THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607260168
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 127 lines
ABOUT AN HOUR after closing on a recent night, Thomas H. Womble Jr. was fixing dinner in his residence above his bait and tackle shop on U.S. Route 17 when he heard a car pull into the parking lot.
Looking out from an open window, he saw an elderly couple getting out of their car, so he yelled a greeting and offered to reopen the shop if they needed something.
The man, Womble said, glanced up and, almost apologetically, asked if it would be all right if he and his wife watched the sun set.
``I told them it was fine,'' Womble said, smiling. ``They went out on the porch and sat in the rocking chairs for about an hour.''
That's just one way Womble is battling discount department stores. Prices at Nansemond River Bait and Tackle, at the northern foot of the Godwin Bridge, may be a little higher, but Womble puts no price on sunsets.
Womble, who traversed some turbulent tides through beauracratic red tape before he was ever allowed to build the round building and open his business, has everything you'd expect to find in a traditional bait and tackle shop: rods, reels, lures, live bait. But the unexpected is what sets this place apart.
Womble, who spent his childhood in the River Shore section of Portsmouth and who has fished the nearby waters most of his life, hands out advice on everything from what kind of bait to use to where the best fishing spots are.
He reserves a special place in his shop for nostalgia about everything from what the old Nansemond River Lighthouse must have looked like to what it was like to surf in the Atlantic Ocean when that sport was just beginning to gain popularity on the East Coast.
And he places special significance on things from the past that hold meaning for him.
Womble's father, now deceased, was manager for years of the Roses Department Store in Churchland. When he was just a youngster, he said, his father gave him an inexpensive Mitchell rod and reel. He kept that reminder of his childhood for years and continued to use it until, when he was fishing for stripped bass a couple of years ago near the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, the rod was pulled from the boat.
Womble put out the word: ``I lost my Mitchell.'' And he offered a $100 reward for what may today be worth about $30. A couple of months later, he said, a man came into the shop; he had caught a 27-inch stripped bass with a rod and reel attached. The man didn't want the money. Womble gave him a new reel.
Ask Womble about his first surfboard, the one from his days at Churchland High School, when he spent every weekend at Virginia Beach or Nags Head. The board was stolen a few years ago. Womble didn't stop searching until he found it.
The board is displayed with a collection of other almost-antiques, hanging from the ceiling of his shop.
Womble is used to doing things the hard way. He'd always dreamed of opening his own bait and tackle shop, he said, when he purchased the property in 1985 for what is now Nansemond River Bait and Tackle.
The property had been rezoned for such a shop in 1981. From what he has been able to learn about the history of the area, there has always been a bait and tackle shop in the same spot. But, by the time Womble got around to getting the permits required to build, the conditional use permit had expired. And neighbors were opposing a commercial enterprise in a quiet, residential, riverfront community.
Womble started in 1987 trying to get through the complex issues of rezoning. The City Council and the Planning Commission refused his request. Finally, in late summer of `87, he took the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the city was refusing to allow him to use the land as it was meant to be used and costing him the potential income.
By the fall of the following year, Womble learned that he had lost his battle, but he didn't stop fighting. In the spring of `89, he took his case again to the Suffolk City Council.
Would-be neighbors opposing the business claimed that a bait and tackle shop would create ``odors and rats.'' Womble promised to live there as well as operate his business and to keep it clean.
Too much traffic would be generated by a business operating a boat rental service, they said. Womble gave up his dream of renting boats for a day of fishing on the Nansemond River, and he pledged to build a turn lane off of Route 17.
One would-be neighbor offered to buy the place. It wasn't for sale. And throughout it all, Womble said constantly: ``You don't give up your dreams.''
Finally, after three years of court and council battles, Womble started building. Through a friend, he found out about a company in Asheville, N.C., that prefabricates round houses designed especially for waterfront areas, to withstand high winds and pounding surfs.
He found a design at Deltec Homes that looked enough like the old lighthouse on the Nansemond, which he'd only seen pictures of, to satisfy his dreams.
``It was delivered on a Saturday morning,'' he recalled, as he sat in a rocking chair on the porch and watched it raining on the river. ``I called all of my friends together, and, by Monday morning, we were working on the second floor.''
Finally, Womble opened Nansemond Bait and Tackle in May 1995. Business was slow at first. He worked hard to compete with the discount stores. He went all over Hampton Roads and into North Carolina to get the least expensive supplies and bait. He still does. And he doesn't apologize if his prices are a few cents more than elsewhere.
``I've had one guy this season come in here looking for bottom rigs. Mine are 75 cents. He told me he could get them for 50 cents at Kmart, and he left. That was OK.''
Other items cost the same or even less than the discount stores. And Womble, or his staff of one, has taken to making many of the things he would otherwise have to purchase from supply houses. A particular lure, a black bucktail, is rapidly gaining a reputation for success.
And Womble, who lives in 1,200 square feet above the shop, is rapidly gaining a reputation as a self-appointed keeper of the Godwin Bridge.
When traffic accidents occur, it's usually Womble who calls the police. He keeps a gas can filled for travelers or commuters who run out of gas on the highway. He's not opposed to tires being changed or minor repairs being made in his parking lot. He's even helped out when he could.
He's proud of the fact that there are no obvious rats around the building, and the place doesn't stink, as some had speculated it might. He still dreams of renting rowboats someday.
Of the three neighbors who were the main opponents of the business, two have moved out of the area. The other seems to have accepted it. Cedar Point Country Club, just across the four-lane highway, also didn't seem to like the idea of a commercial business on the riverfront lot. Now, Womble gets customers straight from the golf course.
On the wide front porch of the building, there's a hammock that swings in the breeze. It's there for the dreaming, Womble said.
At Nansemond River Bait and Tackle, blood worms are a bargain. Just $3.99 a dozen. Other items might cost a little more than the discount department stores charge.
But dreams - and sunsets - are free. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Thomas H. Womble Jr. lives in 1,200 square feet above his shop,
Nansemond River Bait and Tackle. by CNB