In the old days, the motors were two-strokes but now they’re mostly four-strokes. Competitors didn’t use to wear outfits covered in brightly colored logos, like they do now. In fact, the top series are sponsored by big out-of-the-industry corporations and get a ton of TV time on cable television. I could be describing motorcycle racing, but I’m not. I’m writing about bass fishing. Am ah gittin’ too Texan? Maybe. Ah did just git muhself a houn’ dog, an’ ahm fixin’ tuh git me a pickup truck.

There’s lots of interesting food for thought here. Like motorcyclists, most fishermen fish as a recreational pastime. A small minority think of it as a competitive sport. Motorcycle racing was well established in the U.S. long before the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S., get it?) revolutionized fishing derbies and turned them into telegenic, big-money competitions. Now, the top B.A.S.S. series offers seven-figure purses, and TV coverage is assured, since B.A.S.S. (a privately-held business) was recently acquired by ESPN. (Note to ESPN: Please, please, please buy the flat track Grand National Championship from the AMA.)

This column, however, isn’t about the successful packaging of pro bass fishing as a sport. It’s about an even bigger revolution, and one that really provides an example we could follow. It’s about Bass Pro Shop’s “Outdoor World” stores, a retail chain that blew me away the first time I walked into one of their 200,000-square-foot emporiums. If you’ve never been in one, go to www.basspro.com right now; find the nearest Outdoor World store and go see it. Then ask yourself: Why can’t the motorcycle industry sell itself like this?

Back in about 1981, Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris was an expert bass fisherman who qualified for several big rounds of the fledgling B.A.S.S. pro series. It occurred to Morris that the specialized baits and tools used by the pros were not generally available in sporting goods stores. He went around the country buying up that stuff and started selling it from one counter in the family liquor store.

Now, there are 33 Outdoor World stores in the U.S. Most are 150,000-200,000 square feet, though they run to over 300,000; think from three to seven football fields. Every store is built around a huge aquarium—an indoor tank fed by streams and 40-foot waterfalls that, itself, is bigger than most sporting goods stores. Easily big enough for casting demonstrations, the pool is used to show shoppers exactly how baits and lures work, and to inspire them with real big ol’ bass. Some stores have their own ponds big enough that shoppers can test out bass boats and motors. Imaging a bike shop with its own test track!

Stores have their own restaurants, with a fish-and-game flavor. They’re linked to hotels, and some even have corrals for horses. Hey, there’s destination shopping, and then there’s destination shopping. While the company is private and does not publicize sales or profits, one look will tell you that big, big money is flowing through those cash registers.

People in the bike biz will read this far and roll their eyes, thinking, “What does he think he’s writing about? No motorcycle retailer could come close to making a store like that profitable—or get the bank loan to build it.”

But.

Before Johnny Morris, fishing shops were exactly like motorcycle dealerships are today. That is to say, mostly mom-and-pop operations. Mostly focused on a few key lines, not on broadening the definition of fishing (or riding) gear. Mostly pretty mediocre as retail environments, with a few high-end exceptions (Orvis fly-fishing gear has always been sold in the boutique environments typical of contemporary Ducati dealerships.)

Before Outdoor World, fishin’ shops mostly sold to people already interested in the sport (and, by the way, sold exclusively to males). If Johnny Morris had gone to the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trades show (the fishing industry’s version of our “Indy” show) in 1981 and described his vision of 15 or 20 million square feet of fishing gear. Everyone would’a told him that exaggeratin’s a natural part o’ fishin’, but that he was plumb crazy.

Crazy like a fox. What Morris proved was that he could create a type of business that had never previously existed. Before Bass Pro Shops, guys went fishing in their old clothes. Afterward, they bought clothes impregnated with mosquito repellent. Guys used to go fishing in the boats they had; afterward, they bought boats with dual casting platforms, live wells, and separate fridges for bait and beer. The breathtaking array of gear on display in an Outdoor World store is breathtaking in part because these huge stores have created a demand for more/newer gear.

I’ve walked into a lot of bike shops in my time, and I basically hope to be ignored since the alternative (and yes, I know there are exceptions) is usually to be treated to aggression, scorn, or simple ignorance. Even people who don’t like fishing like going to Outdoor World stores. As their press guy Larry Whiteley told me, “Our stores are part museum, part aquarium, part art gallery, part conservation education center and, oh, yes, we sell some fishin’ rods, too.” When I took my non-fishing friend Ed to one, he told me, “Man, I feel like I should start.”

In the case of Outdoor World, Johnny Morris built it, and they came. But Morris and his employees didn’t leave that to chance. They created a program called Outdoor Women, because “There’s some women who don’t want to rely on a man to take them and show them how to do it.” Imagine that. The last time I took The Chick bike-shopping, I stood quietly in the background as one salesman after another treated her with condescension or flat lied to her. C’mon guys, being a sexist pig is so last-century.

There are some woman-positive programs out there; Kawasaki’s Jan Plessner is doing good things, MSF training is at least gender-neutral, and everyone I talk to who’s been to Femmoto comes back raving about it. But overall, the growth in women’s motorcycling is happening in spite of what our industry’s doing, not because of it—especially at the retail level.

Of course, most of the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor Skills Workshops are aimed at male adults, and that choice reflects a sharp understanding of their market. “Everyone talks about getting kids involved,” says Whiteley, “but kids can’t go unless there’s an adult who’ll take them.”

He goes on to explain that the courses are typically aimed at older guys who went fishing or hunting a bit when they were younger, maybe drifted away from it, and now want to get back in. Sound familiar? The average age of motorcycle buyers is about 40. They offer basic skills and specialized training. “Gear’s getting more complicated,” he says, “and it’s harder to use it properly and get all the benefits of it.” Amen. Their outdoor skills workshops are also aimed at broadening interests, by introducing late-season fishermen to duck hunting for example, or rifle hunters to archery. It would all work so well in our sport.