Waterville is located at the confluence of Big Pine and Little Pine Creeks at the gateway to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and the Pennsylvania Wilds. The Pine Creek area provides the outdoor enthusiast thousands of acres of public land and hundreds of miles of state forest roads and hiking trails to explore. The area also offers an incredible variety of mountain freestone trout streams for the fly fisher to experience.
To enter McConnell’s Country Store, located in the village of Waterville, is like taking a step back in time to experience the country store setting of by-gone days. The Country Store Fly Shop is an integral part of McConnell’s Country Store; however, while the atmosphere may lend itself to an earlier era, it is a modern full-service fly shop fully equipped to meet the needs of today’s fly tiers and fly fishers.
The Country Store Fly Shop carries a wide array of fly rods, reels, lines, wading gear and accessories. We are an authorized pro shop for Sage, Winston, G. Loomis, Hardy, Cortland and Reddington rods. Our inventory includes Sage, Waterworks/Lampson, Hardy, Reddington and Cortland reels as well as Cortland and Rio lines. We offer Fishpond, Simms and Reddington vests and waders and wading shoes by Simms, Reddington and Frogg Togg. Our line of fly fishing accessories includes a variety of items from nets manufactured in the U.S. to leaders and tippet material and most everything in between.
For many fly fishers having a fish inhale a fly they have tied contributes to a heightened level of satisfaction derived from the fly fishing experience. The Country Store Fly Shop carries a full line of fly tying tools and materials to meet the needs of fly tiers from beginner through advanced. We offer Regal and Cortland vises and a wide variety of materials to tie anything from hackled and no hackle dry flies, emergers, nymphs, spinners and streamers for trout to patterns for bass and saltwater species, as well.
The vast majority of fly fishers choose to fish with flies they’ve purchased from reputable sources. The Country Store Fly Shop offers a large selection of hand tied flies for the discriminating fly fisher. While the emphasis of our fly selection is on hatch matching and attractor patterns for trout we also carry flies for bass and saltwater fishing.
In keeping with the tradition of the old country store era the Country Store Fly Shop staff believes that the foundation upon which a successful business is built is good old fashioned customer service.
The staff’s combined fly fishing experience spans more than 85 years; it is this experience which allows the Country Store Fly Shop to provide insight and advice to our customers regarding all facets of fly tying and fly fishing materials, equipment and techniques. The staff values its customers and strives to ensure that, wherever possible, the customer’s needs are met. The staff will gladly assist in setting up and rigging equipment, all the while sharing the knowledge in how to do so, from assembling a rod to tying a perfection loop or a nail knot.
The Country Store Fly Shop strives to help our fly tiers and fly fishers increase their knowledge base and, to that end, provides educational opportunities throughout the year. Free seminars on fly tying and fly fishing are offered through the winter months. Classes on fly tying and fly fishing are provided for individuals and small groups and are tailored to the needs and experience level of the participants. These classes are scheduled at the customer’s request. Seminars and classes are conducted by friendly and knowledgeable staff with many years of instructional experience.
The Country Store Fly Shop offers guide service that takes fly fishers to several top producing streams in the central and north central areas of the state. These trips give the fly fisher a better understanding of the streams as well as techniques and equipment best suited to experience consistent success. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned fly fisher our guides can help you learn the finer points of fishing the mountain freestone streams of the north central region or the limestone-influenced streams of the central region. The shop also offers hosted fly fishing destination trips. Contact the shop for details and then pack your bags and join us for some great fishing in some of the most incredible areas of the country…and beyond!