About Us

The Salmon Stop, Inc. was started in the spring of 1973 by Augs Mom, Dad, and partner. A few years later, Augs parents bought out the partner, and away they went!

Augs dad ran a charter boat out of Waukegan for many years, along with running The Salmon Stop, Inc, which Aug and his brother Kenny worked both as kids. Aug was 7 when he started, and his brother was 11.

In the mid 80's, not too long after Aug and Lori got married, his dad decided to retire from the fishing business. We didn't want to see the shop go out of the family, so Aug and Lori ran it for a year and decided to buy the shop from Dad. Lori quit her job as a bank teller and became "The minnow Lady" Like we noted earlier, Augs been there since he was 7. Lori just celebrated her 20th year at the Salmon Stop.There are animals in the shop, dogs and cats. If you're allergic please let us know and we will put them in the backyard while you are here.

Our mission and motto:

We are a small mom and pop business, and treat it as such. We do not treat folks like they do at the big chain stores. When you buy a rod and reel from us, and don't know how to use it, we'll take you out in the parking lot and throw a few casts to be sure you know how it works.

We will do the best we can to teach you about the product you bought from us, and the best way to use it. Every product in the store we have personally used so we know how it works. Some items we elect not to carry due to poor quality or bad service from the manufacture.

We service all the rods, reels and downriggers that we sell, and the items you purchased elsewhere.

The main thing you will get here at The Salmon Stop, Inc is personal service, and we won't put you on hold, or re-direct your call and then hang up on you!

Having over 30 years of doing business in the Bait and Tackle industry we can’t even begin to list all of the tackle and gear that we have in our shop. If you want it we most likely have it in stock. Our in stock inventory covers everything from ice fishing to fly fishing and everything in between. So stop in or give us a call because the definition of 50 pounds of “stuff” in a 5 pound box certainly must have originated when someone walked into the Salmon Stop!

The coffee is always on, and the fish stories are flyin'!

Most frequent quote heard from customers about the Salmon Stop is,,, "This is what a bait and tackle shop is supposed to look like"

Live Bait

The Salmon Stop carries a full line of live bait, which includes many choices of swim baits (minnows, leeches) 5 different breeds of worms, along with frozen bait from livers for catfish to herring for salmon and trout! We also carry live baits for ice fishing, when it's that time of year.