Has anyone else's Wal-Mart been stocked with some better fishing gear?

[Backwater Charlie]

I was pleasantly surprised at the rod selection as I went through the fishing aisle in Wal-Mart. They have Falcon BuCoo's, Skeet Reese's (those yellow 'ens), Berkley Lightning Rod Shocks, KVD Crankin' Sticks (the $140 ones), Abu Garcia Vendettas.. Too bad my local one doesn't have those reels behind the cases anymore. Or maybe they do and they're just not out for everyone to see?? Maybe I should ask them about it next time..

Oh and they had those Lew's Speed Spool baitcasters ($89) matched with some low-grade graphite rod for $100 or so.. and the Lew's spinning reels with the same crappy rod..

Anyone else seen this?

[kennethdaysale]

We have 3 local walmarts and each one sucks worse than the other. Ugly sticks are their top line rods and the only reels they have are "clam packed" on pegs. Every single Rapala peg has been empty since Aug. When I asked the clerk what was up with that he just looked at me as if I had thrown a snake in his lap. As a matter of fact every clerk that works back there seems to be in a contest with all the guys at Dick's for the mediocrity and ineptitude award.

[aikenyounggun]

I saw someone else bring this up on another board. Havent been to our walmart in couple weeks, a while back (like 6 months) we got a whole rack of vicious stuff. Its odd, not much line, just vicious hook and worms (WTH???). But its hidden, but i doubt its gotten better, its pretty terrible.

[the pyromaniac]

Lure-wise, mine has been doing a little better (Money Minnows, multiple new colors of old standards, some of the new PRADCO stuff, a full complement of Rapalas), and their best selection of line and storage in 15 years, so maybe they'll start doing better on rods & reels too.

[bamabassman]

one of ours is BAD. the other is ok, havn't been to the best in my area in a while. gonna have to check it out.

[BassinBandit]

Be careful about that, walmart often works out deals with companies to make a cheaper version of the same product. If you ever collected sports cards it's like a card store having hobby packs and walmart having retail packs. Hobby Packs have better odds of getting inserts and what not. I am not sure that is the case with this but I know they have done that a lot in the past.

[bassinbob]

The wall marts around here haven't had anything worthwile since they discounted all the old green Curados. Even with that I still check once in a while for discounted stuff.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by kennethdaysale

We have 3 local walmarts and each one sucks worse than the other. Ugly sticks are their top line rods and the only reels they have are "clam packed" on pegs. Every single Rapala peg has been empty since Aug. When I asked the clerk what was up with that he just looked at me as if I had thrown a snake in his lap. As a matter of fact every clerk that works back there seems to be in a contest with all the guys at Dick's for the mediocrity and ineptitude award.

Sounds like the ones around here. They all suck when it comes to fishing tackle. Maybe thats because we have a BPS, Cabelas, and Gander Mountain nearby.

[islandbass]

If your walmarts suck, don't come to WA State. You guys have it way better. I think each walmart is does their own "stocking" to suit the needs of the locals. They do a poor job here. Most have one aisle dedicated to fishing and you're lucky if the bass section is 1/4 of the aisle. Top of the line is Ugly stick or beat up shimanos and berkeleys that so poor in condition not even an idiot would be it.

[Jrob78]

Walmart carries some higher end gear on their website, you can have it shipped to your local store for free. I've never seen any of it in any of my stores around here though.

[the pyromaniac]

I keep hoping to find Sébile baits on clearance there, now that they're with Pure Fishing. They'll be needing to change their packaging, so the old stuff might make its way to Sprawl-Mart in the same mannner as I have previously found PRADCO, Rapala, Storm, TriggerX, Terminator, and Yo-Zuri over the last decade...

[the pyromaniac]

@Bandit, are the Roanoke-area locations any better? I moved away 3 years ago and I'm just curious now with Sportsman's Warehouse having gone under soon after.

[Tavery5]

The selection at the Wal-Mart in our area is very limited. They have a small selection of baits and low end rod and reels. They do however have a descent line selection.

[bcklash]

Originally Posted by the pyromaniac

@Bandit, are the Roanoke-area locations any better? I moved away 3 years ago and I'm just curious now with Sportsman's Warehouse having gone under soon after.

I'm not Bandit, but no they're terrible. We got about 8 of them within a 50 mile radius and they all suck. But we do have a Gander Mountian now.

[joedog]

It's funny. Where I live the Gander guys send you to Walmart.
Both stink, where I'm at. Unless I want to fish bobber, hook with live bait, It's internet or hour plus one way drive. Plus I live in a River Town with a pop. of 50000 not 5, 50. Never saw anything so backwards my whole life.

[the pyromaniac]

Yeah, Gander opened about a year before I left. I spent a lot of time and cash there.

[bluebasser86]

There's several Wal Marts in our area but none of them have any selection. We have a Bass Pro, Cabela's, Roger's, and a few Dick's Sporting goods in the area also so it isn't really a big deal. Every once in awhile you can get a bunch of good stuff out of the YUM dump bin but that's about it.

[pointer]

Maybe it's a Kentucky thing but I doubt it. Anyway, I just went to the Walmart in Glasgow today, with this thread in mind, and found that they are indeed upgrading their fishing stocks. They had some Vendattas, KVDs and Berkley Shocks. Though they didn't have the reels displayed, I could see that they were preparing the racks for them. Maybe they will actually upgrade. It seems like for the last five years they have been doing an excellent job of eliminating everything I ever thought about buying.

[screwballl]

I was in mine yesterday and it looks like they have around half their freshwater lures on clearance (most of them are only 10-25% off regular prices so not a big clearance price). Otherwise most of what they have is the same selection of Shakespeare rod/reels and a few other brands like Daiwa mixed in.

[the pyromaniac]

Screw, where in NWFL are you? I have a cousin near Panama City, and there's a guy in Pensacola, Luís Gómez, who is a dear friend and a fellow angler.

[Bassboss]

Nothin but crap here... not even any kinds of jigs?!

The one in florida was getting pretty good before we moved....

[Dave63]

Just the usual crap at both ours. Plenty of Shakespeare and ugly sticks. The usual blister pack reels. I'll keep an eye open though.

[WTL]

My walmart has had the same war eagle spinnerbaits, marked down with a red tag to like six bucks, for months.

I aint paying that much for a spinnerbait. Not much of a price slash.

The academy spinnerbaits are better anyway.

[wallywallace]

one near me carrying them new lightning rods, and wow vendetta rods. somthing that kinda looked cool, the bekly bionox crankin stick.. lol but afer my amp chit out on me after barely any use. so yea

[Vegasspider]

Is it not an option to not to count on Wal Mart for anything and everything? The Dick's in Tampa is pretty darn good. There is only one I think in Vegas and it looks to be where they send all of the stock that does not sell to die.

Originally Posted by kennethdaysale

We have 3 local walmarts and each one sucks worse than the other. Ugly sticks are their top line rods and the only reels they have are "clam packed" on pegs. Every single Rapala peg has been empty since Aug. When I asked the clerk what was up with that he just looked at me as if I had thrown a snake in his lap. As a matter of fact every clerk that works back there seems to be in a contest with all the guys at Dick's for the mediocrity and ineptitude award.