While in Carnarvon recently I had the chance to wander into the local Telomac tackle store and catch up with the new owners.

I’ve been going into Telomac for decades, firstly as a customer during my early days fishing Quobba and more recently mainly to say g’day to owner Ben Smith.

However, after nearly two decades Ben decided it was time to move on and sold the business to Dwellingup’s Scott Clarke and his wife, Tricia.

Like me, Scott has been a long-time customer of Telomac and regular Quobba visitor over the past three decades, who liked the business so much he bought it.

Having been made redundant after years in the mining industry, Scott was planning to re-enter that workforce until he saw Telomac come up for sale.

Living in Carnarvon had never been on his radar, but everything lined up and, after an extended holiday to celebrate the end of one career, he made the leap into small business ownership.

But not too small, as he is already expanding the traditionally cramped shop, having acquired the premises next door.

Customers are going to be the big winner in all this, as Telomac will be stocking a much larger range of not only fishing tackle, but caravan and camping gear as well.

It’s been a massive move after almost 30 years in Dwellingup, but this keen fisherman is loving his new community and is very excited about what lies ahead.

“The first thing I noticed when I checked the shop out before committing was that we needed to use the space more effectively,” he said.

“We’ve done that and we’re getting bigger by expanding into next door and already started building, with dad helping me.

“We’re making the floor space twice as big and giving the shop a new look.

“We’ve already expanded the range of fishing tackle, so people have a better choice.

“And what we have already found is that the more different stock we get in the more we are selling.”

While Telomac has always been a reliable spot to grab the necessities for northern fishing adventures, it now has an expanding range of major brands including Halco, Vexed, Nomad, Shimano, Daiwa, GME, Yeti and Engel to service everyone’s fishing and broader outdoor needs.

Scott hit the ground running with the locals too, offering up a heap of vouchers for Telomac as prizes in Carnar-fin, where he actually led the mackerel section until the final day despite only fishing once.

He’s been overwhelmed by the acceptance of the locals, who have even offered to help with the expansion.

Scott has been a well-known figure in the Perth fishing community for many years and the iconic land-based fishing destination that is Quobba has been a big part of that.

His early trips were all shore-based, but the last couple of decades he’s been towing his boat up to fish offshore, and his Navionics app is loaded with offshore spots just north of town.

He’s only been out a few times so far as he concentrates on the shop, but is looking forward to more opportunities to fish locally down the track and is already loving the new lifestyle.

There were plenty of people coming through the shop while I was in there catching up with Scott and I can’t wait to see the progress of the facelift the next time I am in town later this year.

I had a great relationship with Scott and Tricia’s predecessor, but I reckon the injection of fresh enthusiasm is just what the shop and the town needs.

Photo Caption: Tricia and Scott Clarke are the new owners of Telomac Tackle in Carnarvon.