SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Fishermen and hunters can now buy bait, rods, nets, ammunition and a host of fishing and hunting accessories at Yellowknife's Canadian Tire as it unveiled its enlarged bait and tackle shop last weekend.

Canadian Tire store manager Chris Kondracki stands in a lane of the store's bait and tackle shop holding a fishing rod and net on March 26. The store has extended its fishing and hunting assortment. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

The store saw an opportunity to expand its selection of hunting and fishing products, said store manager Chris Kondracki, after Wolverine Guns and Tackle closed its doors last January after 22 years in business. Wolverine Guns and Tackle was the city's lone independently-owned outdoorsman store.

"We want to be the destination of choice in Yellowknife, for fishing especially. We've given fishing and hunting probably about 30 per cent more space than it had in our store before," he said. "We've brought in a whack-load of new lines, we've expanded the assortment. So, we've really concentrated on just having the right amount of inventory this year."

With the changes, shoppers will see three full lanes of fishing and one of hunting. The assortment includes rods and reels for the amateur and professional, downrigging gear, terminal tackle, hooks, leaders, knives and frozen bait.

"We've dressed up the department. We've invested in things to make it feel more like a tackle shop, from the caribou mounts, to a full wolf mount, a bear hide. We've got ptarmigan. We've got grouse. We have a 50-inch trophy lake trout and 50-inch Northern pike mount coming in," said Kondracki.

"Those are going just help set the tone for our department and really give it the look and feel of a true bait shop."

Shawn Roper describes himself as an avid outdoorsman who fishes year-round and hunts during the winter. He said he hasn't yet seen the new selection but will certainly go check it out.

"Wolverine was great," said Roper. "I liked the small business. It's a shame that it's kind of replaced by big-box suppliers. The personal touch that we had from Wolverine, just in terms of the people working there, you'll never get that from a larger store."

"I'm not knocking it," he added. "I'm just happy that we'll have something as opposed to nothing. I mean they're filling a void in the market. Good on them for doing it because if they didn't do it, who else would do it?"