I was asked to copy this little blurb to here that I wrote elsewhere. It is basically a shot in the arm for the small business owner, specifically the small bait shop/tackle shop owner. Few of these entities exist any more and the reason we see them fall lies in huge malls and parking lots. Some of the big package stores carry tackle, but certainly not locally specific tackle. 90% of the time inexperienced sales staff cannot give worthy or credible information.
The party addressed in this writing is an IDA advertiser as well as a long term friend and what I write is exactly how I feel.
I just came from HOF where Mike and I had a candid discussion on this very topic [small, privately owned vs large,package shops]. I’ll not say that I don’t go into Ganders, Cabelas or FleetFarms because I do and yes I will buy tackle there if it is not available thru Mike and I need it right now. Most everyone has run into that situation. But here is why I go to Mike for 99 % of my needs.
I can get my hands on the tackle….take it out of the package if I want to and let it roll around in my hand, give it little flip in the air and watch how it reacts when it lands. I can really scrutinize a lure. Sometimes things are not noticed right away when a bait is looked at thru a clam pack. Sometimes these “un-noticed” things are important to balance or show hook setting issues. “Hands on” is my rule.
HOF deals with locally “hot” tackle…..not stolen, but what is currently the best bait and not at just one reservoir, but all of our local waters…..including the Mississippi River and backwaters. Mike has access to people who work with tackle to improve even what is good right from the start.
HOF has a constant source of running imformation on local waters. This comes from people who “fish”, not just talk about fishing. And, by the way, Mike is one superior angler in his own right. Stepping inside the front door of HOF not only puts an angler in contact with the most productive tackle, it puts an angler in an information realm unlike any other. The old adage of “seek and ye shall receive” applies wonderfully here. It’s not just whats hot that matters; its how to use it and where to apply it that you can get schooled on too. Color, size, where and how deep or fast to fish whatever….this is all available at one place, but not at all places.
HOF employs people who are as much in the know as he himself is. Mike practices what he preaches, uses what he sells, and sells what is currently the hottest baits for all of our local waters. Those who quibble over a cent or two more in cost are short-changing themselves in information….and this includes even seasoned anglers. Nobody in that shop who is paid to be there will ever utter a phrase such as “I don’t ice fish”.
I stop out there a couple times a week even if I am not planning on fishing. And I seldom come home without learning some tid-bit that helps make me better myself as an angler. Every Weds moring at opening, HOF plays host to a few of the local anglers who want to throw around ideas or thoughts without having any pointed agenda. By 8AM people move on to daily stuff, but for over an hour a lot can be learned and its all free for the asking. Nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, in lower Minnesota can anyone find this sort of resource while they shop for what’s the killer bait by letting it roll around in your hand where nothing is hidden.
Nothing in HOF is ever “ptu away for the summer”. If you need something used primarily during winter fishing and Mike has it, he will get it out for you. MOST of his ice tackle, in fact, remains displayed all year. The large package stores want you to think that the fish know the difference between summer and winter tackle, but it is a marketing ploy. Mike knows that ice tackle has it’s place when the thermometer is tapping on the 90 degree line just as much when it is twenty below zero. The fish know that too.
It all comes down to choices…..big diplays of closed products that feed a regional appetite or an aggresive selection of tackle currently hot for a specific small area within a region. Generic information from sales people with limited experience or spot on spot information that can make the difference between catching fish or simply showing up with lots of pretty colored stuff that makes a guy look as though he knows what he is doing. And if something is not available at any of the local stores, try to get Fleet Farm or Gander to special order it for you. HOF will happily serve you by ordering if it is available thru his many distributors. Choices people….
