Dedicated to quality and service
Tackle and clothing
At Jack's, we are dedicated to giving you the best quality products and service in the area. Our fishing tackle and lures are of the highest calibre. Our foul weather gear is the most durable and from notable manufacturers such as Grundens and others.
Bait
Our bait is fresh and we carry only the highest quality. Live bait includes sandworms, bloodworms, clams, mussels, green crabs, fiddler crabs, nightcrawlers and trout worms. We also carry herring, moss bunker, squid, mackerel, spearing, sand eels,bunker chum, clam chum and mussel chum.
The History of Jack's Bait & Tackle
Established in 1945
Jack’s Bait & Tackle was established in 1945 on City Island in the Bronx by my grandfather Jack Rumpf and his wife Rose.
Jack, who was a Marine in WWII came to City Island after the war to start his own business. At first, Jack took care of boat rentals while Rose worked the counter selling bait and tackle.
I started working for my grandfather when I was 10 years old. I folded baitboxes and put hand-tied hooks and rigs into packages. At 12, I started working behind the counter with Rose and Jack. Back then there were no registers—everything was done with pencil and paper on the back of a paper bag. At 16 I started sanding, caulking, and painting the wooden boats. At 17, when I got my driver’s license, I started making deliveries for the wholesale business.
1990's
In 1992, my grandfather passed away and the store was left to me to continue the family business. At this time, Jack’s went through a major renovation. The store was renovated, and all the old wooden skiffs were replaced with new fiberglass ones. The wholesale branch of the business was also expanded from a single delivery truck to five trucks within a few years.
