or... The Story Behind Tackle It

Ed Clarke and his wife, June, opened Tackle It in December 2001 to replace the old Lakeport Tackle which closed and moved to Bakersfield. The first challenge was finding a location. The old location near the Skylark Motel was scooped up by a neighboring tenant. As soon as Ed and June heard the only tackle shop in Lakeport was closing, they hit the pavement in search of a new location.

They found their first spot in the heart of downtown Lakeport. That was easy enough except for the fact that it was a pink and purple building. Ed worried "Do you think it will be a problem if we have our tackle shop in a pink building?" June said "At least they'll have no trouble finding us."

In December 2005 we moved back to the old Lakeport Tackle location: 1050 N. Main Street (at 11th). Look for our TEN FOOT Bass on the window - we hope that helps everyone find us...

Ok so how many hooks do you think it takes to hang all of that tackle? To date, Tackle It has hung nearly 3000 hooks full of tackle. Customers keep saying "Wow! You have everything." One of the tournament pros said to us "Usually a shop has two aisles of junk and maybe one aisle of useable tackle. Your shop is full of everything we need. And there's no junk!" We appreciate the compliments. Alton Jones got some good advice from us in 2003 and it paid off at the Bassmaster tourney here!

Let's talk about our fishing experience. Ed Clarke started fishing at the age of 7 in the creeks and rivers in eastern Pennsylvania. His first fish was a 14" rainbow trout (not bad!). He has been fishing ever since, choosing to concentrate on bass and salmon. So far his biggest largemouth bass was caught in 2002, a 12-pounder at the south end of Clear Lake. His best salmon was a 40-pounder that dragged him up and down the Feather River for 40 minutes. His favorite, though, is still smallmouth bass from his days fishing the Susqwehanna River in Pennsylvania. "Pound for pound they fight harder than most fish." says Ed. By the way, his biggest smallmouth was 5Lbs 3Oz.

The move to California was tough on Ed because of the limited water in the summer. He could not believe how far he had to go to find water to fish in the summer. It was tough giving up river and stream fishing in the summer because of lack of water...Clear Lake was the solution.

The best fish in the family so far has been June's whopper 21-Lb Smith River steelhead. When June did not get excited because the fish hardly fought, the frustrated guide said "Do you realize that they pull 5 fish a year this size out of this river and you just caught one of them?" Now THAT got June excited. But really, folks, Ed is the fishing fool...

According to June, "Every time we go by a new body of water Ed says 'Do you think there are any fish in there?' It's a sickness." So after fighting this fishing madness for 15 years June finally agreed to buy a house with a boat dock on Clear Lake.

Little Spencer was only a year old when he made his first trip to Clear Lake in 1996. When Spencer turned 7 in 2002 Ed said "I'm finally not afraid to be on the boat with him when he is casting."

So far Spencer's biggest fish is a 6-pound bass caught with a Speed Trap, a Shimano Calais bait casting reel, and a Loomis 7 foot moderate to fast cranking stick. That's our boy!