Mark Bozymski stops while shopping to marvel at a glass case that holds fishing gear from decades past -- including a 1940s Pflueger-model bay reel and a 1950s Ted Williams-model reel. Then, kneeling before a display of hooks and sinkers, he finds the chosen one, a one-hook spinner perfect for creeks near his Annapolis home.
His pilgrimage, a journey through fishing's past and present, is complete.
Mr. Bozymski, 32, can return home satisfied by another trip to T. G. Tochterman and Sons, the revered Eastern Avenue bait and tackle shop that has lured anglers for miles and for generations.
"It's Mecca," he says.
The shrine, however, is in trouble. After 78 years in Upper Fells Point, Tochterman's is at a financial and generational crossroads.
The business, which has been rattled by infighting among its family owners, owes more than $40,000 in state and federal taxes. And long-standing financial disputes pit brother against brother and father against son.
"We're related by blood, and it's all bad," Tony Tochterman, who runs the store, says of a feud with his brother.
Still, he vows that the store -- built on a strong family work ethic -- will survive.
The shop began at 1925 Eastern Ave. as a confectionary, where his grandmother sold sweets while his grandfather worked in the old Baltimore Fish Market. But one evening, the grandfather came home with soft crabs that he had been asked to sell. The bait sold so well that hooks and sinkers permanently replaced candy.
And soon, the couple's young son, Tommy Jr., started helping out, counting bloodworms.
Nearly 20 years later the store passed to the new generation, Tommy Jr. and his younger brother, Edward, who together would transform the small family business into a bait-and-tackle empire. Edward, who had worked for General Motors Corp. and National Can, started a wholesale operation that served 250 stores in seven states and that, according to Tommy Jr., generated 65 percent of the business' profits.
While Edward took to the road selling supplies, Tommy Jr. ran the folksy store that carried the widest selection of fishing supplies in town. The store was open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.
Tommy Jr. lived above the store with his wife, Antoinette. On some nights, people would stumble out of Fells Point bars, declaring that they wanted to go fishing. They'd pound on Tommy Jr.'s door and ask him to go downstairs for rods, reels, line and bait. He would always oblige.
Today, his younger son, Tony, lives across the street from the store, still providing customers with the personal touch. And the store's wide selection -- from powerful deep sea equipment to delicate fly fishing gear -- still entices anglers.
Inside, fishing rods line wooden racks, like pool cues next to a bar. Three stuffed fish hang above the front counter, including a 11-pound, 12-ounce large-mouth bass caught by a customer in 1953. Fishing nets hang on the walls, above $250 leather outdoors jackets, among the more popular items in the store.
"I used to always say it reminded me of Abercrombie & Fitch here in Baltimore," says local Buick dealer Bud Schmidt, whose BTC father bought him a pair of boots at Tochterman's when he was 10. He still buys all his bait and tackle there.
But changing times have brought problems to the store.
In 1981, Tony and Tommy III bought the company from their father and uncle. And over the years, the business has been shaken by several factors: the new owners' squabbling, a
seven-year moratorium on rockfish, and a stubborn insistence on giving credit to practically any customer.
"Some people didn't pay for years. It was a lot of money, but only a few people," says Tony.
T. G. Tochterman and Sons owes the federal government $10,919 and the state $29,556 in income taxes. Meanwhile, Edward has sued his brother, Tommy Jr., over 14 properties he owns with the family. He also has sued his nephews, claiming that they owe him thousands of dollars from the sale of the business.
Disagreements between Tony and Tommy III escalated in 1985, when they closed the wholesale operation run by Tommy III. A year later, he opened a rival shop, Tochterman's of Timonium.
Although Tommy III's shop folded after nearly four years, it angered his father and brother. Neither has spoken to him since.
Tommy Jr., 82, does not envision making amends with his son. "We'll never reconcile," he says.
His wife of 59 years is more forgiving.
"I tried for a reconciliation. It was my son. He was always such a loving boy," says Antoinette Tochterman, 80. "It still hurts because his children have grown up. They came in to see us a couple of months ago. They acted beautifully, but they haven't come in since then.
"We're old-fashioned people. When something like that happens it hurts dreadfully. I hope before anything happens to any of us there will be a reconciliation. But that's in God's hands."
The schism forced Tommy Jr. out of retirement in 1986 -- despite two heart attacks. Together, he and Tony have revived the retail operation, which, they say, has always been profitable thanks to loyal customers.
Customers are part of Tochterman's extended family that hasn't changed.
Ruth Collins, 81, has been buying bloodworms at Tochterman's for more than 40 years. She usually buys 30 to 40 dozen for her fishing party, which travels to Crisfield for Norfolk spot and sea trout. "Trout and spot, they love the bloodworms."
Whenever she walks into the store, Tommy Jr. starts to tell a story. First he laughs, then he starts crying.
One day in 1986, he says, after his second heart attack, Mrs. Collins came in to buy bait. When she noticed that Tommy Jr. still wasn't feeling well, she knelt by the cash register and prayed.
"I asked God to take care of him because he was a good man," says Mrs. Collins, who lives in East Baltimore. "He's still here."
So is T.G. Tochterman and Sons -- but now the future of the business rests on Tony.
He says the financial problems are under control. The Internal Revenue Service will be paid by April, the state government will be paid by the end of 1995 and the legal disputes with Edward will be decided by a court-appointed arbitrator in January, he adds.
"I would never let anything happen to this business because both of my parents have sacrificed their entire lives for this business."