BPS has their ice fishing gear out

Just visited Bass Pro in Bolingbrook IL and they have their ice fishing gear out. Nothing really spectacular on display.

Last week the Lakeville Fleet Farm had all their musky gear and back wall taken off the shelves and was putting up their ice gear. I am not sure if they have finished yet.

I was at Cabela’s in Rogers about 2 weeks ago and all the ice fishing stuff was already out.

Unlike some of these other places though, they don’t remove any of their open water fishing tackle and replace it with ice fishing gear. Their open water tackle stays out all year long.

Cabelas seems to be able to do that since they dont seem to have much in inventory. Mills is generally packed so they have to remove something to make room. Ice fishing is a bit different since its really seasonal and that stuff will disappear quickly and not get restocked.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Cabelas seems to be able to do that since they dont seem to have much in inventory. Mills is generally packed so they have to remove something to make room.

Huh? Cabela’s has more tackle than any retailer I’ve been to around here. And its really not that close. They have like 15 aisles of tackle and their pegs are actually full most of the time, unlike Fleet Farm. Scheels generally has a decent selection but they remove all their open water fishing tackle on a seasonal basis, which is why I don’t shop there this time of year.

For someone to take down all their muskie fishing stuff right now is appalling. You could argue that muskie fishing is at its peak this time of year.

Guessing they think ice fishing is fresher in peoples minds now and the guys that muskie fish this time of year already have the gear they need. Bet they are right.

gimruis wrote:

For someone to take down all their muskie fishing stuff right now is appalling. You could argue that muskie fishing is at its peak this time of year.

Agreed. I need some musky stuff to replace the crap that broke in the last outing. So I asked if a worker could find it for me in the back. He just laughed and said he could next year since it all gets pilled into the same box.

JEREMY wrote:

Guessing they think ice fishing is fresher in peoples minds now and the guys that muskie fish this time of year already have the gear they need. Bet they are right.

You just lost your bet while I was typing my response.

JEREMY wrote:

Guessing they think ice fishing is fresher in peoples minds now and the guys that muskie fish this time of year already have the gear they need. Bet they are right.

Why not just leave it all out? They’re missing out on sales if they remove any open water fishing tackle. The fourth quarter represents about 40% of overall annual sales because of holiday shopping/gifts. Retailers need to re-think this. If they designed their store to only carry open water fishing tackle OR ice fishing tackle, they designed it improperly. That is a business failure on their part. They just lost 2 customers right here in this thread alone.

Sure, ice fishing tackle may represent a greater demographic than muskie anglers. But to completely remove all open water muskie, bass, walleye, etc tackle from the store floor for months on end is a massive mistake. I like Scheels, but this is their model. Which is why I shop at Cabela’s instead now – because they have it out.

Sure Cabelas may have more “stuff” than other retailers but every time I have gone there looking for something specific they didnt have it. Didnt matter if it was fishing, hunting or whatever. I choose to just buy online.

Gimruis^ I receive musky lures for Xmas every year and you can guess where they weren’t bought from because they are not on the shelf. Thorne Brothers has more of what I don’t have anyways.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I choose to just buy online.

I understand that. I thought you meant that Fleet Farm physically had a better overall selection of fishing tackle that Cabela’s, which is completely false.

I am not an online shopper. I prefer to buy my stuff in person. I like to pick it up, touch it, look at it, try it on, etc.

Rodwork wrote:

Gimruis^ I receive musky lures for Xmas every year and you can guess where they weren’t bought from because they are not on the shelf. Thorne Brothers has more of what I don’t have anyways.

Unreal. That is a real head scratcher isn’t it.

gimruis wrote:

I understand that. I thought you meant that Fleet Farm physically had a better overall selection of fishing tackle that Cabela’s, which is completely false.

I am not an online shopper. I prefer to buy my stuff in person. I like to pick it up, touch it, look at it, try it on, etc.

No, not what I meant about Fleet Farm. Fleet Farm generally has a better selection of stuff I want than Cabelas because they tend to have a ton of crap I have no interest in buying. While they have more inventory, 90% is crap I am not interested in and every time I go there looking for something specific theres nothing.
I dont buy things I need to try on online. Im talking tackle, etc.

I can assure you of the 40percent of sales the percent that would be taken up by Muskie sales is tiny. Especially if you compare it to ice fishing sales.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I can assure you of the 40percent of sales the percent that would be taken up by Muskie sales is tiny. Especially if you compare it to ice fishing sales.

Ok, so what about sales of open water bass, walleye, salmon, trout, etc fishing sales in the 4th and 1st quarter? Scheels takes down ALL of that to replace it with ice fishing stuff from about October to March. Surely that represents a massive amount of sales that are lost.

And even if the muskie tackle sales right now are tiny, they still exist, do they not? Find a way to leave that stuff out so people can buy it.

How are they going to leave that stuff out when that space if fully taken up by the ice stuff? They just going to fill the aisles? Its already overflowing with crap. These places dont store inventory in their warehouses like they used to they want to sell out. You want open water tackle now? Order online you can get it in a day or two just plan ahead.

CaptainMusky wrote:

How are they going to leave that stuff out when that space if fully taken up by the ice stuff?

Cabela’s can do it. Why can’t Scheels or Fleet?

gimruis wrote:

Cabela’s can do it. Why can’t Scheels or Fleet?

Youre talking about a store that is more than double the size of either of those two.

Salesman at a Wisconsin Fleet & Farm told me years ago they only stock the ice fishing gear they think can sell before Spring. They would rather lose sales than have overstock.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
How are they going to leave that stuff out when that space if fully taken up by the ice stuff?

Cabela’s can do it. Why can’t Scheels or Fleet?

Call them and ask

Bearcat89 wrote:

Call them and ask

I’ll be at the St Cloud Scheels on Saturday so maybe I’ll just ask them while I’m there.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Call them and ask

I’ll be at the St Cloud Scheels on Saturday so maybe I’ll just ask them while I’m there.

Well I think it would be pretty obvious that they don’t have the room for both seasons. At the rochester store anyway

Coletrain27 wrote:

Well I think it would be pretty obvious that they don’t have the room for both seasons. At the rochester store anyway

And Rochester isn’t exactly in the heart of muskie country so why waste the room at any time of the year?

Jimmy Jones wrote:

And Rochester isn’t exactly in the heart of muskie country so why waste the room at any time of the year?

Rochester isn’t exactly the heart of ice fishing country either so why waste the room for that.

Because Rochester has more ice fishing opportunities than Muskie opportunities.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

Because Rochester has more ice fishing opportunities than Muskie opportunities.

That’s not what you initially stated. You stated that Roch wasn’t in the heart of muskie country. If you had stated that there’s more ice fishing than muskie fishing, this would be a moot point, because that point is obvious.

gimruis wrote:

For someone to take down all their muskie fishing stuff right now is appalling. You could argue that muskie fishing is at its peak this time of year.

gimruis wrote:

But to completely remove all open water muskie, bass, walleye, etc tackle from the store floor for months on end is a massive mistake.

Have you thought of seeing someone to work this out? Seems to be something you have trouble getting over…for years. Pretty sure these companies spend a ridiculous amount of money determining what to put on the shelves and when. And the dozens, or few hundreds, still musky fishing this time of year are a poor investment in inventory and shelf space. I mean it’s both logical and obvious, and everything you want is still available online and at a few select stores, yet you continually beat that horse. Life is short bud, you can move on I believe in you!

Alright its time to let it go. The horse is dead and I’ll stop trying to beat it back to life.

I still intend to ask about this in person though, so stand by. LOL