I live by Bass Pro in Springfield,And I miss the Bait shop back were I grew up. It was in Clinton Iowa it had everything for Smallie ,Walleyes or Catfish.  It was a great place to shop or hang out with the Old River Rats. Like everything good in this country there slipping away. The good old days for sure 

Most of the local smaller tackle shops here in Minnesota are associated with one specific item: live bait.  Live bait is very popular here because it is often used to target walleyes, which are what most people fish for.  Live bait is also very popular for ice fishing and ice fishing participation has exploded in recent years.

 

I rarely buy live bait, so I rarely set foot into a local tackle shop.  Their selection of artificial lures, terminal tackle, fishing line, etc is often very limited and over priced.  That's not where they make their money.  They make it selling live bait.

 

Just like many other items, the cost of live bait has soared recently.  I have a friend who recently bought a big sucker minnow to muskie fish and he paid 14 bucks for ONE.  When you buy shiners, they are often about 15 bucks for a dozen.  And they count out each minnow.  Then half of them are dead before you even get to the lake.

Any local shop that I've been too has been way overpriced compared to places online.  If I need ONE thing urgently I might stop in and grab it, but otherwise the excess cost is not worth the convenience...

On 10/31/2021 at 12:10 PM, WRB said:

 

The big box stores and on line shopping is killing small shops everywhere.

 

 

Why is this bad?  Fishing gear is expensive, and we want a lot of it.  Big Box stores and online shopping are cheaper, why would I avoid that?