5 Services You Probably Didn't Know Bass Pro Shops Offers

Whether you know the name from seeing the stores in person, shopping online, cultural osmosis, or the prevalence of branded hats, you've probably at least heard of Bass Pro Shops. For many, they're a sort of hunting and fishing supply superstore; The Walmart of outdoorsmanship, if you will. So naturally, these stores offer a robust (if sometimes overwhelming) selection of related products for the average shopper.

Bass Pro is a one-stop shop for camping gadgets, fishing rods, lures, boat motors, hunting vests, highly-rated trail cams, and a whole lot besides. But would you believe the well-known chain offers even more than all of that?

After digging through a lot of small print on various Bass Pro Shops websites and chasing down a number of hyperlinks, we've compiled a list of five different services the company has on offer to the public that you might not have initially considered. Organized in the order of what we believe to be the most sensible to the least expected, here are five services you probably didn't know Bass Pro Shop offers.

With a name like Bass Pro Shops, you'd expect the store to cater to fishing. Outside of the obvious stuff like selling an assortment of angling supplies, it also offers resources for repairs of the most essential of fishing gear: rods and reels. And not just the various parts and tools one might need to maintain everything for themselves, either — though there's plenty of that on the shelves, too. You won't necessarily be able to walk your busted equipment into a shop, but you can mail in a rod, reel, or both along with a note on the problem. Labor and parts costs vary from free (factory warranty fixes) to up to $45 (two-speed lever drag for saltwater), not including shipping and handling fees.

There doesn't appear to be any limitation to the types of rods Bass Pro Shops can repair, but be aware that reel servicing doesn't cover every possible brand on the market. Reparable brands include Abu-Garcia, Bass Pro (naturally), Bionic, Browning, Carbonlite, Cat Maxx, Crappie Maxx, Daiwa, Extreme, Gold Cup, Johnny Morris, Johnson, Mega Cast, Mitchell, Ocean Master, Offshore Angler, Penn, Pro Qualifier, Shakespeare, Shimano, Tourney Special, and Zebco. Ryobi fishing reels are notably absent from the list, though.

Game hunting supplies might be a slightly less obvious thing for Bass Pro Shops when compared to fishing, what with the retail chain naming convention and all, but walk into most physical locations and it's pretty easy to tell. Stuffed and mounted critters adorn the displays almost as much as the various products for sale. But would it surprise you to know that Bass Pro Shops also offers taxidermy services for individuals, businesses, and museums?

Much like rod and reel repair, taxidermy services are not something you can expect to take care of in-store. However, the Bass Pro Shops Wildlife Creations Champion Taxidermy Studio is located in Missouri and offers a variety of shipping (and crating) options starting at a $30 minimum for fish 45 inches and under, up to $150 minimum for large life-sized mammals.

The labor cost of the taxidermy job itself depends largely on what you actually want mounted, how you want it mounted, what you want it mounted on, and whether or not you want any additional flourishes like a nameplate or background. Anywhere from $150 for a small mammal skull mount to $7,000 for life-size mounts of large mammals. It's also important to note that some of these potential taxidermy subjects and jobs can take anywhere from several months to a couple of years or more to complete.

Fishing also has a relationship with boating, because a lot of fishing — not all, but a lot — happens on the water rather than from the shore or off of a dock or pier. So, naturally, you can expect to find loads of boating knick-knacks, from trailer hitches to outboard motors and other essential tools to keep on your boat. You can even go and buy a full-fledged fishing boat. But, much like those previously mentioned fishing rods and reels, servicing and repairs are also an option.

There are a number of Bass Pro Boating Centers (as well as Cabela's, because they fall under the same corporate umbrella) dotted throughout the country, where you can schedule a variety of boat-focused services, and some ATV stuff, too.

Select Bass Pro Shops locations can assist with general boat maintenance. Seasonal adjustments for winter and summer (including packing for cold months and prepping for summer fun), protective wrapping for safe storage, and storage options are all available along with urgent repairs (i.e. fast diagnoses and, if possible, same business day fixing), cosmetic touch-ups, engine repairs, and facilitating the installation of upgrades like fish finders and marine radios.

Yes, you can really get in touch with Bass Pro Shops' embroidery and design services to customize loads of items — assuming they're capable of being embroidered, of course. But there is a little bit of a catch.

For starters, as with the previous services mentioned, you can't just bring something into a Bass Pro Shops store and have them take care of it for you. It's not an on-site, walk-in kind of thing. It's also not intended for individuals, so there's no customization for single hats or shirts. What the embroidery service does offer is custom designs for larger, less individualized entities like associations, businesses, clubs, companies, corporations, and teams.

You'll need to get in touch via the website, email, or phone, then pick a design and choose the text (presumably branding of some sort) you want to have displayed. The site's description doesn't make this super clear, but you'll likely need to order the product you want through Bass Pro Shops and then pay for embroidery. No sending stuff in.

Perhaps the biggest surprise — at least to people who don't frequent the stores — is that Bass Pro Shops doesn't just do shops and specialized offshoots like boating centers and taxidermy studios. It also has a somewhat surprising number of affiliated restaurants and resorts.

Five different eateries across a total of eight states are associated with Bass Pro Shops. The company's home state of Missouri alone plays host to Finley Farms, Hemingway's Blue Water Café, and the White River Fish House. Additionally, residents of and visitors to California, Florida, and Virginia can check out the Islamorada Fish Company, while those in Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, and Texas can visit Uncle Buck's Fishbowl and Grill.

If you're looking for something more vacation-oriented than a simple restaurant, however, there are three different resort locations you can spend a few days at. Specifically, Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, MO, Angler's Lodge in both Springfield and Hollister, MO, and Big Cypress in Memphis, TN. Of course, as with most hotels and resorts, just how much you can expect to pay per night for lodging (in addition to other events and activities) will vary based on the accommodations you want and the time of year you're booking for.