Thought I might share this wee tale with you.

Old Glasgow Tackle Shops 1965, a boyhood tour

Saturday morning early we hopped on the 59 bus from Mosspark to Glasgow City Centre.
Our pockets jingling with the proceeds of our weekly endeavors.
Me with my paper round, Tim with his milk money & 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 & Shakespeare he turns up with a new Hardy Jet. That was Gerry, always traveled 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 & 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 & I swore that one day I would possess a Beaudex. I have four now along with Pridex & Condex so I guess I got my way all be it late in life, funny how things move on. Waders were Altona & Keenfisher lines Kingfisher, the newAmerican Cortland & Gladding PVC lines were admired & we wondered if PVC would really catch on. A row of the new Abu Hi-Lo?s, Nevison Sprats, shiny Mepps & Vibro spoons
Entering the shop, dark & foreboding to us young boys but Angus the then owner knew us boys & 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? & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & many a nice model resided within its glass confines. Rods were Bruce & Walker Abu, Milbro & probably the best fibre glass Salmon rod of all time The MilbroVerre. The Puma knife I fell in love with but this is Glasgow & hunting knives do not go down to well with the boys in blue fishing or no fishing. Moving north we call into C C Mann in West George Street. A funny shop which had to be entered below street level & to the uninitiated would pass by without so much as a glance. The owner Charles was a gentleman & a well traveled angler who thrilled us boys with his tales of Highland Loch fishing & 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 & 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 & 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 & displayed the most beautiful of guns & equipment. The Parker Hale Single Point gun sight I first spotted here in later years I bought one for my spell in Her Majesties Armed Forces. The fly & spinning window to the right had a lovely display not just of their own Thistle fly rods but rods by Hardy, Sharpe?s & Pezon & Michel. Fly reels by Hardy & Farlow & I particularly liked the understated Sharpes The Gordon one of which I purchased in new condition recently.
Barbour jackets, deerstalkers, woolly jumpers with suede patches, spinning reels such as Mitchell, the Italian Alcedo & 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 & it was not so bad after that. I often stood & admired the framed Parachute & Waddington flies on the wall & 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 & break it but he never did & he certainly had an affinity with the salesman who probably realized that he had money & 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 enquirers about an American Heddon River Runt in it?s wee plastic box we catch the bus home & get ready for the off.
Sadly most of the shops have gone. & I for one certainly do miss them; they shaped us boys to what we are now. Tim has gone now & 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 & 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 all be it 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 & see what is still out there. Who knows?
Tight Lines