I don’t know why I expected anything different, I wrote enough articles on the decline in “genetic diversity” to know better. It’s part and parcel of the “WalMart” phenomenon, small Mom and Pop business’s forced out of existence by sinister and cavernous chain stores.

It began innocent enough, I’m low on the special hooks used for my steelhead flies. The slim chance that I will confront a steelhead forces me to attempt every advantage, and I was down to my last box of razor sharp Partridge hooks that I’d squirreled away for personal use. To my horror they’re unavailable, worse yet the company has been swallowed by the mighty minions of Mustad.

The bloody coup occurred a year ago, I don’t even get a chance to rush to their defense in an orgy of protective consumerism.

“Partridge of Redditch” is no more, and with their demise a lot of small custom hooks have vanished from the market. I’ve used quite a few of their hooks, and fiddled with many of the odd styles – their quality was unsurpassed and their responsiveness to the public was remarkable.

They still make fish hooks, but only the mainstream conventional stuff remains of what was once a vibrant catalog. Rest in Peace, beloved SEB Steelhead hook…

I like supporting the “little guy,” in the back of my mind I preserve the fantasy of chucking the real world and retiring to some fly shop close to where trout sleep at night. It’s an unrealistic dream, but I still find a way to dump fifty bucks at even the smallest of destination shops, these guys are living our retirement fantasy and deserve the support.

It reinforces my notion that you should always buy plenty when you find something nice, you can’t put off the inevitable – but at least you’ll get another year before you get the bad news.

Technorati Tags: fish hooks, redditch, partridge hooks, SEB steelhead, RIP