CharkBait! Sportfishing

CharkBait started as an internet-only retailer in 1997, run out of the founder's garage while he was still teaching school. The Huntington Beach storefront — twelve feet wide, in a strip mall on Bolsa Chica — opened in 2001 and functions as the will-call window for a much bigger online operation.

Don't let the "bait" in the name mislead: the brick shop carries no live or frozen bait. Inventory is heavy hard tackle, anchored by United Composites' California-made blanks (RGP surface iron, Sidewinder RSW popping, RCX bluewater trolling) and reel brands Avet, Accurate, Daiwa, Penn, Okuma, and Seigler. CharkBait stopped carrying Shimano years ago after the brand objected to free hollow-core spooling, which is now one of the shop's signature in-house services.

Hours: Tue–Thu 10–5, Fri 10–6, Sat 10–5; closed Sun–Mon. See the California tackle directory for the broader landscape. See also: Fishermen's Hardware on Gothard Street in HB and The LongFin in Orange.