Winona MN, could lose it's only bait shop

For the last 70 years Winona MN has enjoy a bait shop full of the goodies the river fishermen looks for. Don’t get me wrong, there’s lake fishing gear as well but that can be bought at any of the thousands of bait shop in in-land MN.

It’s the river gear and knowledge of how to fish the river that can’t be found just anywhere.

Now, Winona’s only bait shop and it’s building is for sale.

Once it’s sold their is no guarantee the building will be used as a bait shop. There’s a good chance that it won’t.

And that will be another end of an era.

West End Bait Shop

Hopefully somebody with deep pockets can keep the bait shop open. I hate seeing these pieces of history going down the tube.😢

I’ve spent a few dollars in there over the years

I stopped in there as a kid going ice fishing. That was a loooooong time ago. Its living history and something that should be preserved.

Rocky’s left years ago,and then the shop on Franklin St by the tracks.Local bait shops seem to be on the out,maybe from all that with bait laws?

I remember getting willow cats at Rocky’s for 2.25/dozen in the 80s.

I bought my first walleye rod there. Needed a good rod for a fishing trip with college friends. Sad to hear.

I’m in that bait shop probably 12 times a year or more, it will be very sad if it closes :(. My in laws live in Winona and we go down to visit at least once a month, I love fishing all the backwaters in the area and get all my bait from west end.

There is some bait available at the Ace Hardware downtown, but it’s not a bait shop and it doesn’t offer the same experience.

We lost all the bait shops in Hastings as well. It really sucks.

I sold tackle there to one of the previous owners.. he was a great kid and had the business for many years.. He felt GUILTY raising the price of minnows.. and he told me so.. . He had an unique metal tube were you dumped your cup of crawlers into and then funnelled them back into your cup once you saw that they were alive.. I hope that this doesn’t close.. but I have seen them all close ( mine included) over the years..

That’s my old college Stompin grounds. What a shame.

It’s a great shop I’ve stopped there a few times and asked him the price if love to own it but I fish to much lol

Travis, I think he was the owners father and the reason I quit going in there too

A truly successful bait shop has an owner/staff that are a whole different breed of people. If bs and junk are what they sell, they don’t last long. It sounds as though the building itself may have sold, not the business. But if the business has a cremudgeon on board dealing with the public, that one needs to disappear or the business will suffer. We had such a bait shop in Rochester for a few years. Thankfully it’s gone now.