Old Stock Freak Show at Aberdeen Bait & Tackle
According to Google Maps, it should take 6 hours and 42 minutes of straight driving to get from my house to the South Carolina rental house I stayed in for the recent Elite Series event on Santee Cooper, but I took a little detour, and that made all of the difference. I added a little over an hour of windshield time to my route, much of it on back roads, but I knew where I was headed: Aberdeen Bait & Tackle in Aberdeen, N.C.
Two decades ago, when the internet was becoming a more widely-used tool, owner Robbie Everett used to distribute an emailed list of lures he’d hunted down, happened upon or coerced some old widow to sell. You could get Japan-only Heddon colors, discontinued crankbaits, and just about any special run Zoom pattern. In principle, that hasn’t changed. He still has all sorts of crazy items, at fair prices, tucked into his little store.
On the way to the 2015 Classic at Hartwell, my friend Terry Battisti took me there, but I hadn’t been back since. The trip to Santee gave me that opportunity.
It’s the type of place you might miss if you didn’t know where it was located. There’s a produce stand out front (closed when I arrived on a Wednesday about noon) and a sign that you might miss if you blink.
Step inside, however, and you’re in a totally different world. No, you’re not going to find pre-Rapala Wiggle Warts or other commonly known treasures, but if you’re looking for old Stanley spinnerbaits, plastics that were popular in the mid-90s, and other goodies – along with a full range of modern items – this is the place.
For those of you old enough to remember Danny Joe Humphrey, there are these.
And a memory of my friend Ken Cook.
The only time I’ve ever seen “wiggling” spelled not “wigglin’” but rather “wig’ln.”
You can tell that it’s old school if the packaging is faded like this.
Only one of these three is still fishing for a living, but at $1.99 this is a bargain.
And any Zoom item you could ever want, including colors you’ve never heard of before.
It’s worth the detour. Hell, it’s worth a detour twice as long. Even if you don’t buy something (trust me, you’ll buy something), this is what a tackle store should be.
If you can’t make it to Aberdeen (why can’t you?), they have a website and a Facebook page to inquire about those special motor oil worms you slayed ‘em on in ’82.
