About Us
We welcome all types of anglers, whether you’re just starting or are 50 years in. We stock low budget/beginner outfits, to top of the range items. should we not stock anything you’re looking for we will do all we can to get the item in at the right price for you.
The store has been running as a tackle shop for around thirty years, before which it was a greengrocer. Twenty-one of those years were under the ownership of John Medlow, with Mike Grantham taking over the business in 2017 after seventeen years of working alongside John, who now works part-time in the shop and enjoys a bit more time out on the bank.
In recent years we’ve added lots of new brands to keep up with angling trends, and anglers demand.
We also run a beach match league, that’s now in its 4th year and has taken us all along the south coast but mainly focusing on our local beaches. We’ve had some incredible matches, including one with three tope caught, and countless smoothhounds which racked up some never before seen points totals. We have also had some absolute gruellers including one in 45mph northeasterly winds and 4 inches of snow on Hove beach with only a hand-sized plaice and a herring caught between 18 of us.
We’ve also now added a few challenges throughout the year including the very popular and now annual tradition, The S.A.S Bass Chase and The S.A.S Bass Challenge to encourage the locals to get out and enjoy a good fun and friendly day out and keep the sport growing.
Mike Grantham
I’m a keen Sea, Lure and Carp angler of 25+ years. Growing up I remember trips into the harbour filling our boots with flounders and bass, and trips out on the boat with my dad and brother, who have always been mad keen anglers. It was inevitable that I would be too.
Around the age of 10, I discovered freshwater fishing after making friends at school that were hooked as well. We spent a lot of time learning the ropes fishing on the Chichester canal, catching Gudgeon, Roach, Rudd, Perch, Bream and Pike. We then moved on to Carp spending our spare time at Passies Pond and Mill Farm.
As we obsessed more and more over Carp we joined up at C.D.A.S spending every second we could learning all tricks and techniques and trying to beat our PB’s whilst etching fishing into our lives forever.
In more recent years, I’ve found a real love for beach fishing, and in particular lure fishing for Bass. This incredibly therapeutic way of fishing has consumed me and had a real effect on the direction of the shop with what started as around 10-15 lures on a small section of the wall, now taking up two whole walls. I think the reason for its recent explosion in popularity is due to these short sessions being able to fit into our ever busier lives, and I hope that continues for all to enjoy. If you haven’t tried it, you must!!
That pretty much brings us up to today, I love working in the shop, pointing people in the right direction and watching their fishing progress and the enjoyment they get out of it. I almost enjoy as much as I do fishing myself, almost.
john medlow
I started fishing in and around the Portsmouth area about the age of ten. Me and a little gang of mates would spend school holidays fishing on South Parade Pier, Baffins Pond, Hilsea Moat or wherever the bus or our bikes could take us.
As kids, we caught everything from Pout and Flounders to Roach, Rudd and Perch. Always thirsty for knowledge, and we learnt it as we went along.
Then came the seventies and a car!!!
For the next twenty years I spent nearly all of my free time travelling to Dorset to fish on the Avon and Stour, catching Barbel and Chub in the summer, and Pike and Roach in the winter.
In 1996 I bought the shop and had to fish more locally, on boats and down the beach as well as Carp fishing on the nearby Chichester club lakes.
Then around 2001 a young 12-year-old boy came in and started as a Saturday helper and tea boy. Mikey was his name, and he was great, I couldn’t get rid of him and he just kept coming back.
The rest is history, we both still fish as often as we can (lots), and Mikey now owns the shop, with me as the tea boy.