Saltwater Gear - Charkbait.com

If you haven't shopped at Charkbait.com, I highly recommend you do.  The gear selection is narrow scope - California centric saltwater, and the customer service is top notch!  These guys want to set you up with the right stuff and bend over backwards to do so.  here's a quote from the owner Mark Smith, "We’ve been at this a long time, were the first online tackle shop focused on saltwater fishing.  We were also the least financially funded business given I started this firm by cashing in an IRA and credit card debt…  That reinforced some good, sound business practices as I developed our position in the marketplace.  Our strengths lie in product knowledge, saltwater fishing experience, and of course customer service. Those are our keys to success.  We’ve always competed well against better funded businesses, we’re more efficient than others and folks here wear a few different hats which is ultimately helpful to our clients and our bottom line.  Glad you found us. Word of mouth has been our best source of advertising over the past 20+ years."

https://charkbait.com/

Mark and his crew are really good to work with for sure!

Good shop.  I buy in person as Daughter lives in Naples area of Long Beach.  About 20 minutes away.  Will spool new reels for free and do a great job of connecting the top shot.

I bought a few things from them but when the owner started spewing Qnon type bullshit on youtube, I stopped shopping there.

I guess you showed him!

I guess you showed him!

I did by not shopping there. I've bought 2 saltiga 2 speed reels, an electric reel, 2 tranx, saltiga star drag reel, ocea conquest and a number of other reels within the 1.5 years not to mention a bunch of rods. So I guess I showed him in my own measly way.

 

I guess you showed him!

I did by not shopping there. I've bought 2 saltiga 2 speed reels, an electric reel, 2 tranx, saltiga star drag reel, ocea conquest and a number of other reels within the 1.5 years not to mention a bunch of rods. So I guess I showed him in my own measly way.

Nice Job Vote with your money 

i ordered a few rods from them in sept 2021... they're back ordered still- no fault of charkbait. I emailed last month to cancel the order as I needed it for a trip and borrowed a rod instead and bought a graftech from melton tackle in Anaheim on the way back.

When I requested to cancel the order, mark asked me why, and wanted to know what I bought, so I said graftech. He immediately shot back an email with nothing about my order or cancellation request claiming "Graftech isn't a real company" and that "The reason they're in stock is that their products arent quality". He promptly suggested I spend nearly double to get one of the similarly rated rods that actually was in their stock, but having no need for a rod anymore, I declined and asked again politely for confirmation when my order was canceled.   He replied back with a block of text about politics, Covid, the price of fuel being artificially raised, and how the virus is being exploited by officials and corporations. 

I have no interest in doing business with this company in the future- what a lame way to run a business. takes all the fun out of fishing with some crap like that.

Oh yeah, they also will charge you for out of stock and back ordered items before notifying you. so i had a nice $384.90 charge on my card for the past 6 months that was refunded at the time of cancellation... never had a business charge me 5 months in advance for a product that was never delivered lol.

I guess you showed him!

I did by not shopping there. I've bought 2 saltiga 2 speed reels, an electric reel, 2 tranx, saltiga star drag reel, ocea conquest and a number of other reels within the 1.5 years not to mention a bunch of rods. So I guess I showed him in my own measly way.

Nice Job Vote with your money 

Yep. Exactly.