Naturally I’m drawn to the fishing section. Wide aisles, bright lights, great signage and an overwhelming array of rods, reels, lures, line, tackle boxes and accessories creates the feeling of being in some kind of fishing tackle Nirvana. I don’t how much square footage the fishing section covers, but it has to be several thousand square feet.

Last week I had to meet a client in Miami so I figured I’d leave Vero Beach early enough that I could stop by Outdoor World on the way to Miami. But it’s also coming up on the time when Spanish mackerel begin to appear in huge schools off the beaches of Vero, Fort Pierce and Stuart.

Spanish are great fun to catch. They make slashing attacks on lures with their razor sharp teeth and if, like me, you use fluorocarbon leaders instead of wire (believe me, the difference in the number of strikes you get with fluorocarbon versus wire is astounding) a morning of fishing for Spanish will quickly deplete your jig inventory. So as I left Vero Beach I also decided to stop by White’s Tackle in nearby Fort Pierce to replenish my supply of jigs.

White’s is a classic. Started in 1925, it moved to its present location shortly after World War II. It’s a tiny ramshackle-looking store from the outside. But inside, White’s is jammed solid with fishing stuff, so solid you have to turn sideways to pass other customers in the aisles.

You’ll usually find Don Raffensberger, the owner since 1973, back in the repair area cleaning and fixing rods and reels while Geoff Quatraro mans the counter. Both are always eager to find out how you’ve been doing on the water and to tell you what others are catching and where. I don’t get by often enough to have memorized where everything is, but Geoff can invariably find what I want. More importantly, he’s always willing to take a few minutes to show you how to rig a lure or give you some advice on where the reds are biting and what lures to use. He even taught me how to throw cast net out in the dirt parking lot.

Outdoor World has its place in the spectrum of tackle shops. It’s big, bright and well stocked and during the Christmas shopping season the sprawling parking lot is jammed with happy shoppers, especially on weekends. The chain has four other Florida locations: Islamorada in the Keys, Fort Myers on the west coast, Miami, Orlando and Destin in the panhandle. But when it comes to local knowledge and customer care, you can’t beat your best local tackle shop. I’m happy to report that while Don has recently sold White’s, he and Geoff are sticking around and within the next year will be operating out of a new, bigger store on U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce.