Keith Lusher 07.06.26
For the millions of international visitors traveling across the United States during the FIFA World Cup, the bucket list usually includes places like Times Square, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Disney World. Who would have guessed that Bass Pro Shops would become one of the country’s unexpected tourist attractions, but that’s exactly what’s happening.
Videos of foreign football fans roaming around have been emerging for the last several days. bass Pro Shops As the story spread on social media, visitors from Europe and beyond responded with the kind of enthusiasm that Americans usually reserve for famous destinations. For many of us, this is where another fishing trip begins. This is where you stop to pick up a pack of tungsten weights, or stop by to check out the sales on the latest LiveScope. However, for many of these visitors, walking through the front doors is unlike anything they have ever experienced.
One of the visitors who attracts the most attention is the Scottish football fan. shaun alexanderWho has been documenting his World Cup road trip across America on social media. Alexander is a fisherman himself, so it didn’t take him long to appreciate what he was seeing. As he walked through Bass Pro Shops, looking at the huge wildlife exhibits, huge freshwater aquariums and rows of bass boats, he summarized the experience with a simple observation.
“I could spend days here,” he said.
Alexander wasn’t the only visitor who felt that way. A group of Norwegian World Cup fans visiting Houston also decided to stop at Bass Pro Shops after hearing people talking about it online, and their reactions were remarkably similar. They wandered past moose elk, bears and bighorn sheep, stopped to look at the giant bass swimming in the indoor aquarium and laughed while exploring aisles filled with camping gear, hunting equipment and enough fishing tackle to stock a small marina.
One of the visitors commented, “We don’t have anything like that,” and hearing that simple statement stuck with me because it reminded me how easy it is to overlook something that has been a part of my life for decades.
As someone who has spent years writing about fishing, I wouldn’t think twice about seeing an entire wall dedicated to crankbaits or another aisle filled with every imaginable soft plastic. Walking across dozens of bass boats inside a sporting goods store seems completely normal, and seeing kids gathered around a giant aquarium has become something I almost expect. Seeing these visitors experience all this firsthand gave me a completely different perspective, because what seems ordinary to us can be extraordinary when seen by someone with fresh eyes.
The World Cup has created a unique opportunity for millions of visitors to experience parts of America they may never have thought about seeing. Some have traversed national parks, others have visited Buc-ee’s or explored small towns that never appear in travel brochures, and a growing number have found themselves walking through the doors of Bass Pro Shops.
After seeing their reactions, I find myself appreciating Bass Pro Shops a little more than I did before. Not because the shops had changed, but because I was reminded that many people travel thousands of miles in hopes of experiencing something we often take for granted.
keith lusher
Keith Lusher is an award-winning outdoor journalist who lives in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthShoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outdoors column for the Slidell Independent Newspaper. He also writes for the St. Tammany Parish Tourism Commission’s VisitTheNorthshree.com. He is the former host of The Northshore Fishing Report radio show and is on the board of the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association. Keith contributes to numerous publications both online and in print and is proud to promote the unique fisheries of South Louisiana. To contact Keith email: keithlusherjr@gmail.com
