The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Stour Otter wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:41 am Dave Swallow "Custom Tackle" Columbia Road, Bournemouth. It was shop policy not to wear waders in the shop as light fingered anglers were known to drop floats inside of them. The main attraction as a thirteen-year-old was to see his wife Thelma sat on a bar stool behind the counter in her mini skirt and black knee high boots. Happy days.

Stour Otter

I frequented Dave Swallows tackle shop in ringwood circa 1975 when travelling with the RDAA match secretary Pete Hutchinson (RIP) for a season when he lived in Southampton

Reids tackle just outside Wilton in Wiltshire,a small space ,part of a removal firms premises,he had more stuff than you could shake a stick at,float making materials,diy rod making ,second hand section,and the place just smelled amazing with the ground baits,i can still smell it to this day.the man was always happy to see us kids,he didnt mind selling us a half pint of maggots,but then he knew that when we were flush after some oat picking or something we would be making a beeline to his shop to spend the lot!

Chubman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:45 pm ive been using the same tackle shop for over 6o years, not many proper tackle shops left now, use them or loose them, homestores of swaythling southampton is well worth a visit if your in hampshire

I now use Homestores whenever I can, but only for around 10 years or so, a mere youngster!

First proper tackle shop would've been Bowlers on the Merry Fiddlers roundabout in Dagenham, tackle shop on one side, that was run by Mr Bowler, and a 'knick=knack' shop on the other that was run by his wife. Shops were combined into one after old Mr Bowler died, Keith Bowler then took over and was still running the shop when I moved to Hampshire in '96. I think Keith died around 2007 and the shop closed in 2015. I used to buy all my bait and tckle there for the weekly outings with the White Hart Dagenham Angling Society.

I wish I could remember which tackle shop I used as a youngster. It would have been in Grantham where I was st school. I do remember buying bits in Woolworths but usually when shopping with my mum and I could drop bits into her basket!
We used to fish at Denton Reservoir a few miles from the village where we lived. We strapped our rods to our cross bars, filled our saddle bags with tackle and lunch and off we went on our great adventures! Happy days indeed!!

The first tackle shop I visited was situated on Tavistock Street, Bedford. It was a very small shop with double fronted bay windows that had a display of lovely rods, reels, chairs and nets. As a youngster looking at that display, I could only dream of owning one those cane or glass fibre rods and a mitchell reel.

As you opened the door, the counter was no more than 6ft away. Inside there were so many items stacked on shelves or hanging from the ceiling that you didn't know where to start looking, or in my case, start dreaming.

I believe it was run by two brothers. I can always remember one of them, as he had a very bad limp. There were always customers in the shop, but if you went on a Saturday morning you would end up in queue that filtered onto the pavement. Looking back now it must been a sight to see. Men in line with maggot boxes and roll ups in their mouths talking amongst themselves sharing their fishing stories of new and old.

I used to visit with my dad, the brothers new what he wanted. A couple pints of mixed maggots and a pint of casters. He knew what most of his customers wanted. I remember hearing him greet each customer on first name basis followed by "The usual?" When I was a little older I continued to go there and I became regular and was greeted just the same as all their other customers. I felt like a man.....The boys club!

Unfortunately many years later they closed down. To this day I'm not sure why as they were very busy, maybe they past away, but I had many fond memories in that shop. As a child holding my fathers hand and admiring all the goodies to my left and right and above my head. I would carefully listen to the adults talking and try and learn the fishing language, or take note of some tips on fishing.

My current tackle shop is out of Bedford town. I support them as much as I can, more so with all the bigger online stores, which in time will destroy our tackle shops. Once those magical fishing shops disappear, they are gone for good.

The first tackle shop I visited was called Dixon Bros.

Weybridge Guns and Tackle, originally located at Temple Market at the end of Oakland’s Drive, and some 30 years back moved a couple of miles along the same road to Oakland’s Village in Surrey. Proprietors Ian and Mary Colclough.
I bought many many firsts there. First proper match rod when I thought I was ready to move up from the tank aerial.
It was a Henry Aiken hollow (shhh.... glass) which I still have - described to me as sufficient for Dace to Barbel... it was many many years later before I knew what the latter looked like outside of pictures of FWK Wallis fish, and those caught by Salmon anglers on the Royalty stretch.

In the original shop, bait was kept below stairs. I remember the late Mary Colclough descending through a trap door to fetch my 20 pence worth of maggots ( that was the mid 70s to be fair)
I bought my Mitchell 206 there and later a 301 and a Mitchell match.

Wonderful folks, and still open 3 days a week though focuses more on the gun side now.

Another of note was Linley Brothers in Harrogate ( gone now ?) which I preferred to the more modern ‘American’ supplier, especially for a few Grayling flies on the annual pilgrimage at Christmas to the in laws before venturing across to Bolton Abbey or the Nidd.

And finally a shop very close to me, alas now gone too.I never ventured into it much but was intrigued to see CY being hurled out of on page 113 in The Deepening Pool. It’ll now defrag your hard drive or something

Fred Harveys in Barton Street Gloucester. My two shillings and sixpence pocket money used for a sixpence bus ride into Gloucester, spend the rest in Fred Harveys on hooks, lone and/or a quill float then walk four miles home. Oh the innocence of youth

The first tackle shop I ever entered was in Rosehill, near Sutton, Surrey.

I bought a rod. He said what do you like to fish for? and I said Perch were nice.


Little did I know he has sold me a 9 foot heavy spinning rod. It was bloody useless at casting a float, but I thought I was the problem.

Now I can't remember the name of the shop, but Phil Waller once told me it was also a shoe shop! I really didn't notice if so. It was on the south-east corner of the roundabout by the road to the hospital, if anyone knows it?

This could be the shop, behind the bus:

There was not a tackle shop on the estate where I lived but a post office/hardware store that had a few items that was where I made my first purchase of a float on a bamboo winder complete with hook line and sinkers. Later, a wonderful chap Mr Blake opened a pet stores and had a dedicated small counter for fishing tackle.He had endless patients with us kids spending our pocket money but I got my first fixed spool reel as an Christmas present from that shop. Forays further a field took me to South Norwood Lake via a lift with dad to work. Angling Supplies of South Norwood High St. meet my needs... a proper old fashioned premises (always known as Jacks) smelling of linseed oil and maggots; it lasted until the 1970s.

Barry's Tackle and Guns in North Walsham was the first tackle shop that I parted with my pocket money in, a tiny shop rammed to the gunwales with all sorts of wonderous stuff, I still have a couple of rods made with EARC and North Western blanks from there. When that closed down I used to catch the train to Norwich and visit John Wilsons Tackle Den.