Hoffman Estates, IL Cabelas=Big Dissapointment!
- Thread starter joe00
- Start date
I have yet to see an aquarium at a Cabela's, Bass Pro Shop or any other large sporting goods store that has healthy fish in it. They all look like the pictures shown. It's disgusting.
You guys are a little harsh IMO. I do not believe that I have caught one single "ABSOLUTELY PERFECT" striped bass in the wild out of THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS! Shreded fins look about the "norm" for wild caught adult native fish.
While I do agree, the disease, eye clouding etc. are horrendous, I would not expect to find a wild caught native fish with nearly perfect finnage!
While I do agree, the disease, eye clouding etc. are horrendous, I would not expect to find a wild caught native fish with nearly perfect finnage!
I'm not concerned with the fin damage. It happens, and is not always the result of poor care. But everything else is disgraceful. If someone posted pictures of their home aquarium fish looking like this, they'd be slammed for it. And rightly so - that is no way to keep fish.
Several things to keep in mind about the Cabellas/ Bass Pro tanks:
1. These "fish" are generally all "citation" winners. They are NOT stocking "average" sized fish! They are OLD adult fish at the EXTREME end of their natural life expectancy.
2. These tanks are to give sportsman a general display of "citation" level native fish.
3. The prohibative extreme vast majority of these fish are donated to the displays by fishermen in lue of taxidermy! Catch and release fishermen are more inclined to release the fish. No display tank fish come from those "catch and release" fishermen. The Fishermen that did supply the "live" citation fish would have certainly "killed" the fish for either food or trophy mount!
4. These fish are NOT raised from juvinile! These were EXTREMELY large fish for the species that were VERY SERIOUSLY damaged AFTER losing near life/ death bout with a rod, reel, hook, line and LARGER HUMAN angler .
5. Non Fishermen should NOT concern themselves with these fish displays, and CERTAINLY not "compare/ relate" them to private fish keeper aquariums.
6. By far the most horrendous thing that "irks" me about these displays is something that NOT ONE SINGLE MFKer has even freakin' mentioned as "bad". These fish are NOT housed with so much as a single thought about "compatability". Please speak to ANYONE who maintains these "displays" and you will find "predation" is THE NORM! These elderly fish are RARELY expected to survive two years! Not one person thinks that it is a "bad idea" to keep (lets say utterly perfect specimins for the sake of argument) Bullhead catfish with Gar? Pike with Bluegill? Warmwater LMB with coldwater perch, trout & Walleye?
Would we be as "tollerant" in seeing an MFKer post a picture of "their" monster fish tank with Aripima & Burbot? I think not!
1. These "fish" are generally all "citation" winners. They are NOT stocking "average" sized fish! They are OLD adult fish at the EXTREME end of their natural life expectancy.
2. These tanks are to give sportsman a general display of "citation" level native fish.
3. The prohibative extreme vast majority of these fish are donated to the displays by fishermen in lue of taxidermy! Catch and release fishermen are more inclined to release the fish. No display tank fish come from those "catch and release" fishermen. The Fishermen that did supply the "live" citation fish would have certainly "killed" the fish for either food or trophy mount!
4. These fish are NOT raised from juvinile! These were EXTREMELY large fish for the species that were VERY SERIOUSLY damaged AFTER losing near life/ death bout with a rod, reel, hook, line and LARGER HUMAN angler .
5. Non Fishermen should NOT concern themselves with these fish displays, and CERTAINLY not "compare/ relate" them to private fish keeper aquariums.
6. By far the most horrendous thing that "irks" me about these displays is something that NOT ONE SINGLE MFKer has even freakin' mentioned as "bad". These fish are NOT housed with so much as a single thought about "compatability". Please speak to ANYONE who maintains these "displays" and you will find "predation" is THE NORM! These elderly fish are RARELY expected to survive two years! Not one person thinks that it is a "bad idea" to keep (lets say utterly perfect specimins for the sake of argument) Bullhead catfish with Gar? Pike with Bluegill? Warmwater LMB with coldwater perch, trout & Walleye?
Would we be as "tollerant" in seeing an MFKer post a picture of "their" monster fish tank with Aripima & Burbot? I think not!
One last point. These displays are also not all "local native fish". The Bass Pro Shop in Arundal Mills mall in Maryland has an incredible nearly 3' Amia Calva! Bowfin are SO F'ing cool, I love em! Funniest thing is that while fossel evidence supports the "existance" of this species within the last decade, Maryland is the ONLY state in it's natural range that has not produced a single documented catch of a bowfin in Maryland waters this millenium!
Even though the "Bowfin" is not a "state" fish, it is a display in Bass Pro Shop in Maryland!
Even though the "Bowfin" is not a "state" fish, it is a display in Bass Pro Shop in Maryland!
My final point is to just give the ABSOLUTE 100% facts and allow the "Human" with the most powerful mind(s) on the planet to draw the obvious conclusion!
FACT:
1. Businesses exist simply to generate revenue in excess of their Operating expenses. (Cold, true but it is a fact!). Taht is what a "business" is. Sorry!
2. I am uncertain about Cabellas but believe that similar to Bass Pro Shops that NEITHER business generates a single penny of "revenue" from these "fish displays".
3. Not only does the "fish display" not earn a single penny of revenue for either business, as you MFKers know, it is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive to "maintain" at even a minimum standard a 25,000+ gallon setup! That is an extreme Operating expense. Without a potential penny of revenue derived directly from the display, the management of these two franchises has determined that this costly display (as a service) to Sportsman is worth the expendature. There is NO WAY ON EARTH that these "displays" could be kept at the higher standards and be feasible financially to the businesses!
4. IMHO less than 1% of these fish in the displays would survive for 24 hours after being "hooked" by "non-C&R fishermen". It may be extremely difficult for "NON-Fishermen" AKA MFKers to understand the EXTREME depths that we CATCH & RELEASE fishermen go through to make sure that our equipment is "safest" for the fish we catch. Circle hooks seriously improve survival rate for caught fish but is only one of many tactics that we use to "protect" our game! There are many studies done on survival rates of "hooked" fish and time of the year is a MAJOR factor! Best case scenario the rate is horrendous and would no doubt shock the MFK audience into a concensus "ban" on ALL fishing EVER! Please research for yourself and DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT! I will NOT post links due to the close to 100% brain explosion on MFK it would certainly cause, and I would hate to have to be defensive of "fishing" in general!
FACT:
1. Businesses exist simply to generate revenue in excess of their Operating expenses. (Cold, true but it is a fact!). Taht is what a "business" is. Sorry!
2. I am uncertain about Cabellas but believe that similar to Bass Pro Shops that NEITHER business generates a single penny of "revenue" from these "fish displays".
3. Not only does the "fish display" not earn a single penny of revenue for either business, as you MFKers know, it is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive to "maintain" at even a minimum standard a 25,000+ gallon setup! That is an extreme Operating expense. Without a potential penny of revenue derived directly from the display, the management of these two franchises has determined that this costly display (as a service) to Sportsman is worth the expendature. There is NO WAY ON EARTH that these "displays" could be kept at the higher standards and be feasible financially to the businesses!
4. IMHO less than 1% of these fish in the displays would survive for 24 hours after being "hooked" by "non-C&R fishermen". It may be extremely difficult for "NON-Fishermen" AKA MFKers to understand the EXTREME depths that we CATCH & RELEASE fishermen go through to make sure that our equipment is "safest" for the fish we catch. Circle hooks seriously improve survival rate for caught fish but is only one of many tactics that we use to "protect" our game! There are many studies done on survival rates of "hooked" fish and time of the year is a MAJOR factor! Best case scenario the rate is horrendous and would no doubt shock the MFK audience into a concensus "ban" on ALL fishing EVER! Please research for yourself and DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT! I will NOT post links due to the close to 100% brain explosion on MFK it would certainly cause, and I would hate to have to be defensive of "fishing" in general!
Why do you assume that I don't fish?
If these fish were damaged while being caught, IMO they'd be better off killed humanely rather than put in these tank with inadequate care, poor water quality, unsuitable tankmates and (most likely) an unbalanced diet. The cloudy eyes, huge growths/masses and overall 'sickly' look to the vast majority of their fish leaves a lot to be desired.
If these fish were damaged while being caught, IMO they'd be better off killed humanely rather than put in these tank with inadequate care, poor water quality, unsuitable tankmates and (most likely) an unbalanced diet. The cloudy eyes, huge growths/masses and overall 'sickly' look to the vast majority of their fish leaves a lot to be desired.
Well they are wild-caught ones but the diseases were probably caused by over stressing (try to adapt to the new environment) as I doubt that all diseases comes from their natural home. Once saw a drum with huge bulging stomache....that fish should be put down.
