TACKLE SHRINES
We meet the men for whom collecting fishing tackle is an obsession
WHEN Phil Taylor signed on the dotted line to buy his new house back in 2014, he was a very happy man.
While many would be excited at the prospect of putting their stamp on the living room, or making plans for the garden, the mad-keen angler had other ideas. The smallest bedroom was his main focus, and his wife had given him her blessing to do whatever he wanted with it – and Phil , from Lincolnshire, knew exactly what that was.
“I’ve been a passionate angler for decades. Back in the late 1980s I worked part-time in a tackle shop, and that’s what gave me the idea,” explains Phil. “A lot of the tackle that I wanted back then was too expensive, but I noted down the items, and once we moved into the new house I started hunting high and low for them, with the aim of turning my spare room into a collector’s den full of great tackle from back in the day.”
HUNTING FOR HIDDEN GEMS
Despite having a clear vision of what he wanted, the reality of just how hard it would be to find the items on his 30-year-old wish-list soon hit home. Silstar and Shakespeare featured heavily, with both brands being major players in the 1980s tackle industry.
“I started going to car boot sales, street auctions and estate sales and it was amazing how many of these events had people selling fishing tackle,” he says.
“I even made an 80-mile round trip once for a rod that turned out to not be particularly rare! I also used eBay and the marketplace function of Facebook.
“Slowly but surely, I kept stumbling across tackle that I wanted as part of my collection. For example, I managed to pick up a Silstar DiaFlex rod that would have been well over £100 in the 1980s, and out of my price range, for less than a tenner! It was a definite case of one man’s trash being another man’s gold.”
Other gems included highlyprized Shakespeare Boron and Vindicator rods, both of which cost a tiny fraction of the pricetag they commanded during their heyday.
Phil’s regular travels helped him tick dozens of rods and reels off his list in a matter of months, and before long his interests started to diversify.
GOING OFF-TRACK
“During my many visits to the sales, I kept coming across tackle that wasn’t on my original hit-list, but which I couldn’t turn down. A Harry Reynolds centrepin reel for £8, for instance, an Ivan Marks match rod for £4 and an Abu Cardinal 55 reel for £3.50.”
At this stage Phil’s tackle shrine contained around 160 rods, 140 reels and countless other smaller items, so a methodical approach was needed for storing them all.
“I didn’t want it to look like a pile of junk had been
chucked into the room, so I made shelves from driftwood scavenged from the beach, and decking offcuts made the rod stands and table. It has the feel of a miniature museum now.”
STILL SEARCHING
Six years after Phil’s passion was ignited, there is no sign of the flame fizzing out.
He regularly scours websites to find the next part of the puzzle, and there are certain pieces that he is still desperate to find.
“There are a few rods which, despite hunting high and low, I’ve had no joy finding.
“A Shakespeare Lexicon Match Rod is top of my list and I’ll be a very happy man should I eventually get lucky,” said Phil. “And if anybody’s got a Shakespeare Clubmaster Supreme Match rod or an Aristo H.M Match knocking about, I’d be glad to hear from them!
“Friends are always asking me to look out for things for them and, strangely, old floats are a popular request.
“Early carp fishing equipment is also very desirable. As a result, my collection is partially self-funded by finding new homes for items that I’ve come across but don’t want.
“It’s a hobby that’s gripped me over the years and although I’m probably a touch biased, I’m pretty sure I’ve got one of the most impressive spare rooms in the land!”
“I kept stumbling across tackle that I wanted as part of my collection”