The joy of shopping

I love to go into outdoors and fly shops and browse ... even though I essentially don’t need more stuff ... OK, I know: what does need have to do with anything!?

Korsholm and Go Fishing

Having just returned from a family vacation to the Danish west coast, I passed by two of the best fishing and outdoors shops in Denmark: Korsholm and Go-Fishing (both sites are in Danish).

Korsholm – AKA Jaktia – is the largest fishing, hunting and outdoors gear shop in Denmark, and since our rented summerhouse was only a 25 minute drive away from it, I persuaded my family to join me in a visit on the way to see Skjern Enge and the Skjern Aa delta – a vast area at the mouth of Denmark’s largest river Skjern Aa.

Go-Fishing is in Odense, and wasn’t nearby, but on the way home across the country, we passed very close by, and it’s a good place for a pit stop and a small break in the 3½ hour drive from west to east in Denmark.

Also, its manager and owner, Claus Eriksen, had posted an announcement that they had a bunch of fishing books in a bargain bin for very low prices. So fly stuff, fishing books and a pit stop! There was no way to avoid a visit.

I do have everything!

So I browsed the shelves of these two shops, and had to conclude that I do actually almost have everything.

When it comes to fly tying materials – where Korsholm in particular has a very large selection – I really didn’t need anything. I bought 5 spools of tinsel, which I needed in various widths and styles, and which were in stock in the shop. I think I paid about 12 USD for the lot.

Apart from that I have to admit that when it comes to hooks, tube fly stuff, feathers and skins, I do have what I need, and found nothing that tempted me.

They do of course have all kinds on niceties when it comes to both rods and reels as well as clothes and accessories, but with my current stock of gear and garments and my very limited usage of it, I resisted the temptation.

So in spite of the urge, I stopped at the tinsel.

Books always tempt

In Odense at Go-Fishing there was indeed a shopping cart loaded with old and new books as well as a handful of DVDs.

They were less than 4 USD a book and three books for 8 dollars, so there was no way that I was going to leave that shop without at least three books.

Of course I had most of what was available, and what I didn’t have wasn’t all interesting.

But I did find three options:

Art Lee’s book Tying and Fishing the Riffling Hitch. A classic.

Valdes sofa (Valde’s Couch) bu Danish Mogens Espersen. A nice book about fly patterns and their originators.

Top Water by Troy Letherman and Tony Weaver. Pictures, stories and tips from Alaska.

At 8 dollars for all three, it wasn’t a hard decision.

PS: Of course I discovered that I already had the Art Lee book, but the one I bought was signed by the author, so now I can hand off the old copy to someone deserving it.