Gunflint Trail bait shop continues founder’s legacy
The Ugly Baby Bait Shop opened in 1998, when Scott and Deb Stahnke started the business. Despite ongoing health challenges, Scott Stahnke opened the shop for its 25th season this spring. He died a few days after Minnesota’s fishing opener in May.
Stahnke left the shop to his daughter, Tisa Butcher, and her husband, Jeff. Despite Scott Stahnke’s recent death, the family decided to keep the shop operating this summer.
“It was my dad’s dream to keep that shop open and keep it alive,” Butcher told WTIP.
Earlier this year, Stahnke asked Chad Kepner, a retired fishing guide, to help open the shop. After Stahnke died, Kepner agreed to run the business this summer until the Butchers can take over full-time next year.
The Ugly Baby Bait Shop was important to Stahnke, but it also became a fixture in the Gunflint Trail community. Butcher said the shop has become a traditional stop for many anglers visiting the area.
“Even if they’re not going fishing, they still make it a point to just come up to the shop,” Butcher said. “They wanted to visit and see my dad and just talk.”
That sense of tradition is something Butcher hopes to preserve.
“Every single picture, every single item that’s hanging on the wall, hanging on the ceiling, has a story,” Butcher said.
At the same time, she sees opportunities for modernization.
“My dad was very old school. You know, when he first opened the shop, we didn’t even have a cash register,” Butcher said. “We’re extending the internet further out to the shop, we’re doing the square device for the transactions instead of the credit card machine.
Butcher remembers the work ethic that helped make the shop successful. During the summer, her father operated the business from sunrise to sunset.
“If he closed up the shop for the night and went inside to have dinner, my mom would tell me that if there was a customer that pulled into that shop, he would get up from the dinner table and go and open the doors,” Butcher said.
Some services were discontinued as Stahnke got older. He once rented boats, which included launching them and getting them started for customers. He also trapped his own minnows, a practice the Butchers hope to revive next year.
“We won’t be trapping them, but the guy that’s working for us now will be trapping them for us and selling them to us, so those are just the little changes, but definitely carrying on the legacy that my dad had started 25 years ago,” Butcher said.
Tisa Butcher of Ugly Baby Bait Shop spoke with WTIP about the shop’s history and future. The audio of that conversation can be found below.
Josh Hinke June 29, 2026
