guided trips, full day or half day, fly casting lessons, fly tying lessons, fly fishing school. We do monetary gift certificates in any denomination. The smallest was $10 and the largest, so far, being $500.
Equipment is popular, especially this year. Anglers are looking to upgrade to some of the newest fly gear. Scott Fly Rods has the new Centric fly rod. A fast-action fly rod that is super accurate. Orvis has the new RECON fly rod, a super-efficient fly rod for under $500.
Pairing either of these rods with a Galvan Brookie reel or Orvis Hydros SL reel and your angler will be beaming when they open your gift. These items are on several angler’s gift lists. How do I know? Your angler has been to the Shop and told me.
Back to the deception part. Not only do we help you, the gift giver, select the right gift, but we keep it quiet when your gift recipient comes sniffing around trying to determine whether or not you have been by the Shop. When it comes to those inquiries, we “Know Nothing!”
My favorite story of gift-giving deception involved a Ross fly reel. Ross is a higher-end fly reel but this particular season they were having a model change and so one of the reel models was marked down $100.
One of the shop regulars saw the reel on clearance and asked me if I could hold it until after the holiday so he could use his “Christmas Money” to buy the reel. I told him I couldn’t hold the reel because of the season but that he needn’t worry as the reel was still a bit on the pricey side, even with the discount.
That weekend, his wife came into the shop and asked if I knew of anything that her husband wanted for a gift. I told her that he was just in the shop, drooling over the Ross reel. She looked at me and said, “I’ll take the reel. When he comes in next week to buy it, the reel will be gone. I know he will be disappointed until Christmas Day. Whatever you do, don’t tell him I bought it.”
As predicted, he did come back to the shop to buy the reel. I looked at him and said, “Sorry, someone came in over the weekend and bought it. I’ll call Ross and see if I can get another one.”
The next time I saw the guy was the day after Christmas.
“You got me good on that one. You and my wife really pulled off one of my best gifts ever.”
Please shop local this Holiday Season. Not only are your local merchants more flexible than online shopping but they can help you make the season memorable.
Steve Angers, a native to the Conway area, is the author of the book “Fly Fishing New Hampshire’s Secret Waters” and operates the North Country Angler.
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