Raw Deal For Pike Anglers

[Les Clark ( not too proud to nick a good idea fro]

I may of mentioned this before but I am really peeved off at the lack of pike tackle sold in tackle shops .

I have been to 3 local shops this week looking for some good basic semi barbless trebles and all 3 shops couldn`t help me ,in fact they all had very little stock in at all and only a choice of one maker , Fox , I`m not knocking Fox but i want more choice .

If I want carp gear there is a wide range to choose from and all 3 shops are the D.Bs .

I also understand that pike anglers are a bit thin on the ground compered with the carp angler but surely they can carry a bit better selection , I also understand that they don`t want money tied up in stock that they will get stuck with , but i`m not talking about thousands of pounds just a few hundred pounds for a good selection of end tackle , not rods or reels which they would carry already or could be ordered in .

It doesn`t help the youngster or the newcomer to pike fishing if all is on the shelves it a few bit s and bob`s and they end up with a mishmash of gear , not down to their own fault .

TACKLE DEALERS PLEASE TAKE NOTE !/forum/smilies/angry_smiley.gif

 

[yoggy]

I quiteagree Les. My localcompared to other tackle shops is quite large.

But despite this the spacein the shop dedicated to Pike tackle is extremely small.

I find this hard to understand as the shop in question is only about 6 miles from the Fens. Prime Pike fishing!!!. Myself and most of the local lads nearly always order gear from the internet. I did actually mention this a few months ago to the owners and they said they`d look into it.........I`ve heard that one before!!!

 

[Coxy]

My local tackle shop in Cambridge is not to bad, but then as Yoggy sais it's also onthe Southernedge of fenlands"prime pike fishing".

But then i guess for most small tackle shops it's a case of supply & demand, no point ordering loads of top name gear if it won't sell.

Most of my terminal tackle - Trace wire, hooks & swivels ect is purchaced 30 miles away in Suffolk.

What realywinds me upis some of the rubbish like gags & inadiquatedrop backindicaters in the 4" x 4"predater section, when theres a whole wall devoted to decent quality specialist carp gear.

 

[Les Clark ( not too proud to nick a good idea fro]

The thing is Coxy there is a demand but very little supply ,they seem to get the one or two small orders and leave it at that for the season ,then next year they will say that there is no demand ,they are making most of thier money on carp gear so sod the pike angler .

 

[Coxy]

Yes i agree Les, i also think a little more common scence could go into smaller regular orders, as you said it's not thousands of pounds were talking about but a few hundred.

If they can go to the expence of supplying specialiststuff like traceblades ready made trace rigs & Fox pop upsthenwhy not descent hooks, 12" short nosed forceps & descent quality 30lb trace wire ect?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Very true Les,

I nearly always have to send away for any pike gear I need. What is pityful is the lack of decent hooks, swivels, snaplocks and traces stocked. But worst of all is the availability of decent lures, especially the classic American stuff and the plastics.

My biggest gripe is the availability of a proper pike landing net. Fine meshed trianglular carp nets are totally useless for pike, especially if you fish with lures. What you need is a 30 to 35 inch round framed net with a stiffish open weave mesh than doesn'r getcaught in treble hooks.

And of course, hardly any shop will sell you a decent baitcasting reel. Ask for one and I doubt if the proprietor will know what you are talking about.

 

[yoggy]

Ron, Although you can buy the odddecent "Pike" net I agree in that the lack of choice is really amazing. Alot of Pike anglers around these part of the Fens are now using Sea fishing landing nets.

Les,you mentioned the supply of Pike gear. Again, my local tackle shop`sstocking policy is awful. They order just a few items of a certain product. When this is gone they have to wait a certain amount of time before they can re-order???????. I did ask why this is so and all they came up with its company policy!!!!!. Last year Ineeded some Fox deadbait pencil floats so I asked if they could order me some as they were out of stock. But because they`d just ordered from Fox theprevious week they said I`d have to wait till the following month!!!!!.Apparently they didn`t order anymore pencil floats because at the time of ordering therewere two left on the shelve!!!

BUT...... on the Carp side of the shop the shelves were full to the brim/forum/smilies/angry_smiley.gif

 

[Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC}]

I feel sorry for you Les. In my area there's a wide selection of gear available from just about all of the local shops, although, not surprisingly, there's a bias towards carpingproducts and bait.

I don't know about you, but I 'want what I want' if you get my drift. I hate going into a tackle shop and asking for a particular product of end tackle only to have the proprietor tell me, "We don't stock those, but these ones by Joe Bloggs are even better etc. Because I'm particular about which companies items Iprefer for any particular job I invariably end up shopping at a number of different shops in order to satisfy my requirements.Thank heavens for internet shopping.

Re the lures, from what I can gather it's highly likely that the situation will only worsen, as many of the high profilepredator tacklesuppliers seem to think that the sudden rise we saw in the popularity of lure fishing in this country in the nineties has bottomed out. Several of the big players seem to be folding or selling up.

 

[Les Clark ( not too proud to nick a good idea fro]

Hi Hammy , "I want what I want " is bang on mate ,I want a fair selection so i can choose what I want andnot what is left over .

Ron , the landing net that I have came from one of these shops and it is not to bad , 28inch widex30inch deep ,I have very little trouble with the hooks in the mesh , I use semi barbed ( when I can get them ) ,the handle is telescopic up to 5 ft and made of very strong alloy , with a button lock into the female neck on the net which is easy to detach when you need to ,and by the way the net is pan shaped .

 

[Chris Bishop]

Les, I'd suggest you resort to mail order.

The Tackle Shop, Gainsborough do just about everything.

Dave Lumb does some useful bits - www.dlst.co.uk

ET do some good wires, hooks etc - www.etoriginal.co.uk

 

[Les Clark ( not too proud to nick a good idea fro]

Chris it looks like I will have to mate , Ican`t find a website address for " The Tackle Shop " ?

I remember useing the Tackle Shop back in the early 80`s becouse we couldn`t get any decent gear around here then ,25 plus years on and nothings changed .

 

[Welsh Goff I Do luv My Sheep]

Les and the rest of you are very lucky you want to live in Wales then you really can have a moan about buyingpike tackle or the lack of it, thank god for the internet.

 

[Chris Bishop]

Hi Les, try here.

 

[Les Clark ( not too proud to nick a good idea fro]

Cheer`s Chris .

 

[mark norris (ACA)]

If it`s lures your after,have alook at bass pro shops.

 

[Lee Fletcher 1]

Could it be that tackle dealers don't stock a lot of pike gear because one can catch them on most house hold appliances? An old fork and spoon for example with some hooks attached? Or that old bog chain still dangling in the outside privy or what about those old brass taps or brass plug holes? Old car headlights, bright wooly jumpers, chuck away fag lighters, Christmas tinsel, Granma's old come dancing outfit, just about anything that glitters can be modified to catch pike?

Regards,

Lee.

 

[Wolfman Woody]

I agree Les.

Once upon a time, our local shop had quite a reasonable display of pike tackle, not quite everything of everybody's, but enough to normally please. Certainly a good range of barbless, semi and full barbed hooks if you wanted them and usually Drennan or Mustad.

Since he's moved shops to smaller premises, I reckon I could nick his entire stock now by putting it in my briefcase. I have asked around various shops this past 6 months for either 8.5mm or 10mm split rings with no luck at all.

I asked for Drennan Green trace wire only to be told "You're the 16th customer I've told this week, there is NO demand for it." Yet they sell the crimps?

My first stop these days is eBay even for branded goods, even paying full money. I work it out that if they charge £1.50 for postage that would buy me 1½ litres of petrol and I would never get to a tackleshop for that. And - it's there next day usually (post service permitting).

 

[Wolfman Woody]

I like the idea of that Bleeding Leader Wire, bleeding good idea.

I'm using Power Pro Phantom Red on one spool at the moment. Now, whether it actually works or not is neither here nor there, but I figured, what is the point when the 15" in front of the lure is normal green or brown trace wire.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

In our shops (in the south) you tend to see Pike tackle on a 'seasonal' basis, which is readily unerstandable given the relative 'fringe' species that are Pike.

The laws of supply and demand govern what a tackle shop can carry as stock in the different fields of our sport. Why on earth should an owner carry a couple of hundred thousand pounds worth of stock that will (mostly) stay on the shelves for most of the year?

I understand your annoyance though Les, but maybe mail order is the 'order' of the day.

(not wishing to hiss-off the PAC members - again)

 

[Macca_EFC]

thelureshack.com has a fairly good selection of lures and delivery (though the postal strikes at the moment may change it) is superb and they're based in Ireland from what I remember. Other than that if you have some patience to search through the crap results on the internet I'm sure you'll find plenty of sites with lures and other bits and bobs