Key West Bait & Tackle

Key West Bait & Tackle has been at 241 Margaret Street in Land's End Village, in the Historic Seaport, since 1986. Their own sign reads "where fishermen have been lying since 1986," which tells you most of what you need to know about the place. Doors open at 6:30 in the morning, every day, and close at 5.

The counter carries live shrimp and pinfish, frozen ballyhoo, mahi, squid and shrimp, and the tackle to go with them. Two things make this the right stop for a visitor rather than just a local shop: they sell Florida fishing licenses, and they rent rods and reels. If you flew in with neither gear nor a license, you can walk out of here with both and be fishing the same morning. There are hats and shirts too, for the part of the trip that happens afterward.

In the back is the Live Bait Lounge, serving breakfast and lunch with happy hour running all day, domestic beer at $3.25 and imports from $3.75. It is a bar inside a bait shop on a working waterfront, and there are not many of those left anywhere.