9 tackle companies that started out in a garage
Not every angling company took off from a posh corner office, a few of them started really small and then made the big league.
01 Fox International
The multi-million pound, world-renowned company actually started live when Cliff Fox started up a company on his 18th birthday called Fox Angling Supplies, stocking around 30 shops with his feeders. In 1982 he filed a patent on an adjustable-legged bedchair and changed the name of the company to Fox International. By the mid-90s, Fox controlled 80% of the buzzer and bite indicator market and by the turn of the century their Micro bite alarm was sold in 47 different countries. There are now subsidiary companies of Fox called: Sport Fishing, Matrix, Rage, Predator and Sea and a lake called Fox Mere – home to plenty of brutes.
02 Nash Tackle
Born in Rayleigh, Essex in 1955, Kevin Nash was at the heart of carp fishing and by 1978 he’d set up his own company called Happy Hooker Tackle selling carp sacks. In 1984 he changed the name to Kevin Nash Tackle and in 2004 it was switched to Nash Tackle. It was in 1992 though that he had his eureka moment: the Titan bivvy, a shelter which has gone on to become one of the most successful bivvies of all time. Kevin Nash also owns Nashbait, rolling in excess of 1,000 tonnes a year. Nash’s offices now incorporate showrooms, warehousing, a patio that over looks a small lake and of course there’s The Copse and Church Lake – home to English sixty-pounders.
03 Solar Tackle
Like other successful angler/businessmen (read: Mr. Fox and Mr. Nash), Martin Locke, Solar’s owner, was noted for “having a gift at making things”. His first products, monkey climbers and needle bars were made in his mum’s garage in 1978 and from then on Martin was working 16-20hr shifts, seven days a week. Although customer demand played its part in the long hours, it was mainly because it allowed him to fish the next seven days on the Looney Rota at Savay. To give you an idea of how quickly things grew at the time, the first year he produced the Lite Flo Monkey Climber head, he sold around sixty-thousand. And that was 20-odd-years-ago…
04 Drennan
We have a lot to thank Peter Drennan for. He gave us Adam Penning, one of the greatest tackle designers of our time; he gave Terry Hearn his first proper consultancy; and more importantly, he gave us ESP – one of the country’s best-loved tackle manufacturers. Starting out, back in the 60s in his dad’s shed, Peter used to hand-make floats, feeders and banksticks, and to this day he plays a big part in the company, as well as fishing on a weekly basis
05 Gardner Tackle
Just as with Kevin Nash, Martin Locke and Cliff Fox, Rick Gardner started Gardner Tackle through a need for specialist items of kit. No one else made what he and other carp anglers needed, so he designed, manufactured and sold it! It was in 1980 when Rick set out with the first commercially available solid pointed banksticks and he later went on to make the first PVA bag and currently manufactures one of the country’s most popular hooks: the Mugga.
06 Korda
In 1992, Danny Fairbrass gave up his job at NatWest bank and formed a company called Korda Developments. Little did he know that some 20 years later he’d be in control of one of the largest carp tackle manufacturers in the world. Following the company’s launch of the world’s most copied product – The Funnel Web System in 1996 – Danny went on to produce lead clips, swivels, hooks, DVD’s, until earlier this year when he turned his attentions to larger items such as bite indicators and scales.
07 Mainline Baits
In 1992, rolling bait out of their mate’s garage, little did Kev Knight and his partner Steve Morgan know they’d be the owners of the largest producer of freezer bait – in the world. Mainline were the first company to commercially produce an active bait called The Grange and since then they’ve gone onto produce many award-winning baits such as Activ-8, NRG, Fusion and their latest blockbusters being the Cell and New Grange. So big now they have various rolling houses roll their bait just to keep up with demand.
08 Spomb
After being turned away by a couple of hugely huge tackle companies, Brian, the inventor and company owner, decided to develop and manufacture the Spomb himself and in the February of 2010 it was launched. Spomb is now sold in over 30 countries, comes in three sizes, two colours and Free Spirit have bought the rights to produce ‘Spomb Rods’. Oh, and they sold over a million in their first three years. Imagine how those two companies feel now?!
09 Delkim
It was in 1975 when Del Romang and the late Kim Donaldson put their names together to form Delkim, the first Delkim Optonic Conversions came off the production line in 1983. However, it wasn’t until the first real Delkim vibration bite alarm came out in 1992 that kick-started Delkim as a full time business. Unbelievable, almost 20-years-old now, it’s still the same design and inner workings. “We must be doing something right,” laughs Lee Romang.