re: Is Bass Pro Shops turning into a,"gimmick", store?

I think it mostly depends on the stores location as to how good it is.

quote:

---

For the longest time I have been particularly unimpressed with BPS fishing lure selection. Imo, Academy beats the brakes off of them for variety of lures/bait available.

---

Please, point me in the direction of the Academy you visit. Because IMO their bait selection usually sucks.
Cabelas < Academy < BPS < pretty much any tackle store
in terms of bait selection

quote:

---

Cabelas < Academy < BPS < pretty much any tackle store

---

Good point but to be fair, none of these big box places are going to have the wide assortment of a specialty store.

Whether it's archery (as mentioned earlier), baits, tackle, guns, etc...a store that specializes in those things will also have more of that to chose from because that's their bread and butter.

The trade off is that you get "basics" at a big box for a better price, generally speaking. I know there are some exceptions.