BELLEPOINT — Turning an angler loose inside PC Baits with an unlimited credit card is akin to the old saw about a kid running amok in a candy store.

Everywhere you look, no matter which corner you turn, is something to catch an angler’s ever-wandering eye, enough to hook his credit cards from the wallet and run up a staggering bill in a short time.

For instance, there’s the carrot stick — not a trick, mind you, but a top-notch graphite rod, fashioned with fibers of the actual vegetable.

Small wonder it boasts a bright orange color.

“It’s super light,” says Donna Jesse, a partner with husband Matt in PC Baits, now in its second year of operation just across W.Va. 3 from the inviting Greenbrier River in this part of riverfront Hinton.

“It’s not completely carrot, but it does have the fibers.”

 NASA designed part of the technology, and Element 21 ushered it into the fishing market, offering up a rod that is super-light and sensitive. It carries a lifetime warranty and retails for around $140.

But for the ultra-modern, one cannot escape the light-up rods. Just crank the reel and watch a splash of colors that both children and adults find amusing.

“It’s just cool,” Donna says, acknowledging it offers no advantage in hooking fish. “It comes in pink, silver and blue.”

PC Baits opened a year ago, marking the latest venture in an outdoor business the couple launched with vacation rentals along the Greenbrier eight years ago. Three years afterward, the Jesses opened Pipestem Country Campgrounds and added a sideline of bait and tackle.

“We liked to do this,” Donna said. “And we were looking for a little bit more traffic as far as customers go, so we moved down here to Bellepoint.”

From scratch, the two raised a structure on Greenbrier Drive and now have put up an annex.

Seven miles from the shop are the vacation rentals, fully equipped cabins that accommodate from six to nine occupants, and featuring all bed and bath linen, DIRECTV, hot tubs and grills right on the riverbank.

Pipestem Country Campgrounds actually gave rise to the bait shop’s name.

Inside a lawyer’s office, as corporation papers were drawn up, Matt Jesse was fishing around for a catch name and decided to drop one of the “C’s,” hence, PC.

“I tell everyone that I’m politically correct,” he laughed. “They get a big kick out of it. They know I’m not politically correct.”

All kidding aside, the couple is decidedly serious about making a go of the bait shop. Except when the cold weather arrives and shorter hours are required, you can find one of them, often both, in the shop on a 24/7 basis.

“We kind of liked doing these things,” Donna explained.

“We learned also you shouldn’t always go into business in what you like. You do it every day and it’s not fun. I enjoy the bait and tackle a whole lot more. The campground is a lot more work than originally thought. We love camping, but you don’t at your own campground. The daughter is working in maintaining the campgrounds for me.”

Another new twist are the “live target baits,” sold by Koppers. Actually, they aren’t alive but are a reasonable facsimile.

While the artificial lures are plenteous and colorful, covering a wide range, the average angler is the working man who heads to the stream when the bell sounds at day’s end, stops by for a bucket of minnows and climbs inside a jonboat for a few hours of angling.

“We do sell live bait — minnows, hellgrammites and lizards, and various worms,” Donna says.

If water levels drop, it can be difficult to round up hellgrammites, and except for minnows, fetched from a dealer in Charleston, live bait is supplied by local catchers. One small lad recently stopped by with three crawdads. The small output likely did him more good, Donna figures.

“Hey, he’s out doing something,” she said. “He’s not home sitting in front of a TV, playing video games. He’s out trying to hunt bait.”

There is no profit in it, but the couple gets a charge out of running the bass fishing tournament at the annual West Virginia State Water Festival in Hinton. Last year, it attracted 64 boats.

A small inventory of fly fishing equipment, enough to get a beginner off on the right foot, is available, but this phase of angling isn’t as popular as baitcasting or spincasting, even though there are a few trout streams within short driving distance of the shop.

“When it comes to fly fishing, that’s a select demographic,” Matt explains. “You’re going to have few people that do it.”

Hunting equipment is offered on a limited basis, and except for black powder guns that are offered, firearms aren’t sold.

For some, the native American tradition of spearing fish can be done with arrows attached to a reel that allows the angler to retrieve his ammunition once fired at a fish. The idea has caught on, with many anglers plying their newfound skills from a bridge.

“We’ve been busy,” Donna said. “People are still getting to know that we’re out here.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com