Services Provided by Whitney's Bait & TackleWhitney's Bait & Tackle

Our Services

We are a full service bait and tackle shop, offering rod and reel repair, custom rod building, rod rentals, live and frozen baits, locally hand tied flies by our guide staff, fly and spinning gear, the latest lures, plugs, and scented jerkbaits and most importantly, friendly, enthusiastic and expert advice.

For spinning gear, in addition to custom made rods, we also offer a fine selection of Star and Temple Fork Rods. We also carry Penn, Shimano, and Diawa spinning reels.

For the fly fishing enthusiast, we carry a full selection of Hardy & Grey’s rods and reels. We also carry Ross Reels, RIO and Scientific Angler fly lines. Our fly selection is tied by local guides who are familiar with our local fishing and know which flies work best. We’ve also got t-shirts, caps, sunglasses, and sunscreens.

Free Lessons

Looking for Sanibel fishing lessons? Not sure how to bait your hook? Want to learn how to throw a cast net? We'll teach you! For FREE! The friendly & Knowledgeable staff of local fisherman loves to help our customers learn how to do what they love most, FISH! No question is silly and as a matter of fact, the more the better! Just ask!

Delivery Services

Didn't rent a car or just don't want to leave the beach? We'll come to you! We can deliver rods, reels, bait, kayaks & more! Just call us and let us know where you are and what you need and we'll arrange for one of our friendly staff to bring you what you need!

Spinning Gear

We’ve got all the latest spinning gear and can get you outfitted to chase everything from light-tackle shallow water angling to the sturdiest tackle necessary to do battle with sharks and tarpon. We carry a great selection of rods from Diawa, Star, and Temple Fork Outfitters. We also stock a 7′ TFO 3 piece travel rod in 10lb class which is great for traveling back and forth.

Choose from a fine selection of reels made by Penn, Diawa, and Shimano. If the latest and hottest local lure is what you’re after, check out our selection, we dont’ stock every lure, we stock what works best for our area and will help you select the right products for the fishing you’ll be doing while here. We carry lures from MirrOlure, Yozuri, Rapala, and Heddon, soft plastics and jerkbaits from DOA, Gulp, and Cottee.

Angling Art

While visiting you’ll probably want to check out some of the angling art we have around the store. It will serve as a great reminder of your time here in the Sanibel – Captiva area. We have a number of local artists that specialize in producing angling related art. We have an assortment of pieces that range from beautiful stained glass to Gyotaku (Japanese Fish Prints). If you catch a real trophy and would like a catch and release mount made to celebrate your catch, we can put you in touch with a world-renown taxidermist that uses fiberglass molds and your pictures to recreate your moment.

Rod & Reel Repair

As the best Sanibel rod and reel repair shop, Whitney's can fix just about anything you bring us. If your gear looks like this, bring it in and we can check it out. Not going to be in town long enough to have us take care of it? No problem! We have great quality rental gear that’ll serve you well. We have a great selection of monofilament and braided lines and can get you spooled up with fresh line in just a few minutes. If you are interested in having a custom inshore rod built, please let us know, we’d love to build your own special customized fishing rod just for you.

Fly Fishing

We launched our new fly department in the Spring of 2019. If you enjoy fly fishing, or would like to get started we’ve got the finest Hardy Rods and Reels, Ross, and Redington Reels, locally tied flies by our guide staff and a great selection of fly lines from RIO and Scientific Anglers. Check out the video of Andy Mill testing the new Hardy Rods and Fortuna fly reel on sharks. The power and strength of the new Hardy saltwater fly fishing gear is astonishing. You may not always need this much power, but it’s great to know you’ve got it.

If stalking and sight fishing for redfish or snook in the shallow back bay waters is what interests you, we can get you outfitted and booked with a guide with who will be focused on taking you to some great sight-fishing. Just need to spend the day learning to tie nail-knots, bimini-twists or blood knots is no problem either. And if you’ve never tried fly fishing but always been interested in giving it a shot, we highly recommend a day with one of our guides, they can teach you the basic casting strokes and have you catching fish. We also have locally tied custom flies available by guides that are on the water every day and know what to use, where, and when. If you want additional help getting rigged up with leaders, we’ve got pre-tied RIO leaders available, or we can help you learn the best knots to use for tying your own.

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