It was all about fishing in the early years at PCM, and here is a little proof. These pictures are all from the late sixties and very early seventies. You might see some familiar faces or at least recognize the names of some legendary fishermen. I know there are many more that I have missed or who may have started fishing here regularly a little later on. Don't worry, we'll get to them later.
The pictures were taken with an old Polaroid camera. We would take a couple each time, give one to the customer and keep one for our photo albums. We still have the old camera, and it was working the last time we used it. Might be hard to find film for it now...
John Storie was an avid fisherman in the early years before he started building Champion, Viper and Hawk Boats. My mom used to say the first thing John would do when he came in the dock was comb his hair.
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| John Storie |
Bob and Pat Schultz owned Home Comfort Resort (see
previous post), and Bob also guided. Bob recently passed away. His son, Dan, still lives on the resort property.
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Bob Schultz
When the Allbrights first came to Pontiac, they both worked for Anheuser Busch in St. Louis. My dad used to say that when Tony Jr. would come down for the weekend he would often go out on Friday and not come back to the dock until he had to go back to work.
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Tonnie Allbright Sr. left, Tony Jr. right.
Ed Kolaks owned Pontiac Lodge (see previous post), Leo Vaughn was from West Plains and guided. Leo was an excellent fisherman. He would fish for whatever was biting. He had a great sense of humor as well. We sold sandwiches at the dock. He would come in and ask for dead bull with gut binder which was a cheeseburger to the rest of us.
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Ed Kolaks left, Leo Vaughn right.
Anyone who has fished around Pontiac for the past 40-plus years knows this guy. He might have been in dental school when this picture was taken. If his dark hair didn't date this picture, his pants would have. Doc still catches fish year 'round.
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| Norman "Doc" Klayman |
Jim Fudoli lived in Theodosia. He guided out of there as well as Pontiac. He was good friends with my brother, Dan, and spent a lot of time in Pontiac. Jim was kind of the hippie fisherman. He had long hair and wore red, white and blue tennis shoes.
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Jim Fudoli
If you don't remember Gene Gunkel, you surely know his son, Bob. They fished here for many years before they finally moved here. Gene worked for me at the marina in the store, and John Lloyd was always there with his carpenter skills when mother nature would strike, which seemed to happen quite often back then. Gene left us way too early in life. John still catches his share of fish, year 'round.
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Gene Gunkel left, John Lloyd right.
Two of my favorite guys.
These two were a couple of the best guides on the lake. In the early years, Don Atchison worked in Alaska to support his fishing habit here on Bull Shoals. When he was back here, he fished and played hard. Don also left us way too early.
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Doc Klayman, left. Don Atchison, right.
These two look like a couple of kids in this picture. The Adams boys also fished here for years before they moved here. Bill moved here first, and then Ken just a couple years ago. They also still fish year 'round these days.
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Ken Adams left, Bill Adams right.
The Pontiac Association started a Lunker Club that PCM continued for years to follow. Here is a sample of the card that came along with the lunker pin. Notice the pins on Bob Schultz's and Jim Fudoli's caps.
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Pontiac Lunker Club
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Written by Cap'n T. Morgan
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