Mine too ... Jackson County close to Ocean Springs and Biloxi, MS. Superstore Grand Opening early 2027. 70 percent of my fishing rods are BPS makes. I like 'em. And i buy a lot of line and plastics from them, too.  Looking forward to it. 

Good Fishing.  

https://www.sunherald.com/news/business/article299046730.html

On 7/16/2025 at 1:20 PM, HawkeyeSmallie said:

We have one in Iowa that's almost 2 hours away.

 

I'll stick to my online shopping. 

The one in Altoona? Lol. I live 15 mins away from there and go probably once or twice a month. 

BPS has way better selection than my locals but still manages to infuriate me by ALWAYS being out of or very low stock of very common essentials that are clearly big sellers. Why do they only stock 1 hanger of the most popular sizes of EWGs, Owner beasts, 1/8oz bullet weights, seaguar 8-20lb flouro, magdrafts, bladed jigs etc. You're telling me online retailers can keep stock of these 24/365 but BPS cant. Makes me not want to shop there because I end up having to order online anyway.  Maybe just my specific shop. 

I like our BPS, but unless there is a sale, things are almost always cheaper at TW.

If you plan on shopping there a good bit just bite the bullet and become a club member. That’s where all their good deals are these days. 
 

I don’t buy much tackle there but when I need anything outdoors in a pinch they usually have what I need in stock. It’s a good store to have near you no doubt. 

We have one here in New Jersey supposedly opening sometime next year.

I say supposedly because this has been going on for a dozen years !

20 or so years ago we were going to have Cabela's up here in the Meadowlands Xanadu complex as an anchor store, well that never happened.

At least now with Bass Pro they have started building the structure.

Congrats. My state started with Cabelas maybe a decade ago. It’s about 40 minutes away and then not too long ago a BPS. 
 

it is strange since trout and salmon are king. 
 

I imagine that my Cabelas and BPS are not nearly stocked (lures, line, hooks, etc.) as fully as other stores where bass is king, but it they aren’t too bad and I get to see some bass lures I couldn’t otherwise get unless I bought them online. 
 

What’s that rattling noise I hear? Perhaps your bait monkey is shaking up his cage, lol. Even if you don’t release him, I bet he will find a way out, 😂.

Years ago I had the pleasure of working on the then brand new to Norhern Illinois BPS in Gurnee Illinois. I’ll never forget beating up endless planks of 1x4’s-1x14’s with everything from a planer that my boss smashed the blade on with a hammer to lengths of varying sized chains and various other tools to give them a “worn” in look that had to be approved by an actual BPS higher up team member. I have one much closer to me currently in Bolingbrook and I really enjoy shopping there and my retirement plan involves working their on a part time level for the above mentioned discount.

On 7/16/2025 at 12:24 PM, Jar11591 said:

Seems to good to be true, but Bass Pro Shops is opening a store in a couple weeks right in my little town of 40,000. Literally 8 minutes from my house. KVD, Roland Martin, and Jimmy Houston will be there for the opening event. Pretty cool! 
The only tackle shop near me currently is Dick’s Sporting Goods, but whoever is responsible for stocking that store obviously has no love for bass, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to what they do stock. It’s gonna be nice to browse a store that actually stocks bass equipment. 

Yeah, our local Dick's is in love with the gimmicky baits like the bat and spider lures. But then you can't find staples like the Trick Worm. They also don't seem aware of what species of fish we have around here. Around late August they take all but two aisles for hunting. So, if you're around then, it's a good time to get some clearance items.

Our Dicks got rid of fishing stuff 5+ years ago.  

The DSG near me has more space devoted to Yeti than fishing.  I go there now only for access to the mall’s bookstore.

Bass Pro opened. I wasn’t able to meet KVD, Roland Martin or Jimmy Houston because I had to work. And during the day the line is out to the parking lot. So I’m gonna give it a couple more days before I go inside. 

I went. It was about as expected, which is unfortunate. BPS seems to be following the trend of Wal-Martification that other Big Box stores are- mostly high profit margin merch crammed in there- plush toys, mugs, candy, Dr. Pepper flavor slim jims, etc- with the carrot of perceived great selection and availability of valued outdoors items and gear dangling before the consumer ("If it's not at Bass Pro it must not be anywhere" right?)

 

I went in 2nd day to see if I could find a Rapala Dive-To 16' in some sort of natural silver color. They had one pattern on the fully stocked shelves, green gizzard shad. Nothing 2-3/4" in stock on the website either. Guess I'll keep buying from Amazon. 

The store location is pretty bad. Several long windy paths through parking lots to get to a very cramped undersized parking lot (but hey you can see it from 87 so that's what matters to them I guess). The store itself is very small (not including the 30+ feet of empty space under the ceiling) for a BPS. It's more like the Utica "outpost" mini-BPS and nothing like the Auburn store which has an absolutely massive parking lot, dedicated fly shop. dozens and dozens of wide aisles of tackle. In this new store about 1/8th or even 1/10th of the floor space is devoted to actual fishing gear.

 

There is about as much floor for the fly fishing area as there is for the hot nuts stand. 

 

In general it doesn't seem like these big box stores take a very strategic or knowledgeable approach to what they stock in terms of actual fishing tackle and gear that matters- tons and tons of different brands and sizes and patterns of something, but in reality only a few brands, sizes and patterns are useful locally and depending on season. For example, 6-8 lb fluorocarbon line, or smaller sized ball bearing snap swivels, 9 foot 3x leaders, etc. I expect locally high valued sizes and types of items like these to be out of stock amongst the piles of junk in a few months just like at Dick's and Wal-Mart. 

While checking out it was just a long line of parents and kids buying fish pillows, hoodies and other junk. I guess it's a Clifton Park thing...look at the types of houses and developments going up rapidly in the area... 

I'm sticking with Fish307 and figure everyone else from the Capital region who actually fishes and is heading north does too. The employees know their products, sport and the local waters. They hold seminars, can give advice, etc though unfortunately not as many Yeti mugs, BBQ sauce in hand grenade shape bottles, or fish pillows.