Wiggly Worm Bait Supply has been selling bait and tackle to Saratoga County fishermen since 1956.
But the legacy of the bait shop started even before then.
In 1932, Bill Ingles and his stepfather John Yell opened Yell’s Bait Shop in Whitehall during the height of the Great Depression.
Ingles' son, Gary, tells the story.
“They used to pick the worms, take garden soil, and use the tomato soup can that they ate the tomato soup the day before,” he said.
Eventually, Bill Ingles moved south and used his lifelong knowledge of fishing to open Wiggly Worm on Route 50 in Ballston Lake.
Today, the small white building features a round sign with a cartoon worm and the slogan, "I got hooked at Wiggly Worm Bait Supply."
Ingles says his father took inspiration for the name from a Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Whitehall.
Bill Ingles sold mostly live bait like worms and small fish before his son took over in 2006.
“I have a lot of great customers, been helping my family since 1932 when they had nothing. So, I had a lot of people come in and say, ‘Gary what is going to happen to the place when your dad passes on.' So, I decided to keep it open for them. I don’t have to do this but I choose to,” he said.
Now 77, Ingles expanded the shop's offerings to include fishing equipment like poles and tackle.
While the shop may not look like much from the outside, the store is decorated top to bottom in taxidermy, including a bear and an Alaskan wolf.
Ingles even labels the taxidermy with scientific names so children can learn something new.
“This is bunny fur that my mother had in the house when I was 10 years old. I brought this out and this bear fur, so the kids could pet it. Then everybody liked what I was doing about teaching the kids, helping them out,” he said.
Ingles also hands out what he calls “lucky bobbers” to kids who come in.
The bobbers are run-of-the-mill red and white fishing floats, but what makes them lucky is the raised Wiggly Worm logo printed on the them.
Across from the entrance, between shelves stocked with hooks and lures, large white tubs are stocked with baitfish.
Ingles scoops the fish himself.
The tanks makes the shop smell like a lake, but in a first-fishing-memory-kind-of-way.
And for Gary Ingles, making memories is what's most important.
“It’s more about the kids and about the families that have been helping us and been coming in here for generations. Like I say, we’re working on our fifth or sixth generation of kids coming in,” he said.
He says he isn’t in the bait and tackle business for the money.
“I put 12 to 15 hours a day in, every day. It’s a passion, it’s a love and like you say, you see those kids smiling and happy when they leave, they’re gonna go fishing, they’re gonna learn about the outdoors and I’m lucky that I’m able to help them do that,” he said.
Wiggly Worm Bait Supply is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. But Ingles still finds time to cast his own line three or four times a week.
