If the environment is destroyed, fish disappear from rivers and oceans, the human race becomes extinct it will be in large measure down to big corporations. Everyone knows the years of denials from the tobacco industry about the health risks of smoking long after these were established beyond any doubt. This last summer has with great force brought home the consequence of climate breakdown, yet the big oil companies continue to lie and distort the undeniable truth of this. And not forgetting the vile privatised water companies which have polluted our rivers in a relentless hunger for high profits. The same plutocrats attempt to brainwash the public through the newspapers and social media platforms they own. Bezos, owner of Amazon, the Acme Corporation from the Roadrunner cartoons made real, owns the Washington Post and has stopped the paper reporting on climate change. More fools those who swallow their propaganda.
What is the corporate influence in fishing tackle manufacture? We think back to when tackle makers were a cottage industry, small workshops that built split cane rods, machined reels, turned floats, but these have largely gone or been subsumed into larger businesses. Traditional names like Hardy, Shakespeare and Abu are now subsidiaries of Pure Fishing, an American company. But this in turn is owned by Sycamore Partners, an American private equity firm. Private equity pools money from institutions and the wealthy to buy up companies. The modus operandi involves borrowing heavily and loading companies with debt coupled with asset stripping and aggressive cost cuts, all to generate short-term profits. Companies caught in their net often go to the wall and Sycamore Partners is no different . US senator, Bernie Saunders, recently urged the group to reverse its decision to strip workers of paid holiday.
Other corporate conglomerates in the fishing world are public Rapala VMC (Rapala, Storm and others) private equity groups Rather Outdoors (Browning, Preston Innovations, Fox, . . .) and Simms. Daiwa and Shimano are both public (owned by shareholders) Japanese conglomerates. So many of the famous names are part of big business. The question is whether we should buy stuff from them. I am disinclined to get anything from the Pure Fishing stable due to its ownership though I think the major Japanese companies are ethical. Are there any of the small-scale fishing tackle firms left? Yes there are. Guideline is a family owned company in Finland. Coarse fishing companies include Nash and Gardner, although some, Fox for example, have also been gobbled up by the private equity vulture. Drennan International, which began in a garage and is still managed by Peter Drennan, remains a private company though has now outsourced manufacturing across several ‘economically competitive’ (i.e. cheap labour) countries. Fulling Mill, now bought out by an ex Tory MP and placed within a holding company, apparently formed specifically for that purpose, continues to sell flies tied in Kenya, the fly-tying capital of the world. Then there are ethical Patagonia, environmental stalwart Orvis and more. So alternatives to big corporations are out there.
I imagine many anglers don’t worry too much about the origin of the kit they buy. But we should, as with all our purchases. Our future depends on it. If I buy another fly rod, I’ll be looking more at Guideline than Hardy. Consumers do have power.
The Secret Angler 