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Post by Pete Tyjas on Jan 31, 2022 13:11:44 GMT
I still can't summon any enthusiasm for tying whatsoever even if the countdown to the season feels like it might be underway (is it too early to be a little excited?).
I just have a nymph box and a dry box that I feel could do me service just about anywhere I went to fish for trout or grayling.
There was a time when I'd just fish with a lanyard, a few spools of tippet and the flies would be in one of those free boxes you'd get from Orvis when you bought a few flies. It didn't hold many but seemed to work fine.
Talking of which, I hear the Orvis stores are shutting down bar the one in Stockbridge.
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Post by wildfisher on Feb 1, 2022 10:10:52 GMT
Talking of which, I hear the Orvis stores are shutting down bar the one in Stockbridge. We lost our "local" Orvis last year. It was not exactly on my doorstep, being in Banchory on the other side of The Grampian Mountains. About an hour drive over the hill pass. It was a lovely store although more of it was given over to dogs and clothing than fly fishing. There is no substitute for being able to try on boots, waders etc before you buy. Sign of the times I'm afraid.
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 4, 2022 7:59:22 GMT
Not sure what the ratio of sales were for clothes/dogs etc vs fishing but I'd be interested to know if the same is happening in the US with the Orvis stores there. The Stockbridge store is always worth a stroll around and when Keith ran the fishing section as Burford it was really, really good.
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Post by yeoman on Feb 4, 2022 19:54:00 GMT
Orvis closing it's stores doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is that they've lasted this long......
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 5, 2022 7:54:19 GMT
Orvis closing it's stores doesn't surprise me at all. What does surprise me is that they've lasted this long...... I guess they'll be some huge savings from not having the shops/staff and everything else but I have quite liked some of the stuff they have brought out over the years. Admittedly not everything has hit the bullseye but there have been some nice stuff. The original Helios range had, I think, an 8ft 4" 2wt that was one of the nicest small stream, light line rods I've fished yet for me at least, the Trout Bum 7 1/2ft 1wt just wasn't for me. I did have an association with them (I didn't get freebies as I prefer to buy kit and be invested in it) for a while but I tried hard to develop a relationship on a bigger basis but I found them a little slow moving for me. I'm currently using a 13ft 7wt Mission rod for salmon and have enjoyed fishing it. I do get it won't be for everyone though Ben. The impression I always got was that fishing here was just a small part of the business.
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Post by yeoman on Feb 5, 2022 12:47:41 GMT
Pete, it's not their products I had a problem with, I too like some of their gear, and quite a lot of the fly tying stuff, it was more the customer service ( or lack of ) that I found in the Exeter shop. On a similar, but different note, I was very sad to hear today that Exeter Angling Centre is closing down, there will now be no tackle shop in Exeter ( I can remember when there were 4). Any Coarse Fishermen amongst us will now have to go to Collumpton.
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Post by boisker on Feb 5, 2022 12:52:53 GMT
It doesn’t surprise me with Exeter angling centre… their online website used to be v poor and I used to call in every so often as worked on the quay… never more than a couple of people in…. Often people they knew having a chin wag and not spending a lot… shame
Orvis in Exeter was tiny, no great loss in a fishing sense… they didn’t seem to stock a lot… seemed to be mostly waxed jackets and jumpers…. Plus a dog basket for £250😂
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 5, 2022 16:12:48 GMT
Pete, it's not their products I had a problem with, I too like some of their gear, and quite a lot of the fly tying stuff, it was more the customer service ( or lack of ) that I found in the Exeter shop. On a similar, but different note, I was very sad to hear today that Exeter Angling Centre is closing down, there will now be no tackle shop in Exeter ( I can remember when there were 4). Any Coarse Fishermen amongst us will now have to go to Collumpton. I get you. I found when Andy was there is was generally OK but after he left it wasn't the same. It is sad to hear about the Exeter Angling going. I have to hold my hands up and say that I didn't support it for a long time mainly as Howard and Helen in Crediton has everything I need and I could drop by, say hi and usually bump into people I liked and knew there too.
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Post by halfstoned on Feb 5, 2022 20:23:50 GMT
That is sad about Geoff Salisbury's (Exeter angling centre) I still have my first fly rod from there that my dad got me for Christmas '82, in three pieces now because of some long forgotten incident but I still keep it for the memories.
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 6, 2022 9:21:11 GMT
I believe those rods still have quite a following. I had something that was built on a similar blank I believe from casting maestro, Mike Marshall.
I used to like to chat with Hiram (apologies if I misspelt his name) in the Exeter store. He always seemed really enthusiastic about fly fishing. It was sad to hear when he passed a while back.
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Post by terry on Feb 6, 2022 12:30:37 GMT
Sad news re Exeter Angling Centre, I suppose we only have ourselves (and COVID) to blame. Just read an article in this months Trout and Salmon by David Pilkington where he mentioned he once worked for Drum sports in Newton Abbot. Seems a while ago when they closed their doors but it was the start of the decline. I still have 3 Normark rods I purchased from Exeter years ago when Omri Thomas was always there. Still get aired from time to time and still great rods. Good to see the Crediton shop still operating and I drop in very occasionally but it’s a good drive for me and lazily I tend to buy most stuff on line all be it less and less these days.
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Post by yeoman on Feb 6, 2022 12:39:14 GMT
I fear we're fast reaching a stage when there won't be any local tackle shops.
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 7, 2022 16:18:31 GMT
I fear we're fast reaching a stage when there won't be any local tackle shops. You might be right, I hope not but it might go that way or perhaps it may also help those that have shop frontage and the costs that go with this to develop their business. I honestly don't know. It does make me ask the question though that if Orvis are closing their stores (it has been quietly happening for a couple of years at least) that have we really experienced the much heralded boom in fishing/fly fishing and if so does it follow through once we can travel more freely? I can't quite remember what the rise in license sales numbers were but were they a blip from occasional/once a year anglers who just fancied a day fishing during lockdown? The other thing is the cost of tackle due to the current environment and associated costs (material and delivery). Are they getting too great for anglers to want to change their tackle in the way they used to? Is tackle so good now that improvements are small, incremental ones. Have we taken tackle as far as we can for the time being? I've been having these sorts of conversations for a year or so and haven't properly figured it out yet but let me know if you have any thoughts!
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Post by yeoman on Feb 7, 2022 16:45:34 GMT
I agree that the cost of some tackle has got silly now, although there is a huge choice and price range now which there wasn't before. I suppose demand drives prices, but, imo, some brands need to be careful not to "kill the Goose", even people who usually want the latest and best might be thinking twice.... As far as Exeter Angling goes, it was a combination of a few factors, some personal, but in no small part their lack of a decent online presence.
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 8, 2022 8:14:12 GMT
I'm guessing at the very upper limit that £1000 is going to be a ceiling in the short term and perhaps slightly longer too. I am wondering if that is why more people are looking away from the newest and latest and are discovering or rediscovering materials like glass and bamboo too and spending money there instead?
Like you say, the £250/£300 price range is packed with some great rods.
I think part of the price rises are actually in the delivery costs (amongst other things) I know that I would send a bunch of magazines to a store in BC that I popped in whilst steelheading. To post 15 to them at a very slight discount I can't do now. I'd be doing it at a loss. The charges are horrific for larger items. It was supposed to come back down again but I'm not holding out hope. In the meantime, I've had a lot of correspondence from other fly shops in the US that want to take the mag and I can't get it to them because of postage charges.
Also, other costs are affecting me too. I have just had the latest quote from the printer and the cost of paper has also risen. It is something I can absorb but if I were embarking on this now, it would be extremely difficult to produce, pay contributors and deliver the magazine at the current price. I'm lucky we have grown enough that there will be no price changes in the short to medium term.
I think sometimes it can seen as end users being ripped off but if margins are made too thin due to other factors there is no choice other than to put prices up and hope that users support a product.
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Post by Pete Tyjas on Feb 14, 2022 10:17:52 GMT
Thought it might be worth mentioning as I caught up with April Vokey and thought she had some interesting thoughts on tackle and the cost of it. April Vokey Podcast
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