Causeway Bait and Tackle

Every fishing town has the shop where the report is true, and in Jensen Beach it is the low green building at the village end of the causeway. Causeway Bait and Tackle opens at five, which is when the live shrimp tank is fullest and the people who fish the catwalks under the bridges are already standing at the counter. The chalkboard by the door says what was caught yesterday and where, and it is rarely wrong.

The shop sells live and frozen bait, hooks and weights by the handful, a wall of rods and reels from cheap to serious, sunscreen, ice and the Florida fishing licence you need to fish from the bank. Rental rods go out by the day with a bucket and a basic rig, which makes a morning on the causeway possible for a family that packed nothing.

Ask for Sal. He will tell you which side of the bridge the tide is working, whether the snook have shown up and, if you listen, how to cast a net. He will also sell you a cast net and show you, on the ramp, how to throw it.

Good to know

• The live shrimp sell out by mid-morning on weekends; the frozen bait does not.
• A three-day non-resident licence is sold at the counter and takes five minutes.
• Rental rods come rigged; return them by closing.
• The catwalks under the causeway bridges are free and lit at night.
• Cash and card; no bait is sold after 7 pm, whatever the sign on the door says.