The Year That Was: Comments from CSIA/CNSF Members
Rob Walton, Pure Fishing
I’m stating the obvious…this has been a year like no other. Very early in February we were looking forward to a strong year in the fishing tackle industry in Canada, and then the pandemic hit. Like so many other Canadians experienced, we went from great expectation to unprecedented concern for our business in just a few weeks. With the warmer spring weather, and as consumers adjusted to life in a social bubble, they quickly realized that fishing was a fun activity and great way to enjoy the outdoors while staying safe. We were very fortunate as many anglers started to fish again this spring, bringing with them family that may have been fishing for the first time as well as those being reintroduced to the angling community. It is estimated that we have more than 10 million new anglers participating this year in North America. With that the industry saw an incredible increase in demand for our product, met by challenges in our delivery to shelf as a result of Covid-19 restrictions in the supply chain. These were circumstances we had not anticipated in late March. We continue to work diligently to make changes to our business such as increasing production, adding new warehouse space, and streamlining delivery. Each of these steps taken in an effort to meet customer and consumer demand. What the future holds is uncertain although we expect strong demand for fishing tackle to continue through 2021. Our hope is that the new anglers who have joined us this year, continue to participate and as we progress through this pandemic, and they introduce more to an opportunity to enjoy the Great Canadian Outdoors!