misfish Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 (edited) Son found a nice pice of fishing history today at a garage sale.I thought it was well worth sharing. The price stickers say SKINNERS. This one was made in France. This one is called a Lew guppy This one is a Miller flutter lite made in springwater NY Every thing in the box,s has never been used, Pretty cool I think. Edited May 25, 2008 by misfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbo Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 Downtown Toronto, long gone now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 I used to hang out at Skinners all the time Brian. It was THE place to buy bait in the early 60's. Good find for sure! That one that was made in France is called a Vi-Viff....was all the rage back then. One of the first rubber baits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 There is also a skinners marine in Port Darlington. I highly doubt they came from there though. Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted May 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 That one that was made in France is called a Vi-Viff Thanks Roy,I could not pronounce that.LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outdoorguy61 Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 (edited) Skinners was located in downtown Toronto and started in I believe 1916 or thereabout. It generally catered to a higher end crowd through much of its life and was in operation as of 1996. I do not believe it operates any longer. It was an interesting store with a neat basement, that had a few trinkets no doubt tucked away. One item that sticks out, was a cutaway Penn (International series I believe), that was huge and gold in colour. This was very valueable and hopefully in appreciative hands and not in a landfill. There was and likley still is a Skinners Acre in I believe Longlac. This is a neat store operated by a real character. _________________________________________________________________________________________ One of the oldest fishing tackle stores that has been in one family is just being dismantled in BC. It is called Mawsons and was also started in the early part of the last century. In the maritimes, Doaks is an older store. Distributor wise, DFS is still in family hands and was started I believe around the 1930's. In the west, Redl Sports is the oldest operating under the same family name since the 1950's. Fishing tackle companys sees Gibbs in the west and Lucky Strike in Ontario as the oldest. Just a few quick notes. outdoorguy61 Edited May 25, 2008 by outdoorguy61 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holdfast Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 OMG, I havent seen wooden plugs like that since my Vermont days when I was a Kid what the old locals were using. The MILLER Spoon Awesome. My old man gave me a Beer (Miller) Tab, put hooks on it and laughed while he gave it to me and called the Millers Spoon. Asksed me several times if I remembered it till the day he died last year. Never knew there was a real one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntervasili Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Downtown TO forsure, my grandfather used to tell me about the place all the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Believe it or not, the boxes those lures came in can be worth more than the lures!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Hi, that little red & white plug is actually an L & W Guppy, not a Lew Guppy (although I'm sure the real LEW could catch a large musky on one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gbfisher Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 What Roy said about being "ThePlace" I bought my first Musky Bait there. Stan The Musky Man Nowacin used to drag his Musky by Skinners on his way back the the Toronto Star....where he was quoted as saying...."This Fish is the News" Enjoy the lures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdrifter Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 King and Yonge... I worked there for 2 summers.. Boy have I got stories about that place! Owner by the name of Mr Hatch.. At the time we catered mostly to customers from the financial district and he used the store more or less as an office to book corporate altlantic salmon trips. He had rights to water on the Grand Cascapedia and St-Anne in Gaspe. There was an issue that summer in The Atlantic Salmon Federation of a famous writter by the name of Art Lee, who caught and released a 50 pounder... I still have that issue actually. Pitty, I think it's a hair saloon now. Shame. The store had so much history and future potential. Nice find!! cheers HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Holdfast, did you notice one of the lures was Made in France... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Hi, that little red & white plug is actually an L & W Guppy, not a Lew Guppy (although I'm sure the real LEW could catch a large musky on one). I thought it might be that,but it looked more like am E then an &. He is very surprised at the responses and knows the 5 bucks he spent is a good thing. I have to see the old tin box he bought it in.Im sure it dates back aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFSC Kevin Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I gotta get out some more and find these garage sales! great find there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beans Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 (edited) King and Yonge... I worked there for 2 summers.. Boy have I got stories about that place! Owner by the name of Mr Hatch.. At the time we catered mostly to customers from the financial district and he used the store more or less as an office to book corporate altlantic salmon trips. He had rights to water on the Grand Cascapedia and St-Anne in Gaspe. There was an issue that summer in The Atlantic Salmon Federation of a famous writter by the name of Art Lee, who caught and released a 50 pounder... I still have that issue actually. Pitty, I think it's a hair saloon now. Shame. The store had so much history and future potential. Nice find!! cheers HD Don't remember them being at King and Yonge streets... 60 some odd years ago they were in the covered laneway between Yonge St. and Victoria St (gone now)...then they moved up Yonge St. to just above the old Leow's Uptown theatre...the last dealings I had with them they had moved to the north side of Adelaide St. just east of Yonge St...mostly fly fishing tackle and lures...no more "live bait"...but they did repair my old Shakespeare Wonder reel that junior "borrowed" to catch suckers in Highland Creek and lost the line guide and worm gear... "Bring it in" they said..."if we got the parts, we can fix it for you"...They did and they did...great people !!! Edited May 26, 2008 by Beans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 (edited) Don't remember them being at King and Yonge streets... 60 years ago they were in the covered laneway between Yonge St. and Victoria St...then they moved up Yonge St. to just above the old Leow's Uptown theatre...the last dealings I had with them they had moved to the north side of Adelaide St. just east of Yonge St...mostly fly fishing tackle and lures...no more "live bait"...but they did repair my old Shakespeare Wonder reel that junior "borrowed" to catch suckers in Highland Creek and lost the line guide and worm gear... "Bring it in" they said..."if we got the parts, we can fix it for you"...They did and they did...great people !!! This is one of those times that I wished my Grandfather was around. Im sure he knew the store and could add a story or two. Thanks Beans Edited May 26, 2008 by misfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now