Valley Landmark: Murray's Fly Shop

Murray’s Fly Shop is right next to Sal’s in Edinburg. I first learned about the place when we drove over the Massanutten Ridge a few weeks back and found the Burnside Dam (http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/02/burnshire-dam-near-woodstock.html); my web research included a blog post that mentioned Murray’s. So I was very pleased that we just happened to find it on another Sunday drive.

Fly shops are the quintessential “do what you love” businesses. You can tell this from the street, but it is reinforced when you read his catalog: “…I am often asked to help select outfits for various types of fly fishing” starts a page about complete set ups, and “...I choose the terrestrial pattern and size to match the naturals I see along the stream” on another featuring terrestrial dry flies.

I’ve been interested in learning to fly fish for some time. Mary and I took a lesson from an Orvis school at the Homestead a few years ago – still have the photos on my desk – and we’ve taken a walk along some nice trout streams over the last couple of years, enough so that I even have a label for those entries here on the blog (trout streams).


Murray’s offers lessons, books and gear. The two-day schools for trout run on weekdays from April to May, and are two days long. They’re conducted on the Rapidan River inside of SNP. His smallmouth bass schools are done on weekends from June to July in Edinburg, and the fishing is done on either the north or south fork.

Besides the web-site (http://www.murraysflyshop.com/), there is a print catalog, and a blog, plus the regular updates are done via pod cast.

I’ll close the entry with a note from his site about the pod casts:

“…The enhanced weekly report covers streams in and surrounding Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, including; The Shenandoah National Park, George Washington/ Jefferson National Forests, the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River, the James River and unique events on other streams i.e. Shad run on the Rappahannock River.”