Old Glasgow Tackle Shops
- Details
- Published on Friday, 03 July 2009 06:54
- Written by Alan Goodwin
Saturday morning early we hopped on the 59 bus from Mosspark to Glasgow City Centre. Our pockets jingling with the proceeds of our weekly endeavours. Me with my paper round, Tim with his milk money and Gerry, well he always had money. Where he got it from we never did find out but he always had the best of gear.
Where bye we had Milbro and Shakespeare gear he turns up with a new Hardy Jet. That was Gerry, always travelled first class.
First stop was Wm. Robertson in Wellington St. Windows were scanned before entry, was always the way to do it our faces pressed hard against the glass and to this day I still love nothing better than browsing tackle shop windows in the towns I visit. I admired the J.W. Young reels and I swore that one day I would possess a Beaudex. I have four now along with Pridex and Condex so I guess I got my way albeit late in life, funny how things move on. Waders were Altona and Keenfisher lines Kingfisher and the new Cortland and Gladding PVC lines were admired and we wondered if they would really catch on. A row of the new Abu Hi-Lo’s, Nevison Sprats, Mepps and Vibro spoons
Entering the shop, dark and foreboding to us young boys but Angus the then owner knew us boys and we soon settled in .Whilst Gerry admired the huge Tarpon in the glass case my eyes were transfixed by the 9lb plus record fly Trout from Loch Leven with the actual cast that caught it within its glass confines. “A Shanty Cast” and later on in life I would purchase a few for my rare visits to the Mecca that was Loch Leven. Tim would buy a few Model Perfect bait hooks. Me a couple of flies and maybe a Buldo bubble float for up the Dams, Gerry, oh he could buy the shop but settles on a couple of Pike Plugs, no not the cheap wooden pained ones but ABU Hi-Lo with their adjustable vanes. Trust him, he was a bit of an expert with Pike and many fell to his top of the water tactics something he was rather adept at. Way ahead of his time Gerry was.
Moving on we cut through Central Station to No 3 West Nile Street the home of our second port of call Arthur Allan tackle. Here we buy a tin of maggots or a packet of brandling worms. He always got a fresh supply delivered on Friday and you had to be quick to get some. Maybe a spool of Luxor Kroic or Platil line for making up casts, we after all will be out that Saturday afternoon up to the Barrhead Dams or if a river invites us The Gryffe or Calder at Lochwinnoch. I liked Arthur Allan’s as he always had a window dedicated to guns and many a nice model resided within its glass confines. Rods were Bruce and Walker Abu, Milbro and probably the best fibre glass Salmon rod of all time The MilbroVerre.
Moving north we call into C C Mann in West George Street. A funny shop which had to be entered below street level and to the uninitiated would pass by without so much as a glance. The owner Charles if whose name I remember right was a gentleman and a well travelled angler who thrilled us boys with his tales of Highland Loch fishing and in particularly the art of Dapping, something which I took to with relish in my later years.
At the top of the town in Cowcaddens one could find the smallest of all the shops Cafaro Bros and unlike the others I mention still plying their trade all be it some distance from their old shop. Sadly I have not paid a visit for many a year. I wonder if Pat, one of the sons, is still there? He was always helpful. Here I bought a few Clyde Style flies and a couple of Murray’s Bluebottles. And so to the last in the journey, Alex Martin in Royal Exchange Square. Whilst not the friendliest of shops catering for the better off of Glasgow fishermen had the most interesting of windows. The left one was devoted to hunting and displayed the most beautiful of guns and equipment. It was here I fell in love with the Puma an American hunting knife, something I bought many years later. The fly and spinning window to the right had a lovely display not just of their own Thistle fly rods but rods by Hardy, Sharpe’s and Pezon and Michel. Fly reels by Hardy and Farlow and I particularly liked the understated Sharpes The Gordon.
Barbour jackets, deerstalkers, woolly jumpers with suede patches, spinning reels such as Mitchell , the Italian Alcedo and the Intrepid range, all were shown to their best in their display. Early visits we entered the shop with some trepidation but after a time they got to know us and it was not so bad after that. I often stood and admired the framed Parachute and Waddington flies on the wall and to this day I still have a few tucked away in their little metal tin somewhere in my fishing cupboard. Here Gerry was in his element as he wiggled the latest split cane. Me I always cringed that he would hit if off the wall and break it but he never did and he certainly had an affinity with the salesman who probably realised that he had money and I am sure that shop was visited more than a few times when we were not there to make a purchase. Shooing Gerry out the door just as he enquires about an American Heddon River Runt in its wee plastic box we catch the bus home and get ready for the off.
Sadly most of the shops have gone. and I for one certainly do miss them; they shaped us boys to what we are now. Tim has gone now and I have lost touch with Gerry, I wonder if he still fishes. But those boyhood memories linger on. Other shops were Anglers Rendezvous which bought Wm Robertson and though they moved location sadly the name has passed on though I believe they still ply their trade from Stockwell Street under the former name. Another good shop albeit a wee bit out of the city worth a visit was James Kent in Yoker. Sadly the big man passed away but a good wee shop it was; the few times I visited he was always up to a bit of a chat. Now called Danny’s Den but I have not been by since the change. Again, most amiss of me not to pay them a visit. Maybe bitten with nostalgia I may well take a city tour and see what is still out there. Who knows?
Alan Goodwin lives in Erskine Renfrewshire, married with two children and two grandchildren. A long time devoted traditional fly fisher for brown trout. So much so, he has devoted some time to his website "The Highlander Way", to introduce new and old to the somewhat forgotten art of the "traditional flee". Alan also specializes in tying Clyde style flies and there are a couple of pages on his site about this unique form of fly fishing.
Alan can be found at www.thehighlanderway.com