FishRap News

CharkBait opened a new store in San Diego, fully stocked with the latest sportfishing gear. The new shop caters to private boaters and long-range anglers.


Busy Shop – Anglers arrived early June 25 at CharkBait’s San Diego store and took advantage of the shop’s grand opening deals and prizes.


Team CharkBait – Left to right; Vince De Palma – partner in the San Diego shop, Mark Smith – owner of CharkBait, John Hazlett – sales manager CharkBait, Jeff Lambert – assistant manager Huntington Beach, Mike Eslinger – manager San Diego.

Anglers eager to visit the new shop waited outside on the morning of June 25, looking to take advantage of CharkBait’s grand opening games and deals, including hourly drawings and prizes of Accurate, Avet and Penn reels, free rods and more.

“San Diego is the heart of West Coast sportfishing, both in terms of the long-range industry and private boating,” said CharkBait owner Mark Smith. “I’ve wanted to have a shop here since I began operations. But two things were always lacking: funds and people to run the shop. Well, we still don’t have the funds, but we have the right people, and that was the key factor motivating the expansion of operations.”

Smith formed a partnership with longtime friend and fishing buddy Vince De Palma after De Palma indicated he was interested in opening a shop. “We talked, found a perfect location and committed to working together,” Smith said.

De Palma has been operating a private charter business and working on boats in the San Diego long-range fleet for the past 10 years. He brings a wealth of firsthand fishing knowledge to the shop.

“The key to a successful business is people. We have the right guys running the shop,” Smith said.

“Over the years, we’ve also developed a strong following from fishermen in the San Diego area. Literally every week we have clients drive up to our Huntington Beach shop, and each week clients from San Diego purchase gear from us online. So, we knew we had a certain base of clients here. Additionally, many of our clients stop by our Huntington Beach shop to get outfitted on their way to San Diego for a fishing trip. Opening a shop near the landings seemed a more convenient way to serve those folks,” Smith added.

CharkBait, billed as the first online saltwater-dedicated tackle shop, initially came on the sportfishing scene as a private boater networking board in 1996. CharkBait went on to become a fishing tackle retailer, and in 2009, CharkBait earned recognition as the largest dealer for Accurate, Avet and Newell.

The new store is located on the way to the sportfishing landings at 3166 Midway Drive #101; one-and-a-half blocks north of Rosecrans, near the freeway.

For more information on CharkBait, call (877) 424-2751 or visit charkbait.com.

This article first appeared in the July 2010 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.