Finding our selves without kayaks at 7 pm Friday night, we were in a scramble. Adam and I needed to get our hands on some form of roto-molded flotation device to use on our last fishing day in Florida. We stopped by a small kayak shop in Largo but they didn't have any rentals left. Three calls to other shops “without naming names” ended in “Sorry but we can’t help you”. Our final stop was a water sports store in Pinellas Park FL. Adam and I entered Tackle Shack expecting the same feedback we received from everyone else. I mentioned our issue to the first sales person I saw and he quickly replied “You need to talk to Jimmy” and pointed me to their kayak department.

Upon meeting Jimmy the first words out of his mouth were “Can I offer you boys a cold bottle of water”, I thought he was just being nice because we worked in the industry. I explained the situation, of how we gave our Emotion Grand Slams back to David Sims because of fishing offshore the next day. And now there was a small craft advisories offshore and the trip got canceled. Yakless and with another day of fishing on the schedule we needed his help.

Immediately Jimmy got on the phone with one of the local Hobie guides, wanting to get us on some fish. Unfortunately the guide was busy Saturday and we were flying out on Sunday. He apologized that his guide didn't work out but said that they would hook us up with a Hobie Revolution and Outback to use the next day.

After fishing Saturday we dropped the kayaks off and wanted to thank Jimmy and the rest of the staff for staying late the other night and helping us out last minute like that. The store was packed! Trying to stay out of the way of paying customers, I noticed that Jimmy didn't offer us a bottle of water because we owned YakAngler.com; they do that for everyone that walks into the store. I was amazed at the level of customer service. Every employee was extremely nice and very helpful in assisting customers with any questions they had.

Tackle Shack has a pool so you’re able to try out the kayak on site. They carry the full line of Hobie kayaks including the Adventure Island. But don’t go in there asking about an Ocean Kayak, these guys are hard core Hobie fans.

The Tackle Shack's a full service dive store offering everything from SCUBA lessons and certifications to recreational dive trips. Skim Boards, Sunglasses, Paintball, and Electronics the list goes on and on. This is one store I would recommend to any of my friends or family without hesitation. I know Jimmy, Andy and the rest of the Tackle Shack crew will treat them right. If you’re in the Tampa St. Pete Florida area stop by and check out a store that puts the customers before all else!