Gray’s sits in the Winn-Dixie shopping center on Sorrento Road, and it’s been selling bait there since 1988 — a strip-mall tackle shop in the best possible sense, meaning zero pretense and everything you actually need. Since 2016 it’s been owned by Capt. Bill Willis, a Coast Guard-licensed captain, so the advice behind the counter comes from someone who fishes this water for a living. It’s on the mainland, a short drive from the Perdido Key bridge, on the way to the Big Lagoon launches.
Why locals care
The early open, every day — the doors are unlocked before first light, because that’s when the people who fish this water are moving. If you want live shrimp and bull minnows in the well before sunrise on Big Lagoon or Old River, this is the stop — and it doubles as the pre-dawn intel exchange, where you find out what’s actually biting before you commit your morning to it. That’s not a small thing. A bait shop where the counter knows which flat the reds were on yesterday saves you two hours of guessing.
What you get
Live bait first — shrimp and bull minnows are the staples — plus the terminal tackle to go with them and enough gear to replace whatever went over the side last trip. It’s a working shop, not a showroom: the inventory is what fishes here, not what looks good on a wall.
Good to know
No website, so don’t expect an online bait report; swing by, or ask when you’re there what’s been coming in. True to the name, Capt. Willis also runs guide trips, so if the intel alone isn’t getting you on fish, the man selling you shrimp can take you to them — ask at the counter what he’s running. A guided inshore day on the lagoon is a different animal from an offshore charter, and usually the better fit for kids or anyone who gets seasick. For the bigger boats, see our charters page; for what’s biting this week, start with the fishing page.
