Stoneroller

that's the thing jason, this facebook thing was a closed group, not an actual spro sanctioned/company page. I was wary about it anyway but since spro didn't have a fb page I figured maybe they sanctioned that one for their usa pro staff or something. and until now it really didn't matter and frankly I guess in the big picture it still doesn't. You make a great point about social networking. So many companies are missing out on that it's not even funny.

understandable, although he never clarified that he actually used a spro product to catch it, and other comments had already been made by other people about catch and release. I simply posted growth rates. It's a closed group, so the admin can do or say whatever he wishes. It just unfortunate that Spro doesn't actually have their own fb page where they can put out their corporate message instead of some clown hijacking it. I've yet to see a fish picture posted on fb or the internet, where the fish obviously was harvested, where multiple anglers didn't comment on C & R.

hhhmmm next order I'll ask. =) they've made a good first impression though.

so this post should correctly be titled, "My bad experience with a fake posing as someone from spro and my less than professional response from spro usa" buy spro products at your own disgression.

We floated the upper Big earlier this week. double digit drag fest. probably ground a years worth of hull off my yak. far, far too long and wild of a trip to take at low water and possibly deadly at higher flows thanks to farmer browns death trap of a private bridge... Fishing was great though. Even saw some smallies exhibiting defensive behavior as if on a bed, but weren't and they were mid stream in featureless areas, so I don't think, but could be wrong, that they were guarding fry. Definately were not on a bed, although the long ear sunfish were. SW MO got some good rainfall, although still far too little to make much of a difference. looks like it dried up as it ran over st louis. but it's raining in northern illinois now. d'oh!

lol mitch gives them the facepalm! that's awesome!

I would like to convey a very positive experience I had with tacklewarehouse prior to the holiday weekend. On thursday may 24th I ordered some products. friday tw put up a 15% memorial day discount and free stickers for orders over $50. I emailed TW to see if I could get that discount applied to my order and some stickers for my kayaks. I also explained that I would be happy to buy more products as I realized the discount would drop my order below $50. Tier 1 customer service sent a generic, "your order has already been packed" email, followed by a "your order has been shipped" email. I asked if the issue could be escalated at which point a manager emailed me explaining that TW was sorry about the 'issue' and they would be happy to take my suggestion of adding more products, applying the discount for the entire order, and shipping those products seperate with some stickers. I even offered to pay shipping, but he insisted TW would take care of me. I didn't take 'no' for an answer from tier 1. I've worked Customer service and tech support, I know how the lazy ones operate. "NO" or any other bs is not acceptable in the real world where customers pay your bills. $50 order is pocket change to TW, having a happy customer is worth all the $ in the world. If you don't have tacklewarehouse.com bookmarked, do yourself a favor and stop by, check them out. They know how to treat customers and they understand the good press that comes along with that kind of service. Great Job Tackle Warehouse! I will also add, their selection of lures is pretty stunning. Stuff you aren't likely to find many other places and you will never find at bps or cabelas. (cheaper too but it ships from california, so 5-7 days ground is the norm) they have great shipping rates though.

yeah i was looking at their page zoomed in on missouri. it may have not been updated at that point but it was showing less than .25 inches east of west plains when I saw it. Huzzah got 1.5 inches last week? or the week before and it took the river up by a half inch or so for about 4 hrs then it dropped back down to dry.

Gavin, the funny thing is it's not a 'company' website. it's a facebook page, on top of that this rick guy doesn't even work for spro, but is portraying himself as a spokesperson. All I wanted was clarification. I don't really care about their little group now that I'm positive it's not a real company thing. sure spro usa knows about it, but there is no facebook link anywhere on spro's official website. I guess my big issue really isn't with spro, persay, as spro usa isn't really spro, which is a european company. And although Syd could really learn a bit about being a professional in customer service, it's the fact that this rick guy, who doesn't even work for spro is portraying himself as their spokesperson. So it's just a stream of disconnected, underinformed individuals who I've allowed to taint my experience with spro as a whole.

it's only 'liable and slander' if 1. it's untrue, which none of this is and 2. it can be proven that it hurt your business. I am fully in my rights to state my opinion on their fb page. If they wanted to boot me, fine. I'm also fully in my rights to relay my experience and to call for whatever boycott I wish. I have provided nothing but factual evidence in this situation.

this system that just moved through barely dropped any rain on most areas. the air is so dry most of the rain evaporated as it fell. Looks like SW MO got the best amounts, but none of that ends up in the 11 point. most of the measurable rainfall stopped around Mt Grove. Joplin, Spfld, Rolla, Kirksville got around an inch to an inch and a half. That might bump the river levels a tiny bit, but it won't be much and it will only be for a few hrs. Too bad too, we really needed far more rain over a longer period and a wider area.

this isn't about being friends. I'll spell this out one last time for people who are missing the point. me: Nice fish, too bad you didn't release it. catch and release is important to a sustainable fishery, that fish was probably close to 20 years old. spro: this is not a forum for discussion of catch and release. do not post on here again about your opinions or you will be removed from this group (which is supposed to be a public page if it's a real company, not a group, please see facebook's terms of service for clarification) that's when I asked for clarification as to what their stance was. ALL tournaments are C & R btw... and as a supporter of tournament fishing, I figured spro would send a nice little professional email stating that they supported both, but that they understood that responsible harvesting and C & R are both important to a healthy fisheries. Instead I got booted and threatened with legal action. if you want to think I left emails out, go ahead. I have no reason to alter or adjust any part of this situation. I don't hate people who don't catch and release but don't post a picture of you in your back yard with a trophy smallie on a page full of catch and release anglers and think someone isn't going to comment on it or think everyone is going to throw you a cookie. Nobody got booted for commenting on how many fish they keep. why should I get booted for commenting on C & R. Two different rules are being applied, and that's fine, that's Spro's perogative. just as mine is to let everyone know how spro deals with consumers who have questions or state facts.

are you portraying yourself as an offiicial spokesperson for a marine tech company? if so it would make sense that you would immediately know the company's position and be well versed in dealing with the public when it comes to questions of this nature, otherwise the intelligent thing to do is to refer said question to someone who can answer it in a professional and complete manner. It wasn't a 'war' or an 'issue' until I was told that I couldn't state facts concerning c & r and was told that although everyone else can post their opinions, I was not allowed to and was threatened with legal action for asking for clarification. All I've ever done in my entire life is work a direct customer service position, doesn't matter if it was IT support, serving tables, or pulling wrenches on cars. The customer always deserves to be treated like they are king, they deserve a prompt and professional reply to their inquiries and if one has any kind of issue, the issue is resolved FIRST. As you can see, his first response to me was to tell me to basically piss off and it only got less professional after that. Irrespective of what my tone might have been, a professional puts themselves above that and does not instantly become confrontational and dismissive towards a consumer. I didn't leave out any emails in that chain. And of course I was confrontational, they censored me for exercising my freedom of speech and stating facts! A fishing company that doesn't readily state that it supports Responsible Fishing is a problem and doesn't deserve the support of anglers who do believe in responsible harvest. I don't care if they do or don't. The point is, his first email to me should have read. "Spro supports sustainable fisheries including c & r and responsible harvesting" the entire thing would have ended right there. Threatened legal action against a consumer because they asked for clarification on an official company view or stance.... <<< biggest issue The lesson here is, as a representative of a company YOUR opinion doesn't matter, YOUR job is to represent the company that pays your bills in a manner which is professional and furthers said company in the eyes of the sportsmen who support it. Not readly saying you support C & R as a tackle manufacturer is like saying you don't support plants as an air breather. hello nose, let me cut you off my face. and ness, how many names do you have? most people have 3. I'm sure you can look me up online and find out all the information you want.

Thank you for seeing my point CWF. I'm not trying to be unreasonable. I just thought it was glaring to threaten people for stating their opinions. I wasn't on their page flaming anyone about keeping fish. I simply stated how old I though the fish was that some guy kept and ate and mentioned that c & r are important. then all this nonsense comes down. Pretty absurd way to wreck the image of the company that pays your bills. I might also add, it's one thing to ask $13-25 for a lure that completely dominates the tournament trail. It's another to demand that kind of money just to put a pro angler's name on the package and then fail to even win tournaments with the lures... soft plastics are more dominate and better producers than any spro product.

sure he says they 'support' it after I cornered him on it and gave him no other option. Couple of issues 1. a person not employed by the company is representing himself on fb as one and stating that his opinion is that of Spros, spro knows this and aren't concerned with the damage it does to their image. 2. When I stated facts about catch and release I was kicked off the page. (doesn't sound like a company that supports it to me) 3. when simply asked for the official company position I was threatened with legal action? for what? I made no comments that could even remotely be interpreted as 'threatening' 4. "YES WE SUPPORT CATCH AND RELEASE" is all that was warranted, but not what was delivered. Unprofessional and childish response to a legit customer question. I don't do business with companies with this kind of attitude towards conservation of our resources or towards our Constitutional rights, and I urge others to boycott their products based on the above reasons.

They have deleted my original post. I simply posted a picture the MSA/MDC smallmouth sign and commented on a different picture that "that fish was probably 20 years old and is now dead. C & R are necessary to healthy, sustainable fisheries." here is a copy of the emails that are flying: it's backwards, so you'll have to start from the bottom and read up. James Please do not threaten me or my company we can and will take legal action. We believe in catch and release and sustainable fisheries, but the laws of this country allow people to catch and keep fish so we support that too. I know you are very passionate about catch and release and you are free to be that way, but others have the freedom to catch and keep fish if they are abiding by the laws of this country. If you want to win this fight take it up with your congressman because we are not the ones that write the laws for this country. Rick does not work for SPRO and those are his opinions, he is free to have his own opinions, but the SPRO Facebook page is not a place to express our feelings about hot issues like catch and release. There are many anglers out there that have different opinions when it comes to catch and release and they have the freedom to express their opinions just like you have the right to express your opinions just as long as it is not done on SPRO’s Facebook Page. Our Facebook Page is used to promote SPRO lures, and the fun that guys have using them to catch fish. Thanks Syd Rives From: James Jones Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 9:15 AM To: Syd Rives Subject: Re: facebook group representing spro? Syd, Completely unprofessional, please don't make me escalate this up the chain. You failed to answer any of my questions. Please feel free to do so. I'm not getting a very positive customer service experience from Spro and I'm the kind of person who will tell everyone about it. Try again. This time professionally answer my questions or forward my email to someone who is responsible enough and cares enough about the image of your company to do so. I asked some very simple questions. I didn't ask you to pass judgement on a my posting of a topic. Again I will ask: What is Spro's official position on Catch and Release? Does Rick Douwsma work for your company and are the things he is saying on facebook actual company positions or simply his opinion. I would think very long on these questions and come up with some answers that help put your company back in a better light. As it is now my experience with SPRO is very, very bad due to the way this rick guy has represented your company. Bad press goes a really long way and I have a really big mouth and tons of time on my hands. BTW, Catch and Release isn't a 'political' issue it's a biological one and extremely important to the health of a sustainable fishery. Clearly you don't get that and I'm of the impression that SPRO not only doesn't support it, but their representatives aren't educated about it. I dare you to change my opinion of your company and give you a chance to correct the damage that this idiot on facebook has and is doing to your company. BTW he has the page set up completely wrong, it should be an open page if it's really associated with you, not a closed group. That's Shady! You also aren't considering how many people on that page, who are actual anglers (not hack meat fishermen) and support catch and release, got to read rick's childish, immature, and completely unprofessional rant AGAINST the free flow of ideas and opinions and a proven scientific fact when it comes to fisheries. He proved his ignorance and intolerance in one fell swoop and apparently you guys are ok with that being the public image of Spro. From: Syd Rives < syd@spro.com> To: James Jones <fishonkayakadventures@yahoo.com>; contact@spro.com Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 7:14 AM Subject: Re: facebook group representing spro? Mike People have different opinions on the subject of catch and release and our SPRO Facebook page is not a place to get political on catch and release issues. If you have an issue with that we are sorry. Thanks Syd Rives From: James Jones Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 9:49 PM To: contact@spro.com Subject: facebook group representing spro? Dear Spro, I'm not sure if you are aware of the fact that there is an individual on facebook who has created a 'spro' group and is presenting himself as the voice of your company. Long story short he has made it obvious that "SPRO" does not support Catch and Release as a responsible angling neccessity to maintain healthy fisheries. His name is Rick Douwsma and frankly he is giving your company a really, really bad image among the majority of anglers. What is SPRO's official stance on catch and release? Is it something you embrace and is this misnformed neonazi 'rick douwsma' in anyway associated with SPRO? Thank you for your time. Mike Jones

(An individual claiming to represent) "Spro" does not support Catch and Release fisheries and kicked me out of their group for posting smallmouth growth rates. I was then sent a very nasty email (from spro usa), threatening me with 'legal action' for stating my opion about catch and release. WOW! really? get your lawyers, clown! I just wanted everyone to know what kind of company Spro really is. They(seem to) care nothing about healthy, sustainable fisheries and are all about meat and trophy hunting. By far the WORST customer service experience I have EVER had in my entire life. I've never had a representative of a company attack me and threaten legal action for asking for clarification on the official Spro stance on catch and release. This idiot claims I threatened him and spro by saying, "I have no problem telling everyone about bad customer service experiences" Clearly I have touched a nerve at SPRO USA, keep in mind the actual parent company in Europe probably has no idea about the idiots that are working for them stateside. I strongly urge everyone to NOT SUPPORT SPRO as they don't support us or our sport! and if you support catch and release please email spro at contact@spro.com and let them know that Catch and Release is vital to our fisheries and that you won't do business with a company who not only doesn't support C & R but threatens legal action against those who express that they do! updated with (edits) to more accurately reflect the incident. "Spro" as a parent company isn't at fault in this situation, I realize that now.

double digits tends to be the benchmark with florida/mexican strain largemouth from what I've seen. 10lbs would be the number you are looking for.

probably where the "secret service" takes their columbian hookers to have fun. more taxpayer money completely pissed away for nothing. Remeber these things in Nov....

Do not wait to see fishing feeding on the surface to throw a topwater bait. My best topwater days/periods have come when there was no obvious surface activity. On a lake I will only throw topwater in the morning and evening and in situational instances, ie around flats, laydowns, some points, inside weedline, etc just depends and I ALWAYS throw a topwater bait where I see or hear a fish jump or splash. 100% chance there is some kind of fish there, why not put a lure on it's nose? On the river I throw topwater all day, almost exclusively unless I'm getting zero bites for longer than 30 minutes, which is extremely rare outside of cold water periods. Sometimes though I've noticed they want a popper instead of a WTD or sometimes a single prop bait instead of a popper or whatever. Usually though the WTD makes enough commotion or not to get them to bite. River fishing is usually easy, there are almost always some fish feeding. you just have to know where those feeding fish will stage.

holy crap! people get stabbed and set on fire for those kinds of remarks.

Most of you have probably seen the 'new' broken back/jointed jigs by now. (it's not what you might be thinking) I want to say that Larew came out with that Biffle Hardhead jig first, but I'm not trying to debate who was first to market, just trying to give examples. Stanley makes a Wedge head jig made for punching, that has a triangular weight dangling from the hook's eye. Which is great for heavy weeds and mats. Jointed jigs are basically a hook with the weight hanging from a split ring from the hooks eye. Different types of weight shapes are used for different types of bottom composition. Round for muddy/sand, Teardrop for 'normal lake bottom' conditions, and cigar or tube shaped for rocky areas. Enter Owner and their Jig Rig. Clearly you can make these yourself with some drop shot weights, a hook and a split ring. Owner ups the ante by adding a solid ring to the hook to tie off to. leaving the split ring to suspend the weight. They also come in tungsten. How is this better than texas rig? well pretty much everyone pegs a T rig now anyway, otherwise it's just a carolina rig with no leader. This eliminates the need to peg your weight. It also give you much better feel of your bait when the fish picks it up, greatly reducing the chances of gut hooking a Smallmouth. The weight shape needed in typical ozark rivers is the cigar shape. Making one yourself is simple but you'll need to source dropshot weights with strong enough attachement points that they don't rip off when you are dragging this rig around on gravel. Tacklewarehouse.com has a stunning array of weights if you can't seem to find what you want in your local store. The benefit other than less chance of deep hooking a fish is that your bouyant softbait will now swivel around in the current and waver and shimmy in a much more realistic way. This rig is a great blend of dropshotting, jigging, and texas rig. I think it's even better than the stand up jig heads I've been using as you aren't dragging your line across every rock due to your bait being slightly suspended. Great for dragging and hopping.

this one had wandered far from it's native range. One of the reasons I was so suprised when she cornered me. I might add, they'd sell more vacations if they had young, hot girls in bikinis as sales people.

oooo phil thank you. I have a special email sign up list for people like this.

spam much?