PL - Savage - Burnsville area bait shops?

[Savage Brewer]

I am new to the area and looking for a good bait shop down here, mostly looking for shops in the Prior Lake, Savage, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Lakeville area.

Any good places I should know about?

[ThunderLund78]

The only DEDICATED bait/tackle shop I know of in that area (besides Gander) is in prior lake. It's on HWY 13 next to "The Cove" restaurant. I'm not in there much, but when I do go in, they always seem to be nice and knowledgable. Otherwise plenty of gas stations have bait available.

[digmetrofishing]

There's a good bait shop/gas station on Highway 5 just south of Southcross Rd. Here is the address:

Burnsville Shell‎

14801 County Road 5

Burnsville, MN 55306

They have live minnows, crawlers and leeches. Good local info to from the guys at the store. Always friendly and helpful. Good luck!

[Kyhl]

Depends on which way you are going. As stated, Prior Lake bait next to the cove and the Shell station on Co Rd 5.

If you are going into town, the Clark station on Old Shakopee and Hwy 77 in Bloomington is also handy.

[Savage Brewer]

Thanks for the info, I know where the cove is so I will have to go check it out.

[tj417]

If you're ever cutting thru Shakopee on Marschall, there's a new bait shop up and running at the end of the little strip mall on the west side of Marschall, across from the gas station at the corner with Eagle Creek. I guess Terry down at the Sport Stop is hanging it up, so this will be the only bait shop in Shakopee in the near future.

[ThunderLund78]

If you're ever cutting thru Shakopee on Marschall, there's a new bait shop up and running at the end of the little strip mall on the west side of Marschall, across from the gas station at the corner with Eagle Creek. I guess Terry down at the Sport Stop is hanging it up, so this will be the only bait shop in Shakopee in the near future.

Good to know! I guess I didn't know The Sports Stop was closing its doors. I didn't go in there very often He ran a successful business there for a LONG time so he must've been doing something right. I hope the new place does well. Cabin Fever in Victoria is a great independent store model IMO. I hope the new one in Shak. is similar to that.

[Portlis]

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[Portlis]

[Note from admin: Your post has been edited. Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.]

I'm not allowed to share my multiple poor experiences with a bait shop, and express how poorly he treats his customers so that hopefully others can avoid being mistreated as well? Alrighty then, moderate away.

[cupper]

I've had the same experience as you Portlis. I've lived in Shakopee for 10 years... I ALWAYS go to Cabin Fever. It took me about 3 trips to a more local bait shop to realize that my business was more of a burden than anything else. Cabin Fever treats their customers great, customer's kids are treated even better. It's worth the extra miles in the car to get great bait, good service, and good fishing tips.

[tj417]

Same experiences here too...live in Shakopee, rarely have bought bait in Shakopee the last few years. I've been buying the most bait at the Gander in EP. There are several different guys up at Gander Mountain in Eden Prairie that are great to talk fishing with and their bait is always reasonably priced.

[Kyle From]

Who is the owner of that new bait shop in shakopee??

Are you sure it is up and running? is it supposed to be where the dry cleaners is, i stopped by the otherday and saw the sign but didnt look much like a bait shop.. might have been at the wrong door.

[ThunderLund78]

Yup, my post got edited too, and I thought I was pretty objective in my criticism.

But I DID stop in Shakopee to check the new place out. It's kind of weird but ended up talking to the guy for about 20 min. They are going to continue to operate the Dry Cleaners and also a bait shop. BUT -- the guy is really nice and I hope it works. He bought his bait tanks from the Gander in Blaine because they stopped selling bait. He installed them in the back and away from the clothes. He will operate a small tackle assortment out of the front with basic lure selections and consumables like line/hooks/sinkers. He will also have a selection of rods which will hang on a motorized dry-cleaning rack to rotate it. He admitted it would be kind of a novelty, but it sounded unique.

Right now he's got nothing besides bait, he was hanging hooks on the pegboards for the tackle, etc. when I got there. He said he's waiting for his first shipment which he thought he'd have by the weekend.

He's paralyzed from the waste down but still fishes all he can and he's really passionate about it. He admitted that it was a strange set-up but he said he had to start somewhere. He said his plan is to get the word out, provide good service and hopefully open up a stand-alone tackle shop somewhere in that area in a few years.

He said to tell people I know to stop by and say hi. He also said that he's willing to stock special items/lures for return customers. He posts his cell on the door and he lives less that a mile away so he said that he'd be more than willing to come down early or late for those who wanted to buy bait at odd hours if you call him.

I for one will be stopping back and giving him some business... Seemed like a really nice dude. I hope it works out for him. Strange format, but give him a chance. If not for bait, for dry cleaning...

[Portlis]

Nice post Thunder, I was definitely wondering what was up with the new bait shop here in Shakopee myself. I drive past it almost every day, but I never saw a place that actually looked like a bait shop there, but that explains it. Sounds very strange, but hey, I'm not going to complain.

If his prices are even remotely reasonable, I'll definitely be stopping in - especially in the winter, and especially considering the, ahem, alternative.