Bodega Tackle

Bodega Tackle sits on Bodega Avenue in Petaluma, exactly 25 miles inland from Bodega Bay — the last full-service tackle stop before Sonoma County anglers point west toward the launch ramps. The shop is family-run by Ken and Kenny Brown, a father-and-son pairing where the elder is a former commercial fisherman.

Doors open at 5 a.m. most days, 4 a.m. during salmon season, which is the cleanest signal of who the customer is. Live bait covers grass shrimp, pile worms, bullheads, freshwater minnows, nightcrawlers, plus seasonal mudsuckers and ghost shrimp; rods and reels run Penn, Daiwa, Shimano, Avet, and Shakespeare.

Hot Spot flashers, Gold Star lures, and Kustom Krafts swimbaits stay on the wall year-round, which says the salmon-mooching crowd treats this place as home base. See the California tackle directory. See also: Bayside Marine at Santa Cruz Harbor and Noyo Fishing Center up the coast in Fort Bragg.