Four Transcendent Tackle Store Experiences

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I cannot pass by a good tackle store. In fact, I go out of my way to visit the best ones, and have even developed a guide to proper shopping techniques. I’ve visited great stores from California to Tokyo to Brazil, and the act of crossing the doorway for the first time continues to give me chills. Unfortunately, there are fewer great new shops to choose from, partially because I’ve been to many of the great ones, and partially because online shopping and big box stores have killed off many of the Mom and Pops.

Nevertheless, I haven’t given up, and I’ll always have the memories of some of my favorite shopping experiences. Here are four that stand out.

Northern Bass Supply (Brentwood, NH) – May 1997

I really didn’t start fishing seriously until I got out of law school in 1995, and despite joining a bass club that fall, I didn’t make my first “long haul” trip until I went to Lake Winnipesaukee in May of 1997. My friend Bill Roberts and his then-girlfriend-now-wife Rose had been vacationing there for several years. His tales of spawning smallmouths everywhere – which turned out to be mostly true – convinced me to rent a cabin up there and drag my little 17’10” Ranger 361v up through the northeast corridor. During one day when the weather was kind of nasty, he told me we should drive about an hour away to the town of Brentwood to go to Northern Bass. I didn’t know what to expect, because frankly I hadn’t been to many independent shops at that time, but what I found was a treasure trove of gear I’d never seen before. I really hit peak tackle excitement when I had to take a leak and wandered back through the warehouse to hit the men’s room. It was simply loaded with more gear than imagined existed anywhere. I ended up buying a bunch of gitzits, heavy spinnerbaits and jerkbaits, lures which for the most part I wouldn’t use until I returned to NH in subsequent years.

Fun Fact 1: For those of you who are like me and old enough to remember, NBS had provided great service and a free catalog which didn’t have color photos, but rather sketches and black and white photos of the gear for sale.

Fun Fact 2: NBS was later taken over by Tackle Supply Depot in Connecticut, which recently closed its doors. Tough times for many independent shops.

Toledo Town and Tackle (Many, LA) – February 2001

While I had fished three FLW tournaments as a co-angler in 1997, the first BASS event I fished was at Toledo Bend in 2001. We stayed across the Pendleton Bridge from the launch site, on the Texas side, but obviously made the trip to Louisiana every day either to launch, to meet our partners, or to eat. I’m not sure if it’s still the case, but at that time the center of the fishing universe in the town of Many was Toledo Town, which had not only a tackle store, but a restaurant and several other businesses. After the registration meeting at Cypress Bend, I stopped in the shop once again for some last minute supplies. While I purchased some local plastics and spinnerbaits for the flooded conditions, the real attraction was watching David Fritts take a co-angler friend on a shopping spree. The crankmaster did not hold back, filling his friend’s basket to the brim. We watched the cashier dump it out, ring up the items one by one, and reach the then unimaginable (to 31 year-old me) total of $300 or $400.

Fun Fact: I finished 18th in that tournament and caught all of my fish on a single War Eagle spinnerbait I brought from home.

Delta Tackle (Manteca, CA) – April 2003

After competing as an Amateur in the 2003 Bassmaster event on the California Delta (won, not surprisingly, by Robert Lee), I had a day to kill before my flight home from Sacramento. Luckily OT Fears and Kenyon Hill were still in Stockton for a day before heading up the road to compete at Clear Lake. We went crappie fishing that day to stock their coolers for the week. After returning back to the hotel, we went down the highway to Manteca to what was then Delta Tackle. They were a longtime advertiser in BASS Times, and I’d ordered from them and seen some of the western specialty items through Bass West magazine, but it was the first time I’d seen those bright orange spinnerbaits and “Witches Tit” soft plastics in person. I was in heaven. What I remember most is OT and Kenyon fawning over the new 10- or 12-inch color Lowrance units. I could not conceive at the time of any angler needing something like that for anything short of an oceangoing vessel. Thirty three year old me would be shocked to learn what has come along since, and that most of the pros (and many weekend warriors) have four or five such units on their boats today.

Fun Fact 1: I’m pretty sure that’s where I purchased my first pack of Roboworms.

Fun Fact 2: It appears that Delta Tackle is now Fisherman’s Warehouse Manteca.

Rollie and Helen’s Musky Shop (Minocqua, WI) – September 2014

The three shops listed above may not all be exclusively dedicated to bass, but they’re pretty bass-centric. Not so this next entrant. In 2014 I accepted the invitation of my friend TJ Maglio, then living in Madison, Wisconsin, to visit for a few days. From Madison, we drove a few hours north (yes, Alabamamians, there are places north of Badgerville) to his cabin, and then proceeded to fish seven or eight different lakes. We caught largemouths, smallmouths, walleye, pike and muskies. We also visited several small shops in the region, but Rollie and Helen’s was my favorite. In some ways it was like shopping in Japan – a store full of gear I’d never seen before. I don’t think I purchased anything, but now kind of wish I had. I was just getting into the Whopper Plopper that year, and I wish I’d taken serious stock of some of the heavy duty musky versions that would probably excel for peacock bass, golden dorado, or even in saltwater.

Fun Fact: If you find yourself in Wisconsin, try some Spotted Cow by New Glarus Brewing Company. It goes great with cheese curds.