Types

• Bait shops are usually located near popular fishing areas. They may be situated on a marina, in a small strip mall or take up a refrigerator and a couple of shelves in a sporting goods store. In some cases, worm farms operate bait shops as a sideline (see Resources).
  
  

Merchandise

• The most commonly found merchandise in bait shops are live night crawlers, lures, artificial flies and fish hooks. Other merchandise includes fishing lines of varying strengths, replacement reels, fishing rods, assorted tackle items, snacks, non-alcoholic drinks and sometimes also fishing licenses. These licenses may either be the year-round licenses required by state laws or day licenses that are good for the date of issue only.
  
  

Considerations

• Since bait shops are small businesses, many of them expand into related business ventures, such as outfitting and fishing charters.
  Outfitting may be limited to selling T-shirts, caps or rain ponchos. In other cases, bait shops with more cash flow may start outfitting services that sell hip boots, waders and even flotation devices.
  Fishing charters may be run by bait shop employees or owners who also have access to a boat big enough to carry three or more passengers. Since these folks are experienced in the kinds of fish commonly caught in the area and they also know the best places to find these fish, such charter boat operators are sought after by weekenders who just want to spend a bit of time catching fish, not necessarily hours trying to ferret out the best fishing holes in the area.
  
  

Advantages

• Purchasing bait in bait shops located right by the waters you intend to fish has a number of advantages.
  First, you receive advice on which bait to use in the particular area. If you merely buy bait off the shelf at a big-box store, you may get a better deal, but the odds are good that you may not catch anything, since the fish are currently favoring a kind of bait you did not purchase.
  Second, staff at the bait shops often lend a helping hand when it comes to rigging your fishing rod, which is particularly helpful for first-timers, especially if you are fishing with live bait for the first time and need a bit of help on how to bait the hooks.
  Finally, bait shops also have access to ice, coolers and bags for storing your catch. Some even feature a fish-cleaning station behind their premises.
  
  

Disadvantages

• During the off-season, many bait shops have very limited store hours. If you solely rely on these stores to supply your fishing trip, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find them closed for the day, the week or even the season.
  Additionally, prices at small bait shops are almost always higher than they would be at general merchandise stores. Although this does not always matter too much when it comes to buying a couple of tubs of salmon bait, it does get pricey if you are looking to buy a fishing rod.