Blue Marlin Beach Shop — Local services in Kure Beach

I will NEVER recommend this place EVER. I am a resident and have given recommendations to tourists in the past....I run a rental room close to this business.......I am ashamed of the owner...

1 hr · Shared with Public Most people know I'm the last person to complain about anyone who is trying in any way....that's because effort is a sign of heart and heart comes from God... SO Saturday afternoon my brother and I purchased 2 BRAND NEW rod and reel combos from this man. He told us that if we got sand into the reels, they would fail. So we purchased them knowing we had sand spikes that would keep them completely dry. We used them for about 5 hours, than took them home and rinsed them off with the hose, as we would do ANY reel that we used in the ocean (see salt water). The next morning we went fishing at 530 am and when we got to the beach we realized both reels were free spinning and if we did catch a fish, he could take our bait to the Flemish Cap...(see perfect storm). Both reels had failed... SO we politely took them back to this store and asked the wife of the owner, if he was available to help us. She immediately looked at my hands and feet and said,"He will be back in one hour and there is sand on the reel, and he's not gonna like that"...we accepted her assessment, but both being in retail ourselves, discussed her method on our way back to the beach to fish to wait the one hour... When we returned to the store an hour later, we were greeted by the owner who said " There is absolutely nothing I can do for you...these reels are packed with sand"...I asked him to show us and he took the reel apart and says he found a grain of sand.(I didn't see it at all) and when my brother said the one grain of sand should not be a huge issue, he immediately called 911 and reported us as trespassers, and stated "he wasn't sure if we had a weapon or not"..WE WERE SPEACHLESS! This Guy called the police after 30 seconds! So we politely decided to stand out front of the store and wait for the Kure Police. (the store owner now has locked the front door)...When the police arrived, we explained the situation, which they stated they have heard multiple times (more than multiple actually) and they were very sorry for our bad experience. I offered to open the reels and show them the inside (yes,they both fish too) and they both said the reels looked brand new with zero sign of any sand at all. I guess now you have the picture...The police stated this business not only took advantage of a local, but also a tourist at the same time. We all are aware of the recourse consumers can take, and they suggested it.. The Kure Beach police have my total respect and they truly showed the good of our area, from in front of a store, well known as, the BAD OF KURE BEACH. remember Saturday Night Live?? ...that's the ticket...like my wife Morgan....Morgan Fairchild... Mr. Gerdes is more "full of poo" than this guy...

Let me save y’all some time and money, shop elsewhere. Owner was rude and confrontational. Walked in the establishment not wearing a mask, and yes I understand there’s a pandemic. The owner approached and said we needed a mask to shop his store. I politely declined and told the owner to have a great day. He did offer me a free mask, which then I explained I have a medical condition (asthma which I carry an inhaler for) and couldn’t wear it. And again thanked him and told him to have a nice day and walked out of the store. Then the owner proceeded to follow me out to my vehicle where he asked me if my asthma affected my eyesight or I just didn’t know how to read. Thanking he was joking I made my way back to the door and again he asked me does your asthma affect your eyesight? It was at that point I realized he was being a facetious. I then ask him “did you just really follow me out to my vehicle to Insult me” he then again asked me if I had a problem with my eyesight and couldn’t read his sign. Let me be clear, I have no problem with a business requiring masks to shop in their stores. I do have a problem with being followed out of my vehicle because he was unhappy that I didn’t shop at his store and insult me and my father. I had two other friends in the vehicle that witnessed the exchange. We visit this shop to to three times a year but this will be the last time. The Man needs to learn...

Don’t go here if you’re new to the area or on vacation, my father and I decided to stop by here as our rental house was right across the street. Since we are new to the area we were trying to find out what the best baits, lures, types of fish we can catch with what, etc. Just tying to get a lay of the land and see what we need. However when we talked to the gentleman he would not answer our questions and instead was trying to give us information we didn’t ask for or didn’t need. He kept telling us about fishing licenses when we already had those and when we asked about bait all he said was he has shrimp and this power bait that everybody gets, and then when we asked about the kind of fish we can expect to catch and he gave us a free book on every fish in the Atlantic Ocean and told us “I’m a salesman and I’ve got stuff to do, you can go to the library down the road”. Don’t know what kind of stuff he had to do, the only people in there was him, his wife and some family friend sitting in a chair in the middle of the store talking to them, useless people. Instead we went to true value tackle and hardware and they gave us all the information and equipment we...