Wedged between Supermercado Las Americas and the Hickory Hut, Hayes Tackle Plus seems, at first blush, a touch out of place on this battered stretch of East Lake Street. But the little bait shop has been an important neighborhood institution since its founding back in the '50s. Among other things, Tackle Plus has afforded generations of carless anglers an invaluable convenience. After all, where else in the Cities can you pick up a cup of night crawlers or a Mister Twister--with a busy, lake-bound bus line situated right out front? The prices at Tackle Plus are pretty typical: $2 for a dozen medium-sized leeches, $1.75 for a scoop of crappie minnows, and, for muskie anglers, ten-inch sucker "minnows" at a dollar apiece. A small but varied selection of rods, lures, and other essential fishing paraphernalia is also available on the premises, as well as expert reel repair service (a basic clean-and-lube job costs ten bucks). But it is the congenial manner of proprietor Larry Hayes and his staff that gives the place its true appeal. A staunch proponent of the urban lakes, Hayes enthusiastically regales visitors with stories of the big muskies and bass that have been hauled out of area waters; a bulletin board dotted with fish pictures suggests he knows what he's talking about, as does that stuffed five-pound-seven-ounce largemouth that employee Tom Carroll pulled out of Cedar Lake. Now 43 years old, Hayes has worked at the shop since he was 16. He bought the place four years ago, after the previous owner was murdered. The neighborhood, Hayes says, seems to have improved some since that episode--in part, no doubt, due to the resilience and pluck of businessmen like Hayes who refuse to give up on it.