Our Wally World has less tackle than I have in one tackle box!

 

Walmart use to sell Renegade lures which were very productive. Their 6" curl tail worm in black with silver "dust" glitter was deadly at night.

9 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Walmart use to sell Renegade lures which were very productive. Their 6" curl tail worm in black with silver "dust" glitter was deadly at night.

 

The Renegade craw was a favorite of mine .

2 hours ago, Bait Monkey said:

You can't catch fish on inexpensive tackle. Get the good stuff, preferably JDM imports. Or else you won't catch fish.

^ dis guy is impostter.  me real bait monkee.  you buyz them nice  stuff from reel storz.

The Wal-Mart where I live tackle selection is a joke period.

 

I do all my tackle shopping at the lil bait shop in zwolle or I go to Toledo town tackle, I can always find what I want at those two places.

 

I have shooed for stuff at Wal-Mart but that is mostly at the end of winter when they put all the zoom plastics on sale for .50 cents a bag, it hit them up and clear out the worms,lizards and brush hogs in the sizes and colors I use.

The only thing I have bought in the last several years at Walmart are Rebel bait company related baits or ball caps. I buy all my tackle at a local marine and tackle shop. I might pay a little more but those guys will get me anything I want and or need and are good salt of the Earth folks. They get ALL my business except for jigs and shakeyheads. 

They have a ok selection of senkos and other plastic worms. 

Usually I just walk through and see what they have that's new. 

They have all the good basic things to get u started.

I bought a ton of clearance terminal tackle and zoom soft plastic during the sell off, but that's about all they have that I'm interested in. There's only a DSG within half an hour of me, 1 nice tackle store and academy is an hour away. I do most of my buying online unless we are going to be somewhere near one of the stores. 

Every time I check my local WalMart I am disappointed. They have a sparse stock of tackle to begin with, and the clearance prices aren't much less than regular. I've pretty much given up on that place.

Lately haven't bought anything due to funds. And been busy with family. Hopefully I can find some time to go fishing

In my neck of the woods Wal-Mart was a good place to get some good stuff from rods to plastics back in the nineties. Berkley Lighting rods were sold with a great demand for them. Caught many a bass on the Renegade Tequila Sunrise twirl tail worm 6 inches. Academy came to town and things changed. Small guys are gone. Last time I was in a Wal-Mart fishing section it was in disarray & disorganized with a lousy selection. Things change.  And the beat goes on...

I buy most my stuff at walmart. They have everything i use. Senkos, christie craws and zoom lizards and pad crashers. 90% of my fishing consists of these lures. Only thing i dont buy there is terminal tackle

Where I live near Atlanta there are few alternatives within easy driving distance.   

 

A couple of small tackle retailers and some big box stores that specialize in outdoors sports, but urban and suburban traffic make getting there a special mission based on the patterns I travel.

 

There are countless Walmarts and Dicks Sporting Goods in our area.  Whatever you might feel about these stores, frankly they are the only practical options given time constraints.  On the positive side, they carry many of the "standard" baits that enthusiast anglers like me use, at good prices.  For example, senkos and dingers, gama hooks, and Rapala minnows.  Some stores are well-stocked and tailored to the needs of the community.  Some are poorly stocked and get little turnover.  On the other hand, these stores may have excellent finds, one of them carries a full selection of War Eagle Spinnerbaits.  They have very good prices during their frequent clearance sales.

 

A bit of a plug for sponsor Yum: Walmart stores often have Yum bait boxes on the bottom shelf.  They sell partial packs of Yum lures of various types at standard $1.98 pricing.  This is a good way to try something new if you like Yum baits.  Occasionally these go on sale and are deeply discounted.  They sometimes contain full, regular retail bags of their lures labeled for the bait boxes; this season I have picked up various craws and dingers in that category.  The selection ranges from absolutely standard (green pumpkin dingers) to relatively rare but excellent baits (vibra king tubes and mighty bugs).

Any store I walk into, it is in the back of my mind to notice if there is any fishing tackle or gear there.  I'm getting to the place where I can't drive by a pawn shop without going in and looking at available fishing gear.  In my spawn shop experiences, guys very seldom pawn quality fishing gear - I haven't found any decent gear that I'd consider buying, but that isn't any reason to stop looking.

Back to Walmart, I'm in Walmart for one reason or another at least once per week.   I'm gonna stroll through the fishing department, " just to see".   Currently, the Walmart in Excelsior Springs & Richmond have the 3600 size Plano boxes for $@.88 each.  I have a modest supply of back up boxes now and over time I will get rid of the old style latches and change over to the "pro style" latches.   On another front, in their jig head rack look for Arkie DeD Stand up finesse jig heads.   1/16 oz Mushroom head with a bait keeper and the correct size hook for Ned Rigs.  Roughly 60 cents per jig head.   Not exactly cheap, but more or less affordable.

1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said:

 In my spawn shop experiences, guys very seldom pawn quality fishing gear

Probably won't ever get your money's worth out of it. Unless the pawn shop guys fish, for all the know they can go down to Walmart and buy a St.Croix or whatever, unless a guy fishes and is into it beyond thinking all rods and reels are the same they probably just won't know. 

I do shop for tackle at Walmart if I am already there.

If I am going just to buy tackle, I will go to Cabelas or Bass Pro.

the service and selection is usually much better and the prices are not that much different.

Wal-Mart sells Zoom Grubs and they are only 98 cents. It's the only place in town that sells em and they have such wicked tail action 

Many moons ago the walmart in Killeen Texas had a sporting goods manager who actually listened to the local guys and stocked stuff they could sell. Back then Allstar rods were one of the top of the line sellers. Shimano reels, plastics, hard baits. You name it they had it. Now days, as many have mentioned, the selection is crap but do occasionally have some deals.

 

Considering I live within 10 miles of 3 Academy stores and Bass Pro is only 6 miles away, I don't spend much there at all.

 

I grew up in a small town without a Walmart.  The local Mom and Pop stores carried worms, minnows, Zebco, Eagle Claw hooks and crappie jigs.  Not much in Bass lures except occasional packs of worms.  Walmart came and went.  The Walmart where I live now has PowerPro line, Seagar, Spiderwire, Pfluger and Lews reels, albeit lower end, Abu Garcia, Mitchell , as well as Gammy, Eagle Claw and Trokar, plus Yum, Zoom, Rebeland Arbogast.  Wide variety.  Even some Rage Tail.  Yeah, I shop there, and Dicks, Academy and BPS.  I shop there while we buy groceries and supplies.  

3 hours ago, thinkingredneck said:

Even some Rage Tail.    

 

I was shocked when I saw Rage Tail at my local Walmart. I had to do a double take.

On 6/27/2017 at 9:59 PM, Catt said:

Our Wally World has less tackle than I have in one tackle box!

 

Walmart use to sell Renegade lures which were very productive. Their 6" curl tail worm in black with silver "dust" glitter was deadly at night.

caught my pb on a 6" Renegade curl tail, in fall pumpkin pepper, in September of '98.

If I have a mom and pop option, I would go there first.  Big boxes are a last resort for anything, for me.  Same goes eating out.  Always local for me, I wont even consider a chain.      

I buy senkos, SK rodents, and a lot of zoom soft plactics. 

I live really close to a BPS, Cabelas, and Academy Sports, and Dicks, so Walmart is far down on the list. If I'm ever in there for groceries with the wife I usually head to the fishing aisle and pick up some soft plastics on sale.  

 

There's no reason why a bag of Zoom soft plastics from Walmart would be any different than the same bag at Bass Pro IMO....

20 minutes ago, SummertimeCarl said:

There's no reason why a bag of Zoom soft plastics from Walmart would be any different than the same bag at Bass Pro IMO....

 

I agree. To be on the safe side though check the amount of bait in each bag. I have seen shorts a few times as some like to take a few out of one bag and add them to the bag they are buying.

1 hour ago, lo n slo said:

caught my pb on a 6" Renegade curl tail, in fall pumpkin pepper, in September of '98.

 

That little worm was deadly. ?

 

Called it my do nothing worm!

 

Nothing fancy just caught fish...big fish!