Ultra remote Rainbow Lake, New York, buried deep within six million-acre Adirondack State Park, may seem an unlikely place for any business, let alone a startup flyshop. But that hasn't deterred area native Vince Wilcox, who moved his online Colorado operations east and opened Wiley's Flies in May 2008.

When John and Shirley Hagan first opened Portland’s Northwest Flyfishing in May of 1993, Czechoslovakia was dissolving, Rodney King was testifying, and the Second Coming of the Spey rod was still a decade away. But 17 years later, the Hagens still offer the quality products and service that East Side Portlanders have come to expect.

Whistler, B.C.
Fly fishing has yet to gain traction in the wide world of Olympic-caliber "sports"—trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, curling, ping pong, to name a few of our favorites—but that has not deterred Whistler Flyfishing owner Brian Niska from reaping rewards with the 2010 Games touching down on his home turf this week.

Orlando Outfitters first opened its doors in January of 2005. Since then, Tim and TJ Bettis, along with shop manager Chris Barco, have shown that Orlando has much more than just the Magic Kingdom. With three full-time employees and a couple of part-timers, the shop always has someone ready to talk fishing. Redfish and seatrout are the primary targets for the guys at the shop, but they also fish for warmwater species like bass and sunfish, as well as snook, tarpon and black drum.