LAKELAND, Minn. — A fellow can make money a lot of different ways, even in this unsettled economy. As a boy, Gary Mau, a retired Navy fighter pilot, former world traveler and international marketer, never imagined he'd sell minnows and leeches for a living, and rent a few boats. But that's what he was doing Thursday, staring out the window of his bait shop by the shores of the St. Croix River.

Mau and his wife, Dottie, own Beanies at Maui's Landing, a fanciful name that suggests a fanciful place. But Beanies isn't fancy. Homespun, yes. And, in spring, often flooded.

Like a corner bar, Beanies is a gathering place where characters come and go, and with the St. Croix walleye season only a week away, many of the usuals — guys such as Uncle Charlie, who fishes from the end of the dock, and Larry the Luckless Angler — will soon be back.

"We'll launch 70 boats here next Saturday, the vast majority of which will be in the water by 8 a.m.," Mau said.

Yet whether iconic mom-and-pop bait shops like Beanies will be open in the future to greet anglers is unknown.

"You can't make it selling bait or fishing tackle because you can't compete with the Gander Mountains and the other big stores on price," Mau said. "Renting boats, that's where we make our money."

A fixture of Americana lying nearly underneath the I-94 Bridge to Wisconsin, Beanies has been around since 1919. Commercial fishermen tramped its shorelines first, unloading netted fish in rail cars that stopped along the river bluff, before continuing to Chicago and New York, where diners awaited.

Now, by seasons, it's crappie anglers, then the walleye nuts, followed by the muskie addicts, as well as the river rats with their stink baits and headlamps who seek gigantic flathead catfish and prehistoric sturgeon.

"The catfish guys often fish all night, and come and go after we're closed and in bed," Mau said.

Ironically, the St. Croix River is perhaps more popular today with anglers than ever — yet there are fewer bait shops between Stillwater and Prescott, Wis., to serve them.

"We noticed the difference in our business right away, when Jimmy's closed," Mau said. "There's just nowhere nearby to buy bait, Already this spring the phone has been ringing. 'Do you have bait yet? Do you have bait?"'