In Defense of California (Which Needs No Defense)

In many circles, California takes a lot of crap.

“Don’t turn our state into California,” they say.

I’m sure that the comments section for this post will be full of vitriol and jabs, but that’s just posturing. When I go on a trip, politics and living conditions and the local economy are generally not part of the story – unless I’m headed to Cuba or Iran.

On the contrary, being a newly-reborn glass-half-full kind of guy, I look for things that make the experience special and memorable for the right reasons. I had an amazing time on our recent trip to Cali. There were several things about it that I don’t think could have been replicated elsewhere – and one of them was the tackle store culture.

I should have suspected that to be the case. Indeed, some of our favorite brands like Daiwa, AFTCO and Salty Crew are based there. There also seemed to be crossover with the prevalent surf cultures. Many of the surf shops we saw had big banners for Salty Crew gear and a few had Free Fly (a South Carolina manufacturer) prominently advertised.

We had limited opportunities to visit tackle shops, and no time in either LA or San Diego, but in Orange County we hit five of them – and passed by several more. I found a vibrant scene that I haven’t experienced elsewhere: independent, mostly mom-and-pop stores (we passed ZERO big box stores) jammed with the best mix of multispecies gear, both national staples and local specialty brands.

We don’t have that where I live in Virginia. In fact, I can’t think of an independent shop within 40 miles of here. The ones that we do have, either on local lakes or adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay, tend to be focused on a very narrow band of fishing interests. In California, however, we found expert-class advice and gear that covered the gamut from urban bass swimbait culture to offshore marlin to mountain trout.

After we dropped off Hanna’s dad and his girlfriend at the San Diego airport, we had almost a full day to drive up to our hotel near Anaheim, so we took the scenic route, getting off the freeway at Dana Point to drive the coast up to Huntington Beach. I knew it was going to be a good day when immediately off the exit we serendipitously passed Hogan’s Tackle. I convinced her to turn around and go in.

There, mid-morning on an early summer Wednesday, we found a shop jumping with customers and floor-to-ceiling pegs loaded with everything from surface irons to Roboworms. Moreover, we found a highly-informed staff serving their customer base and explaining the benefits of certain products, rigging methods and fishing styles.

We meandered up the coast, stopping at various shops and picturesque overlooks, enjoying a leisurely lunch in Newport Beach, before making a beeline for Performance Tackle in Los Alamitos.

I had met the shop’s owner and founder Marc Higashi 19 years ago in Las Vegas at the one ICAST show I’ve attended. He was friendly with my fellow writer Terry Battisti, and somehow managed to get us rooms – I seem to recall that he built rods for one of the casino higher-ups. After the show I acquired some of his custom-built rods and one of them – a 7’4” cranking stick – is still consistently at the top of my rotation today.

So we stopped into the shop, ready to play the “Do you remember me?” game, but before I could ask for Marc, I just had to take it all in. I’d normally gravitate to the bass stuff, but I was completely distracted by the popping gear, the SoCal saltwater bass gear, and the fact that they had a loaded full old-school reel counter.

Again, the shop was buzzing on a Wednesday afternoon with customers looking for specific items as well as those, like us, just in to browse. Every one of the staff was well-versed in multiple types of fishing. It’s obvious that it’s a job built upon passion for all of them. That’s simply another thing you don’t see anymore. I’m used to either dealing with clueless teenagers (“What’s a Senko?”) or old grouches (“Why do you want that? You need something more expensive?”). It was fishing culture at its finest.

It made me simultaneously sad that we don’t have a place like that – a place where I could hang on days when I’m not on the water – and also exceptionally glad that it still exists. Look, I make plenty of online orders. I visit the occasional big box store. But the heart of fishing, at least the time we spend off the water, is being around fishy people, learning from those who know more than us, IN PERSON. YouTube is a great democratizer, but it can’t fully replace bass clubs and tackle shops run by people who can explain more about the sport.

I can’t wait to go back to California to fish. We’ll be back to Performance Tackle, too. Maybe I’ll buy more than just a fishing license this time – perhaps a surface iron or two from someone who can explain exactly which ones I need and why.