Support your local shops!!

[Mikey topaz]

Hope you all are doing well and catching some good ones, I just wanna give you all a heads up and try to help out the fishing community a little bit. A few local shops that are very well known are in need of help. I just wanna preach a little bit if you can shop local at your local tackle shops DO IT!!!!! Before it’s too late!These small local shops are full with great tips, knowledgeable staffs, and you just ain’t gonna get the service and pointers you do from these people at your Walmart/dicks/ or amazon. Too many great shops already have closed down already and the bait situation is getting harder and harder to find each and every year. I have been told by a few shop owners they are struggling and it just ain’t the same like it used to be years ago and they don’t know how much longer they are gonna last!
Take a kid fishing! Support your local shop ! We need them!!!!

If you guys haven’t already check out Dows bait shop Laurie & Joe are friendly great people that will get you dialed in and the shop is fully stocked as always!

You can also check me Scotty and Bob out at the sporting life. Always a pleasure helping you guys out and we are also fully stocked
.
Please if anyone wants to chime in where they shop local post it here, help these guys out!

[bunker dunker]

dows is always my 1st stop.laurie,joe and jimmy will do whatever they can to make sure you have what you need.as mickey already said we need these shops,so please buy local.Dows will go above and beyond and have for more folks than any shop i have ever used.

[Flygaff]

I but most of my bait from Dows. even though it is an hour drive to get there. They are the best

[RWole]

I agree with supporting local shops and we have seen quite a bit of shops close
over the years. With that said the shops need to help themselves as well, a good way to do this is to be OPEN !
Some of the shops that have closed were opening 7:00 , 8:00 am, well most fishermen are on the water earlier than that so its lost business.
Dows was mentioned and they are still open but they are also open long hours which accommodates fishermen, plus they are well stocked and prices are not greatly higher than the box stores.
I recently went to a local shop for 2 particular lures and they were $2.50 higher for each lure.

[Mikey topaz]

Originally Posted by RWole

I agree with supporting local shops and we have seen quite a bit of shops close
over the years. With that said the shops need to help themselves as well, a good way to do this is to be OPEN !
Some of the shops that have closed were opening 7:00 , 8:00 am, well most fishermen are on the water earlier than that so its lost business.
Dows was mentioned and they are still open but they are also open long hours which accommodates fishermen, plus they are well stocked and prices are not greatly higher than the box stores.
I recently went to a local shop for 2 particular lures and they were $2.50 higher for each lure.

I’ll be honest with you, my experience working at some shops. Really is a handful of early birds each morning which adds up to nothing or very little in bait sales. There’s a lot behind the scenes anglers don’t know, bait and boat in netcong supplied the whole upper half of the state amd delivered bait at no charge. They closed and now these small shops are forced to look elsewhere and drive and figure out how to transport the bait at their cost now. It’s been a struggle with a bunch of shops. The money is made with rod and reels and not every angler is buying a new rod and reel every trip so they make up for it with the good customer service and terminal tackle. If we don’t support them now when they need it the most, it’s gonna get interesting and everyone will have to catch their own bait I think,

[RWole]

Its definitely not an easy way to earn a living but if your not open to draw the early birds in it can be lost future sales. Example deli without lottery, not much made on lottery tickets but the bread, milk etc. makes the money.
I do not know what the solution or answer is, is sad that all of these shops have closed. Bait and Boat was another long time favorite gone this year.

[AndyS]

Murphy's, Grumpy's and Betty and Nicks (just to name a few) all seem to be doing well down here at the shore !

[Chrisper4694]

Couldn’t agree more but it’s tough… i don’t use live bait except diring the ice fishing season and i try to go into these places and buy the lures and stuff i use…. They very often don’t have the right stuff. I’ll try to let them know what’s working and hope they start carrying it and i’ll try to buy similar stuff or new stuff to try but idk, it’s just not looking good. I try to go out of my way during the open water season to support a little knowing that i’ll really need them come winter, but idk… Hopefully more people start supporting them soon.

[Esox Luciano]

The ones I hit for different things I need are good too. Locally it's Totowa Bait & Tackle @10 Albion Ave Paterson. On to Tackle & Field @81 Ringwood Ave in Wanaque. I'll often get some stuff & good intel from Garden State Bow & Reel on rte23 in Stockholm. And also some things from Ramsey outdoor and Jigging world on rte 17. West Marine has 1 aisle of tackle if you're stopping there for boat or kayak stuff, also down rte 17.

[huntcountypussbuck]

i don't fish much but I do go to sporting life . nice folks there. i think they will leave bait out for you if prepaid but can't say for sure.