Where The Fly Fishing Gear Deals Are
Cyber Monday on The Sidewalk Today
Black Friday passed by without me coming out of my shell, seeing my shadow, or sticking my head out of the foxhole I have been digging for about a month now. It is what it is, and I realize I am making a huge mistake when I wait for the fly fishing stars to align perfectly before twisting the key on that old Toyota. Even twisting that 20-year-old key causes consternation these days, like salt on a slug, as my vehicle begins to whine for the attention I don’t have the ability to provide.
All this keyboard time has brought clarity in one category of writing – showing and telling – that I have been trying to find for the better part of a year now. That is in the area of “Fly Fishing Gear Reviews,” and the actual gear I review.
You will recall, this site started rolling during the U.S. great depression of 2008. I grow more fond of those days now, fewer jets flying over, no construction vehicles on abandoned DFW highways … yup, those were the days (not)! Along with the startup of this road we have been going down here, came my original tagline “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids,” and boy did that fit like a sweaty golf glove! People across fly fishing immediately began nibbling at the same tagline without blatantly crossing the line, but what our Culture on the Skids told me was – it spoke to where a lot of fly fishers were at that time.
Without getting into micro and macro economics, and bore you to death, I can say we slowly got out of that depression, and along with that we moved away from the “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids.” I did that with great hesitation, lots of consideration – it was a premeditated – act of evolving. I certainly know some significant numbers of friends, fly fishers and myself never really recovered from that 2008 event, although my situation was compounded later, in 2015.
Better gear costs more money, doesn’t it! But with the teens picture starting to look better, a significant number of readers and growing number of YouTube watchers were slowly starting to feel like spending a little more for the better gear. So following that road sign, I began the drive into more expensive gear reviews, and this has gone on … all the way into 2025.
But now, we are beginning to see an extreme economic canyon in fly fishing once again. Those who can afford top-shelf? still buy off the top shelf, while there are those who live in the valley of, and on the other side of this old canyon. We are seeing the disparity between top-shelf and good affordable fly fishing gear grow … as wide as the Gulf of America.
Be it tariffs, corporate takeovers, misadventure (See the ORVIS Story), or some other fundamental business error; top shelf companies have certain demands that must be met. I go over those demands in this story – A Simple Answer That Confounds the Most Experienced Fly Fishers.
Sole Searching
I was beginning a search for a new pair of boots a few months ago. So, I began searching for affordability with quality with quiet desperation building. I started with experience and awareness that if WE go too low on the fly fishing gear pricing/brands? On the other end of the “Fly Gape” (I like that term for this new era!), I was shocked by how out of control top-shelf fly fishing brands had launched itself. (NOTE: FULL DISCLOSURE. People! I have been privileged not to have to pay full retail on brands since the days of reviewing top-shelf brands) Even at my pricing, things are getting out of hand.
Going too low on the cost spectrum blatantly degrades the quality we can wish for. We are in for nothing but junk and trouble. (That is why I hit a dead end on my TEMU videos. I had to stop before I ended up with a storage unit full of junk reels, rods and waders I would only TRY but never USE. My readers and watchers have not budgeted me for that kind of adventure, and honestly the US economic turn has dialed my “optional income” (from fly line mats) down to zero-point-zero-zero in the last half of 2025.
Suddenly, it hit me (and maybe I am a little … slow). I will start 2026 Fly Fishing Gear Reviews with full respect for the Fly Gape. On one side of the Fly Gape, you will find reviews of gear I purchase for myself that is top-shelf (as top shelf as I can afford), and gear that is on the other side of the gape. That other side is GOOD fly fishing GEAR at a GOOD PRICE. There’s not anything around fly fishing that I can ever remember or ever imagine calling, “a great price,” but we will be looking for gear that leaves a little less buyer’s remorse and in a lot of cases – keeps us happily married.
Hopscotch Around Fly Fishing Reviews
While it would be the most thorough and fair thing in a fly fishing gear review, to review the top-shelf boot, and its counterpart on the other side of the Fly Gape, how feasible would that be? I buy gear to WEAR, USE and review IN USE and upon the gear’s RETIREMENT. I have not been positioned by brands to get a full set of new boots, every style every year (yet, c’mon guys show some love). I can always pass along informed answers to almost any gear question you might have though. So the 2026 Gear Reviews start in December, and here’s what I will have to show you.
- Paramount Wading Boots – a cost effective Wading Boot
- Paramount Rain Jacket – a cost effective Jacket for Layering
- Mountain Khaki Rugged Fall/Winter pants – Top Shelf Men’s pants that are GUARANTEED and WILL LAST several years
- My Blue River Gravel Bike – from Walmart
- AND MY WANTS LIST – Simms Ultralight Waders for Blue River bike rides
FULL DISCLOSURE – Texas Fly Caster Partnerships With Manufacturers
As readers and watchers realize, I began down the affordable fly fishing brands trail long ago, but in drips and drabs – for fear of losing those decades old partnerships with top-shelf brands. But, by recommending the new cost effective alternatives, I now have a first-time opportunity to earn a few cents every time you order one of these items through THE LINKS I PROVIDE in the stories on this website, AND IN the YouTube descriptions in those videos. Just for the FULLEST DISCLOSURE: Those clicks and purchases you make from those clicks? They amount to nickels and dimes (over several months), just as I have disclosed on the YouTube Discussion Board for the TexasFlyCaster Channel. If people start clicking, and watching, and I have revenue to burn? I will be sure to let you know, and you can spend it for me – on the exact gear YOU WANT REVIEWED.
CYBER MONDAY: MY OWN FLY STORES in the Fly Gape
I have created a couple of affiliate stores, in an attempt to highlight and compress the clicking down into a simple stop for you to find and perhaps consider purchasing gear I use – of all kinds. Those affiliations include, so far, Walmart and Amazon, yes devil-de and devil-dum. But, you will be instantly surprised by a couple of things! First, you can find a lot of things you never knew you would find at, for instance, Walmart. I bought my Minn-Kota Riptide trolling motor from Walmart online. Best deal, best shipping and still one of the things they carry ten years later. And Amazon? It is entirely possible to split hairs when it comes to what a fly fisher wants, like ultralight SPF pull-over sun hoodies. I have several colors. In the meantime though, here are some links to my different stores at Amazon and Walmart. Always remember, I gotta do what I gotta do.
My AMAZON Fly Fishing Store
My WALMART Fly Fishing Store
- Fishing Store
- Fly Fishing Winter Weight Store
- Fly Fishing Summer Weight Store
- Photography Store
- Fly Fishing Boating Accessory Store
The store on this website and every one of the links above are SAFE to click on, and follow through to! In fact they are safer than hanging out on Facebook, and the hacking thieves that hang out there!
BEST PLACE TO BUY NOW!
It used to be I would recommend a local fly shop first and foremost, and I am still happy to do that for ANY FLY SHOP ANYWHERE. I only have two standards for “LOCAL” fly shops, 1) You have to communicate with me, ask for a reference a video tour, or something tangible for readers, and, 2) For all that work I am happy to do for you, I will gladly accept your referrals on a continuing basis as well! Through all my decades of experience, these two simple things are completely impossible nowadays. Why is that?
I can guarantee you, if you are looking for original gift giving, the best place to buy right now is MY STORE! Right here! And all you have to do is click on the menu at the top of this page. What I offer is unique to fly fishing, and the things that are sometimes, most times, hard to find. This year I also added a new store category, called Fly Fishing Co-Op. That category will surprise you with what’s there. It’s almost like a grab-bag that you can see through!
THERE IS ONE HUGE change coming to YouTube in 2026, that is getting very little coverage right now, and that is the new ability for a video creator (you know, like what I do) to INSERT our own ads in our own videos. I am also assuming this HUGE CHANGE will also cause my partners to insist I drop THEIR OWN ads in my content as well. It would be a natural consequence, don’t you think? But as of this writing, NOT A SINGLE FLY FISHING COMPANY has even begun to think about this – as their opportunity, and I hope they don’t! I am happy to entertain local fly shop’s ads, for the right price, but so many of the DFW fly shops remain mired in the “something for nothing” internet mode, and lacking in their OWN self-promotion planning and execution, I doubt I will hear from them anytime soon. This one thing has the potential to change my landscape for years to come. I can help you with that too … SEE THE VIDEO – Fishing Video Creators Face Extinction Event in 2026.
PUBLISHER’S END NOTE: I am optimistic though. I don’t yet think backtracking down the “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids” makes any sense. I think We are going to get out of this economic disaster a lot faster than we did the 2008 depression. We learned a lot already. It’ll be deeper and shorter, but time is truly relative as we start putting the wraps on 2025. As fast as the pace of North American civics, and the learning of civics for some was in 2025, I believe 2025 will look like the calm before the hurricane-force winds of civic learning and change in 2026.
#flyfishing #retailflyfishing #flyart #fishingchristmas
