Tackle shops - The good, the bad and the completely useless...

With a week in search of angling nirvana on the much hyped river Wye rapidly approaching, I popped out to get some bits and pieces in preparation for the trip. Now, this in itself poses a problem: where to go? Until about a year ago, it would have been straight to Academy Angling in Sandhurst, Berkshire, which was a brilliant little shop with a great range of stock, and a proprietor who was friendly (even if it was your first time in his shop) and was full of helpful local knowledge of the type that money just can't buy. The shop closed due to an unfeasible increase in rent and in its place now stands a curry house that does a good line in vindaloo, but struggles a bit with maggot and caster. Up the road is Yateley Angling Centre situated in the very heart of carp country and surrounded by the Cemex Yateley pits. As a result, unless you want 10 kilos of boilies or a spod rod, - “We don't have worms, got boilies though” - you might as well head back to the curry house where your search for any match or pleasure gear may well yield better results.

So two choices remain, the shop in the town where I live which has bee consistently rubbish and particularly cliquey for the last 15 years, or one slightly further afield that isn't bad but tends to turn into a fireworks emporium at this time of year to the point where you have to play 'spot the tackle' amongst the rockets and bangers. So with teeth gritted, I chose the former and will endeavour to explain my customer experience and possibly justify my comment above.

Fireworks and guns also play a large part in this shop's stocking agenda at the moment, but more floor space means the tackle still gets a look-in. On arrival, a sign on the door reading 'Under new management' raised a glimmer of hope somewhere deep inside me but I wasn't holding out for any drastic changes.

A browse around the shop showed that little had changed. New management, it seems, has lead to a bigger range of kit and it could even be argued that the shop is starting to veer away from a carp bias, but the prices were still too high for my not-quite-bulging wallet. Many of the floats were priced at two or even three pounds plus – surely a lot in anyone's book for a single peacock waggler – and a Seymo loop tier, essentially a small piece of plastic with no moving parts, was four quid! I collected a few bits but by no means all that I needed, placed them on the counter before wandering behind it – by invitation – to look at the hooks and line. And then the fun began...

I put a packet of size 14 hooks on the counter whereupon the chap behind the till told me it was getting a bit cold for hooks that big unless I was fishing for “proper fish”.

“I've got a week on the Wye”, I replied, “so definitely after something decent”.

He then proceeded to explain with a certain air of arrogance how he'd fished a match last week and caught a carp at around 8lbs on a pole fishing a single red maggot on a size 16. As it transpired, he was fishing a 'lake' where his pole was nearly touching the far bank and the fish really didn't have far to go in terms of making runs. I wouldn't be surprised if it virtually climbed into his net just for a few extra square inches. I didn't have the heart to burst his bubble and explain that I actively try to avoid this happening when I'm targeting roach, fishing the pole on a local still water.

His assumption that I was some sort of novice was ill founded but would have been understandable if useful advice was offered. It wasn't. The ignorant git simply proceeded to gibber patronising nonsense at me until I paid up and left. Not, however, before he'd said: “so what is this Wye, a lake is it”...

I want to see tackle shops succeed and remain on the high street as much as the next angler, maybe even more, and for them not to fall victim of stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap internet-based emporiums. They are, afterall, the face of angling on the high street and I want them to remain there and prosper. A kid who's new to the sport can't go to an internet store for his first bits of tackle and get the full run down on how to use them, but a decent shop can provide this sort of service and nurture our future anglers – a duty that should not be shirked for the sake of an elderly ego in need of a polish.

Fishing platforms on the River Wye - Letter to the Angling Times

Following an article in last week's Angling Times 'Angling is sold down the river' p6, November 3-9, I thought I'd write them a letter to them and offer my opinion on the subject. Keep checking this blog to see how I got on when I fished the mighty river last week. For now, here's the letter:

Dear Richard,

Having just returned from a week fishing on the Wye in Hereford, I am amazed to learn that plans for fishing platforms on the stretch have been turned down by the Environment Agency, much to the chagrin of the local angling community. Many of the pegs along both banks of the stretch are at best difficult to fish from and at worst, dangerous, especially at this time of year when the steep banks are muddy and slippery. The local authority, which owns the banks, should realise what an incredible fishery they have right on their doorstep and work with the EA and Hereford and District AA to install permanent platforms. It will benefit all parties long-term as more visiting and local anglers will be able to use the river more regularly, generating more local income and encouraging more people to fish there. Otherwise it's only a matter of time before an accident occurs that could so easily be fatal and will have major repercussions for angling on this prime stretch of roach-filed river.

Yours sincerely