With all the members on this board, do any of you own a retail fishing store ??? either fly, gear or both. Do any of you work in the industery outside of guiding ???

Steelheader69 ties and sells flies. I also seem to remember a guy that tied and sells jigs.

I worked at a local tackle - boat shop for 4 years but I just left to sell real estate just curious but why do you ask !!!!!

Actually, we are putting together a proposal to start up a new shop here in Idaho. Was wondering if anyone had been to one of the large trade shows where vendors from the large tackle manufactures are present. This town needs an option. As is, there is sportsmans warehouse, and a couple of fly shops that have little or no inventory.

Worked the engineering grind for 22 years, time to do what I want. If you have any suggestions please let me know. We will be selling both gear and fly equipment.

I do some dealing in speciality tackle and sell online. Rods, reels and such. Good deals on Lamiglass , Allstar and others. Full line availability. Okuma, Penn, Quantum and more.

B-RUN, what are you after? There are several people on the board that work at Tackle shops. They are of high enough morals that they probably won't bite without some specific's or a personal mail. Post what you're after and you'll most likely get a response. It's worked for me.

I guess I am not just asking the question. We need to know how to get in touch with the major wholesalers in the industery. We have contacted and recieved information from several. We think that we may have to go to one of the major trade shows that are held around the country. Wondering if anyone has been to one and can provide insight as to what is availiable. Its pretty hard to ask a person in your town how he does his business. Thinking that the majority of board memembers here are from west side Washington state, and have nothing to fear from providing us with some contact information.

Things we need,,

A Commercial fly tier. I tie rather well but would not be able to devote enough of my time to just that.

A major wholesale outlet for reels. We have Rods/ waders / boats lined up. Several Brands.

Information on lure vendors. Several have been easy to locate, and good to work with. Some we can't find the source. Its all middle men.

I guess bottom line is wondering if someone over there that does this every day would be willing to share some info with someone from an complete different area. We have the cash, location and knowledge, just lacking in vendor contacts.

Anyone can e-mail me at BG127@AOL.COM

Thanks

B-Run
I would be glad to help. I used to own and operate a fly shop and outfitting business for many moons and still have many contacts. email me at , theperfectjig@yahoo.com

B-run Steely, If you need another rod dealer or manufacturer, I'll make sure I give my good old buddy Bill Batson at Rainshadow Fishing the heads up on this and have him shoot you an E-mail. Bill is a great guy, with world-class rods, that I'm sure would love to due business with you. Good Luck!

look for a wholesaler in Spokane called Gunnerama (sic?). There is also Allsports (in Portland I think) They should be able to help out. Call someone like Luhr Jensen and they should be able to tell you the names of a few wholesalers that can sell you whatever your missing.

B-Run

Check your mail. Hope it helps. Good luck!

I have worked for numerous sporting goods/tackle shops in western washington. What I would do is contact the manufacturers that you are interested in carrying and ask them for the name of the local sales rep in the area. Most tackle shops are very small so factories are accustomed to dealing with mom & pops and new start ups. I would avoid dealing with wholesalers if possible as their pricing is not very good compared to factory direct. Most people do not know this but, Sportco in Fife, WA is a large wholesaler (their wholesale name is Sport Service).

As far as fly eqipment is concerned you can try any number of manufacturers such as Umpqua in Oregon. Brian O' keefe was their rep for years. If you want to see some large shops that sell a lot of tackle to get some ideas of brands, etc. Try Fishermen's Supply in Portland, OR, Sportco in Fife, WA, The Morning Hatch fly shop in Tacoma, WA.

Again, contact the factory directly. If they have an area rep, that is your best bet. If they do not have a rep they will direct you to a wholesaler. You could also join a buying group such as World Wide Distributos in Kent, WA ...Steve Quarders is a good guy to talk to. WWD is ONLY going to deal with a shop owner (that is eligible to join their group) not some joe blow off the street.

Also, a word of advice, any rep you talk to will be vastly superior in terms of knowledge of general business and product mix than from any goofball behind the counter of a tackle shop. The rep probably deals with virtually every shop in your area with at least one line of products (most reps are independent business owners that sell for 5-20 tackle manufacturers) Very few tackle factories have full time paid factory reps. If you do talk to a rep ask when the next national trade show is and where. It would be worth the price to fly in to see the show and meet all the factories.

Good luck

you have mail.

Just a word of thanks for all the replys and helpfull information. Thanks again guys and gals.