Q&A With Frontier Fly Fishing's Tom Lewin

TCFF Editor PJ JACOBS chats to Tom Lein, part owner of one of South Africa's oldest dedicated fly fishing tackle stores, about its roots, vision and take on the local industry.

TCFF: Tom, you’ve been around the block in this industry for about as long as I have. From which store did you make your first fly fishing purchase, and when?

TL: In 1978 I bought a fibreglass rod (no line rating), an Abu Diplomat reel and a fly line for R140 from a shop called Field and Stream in downtown Johannesburg. I’d saved my pocket money for months and I really had no idea what I was buying or how I was going fish with it. All I knew was that I was going to be a fly fisherman.

TCFF: The Fly Fisherman was, as far as I can recall, our first dedicated fly fishing tackle store. What was your experience in dealing with them way back then?

TL: In the mid-80s, I spent three years at university in Pietermaritzburg. The Fly Fisherman was in Harwin’s Arcade then – a rather small, dingy shop stuffed full of the most wonderful fly fishing gear I’d ever seen. The shop had real atmosphere and I was in total awe of Hugh Huntley and Tom Sutcliffe (both of whom would pop into the shop from time to time), and of course Roger Baert. I remember being so impressed with their enthusiasm and knowledge.

TCFF: Given the shop’s popularity, were you surprised when they eventually closed down?

TL: The Fly Fisherman was the only game in town. They had a little newsletter-type catalogue, A5 and photocopied, which they would post to their customers. I couldn’t wait to receive it! So way back then they were ahead of the curve, reaching out to customers outside the shop environment. They had good brands too and knowledgeable, respected guys behind the business. They should have cleaned up and shut out any potential competition forever, but they became set in their ways and didn’t evolve the business. They lost relevance and opened the door for other competitors.