I was just commenting on another board about a fishing shop I love in the PNW. Made me think about all the great tackle stores I have and still frequent over the years. Every trip I make up north I try and spend a little money at the mom and pop stores,and to get a little intel .

Here are my faves from south to north:

The Tackle Box in Salinas,CA. Roger,the owner is kind of a dick and a nice guy at the same time lol. He gave me crap for buying rooster tails in fire tiger last year. I told him I have caught 60 white bass in 2 hours the weekend before. He asked me what I got them on . "ROOSTER TAILS" as I rolled my eyes. Great little mom and pop store. We need to keep these around IMO.

Coyote Bait and Tackle,Morgan Hill,CA. If you need it they have it. People are attentive and they have a surprising inventory of reels there. It's a bit out of my way,but I don't mind once in a while stopping by.

Outdoor Pro Shop,Cotati,CA. This is more of a "hey let's stop at outdoor pro on the way up" kind of place. They have a ton of inventory here,although with covid not as much as normal. Their mail order gets to my house in 2 days . I have spent way more money here than I ever should.

Browns Sporting Goods,Garberville ,CA. This place is a throwback to another era. The owner,Darren Brown,fishes,gives HONEST reports about river conditions,and is a good guy to chat with. The store has been in that family for generations. When you walk in it looks like tweakers live there,with crap piled sky high lol. But if you need it he has it,and you can find all kinds of weird gear. The roe he sells is surprisingly good,albeit pricey. 5 stars!

Bucksport Sporting Goods,Eureka,CA. These people are almost too friendly and nice. If you need it you can get it at this old school mom and pop,and I always try and spend a few bucks here in what is otherwise a total sh!thole of a town. There is a box store up the road that has more inventory,but this place has lots of guns,and the people here like to kill stuff. One of the kids that worked there was impressed with my spoon collection lol.

Little Ray's Tackle,Klamath,CA. Tommy Chew runs this place. Tommy is kinda crazy,and I like the guy. He once asked me if I was gonna be in his hole and I told him that it was never on my list of life goals to be in "Tommy's Hole. EVER." We had a good chuckle. Good fisherman too. This store is bare bones,but in a pinch he has what you need. And the history and pictures of fish from the mighty Klamath are always good to check out. I always buy stuff from Tommy. If you're in the area you should too!

Brady's in Weaverville,CA (CLOSED). Ole Tim Brady retired finally. He was an institution here. Once held the state record for Smallmouth bass. It hung in the shop. 11 pounds or something. It was a monster. his little dog would come up to you and sort of let you pet it. He had all you needed,and I never had trouble giving him my money. This shop is sorely missed.

Brookings Harbor,Brookings ,OR. They had all the gear. Been a long time since I went in there but my buddy says it hasn't changed. Lots of photos of giant pig salmon on the walls. Across the way the biggest biscuits and gravy you ever had. I can't eat that stuff anymore.

Nestucca Valley Sporting Goods,Hebo,OR. Fresh sand shrimp. Whatever else you need. Not sure if that grumpy dude still owns it. He was funny. I caught a lot of summer runs on his shrimp. Miss that place. May have to make a trip sometime again.

The Guide Shop,Wilson River,OR.(Burned down)
This place had a mean cup of clam chowder. It also was a neat shop. They should rebuild one. Maybe they did,been a long while since I fished the Tillamook area. I know a guy who has a barn down near there...

Fisherman's,Oregon City,OR. I used to get all my gear there. Decent place. They have big inventory. I dated a gal in OC. Kati. Sweet Kati...

Bob's. Longview ,WA. Once upon a time my friend Dan and I came up to the OP to fish with a bunch of you crazy bastards and I spent a legit grand at Bobs. That place makes me sweat! It is my favorite NW fishing store. I always will spend too much there. Always.

Anglers Workshop,Woodland,WA. Also Lami and Loomis. I used to buy a lot of gear at A.W. Still order from them ,they are in the midewest I believe. Rodbuilders have plenty of options these days,but I loved being able to go in there and sniff around. Lamiglas used to sell seconds and blems. Maybe they still do. I haven't bought a new Lamiglas in quite some time. I once literally ran into Gary Loomis at the factory. He was nice about it. It was his fault anyway. I haven't bought a new GLoomis rod in ages. I own an original Loomis Composites Industries rod,cool stuff. Brings back nostalgic memories.

Forks,WA. I think I just went to Ace there. Lots of Forks fatties. Me likey,want wingy lol.

That's it. What are your favorites? I always wanted to go to Sportco and chew the fat with Bill Herzog but I never made it that far north,and I probably never will.

Funny store about Tim Brady in Weaverville. I went in to buy some gear one day after fishing that morning. I was wearing an Electric Wizard T shirt,an English heavy metal band. The shirt was some naked chick on a sacrificial altar and these other two women are holding her legs open and theres like candles and stuff all lit around her and she's showing all this bush,it was pretty offensive actually come to think of it. This was all framed in by a giant red pentagram. I wasn't aware of what I had on and Tim said "What on earth are you wearing!!" I said it's some band and he said "I guess you aren't wearing that to Sunday church!!" Maybe I need to go to Sunday church...(makes sign of the cross).

The Fisherman's Shack off 99W between Monmouth and Corvallis. Great place for spinner supplies and can order online. Found a silver bladed pink weight body once on the Kalama with their logo and caught a lot of fish on it.

Harry's Bait and Tackle Newport. Randy is the dude. Fresh sand shrimp and everything else.

Sportco in Fife. I did run into Bill Herzog there once.

Cabelas. Used to mail order before they expanded out west.

Olympic Sporting Goods (Closed) in Forks. Bob Gooding was the owner and used to give reports.

In my opinion Cabelas is a shadow of what they were since being taken over by BPS

White Elephant in Spokane in the early-mid '80s was an overstocked chit hole of toys, guns, sporting goods, and fishing stuff too. They got alot of their inventory buying up other sporting stores that were going TU over the years, so you never knew what they'd have crammed in their 2 stores. At times we'd hit the jackpot and get spin-n-glo's in the 100ct round plastic containers for $1-5 (size #14-8 in good colors), or corkies for the same price. Pound of pencil lead for $1, spools of Maxima 3/$10. Just fantastic deals.

Going or coming back from an OP trip during the same timeframe; if Swain's in PA was open, their Sporting Goods section was another one that could have a good sale or new "bobber colors" that we hadn't seen on the Eastside. Plus we grab whatever we'd forgotten to pack for our long weekend trip. Back then, Forks really rolled the sidewalks up after 9pm except out at the Smokehouse.

I have heard good things about them. I used to live in Tigard. Many moons ago now.

Good thread AB..

Here's your t-shirt: https://www.impericon.com/us/electric-wizard-come-my-fanatics-t-shirt.html

Long before any of the big stores opened here, there was a shop in Mount Vernon called Northern Sales. They carried the best gear in the area..Lami, Shimano and the rest. Helpful people there. Been closed now about 10 years.

As a younger man (some 45+ years ago), I found a small fly fishing shop in Fullerton Caif. It was called Anglers Corner, and the owner was an old, cranky retired Navy Captain named Kerridge. When I was in high school I would drop by there after school, and every time I was in there he'd teach me something more about fly tying, fly fishing or just about life in general.

Stopped by there one afternoon and the store was closed. Next day close again. The 4th day it was closed, but his wife was there, and she told me he'd had a heart attack and passed away.

Some people pass through our lives for a brief time..and the special ones are never forgotten.

Yes and when these mom and pop stores are gone the new generation will not realize what was given up in lieu of mail order and big box stores. Nothing wrong with it,but I hope we can preserve places like Tommy's and Browns where you can go in and shoot the [Bleeeeep!] for a bit with the owner and talk some fishin. You can't buy that.

BTW that album Come My Fanatics is their best one lol. It has the thick psychedelic fuzz and weirdness.

FYI - BPS and Cabela's are buying Sportsman Warehouse.

West Laramie Fly Store
Bud Lilly's Trout Shop
Jax Sporting Goods
World Wide Sportsman

I'll second the FlyFisher in Lacey. Always have to buy something there. I inherited a bamboo flyrod from my Dad. Real old, nothing to indicate line weight. Took it into the shop and we tried out 3 or 4 different weight lines until se found one I liked to cast. Always good service.

Sportco nowadays for most things.

Puget Sound Fly Co and Gig Harbor Fly Shop for fly materials.

It’s definitely a bummer so many of the small shops have closed and there will be more to come.

Enjoy buying your beads and blue foxes online.

Sportco and Outdoor Emporium for gear.
Sportsmen’s Warehouse had good prices on beads, cones etc for fly tying but that will go to [Bleeeeep!] worse then it is now that Bass pro Shops is buying them.

The Avid Angler and Puget Sound Fly Co for fly stuff.
Spawn Fly Fish which has a great online store and just opened a shop in Ilwaco. They have great customer service and super fast shipping.
They are becoming another favorite rather quickly.
SF

In 1950 (I was 12 at the time) I went into Willie's Sport Shop in Centralia to look at
baseball gloves. Little League was just getting started. Willie waited on me. I
found one I liked and he asked if I wanted it. I said yes but I didn't have the
money for it. He asked if I could pay $1 a week. It was $10 or $12 as best I can
remember. I said I thought I could. I don't remember signing anything. I may have
given my name. He got the money and much more over time. I moved in 1970, but
the shop is still there. I bought almost all my fishing tackle there. Oakies by the
100.

Wanna sell some?

Wish bimart would open a store in Oly. I miss sunbirds in yelm.

Bjorn at "the fly Fisher" in Lacey is great, he set me up with all the stuff I needed to start tieing back in 2006 or so.

I fish rivers.

Ted's in Lynnwood always had so much stuff. If he didn't have it, Mike would get it for you. Greg's in Lake Stevens is now closed. Now it's pretty much 3 Rivers, Triangle Beverage or the big stores.

Forks Outfitters always has the newest & best product at good prices. A walk through is a must just to see what is new in colors etc.

I used to go to Seattle for business once and a while and would stop by Outdoor Emporium. Sometimes during key Salmon months in the fall. It always amazed me as to how things they were out of. Bare Space!! It got to the point of me walking in and planning to spend $100+. I would walk out with nothing. I've worked in distribution-industrial retail for 30 years. You DON'T RUN OUT OF "A" ITEMS in season. Being out of the most popular #5 Vibrax and other product is idiotic. It wasn't just 1 time. When I complained to 1 of the workers, he pretty much said "we've told them". So I don't even bother anymore.

Fairbanks Outfitters on Yakima.
RIP Gary you are very much missed.

Always enjoyed visiting his shop.
SF

Keep these coming! I love reading stories like this.

Gary Sandstrom and the Morning Hatch is another shop that is missed as is Kaufmann’s Streamborn.
Warshall’s and the Swallow’s Nest are a couple others.
SF