abkeenan

Night time is the right time Champy.

Old Plug isn't into Old Plugs? I myself like history in general and like the evolution of industries/innovations/technologies. Think it's pretty neat to see the stuff guys used in the early 1900's to what we have now and everything in between.

I was making a joke referring to Dave (dtrs5kprs) and his bait/tackle hoarding issues.

I didn't know you and Dave were buddies.

Our friendship is over. You have any garlic scent? You already poured all the salt in the wound. Lock stinks. I've had some rather heated debates with some of my Mizzou buddies on Drew is a Lock2Suck and his prospects going forward. They see it, I don't. I suppose Odom sees it as well. I must be developing cataracts at a rather young age or something. Or maybe that is Lock who can't see when the lights are flipped on, on Saturdays.

You river rats just stay up there where you are.....don't need you tracking mud down here in our nice clean water. Plus jerkbaits are for jerks and don't work around the dam anyhow.

I've never envied a KU fan....til now. Buffalo Ridge and fishing TR......that's all you need!

Venture away from the upper end once in a while and maybe you'd catch one. I'm actually shocked with as many days you're on the water you haven't snagged one. That's mind-blowing being as they are fairly abundant in TR. Would assume they are similar to smallies in the fact that they are natural stream fish and like the gin clear habitat like that of the dam area. In April sometimes it can be hard to keep them off your Ned type junk. They love the where the rip rap ends near the spillway over there by Moonshine.

Welcome to the forum DocEsox, Yep. Catch them all the time near the dam on rockpiles. They stack up and you can catch a handful of them in minutes off the same spot. They have no problem taking down a full 5" senko/dinger on a shakeyhead. When I catch them it's by accident. Kinda surprised you caught it on a jerkbait as they seem to be fairly locked on the bottom and I've only ever caught them on soft plastics and/or night crawlers. The one you caught is a giant and the biggest that I have seen. Nice catch and thanks for posting.

Fat Cat Newton weighs in on the subject:

Tournament Director: "So, James, where and on what did you catch your winning bag on?" Champ: "In the water and on a hook."

Can't really complain about free shipping @ $50 from TW. They ship UPS Ground for the free shipping and whatever the UPS tracking info says about your package is nearly dead on every time. Might be a delay here and there with weather or an unforeseen event (have seen delays due to mechanical failure of a plane for UPS 2 Day Air...stuff happens). How else do you expect a company to already have the lowest prices on most tackle (not so much on rods and reels unless it's on sale/clearance), carry the largest inventory of any tackle retailer and eat the shipping costs on small orders just over the $50 mark? Shipping is a HUGE expense to a company. If they didn't make these "deals" with UPS they probably couldn't afford to either have low prices on their products or wouldn't be able to give free shipping unless you spent $75 or $100. For reference you can take this to the bank on when you receive your package:

Hush, you.

Wasn't speaking to you directly. The Johnny Morris bashing has gone on here as long as I've been a member. Not sure why I felt obligated to defend him but I just did. Like Rodmaker said in a lot fewer words than I did....he's done a lot for the SWMO region and Missouri as a whole.

We have just about this same Johnny Morris bashing thread about once a year. I never do understand it. I have never met Mr. Morris nor even a single person that has either. He could be a jerk, could be a fantastic guy, could be a crossdresser...I don't know. What I do know that he was a young man from Springfield that started his tackle pimping in the back of his family's Brown Derby liquor stores. To me that is a pretty neat individual to take it from there to the elaborate log lodge stores furnished with picturesque natural wilderness habitat scenes you see now. I know that he employs thousands of people. I know that he is an outdoorsman who likes to hunt and fish, which in my experience are good-natured, salt of the Earth type of people. I know that he does a lot of work with help in conservation of land and habitat. Probably which is more than every single person combined on Ozark Anglers. He takes things that are just so-so and makes them great (albeit you have to pay for the experience). Big Cedar, Top of the Rock and Buffalo Ridge Golf Course all in the Branson area alone are all beautifully done. He took the Pyramid Arena in Memphis that was more than likely going to be torn down and made it into a full scale bayou cypress swamp with hotel and retail. I have not been there but it looks like all of his other projects...well done. The man had a vision in 1971, fulfilled it and gets a heck of a lot of flack here for it some odd reason. Throughout the years Johnny has undoubtedly surrounded himself by people more than likely smarter than him handling his business affairs. His financial and market guru's obviously told him that purchasing Cabela's was a good idea for the Bass Pro brand. In the end he is doing what is best for him, his family and his business. Just like anyone here would be doing I'd imagine. It's easy to bash on people that have made millions (such as pro athletes) who have then squandered it on nonsense or have done next to nothing to help the community with their fortune. That is fine. I don't see Johnny Morris in that same vein hence I don't get the bashing. It has taken 5 decades of hard work and dedication to his brand to get to this point....again not sure why that deserves any ridicule AT ALL. Maybe he is an Elite at this point, but in the end he is just a home grown guy from Springfield, MO with roots in the Ozark region who does give back. Maybe not 95% back, but even if it were 1% it still has a tremendous impact.

Nope. But I also didn't suggest that if I were you that I would just give away 95% of my belongings and travel.

I have no idea as I am not Johnny Morris. I haven't lived his life nor built an outdoor's conglomerate (or any business) worth billions of dollars from the ground up. Haven't walked in those shoes before so really couldn't say.

Easy for someone to say behind a keyboard with no skin in the game. Easy to play monopoly except when it's your money and assets.

I don't fish LOZ and haven't in about 10 years so I don't know what works there. But I know on Table Rock I have torn them up on both Cotton Candy and Smoke Purple. Love the Ozark Smoke (Smoke Purple color) in the YUM Dingers. It's been a while but I used to do pretty well on TR throwing a Cotton Candy Zoom Centipede on a small carolina rig on spinning gear.

What colors are those as I haven't seen them on the shelves? Rainbow? Fruit Cocktail? Flamer Orange? Pansy Purple?

About a 5 min drive from my house. Like you said they seem to keep up on trends of what people are throwing and demanding. Last winter and spring we passed them every Saturday morning on the way to my 3 year old's gymnastics class there at The Little Gym in Fenton. I would look over to my wife with questioning eyes as we passed the building ......I would always get a NO evil eye or a verbal rejection. So secret TackleWarehouse packages it is.

I really don't think that much will change. Cabela's I think is more hunting oriented and Bass Pro is more fishing oriented. Probably why Johnny ponied up 5.5 Bil to acquire them. Wants more of the hunter sales share I would imagine. Only two outdoor activities really...hunting and fishing (sorry if I offend hikers, campers, ATV's, etc). Now he has a good portion of both markets cornered. I think BP would be stupid to fool with that. Not like BPS can screw up the fishing tackle side of Cabela's. That is/was already a nightmare.

Didn't they say that about Ranger also............

Hence Amazon KILLING the market. This is especially true in the golf retail market. The sport is losing #'s each year and the online golf apparel/equipment is decimating the retail stores. Here in Saint Louis there used to be quite a few Golf Discounts, now there are 2 stores. Golfsmith actually filed for bankruptcy a week or two ago I believe and was bought out by Dick's Sports. Often times I go into a store just to check out the product in hand and then go online and find it for cheaper online. That's the way of the world now. Read reviews. Check out in store. Purchase online.

Interesting. I wonder how a plopper would do with the old Norman Front Funner (now made by War Eagle) tied in front of it. Not the commotion of 2 ploppers but the same chasing idea. I've had a Front Runner forever and have never used it as I am not a fan of multiple knots (higher chance of one failing) and I am just too lazy to tie 3 knots. Anyone ever use one of these? I've always thought it was a good idea but have never heard of anyone actually using one.