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John, I totally agree with you. I hit up Wal-mart and K-Mart and sometimes even Sports Authority. Not much in the way of rods. The best thing they have are UglyStiks. For lures, they have your basic plastics. Mostly crank baits and freshwater gear. The funny part is, my area isn't known for fantastic freshwater gear.
What's even more frightening is the help you can recieve at those stores. The person selling fishing gear is the same person that sells bikes and tupperware. It's great to be able to walk into the tackleshop and be able to say, "Hey Kevin, how's the fishing doing? What's been the good rig to use?" Whatever my question, he has an answer for me. Or he has something new to show me or a joke to tell me. And his crew of people are always knowledgeable and friendly. He hires people who fish and who are just as crazy about it as all of us are.
When I was very little, I found an old cortland fly rod(5/6 weight) up in my brother's room. My aunt and uncle bought it for him and he never used it because he's a city kind of guy. I kept trying to thread the fly line through a nymph's eye and I obviously couldn't. I took the rod down there and asked for new flyline and told him my problem. He took the time (he was very busy) to explain that you use a tapered leader and showed me how to tie a nail knot. If it wasn't a guy like him, I probably would have given up.
Stores like his will never be replaced by some huge chain.
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