The Tackle Box

The Tackle Box has been at 1901 Overseas Highway in Marathon's Old Town since the 1950s, when it opened as Miller's Bait & Tackle in a building that started life as a U.S. Post Office during the Kennedy administration. Dave Still bought the shop in 2004, and his son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Robyn Still, took it over in 2016, about a year before Irma. The doors open at 7 and close at 5, daily.

The bait case is the deep part. Live shrimp, pinfish and crabs; frozen squid, shrimp, ballyhoo, thread herring, Spanish sardines, mullet, finger mullet, silversides and glass minnows; fresh rigged ballyhoo in season; and menhaden chum. Around it sit rods and reels, lures, terminal tackle, bait traps, sunglasses and apparel.

What makes it a full service shop rather than a counter is the back room. They clean, oil and repair reels, Penn, Shimano, Daiwa and most others, and they spool line properly. Tackle Box Charters books four, six and eight hour trips, reef and wreck, bay, offshore and tarpon, going after mahi, tuna, snapper and grouper. The advice is free with anything. Call (305) 289-0540.