BPS is over priced and they're are very few stores compared to Academy. I can drive 20 mins to go to BPS and pay a higher price, or 5 mins to Academy for cheaper prices. But hey, BPS has fish tanks and stuffed animals to look at.....

Couldnt have said that any better!!!!

TW if Brannon's doesn't have it.Or Land of Big Fish.

Academy is uually much cheaper than the big box stores, but you need to know what you are looking for and where it is. The sales people are little more than shelf stockers.

The big box stores have a bigger selection, but if they do have what you need, be prepared to pay full MSRP for everything. I have even caught Cabelas raising the MSRP so they can mark it down to the regular price and call it being on sale. For that reason, I don't sho Cabela any more.

I'm currently rigging/outfitting a new boat and have bought almost everything for it online. The prices and service are excellent and it's hard to argue with no tax and in many cases free shipping to have it sitting on your front step in 3-4 days.

I prefer to buy off Tackle Warehouse myself but do run to BPS when I need something now. I do not like Academy since they never have anything new or top of the line. They are just another discount store that is run down with a very small selection.

The Tyler Academy hasn't put any new sizes or colors of tungsten weights on the hooks in the last year. They don't sell Yellow Magics, which seems crazy considering it's probably the most popular topwater in America. Overall their selection if terrible and getting worse.

Gander Mountain is even worse. Their lure section is now down to about 3-4 half rows and the last time I went in there they didn't have any of the 4 or 5 items I was looking for.

I placed an order with Tackle Warehouse yesterday.

I agree ANGLERS Pro Tackle is a great place to shop !!!

Of the 2 stores in the OP, I prefer Bass Pro Shops for fishing stuff. The Academy selection of baits is spotty, but platics wise they never seem to have the color I want. 99.9% of the time BPS has exactly what I need.

Agreed. They carry 98% of what I need. eBay does the rest(discontinued baits).
They are great people & will order what you need if they don't have it.

If one reads all of these comments there seems to be a couple of consensus points.
1) Academy is less expensive then BPS
2) Academy is �getting worse�
I will agree with both of these points. Being in the Houston area the important one for me is that Academy is definitely going downhill. I have reached the point that I will not go there except out of necessity (since it is closer than BPS), but even in times of necessity Academy rarely comes through for me.
I also agree that BPS can be expensive which can make a big difference for some. But one might consider why academy is cheaper, they don�t carry enough of the right stock and many times it is not of the best quality hence, cheaper.
To end this, I�d offer that the guys suggesting online avenues are probably the guys ahead of the curve.
Good luck to all of you

Way better selection on everything at Bass Pro.

Academy has better prices most of the time, but I rarely go there any more because they rarely have what I'm looking for. Their selection is terrible and it doesn't seem to matter which store I go to.

The much better sales staff and selection at BPS has led to me not going to Academy any more; that's if I don't buy from online sources, or local tackle shops first.

They both are lousy.... Bass Pro Shop very very expenisve. Academy on carried the regular baits
everyone already has in their tackle box...I like bait the bass have never seen...