Joining forces: Delta Tackle's Rob Alcock (left) and Gibbs/Nortac's Syd Pallister

The Clendon Stewart meets the Gooey Bob. Yesterday, tackle makers Gibbs/Nortac and Delta Tackle, both based in Delta, B.C., announced they have joined forces to form a new company, Gibbs-Delta Fishing Tackle. The merger allows both firms to pool their resources and cut costs, as well as explore new product lines.

Established in 1908, Gibbs is renowned among Canuck anglers for its dodgers, flashers, jigging lures, lake trolls, spinners, wobblers and trolling lures (of which the Clendon Stewart is one of the biggest sellers). Canada’s oldest tackle company, it also makes sinkers, landing nets and other accessories.

Twenty-five-year-old Delta Tackle, meanwhile, is popular with West Coast anglers for its halibut and salmon jigs and soft plastics (such as the Gooey Bob faux roe sac). The company is best known for its plastic injection and moulding, as well as for developing what it calls the “Ultra Violet” process (the glowing Ultra Violet Hali Hawg curly tail grub soaks up UV as deep as 400 feet down).

So, who will be in command? Under the terms of the agreement, Rob Alcock of Delta Tackle becomes Chief Operating Officer and Syd Pallister of Gibbs will serve as Chief Financial Officer of the new entity. The operation will be headquartered at the current Gibbs location in Delta.

“Our partnership promises an enormous range of benefits to our customers,” says Pallister. “Our focus is on providing great service and products, and maintaining our strong customer relationships.

Adds Alcock: “Delta and Gibbs share a long history of producing the best possible fishing tackle. We will continue to create new and innovative products and look forward to presenting them to the fishing fraternity.”

What’s more, according to a press release announcing the merger yesterday, anglers “can expect some new and exciting products to be unveiled soon.”

I was wondering what had happened to our office subscription to Eastern Woods & Waters, the fishing and hunting magazine published out of Bedford, Nova Scotia. Turns out the print version of the 24-year-old title gave up the ghost last month, and the publication will now appear online only.

While I’m always dismayed by the closure of a magazine (I’m a decided print lover), Eastern Woods & Waters publisher Jim Gourlay has put a predictably positive spin on his retreat to the Web. In an online address to readers, Gourlay says:

“In the last decade, the world of communication has been changed fundamentally, and irrevocably, by the internet. It’s a mixed blessing. The outdoor community, here and elsewhere, has embraced the web with unbridled enthusiasm. We are not proposing to follow: we are proposing to lead, as always. We gave you the finest print magazine in the region. We propose to give you the finest and most comprehensive outdoor website in the region, created and designed specifically to you and your needs.”

I wish him well, of course, but I will miss the magazine, as I’m sure countless others will down East, where it was no doubt a hunt camp staple. I know we need to keep up with changing technologies and publishing realities, but sometimes you just can’t replace the tactile, intimate quality of a good read on paper. Besides, who’s wants to cart a computer down to the camp outhouse for a little reading during his morning constitution?

Recession? What recession? It was nice to learn this week that Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based Trail Blazer Products Ltd. has once again made Progress magazine’s list of Atlantic Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies. This is the second time Trail Blazer has made the list.

I first met company vice-president Shawn Levangie some years ago down in Las Vegas at the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, and was impressed then with the quality of Trail Blazer’s hatchets and knives (among other outdoor-related products). Shawn also knows, incidentally, how to have a good time in Vegas.

Speaking of which, hey Shawn, does all this great news mean the outdoor writers posse can look forward to another limo tour of Vegas at the 2010 SHOT Show?