Cabelas, a good bass tackle store?

[BassFishingMachine]

I wasn't sure where to post this so I went ahead and posted here, I figure it can always be moved. Anyways I was wondering if Cabelas has as much bass fishing tackle as Bass Pro Shops. You see I live very far from a Bass Pro Shop (3hrs), and a Cabelas(1hr 40min) is a bit closer. I seen a commercial for Cabelas and to me it looked like there main theme was hunting and all I basiclly saw was hunting equipment, which leads me to think they are more a hunting store then a fishing store. Although commercials can always be miss leading so I thought I'd get your reviews. So does Cabelas have a good amount of bass fishing gear, as in more then Dicks Sporting Goods? Cause if they have the same amount as Dicks it'll be a waste of time and gas. What im looking for is a place that doubles the amount of bass fishing gear Dicks carries, maybe even tripples. Is Cabelas a store that does this?

[dizzy5868]

I actually prefer to shop for my tackle at Cabelas, I think they carry more brands and stock more stuff. Everytime I go to bass pro they out of what I want or don't carry it. I go to the stores near harrisburg pa.

Rob

[.ghoti.]

Every Cabela's store I've been in has had an awesome selection of fishing gear. A lot more than Dick's. The ads are seasonal. At this time of year you'll see mainly hunting ads. If you haven't been to one, you need to go. Absolutely worth an hour and a half drive. Don't forget your credit card. The bait monkey hangs out at Cabela's too.

There will be one in my area soon. The nearest BPS is in St Charles. That's an hour and a half for me. The new Cabela's will be about ten minutes closer. So, naturally I'll have to hit both whenever I make the trip. This is going to get expensive.

Cheers,

GK

[paparock]

I order from both Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop. Cabela's has some items that BPS does not carry and the other way around also. Cabel's orders generally get to my house faster than BPS. ;D

[NEBassMan]

I love Cabela's!  They just opened a new one in La Vista, Nebraska.  It's about 1/2 hour down the interstate from me.  The wife hates it!!  ;D ;D  And Bass Pro is only 15 minutes past that.

Jason

[bassin_man]

I love Cabela's also.  They have a good selection imo to.  Of course since I work at Cabela's I get a little more employee insentive to work there. ;D

[timmyswetarded]

i love cabelas....but bass pro is opening a new shop about the same distance away as cabelas so ill have to check that out....sure i hunt more than i fish but i love both, and cabelas suits my needs....oh and the cabelas i go to has like a MILLION things to chose from...so i end up getting waaaaay too much stuff (if its possible), i usually end up finishing off my pay check.... :

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Cabelas is great so is BPS

[justfishin]

I have only been to the Cabelas in Harrisburg PA and to put it simply, its amazing. Its a place not only for you but, your whole family. You just have to see it to believe it. Yes, they have  a fantastic selection for fishing as well as any thing you can think of that pertains to the outdoors. Warning: Do not take your credit card, repeat, do not take your credit card.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Jim I think the Cabelas is in Hamburg and the BPS is in Harrisburg. I go to the Hamburg store too often and usually make the mistake of taking my credit card along :-/

[Lucky Craft Man]

I found that Bass Pro seems to have a little more in the Bass fishing department (though, not much more), but Cabelas has a better fly fishing department.  I also have both Bass Pro rods and Cabelas rods and I would highly recommend Cabelas XML rods.  I have seven of these rods and I plan on getting more.  They are on sale on the internet for $99.99 and well worth the money.

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

I find that all the products carried by both stores seems to be cheaper in the cabelas, and ive bought a bunch of stuff lately, and there customer service is truely amazing, i had a bunch of questions regarding my orders and my account with them, and the lady helping me was great

[BassKing813]

I hate Cabela's and would not recommend them to anyone, at least not their online store. I have never even purchased anything from them. I just don't like the way the site is set up and it never has what I want.

[GeneinTX]

I know that Cabelas has a lot of Rapals that I use that they have exclusively these days. Ours in Buda, TX is awesome. I have not been to the BPS in San Antonio yet.

Just last week, I returned an ambassaduer reel to Cabelas. I thought it was the one that I purchased in August but it turned out I returned one that I had for about 5 years (the model changed last year). I literally took it off of my rod in the parking lot, walked in, got a brand new replacement, and 10 minutes later I was heading to the lake no questions asked. they even put new line on it! That says something right there.

[Pa Angler]

I have been to the Cabela's in Hamburg, PA and to the BPS in Harrisburg, PA I do like both of them but with Cabela's being less than 1/2 hour away and BPS being over 1 hour away I do more onsite shopping at the Cabela's. I will say that BPS has more fishing gear but Cabela's has more Camping and Hunting gear plus Cabela's Aquarium rocks all over the BPS one. I do a lot of online buying from both of them.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Hey PinkFloyd how can you hate something you have nerer tried? I use BPS and Cabels a lot both on and off line and they are both GREAT SITES AND STORES TO DEAL WITH and have been for a long while!!!! ;)

[CyBasser]

You guys are so lucky to be able to visit the actual stores!

For us living abroad, it is an internet order by necessity. Here are the "results" of more than six years of shopping from both BPS and Cabelas:

Cabelas beats BPS on clothing choices and (I'm told by other guys) hunting equipment.

BPS has a larger on-line selection of bass equipment, especially lures. There is hardly any lure (except of course Cabelas brand) that is available at Cabelas but not at BPS - and there are several that are only available at BPS (plus the BPS own brand).

In the past I ordered several rods from both. Both Cabelas and BPS brands seem to offer identical models at identical prices, and all seem to be good quality and value for the price. Both companies also offer spectacular sales and you can get really good quality stuff at very reasonable prices.

Shipping and handling: Here BPS wins hands down by a large margin. For international orders both stores offer courier service valued at 40% (Cabelas - UPS) or 35% (BPS - FedEx) of the total amount of the items ordered, or a minimum of $40 (Cabelas) or $35 (BPS).

BUT: BPS also offers the option to send items via USPS Air, at a cost determined by the weight of the package, provided the package is small. Instead of arriving in 5 days, the order arrives in 10 days but at a significantly lower cost. But perhaps, even more important than the cost, is the fact that if I need say $30 worth of lures I can order from BPS and get them with about $7 shipping. But if I was to order the same items from Cabelas, I would need to pay the $40 "minimum" cost - for $30 worth of lures! Cabelas, despite many emails to this effect by customers, is still maintaining its "40% shipping" policy and as a result it loses many international customers to BPS just because of this.  

Also, I was a bit disappointed in the handling from Cabelas - I have received packages (that arrived totally closed as sealed by Cabelas) with missing items and they have been slow to replace the items (they send them via surface snail mail taking 5-7 weeks to arrive). With BPS I have yet to have any missing items issue.

But overall, I believe that both companies offer a high standard of service. I shop more from BPS than Cabelas due to the reasons stated above - though as I was writing this my phone rang - it was UPS to inform me that my latest Cabelas order arrives on Monday!

[Turtle.]

I hate Cabela's and would not recommend them to anyone, at least not their online store. I have never even purchased anything from them. I just don't like the way the site is set up and it never has what I want.

  Don't realy understand how you could say that IMOP Cabels is awsome.

           Posted by: CyBasser Posted on: Today at 5:43am

You guys are so lucky to be able to visit the actual stores!

   i agree never been to the store just online

[roadwarrior]

Online purchases are from Cabela's, in store shopping I can do locally at BPS. I like them both, but Cabela's seems to have considerably more to offer than BPS. An example is fishing line, Cabela's carries Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft, BPS does not even though I have spoken with members of the management group in Springfield.

[Vyron]

I prefer *** hands down.

Cabelas is limited in the selection.

Shipping is fast on the other hand.

[senile1]

Cabelas and BPS are both great stores.  As someone already stated, their ads and their catalogs are seasonal, so if you're only looking at these you will be misled.  Only the Cabelas spring catalog displays a bunch of fishing gear.  This is irritating but you can always go online or go to their store to see the full line of fishing gear they sell.  I'm fortunate to have a Cabelas located only 20 minutes from me.  There is a BPS being built in my area that will be about 40 minutes from me also, so I'm receiving a full-on frontal assault from the Bait Monkey.  

[MALTESE FALCON]

CABELA'S WILL MAKE DICK'S LOOK LIKE A PARTY STORE. THEY HAVE TONS OF BASS TACKLE. THE ONLY REASON I DON'T GO THERE VERY OFTEN IS BPS IS THIRTY MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE AND CABELA'S IS TWO HOURS AWAY.

CABELA'S AND BPS ARE BOTH VERY GOOD STORES FOR EVERYTHING OUTDOORS. BPS IS MORE CONVIENT.

FALCON

[huskertko]

I find that all the products carried by both stores seems to be cheaper in the cabelas, and ive bought a bunch of stuff lately, and there customer service is truely amazing, i had a bunch of questions regarding my orders and my account with them, and the lady helping me was great

I can't really compare the two yet, as I have only really shopped at Cabelas because it is only about 20 minutes from me, but one thing that I have been really happy with is the customer service.  Their return/exchange policy is wonderful.  I have purchased a lot of stuff from them in the store and unfortunately returned a lot of it as well and was never given a hard time about returning it.  Most of the stuff that I returned was rods and reels, not because they were crap, but because I didn't like the way they felt, even up to 90 days later, so I could go out buy a rod, fish it to see if i liked it, if not, I knew I could return it with out much hassle.

I will probably stop going to Cabelas in the very near future, except for big sales, because the BPS is going to be opening about 10 minutes from home (3 minutes from work) in February, and hopefully I will be getting a job there as well.

[Siebert Outdoors]

I prefer cabelas over BPS.  I really like their Customer service,  their shipping is quick, and from house brand products I have purchased from both I believe cabelas is alot better.  I'm not a big bps fan.  As far as internet orders, thats about all I do anymore because its easier and cheaper then driving somewhere.  I really like the way Cabelas website is constructed.  Its broke down and simple

[jdw174]

I stopped ordering from BPS a LONG time ago.  They would take your order without bothering to tell you they were out of stock.  Never had that trouble with Cabelas, cuz they ALWAYS said whether an item was in/out of stock when I ordered.  Their return policy is super, too.  Another store that carries a good stock is a Gander Mountain.  As for Dick's, I managed the tackle dept. in their first Erie,Pa. store.  It was LARGE and well stocked.  They since closed that store and opened a newer (and smaller) one in the same mall.  The tackle dept isn't even 1/4 the size it was in the original.  Dick's seems to be concentrating on clothing/team sports/golf rather than the outdoors end of things these days.  The only BPS store I've been in is the one at Opry Mills in Nashville.  Aisles so narrow that two people can hardly pass, and more items stuffed into displays than there should be.  Hard to locate anything.