Other well known fishing shops?

[Peter Waller]

You are lucky, Sharkbyte, and I would agree that e-bay is now largely overpriced.

[poledark]

What do you call local?? My local shop has closed down..........so now if I want "a few maggots" I have to either make sure I get them in advance or spend an hour or so to drive several miles before I can start to fish.

 

And guess what??? I don't bother, so the supplier loses out.

 

Mat says that he wouldn't miss his local shop and would make sure that he has a good stock of floats etc to see him through. Losing his supply of maggots "on tap" would probably see him not bothering to go tiddler bashing, so he would/will lose out.

 

Sad fact of life that we all want to have our local shop sitting waiting for that moment when we need something, none of us give a damn for the rest of the time.

 

Den

[Steve Walker]

Re the advice given, known locally as 'tackle shop talk', best ignored. Has your local tackle shop ever said 'don't bother, the conditions are crap?' I'm sorry, local tackle shop, but Matt is right.

 

My local tackle shop hasn't, but then I don't need a local tackle shop to tell me the conditions are crap; I drive past the river on my way there. I have, however, been told that by the tackle shop on Lee-On-Solent. We'd already driven all the way there, so we bought some bait and fished anyway. It turned out that the advice we ignored was good.

[Mat Hillman]

What do you call local?? My local shop has closed down..........so now if I want "a few maggots" I have to either make sure I get them in advance or spend an hour or so to drive several miles before I can start to fish.

 

And guess what??? I don't bother, so the supplier loses out.

 

 

I have 5 tackleshops within a 15-20 min walk of my home, 4 of them carry almost exclusively sea tackle/bait, to be expected in a seaside town I guess! the 5th one is almost all coarse, and to be honest I go in there prehaps 5 or 6 times a season, mainly for an occasional pint of maggots.

 

I also have a large Angling Direct warehouse type place about 15mins drive away, Which I prefer to my "local" but I still often find thier prices beaten online (often thier own mail order prices are better than the shop prices!)

 

Mat

[argyll]

I used to have Penge Angling as my local. They employed 14 year olds who could barely spell the word 'carp', but that was the only word that they needed to spell, such was the selling policy of the shop. The only time they bothered to order a selection of pike lures, they put them on the sea fishing section. I used them only for the odd pint of maggots and everything else came from the USA or small UK specialists.

 

Then the two Penge Angling shops were bought by a family group (Anglers Base) who put some adult staff in with a wide fishing experience and knowledge and things changed overnight. Prices were lowered, stock items increased and they encouraged customers to ask for things that they couldn't see immediately on sale. They go out of their way to provide as much competition to the internet as possible. Whilst I still buy on-line, I check out my local shop first for major purchases and buy all loose tackle and bait as a matter of principle from them. I'd really hate to see them go.

Edited April 4, 2006 by argyll

[andyml]

if you don't support your LTS to some degree or other who will be left to supply your maggots etc?

 

it'sa question of balance......with increased competition from the 'net and more price aware customers your LTS dealers will have to be on their toes....

 

brgds <')Andy<

[Bonzo]

We have a number of good tackle shops in my area of which only one I find expensive, the one very close to me is always willing to match most items found on the net, I recentley brought rods,bivvie,bed and chair which as a single purchase he bettered the price I showed him from the net.

[John S]

Re the advice given, known locally as 'tackle shop talk', best ignored. Has your local tackle shop ever said 'don't bother, the conditions are crap?' I'm sorry, local tackle shop, but Matt is right.

 

Yes, I have had advice like that. I've also been told not to visit a particular venue because there was a match on just a couple of days previously and the fish wouldn't be biting, instead he gave me directions to another venue that I didn't even know about. If the shop owner is a good one, he will give you that kind of information, but he won't be able to if he's had to close down because all his customers are buying over the 'net.

 

Also, when I buy a rod or reel, I like to feel how it handles before I hand my money over. You cannot do that over the computer (not yet anyway - give it a few more years though.... ).

[maver_fan]

well done all those supporting your local tackle shops. as i have said at somepoint on here or one of the other forums. your local tackle shop is the place you try out a new product. would you spend £1000 on a pole without seeing it and having a feel first? would you pay a couple of hundred pounds on a seatbox that you have never sat on?

there is no web dealer who will send you an item just for you to try it out and then take it back if it turned out to be to floppy or the seat not comfy.

 

also mail order maggots in the middle of summer? i don't think so. who else can supply fresh maggots (chilled)? your local tackle shop.

 

what happens when you need some more shot or you realise that you need some hooks? you pop into your local tackle shop. if it wasn't there it would be log on to the website type in your details you pay by card for an item worth a couple of pounds at most (delivery charge?, card handling fee for a small amount?) 2-3 days later it arrives. simple. but you needed them for the match the day after you noticed you were short. if you supported and used your tackle shop for the bigger items it would be there for the smaller ones.

 

most times people are afraid to ask (the british reserve) but if you ask for a discount or a price match the shop will normally see what they can do.

 

it is upto you. but i for one will keep going to my tackle shop.

[Jamie Beard]

Sorry its taken me a while to get back to this. No exaggeration i go in my tackle shop at last 3 times a week because at the moment i have been going fishing everyday on the weekend and buying tackle within the week. I have full faith in my tackle shops ability but i just wanted to buy things that are sold in other shops because me mam dont no nout about the internet so i cant buy out over it becasue she doesnt trust it . So im paying silly prices like 80p a feeder in my tackle shop when on ebay i can pay a 10pounds at the most for 20. So im abit gutted about that so i just thought i would shop around thats why i wondered what other shops there were.