Born Out Of Great Recession, Suffolk Father-Son Duo Open Thriving Fishing Shop

NORTHPORT, NY — Mark McGowan returned from work caked in dust and dirt — how he always does after a day in the construction industry.

The year is 2009, when construction work slowed due to the Great Recession. He was working on what would be his final job in the business: constructing The Purple Elephant, an eatery in the Britannia Yachting Center at Northport Harbor.

Businesses in Northport and beyond shuttered because of the economic downturn, including the shops where McGowan, an avid fisherman, bought his bait. McGowan recalled a conversation he had with Peter Houmere, the CEO of the Britannia Yachting Center.

"'Wow, I can't believe we have an historic harbor town and there’s no place to get bait,'" McGowan told Houmere. "'I’m a fisherman, and I’m wondering where to go.' [Houmere] said, 'Well, maybe you should [open a shop].' I laughed, it was the funniest thing ever. I went home and talked to my wife."

McGowan told her the story, lamenting how he always came home covered in grit after a day of construction. His wife, Maria, noted the yachting center wasn't far from their Northport home.

McGowan, now 56, admits he was a "complete novice" as a business owner at the time, but he knew in his heart that Northport needed a new fishing shop — so he took a leap that changed his life.

"We went in there to fill a niche," McGowan said.

Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle opened at 81 W. Fort Salonga Rd. — inside the Britannia Yachting Center.

Phil McGowan, Mark's son, was 15 when his father opened the shop. As a teenager, Phil lacked interest in fishing. He was surprised when his friends would ask him if he wanted to join them on the water.

"All of a sudden, my dad one day was like, 'Hey, you’re going to work for my shop this summer,'" Phil recalled. "I was like, 'What?' I would start working here, and people would ask me stuff; I would have no clue what they were talking about."

Phil, now 29, got the hang of it. He is now a passionate fisherman himself.

While Phil worked at the shop for years, he became his father's official co-owner last year. Phil and his wife had their first child a year-and-a-half ago, and he needed to ensure his income was stable.

He could have looked for work elsewhere, but he realized running the tackle shop with Mark was his passion.

"Obviously, I love working with my dad," Phil said. "He’s like my best friend. I'm sure it'd be different if I had some office job and I was working with my dad."

Kenny Henrikson, a regular customer of the shop since it first opened, watched Mark and Phil's relationship develop over the past 14 years. He agreed with Phil that the father-son duo are indeed best friends.

"They’re frick and frack," he said. "They go together. They work well off of each other. They complement each other. One will pick up where the other leaves off. They both enjoy the same things: Having a satisfied customer base, successfully fishing themselves, and running a profitable business."

The McGowans sell bait, tackle, shirts and hats. But the products are only a part of the store's income. The father and son service rods and reels, whether they are broken or not.

"It's almost like an oil change for a car," Mark said.

Mark also does custom work, he shared the story of when he helped two brothers who had fishing poles their grandfather gave them decades ago. One brother dropped his pole over on the boat.

"He was distraught," Mark said.

His brother asked McGowan to recreate the rod as a Christmas present.

"This was something that was 30-something years old, and you couldn’t tell the difference," Mark said of the remade rod.

Online sales, big-box store competition and expenses are the biggest challenges facing Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle, Mark said. At least logistically.

There is a fun challenge that makes Mark want to wake up every morning: Fishing is always changing.

A successful fishing store owner, Mark said, understands what fish are coming in and out of what area. Certain species are in abundance depending on the season, and shop owners need to make predictions. Will fluke be red-hot this year, or are they waning? What products should be used on which species? How will weather impact the natural environment and fishing ecosystem?

Mark keeps weather charts and noted an uptick in wind. Wind is a "big issue," he said, because it keeps people off the water. Augusts, meanwhile, have become much hotter lately, he added.

Many small business owners say the coronavirus pandemic or inflation were the biggest challenges they've faced.

Mark's shop did "phenomenal" during the pandemic, he said.

"Those were our best years in business," he said. "Everybody was home. What we did see was an influx of brand-new fisherman. I’m talking about total beginners. Folks were coming from the city in droves and moving to Centerport, Northport, East Northport. Everybody was coming into the shop like, 'I just moved here two days ago. I don’t know where to go.'"

The atmosphere of the store has always been "chilled out," Phil said, whether it's new fishermen or old coming in.

"I always say, typically, people when they come in here, they’re happy because they’re not going to work; they’re going fishing. It’s a nice environment to be in, where people are happy."

Phil can't pick out his favorite memory of working at Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle — he and Mark create new ones every day. But a joy, he said, is giving advice to novice fishermen who want to learn. He watches an inexperienced fisherman return to the store years later as "a bit of a know-it-all," he said with a laugh.

Mark enjoys watching his regular customers interact with new ones, likening his tackle shop to a pub in Ireland or the "cheapest therapist in town."

Regulars will be chatting, Mark said, when a new customer walks into the shop. Sometimes, the McGowans don't even have to make a sales pitch.

"Our customers start talking to other customers, 'Oh, you've never been to the store? You’ve got to meet Mark and Phil! Here, let me show you what they’ve got,'" Mark said. "And the next thing you know, one of our regulars is taking out a rod and wheel for one of the new guys. I look over, and I know they’re being taken care of. It’s funny. It’s like this family vibe. People love hanging out at the shop. It’s amazing."

Henrikson visits Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle at least once a week during fishing season — as a paying customer.

"Socially, it is a little bit of a hub and hangout, so it’s a little more frequent," he said.

Henrikson knew he would be a regular when he saw Mark do winter workshops in the fishing off-season. He brought his two sons, then 10, and watched as Mark gave them projects to do, such as rigging eels, tying flies or performing basic fishing rod repairs.

Henrikson's boys grew up with Phil.

"My kids have learned how to love to go fishing, how to respect what they're doing and apply thought," Henrikson said.

His favorite part of the shop, he said, is that Mark is a fisherman.

"He knows what he’s doing," Henrikson said. "Whether it’s the way he takes care of bait that comes into his shop, the way he cares for whatever kind of bait he’s selling to his customers. From bunker to crab, to eels to worms. He knows that they're healthy, juicy, fresh. That they're appealing to a fish."

As Mark gets older, Phil said he encourages his father to spend more summer days on the boat with their family while he watches the store.

"I want him to enjoy being on the water, spending time with my other brothers and my mom," he said.

The McGowans' meticulous attention to detail, fishing knowledge, customer loyalty points, and passion earned them favorable reviews on social media: a rating Mark said they work hard for.

"We have the best customers," he said. "We really do. Folks who come to support the shop. It really is a small-town feel."

And it all started when McGowan filled the niche, because as Henrikson put it, other fishing shops in the area went "the way of the dodo."

Filling a need, Mark said, makes a business successful.

"Northport can't not have a sweet shop. It can't not have a bait and tackle shop. We're an important cog of the wheel of the local economy. By being a bait and tackle store on the water in a historic area, it creates an incredible advantage for the business owner."

Cow Harbor Bait & Tackle can be reached at 631-239-1631.