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You’ll go to San Francisco soon ? You lucky guys !! The town is awesome, super rich culturaly and historicaly, it’s so dynamic and cool at the same time, the ocean and the bay are just nearby, it’s sunny (yeah I know, when there is no fog), great IPAs almost everywhere, crazy concerts… and a fly shop that rocks : the California Fly Shop.

It’s one of the biggest fly shop in California (read the dedicated article in The Drake), entirely and freely thought from an empty shell, industrial/high tech design (you’re in the Silicon Valley man !), a hundred of fly rods on the displays inspired from fencing, flies to fish the entire world… all you need to make flyfishers dreaming. Huge bonus for us Frenchies, it’s probably one of the only shops in the US where you can speak French ( teh owner Xavier, is French and has been living in the Bay area for over 30 years) ! It’s a Urban Fly Shop, in other words a fly shop where you can get your advises and gear to fish within the region (stripers and trouts) but also for all your trips abroad. It can be a very good starting point for any mouchingman or mouchingwoman going on a fly fishing trip on the american continent.

The shop is vast, very bright with a heigh ceiling, with a modern art galery ambience. The coffee corner welcomes all the visitors who want to watch a fly fishing video during lunch break while eating their sandwiches (coffee is very kindly offered !). All the displays have been designed for the shop and have casters so that the shop can be transformed in club in a blink of an eye for a fly tying evening, a fly fishing event, a movie projection… and if the counter reminds you a bar, it’s because it’s often used like that.

Eventually, you could come to see all this. But what we retain from the California Fly Shop, it’s the staff. They are truely welcoming, cool and very professionnal at the same time (that’s how you do it in California). The shop is not directly in San Francisco so they offer you to come grab you at the Caltrain station (San Carlos) to bring you to the shop ! they are all very good professionnals, talented flyfishermens and flyfisherwomen, great flytiers (Shawn, you rock buddy). And to be sure that they are always top level, they have to go on a fishing trip at least once per year (paid by the shop).

Do not miss it ! It’s close to the airport so do it like we did, jump there just after landing.