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« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date: 09 March 2010
By Dennis Lemmon
I CAN remember, as can many of our older readers, when in Leeds we had a profusion of fishing tackle shops.
There seemed to be one on every street corner, in fact where I used to live on Woodhouse Lane there were four within a few hundred yards of home.
These shops had one thing in common for by today's standards they were very tiny and often doubled u
ADVERTISEMENT p as pet stores to supplement their income.
They carried very little in the way of tackle, just a few of the basics such as lines, shot, floats and maggots with maybe the odd couple of rods.
I reckon that in the immediate post-war period there must have been at least 40 of these within easy reach of the city centre.
Compare that to today when there are now only about half a dozen and one of these has been up for sale for over two years.
The one-man shop is virtually finished for they cannot compete with the big boys who can buy in bulk and offer huge discounts on everything from baits to poles, rods and reels.
Add to that the huge mail order offers where everyone is competing with one another and the internet. the trade
years ago we went into our local tackle shop to buy our weekly couple of pints of maggots and then had to move out of the way of other customers.
Compare that to the huge shops that we have nowadays such as the one in Leeds for it is bigger than some supermarkets, boasting floor space of 15,000 square feet, where you can buy anything related to angling.
Also the current trend is for the commercials to have their on-site tackle shop and that is another nail in the coffin for the small trader.
I will be sorry to see them go, but I can only see some of them lasting just a few more years before their premises are turned into yet more takeaway outlets.
LOCAL entrepreneur Geoff Cairns has poured thousands of pounds of sponsorship money into the Crown Leisure series which is fished throughout the winter at Kippax Park.
He recently decided to spice up the contest by turning up on the day of the match with three sealed envelopes, each containing a cash prize.
The system for winning is as follows. the winner of the match selects one of the draw tickets which had been returned to the draw bag.
the person with the number drawn out has the choice of the sealed envelopes.
There is an old adage that says: "When your luck is in then it's in" and that certainly applied to Leeds angler Tom Rodgers last Sunday for February 28 just happened to be his birthday.
So after the usual round of mickey taking he drew peg five and went on to win the match.
Tom then had to draw the number for the sealed envelope and surprisingly he drew peg five again and when it came to selecting the sealed envelope he hit the jackpot.
the one he picked contained five crisp £20 notes. It could not have happened to a nicer guy, well done Tom.
HEAVY frost hit the latest of the Bobco sponsored winter series at Carpvale, but lake regular Mick Addinall came out on top by using sweetcorn as bait to take nine small carp for a 21-0 total.
The new Spring Series kicks off in two weeks' time and at the time of writing there are four vacancies. anyone interested should contact Kevin Whincup on 01904 738249.
Bobco Winter Series at Carpvale: 1, Mick Addinall (York) 21-0; 2, M Green (Greens Fisheries) 15-8; 3, J Haw (Mitre Pets) 9-0; 4, S Pearson (AJ Tackle) 7-7.
A FEW dates for your diary.
This Sunday is the last day for fishing on rivers, it will recommence on June 15.
Meanwhile, the current fishing licence expires on Wednesday, March 31 and can be renewed at any post office.
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