Clarence Shockey: Another Past Guide

Clarence Shockey started guiding on Bull Shoals Lake as soon as it filled up. He knew where every creek came in, where every drop-off was and all the honey holes without using a GPS. That's because he walked the riverbanks and fished it before there was a lake. In fact, one of his favorite things to do was noodle for catfish. In case you don't know, noodling is where you swim down and look for a catfish hole under a ledge or a stump and reach in and try to stick your hand in the fish's mouth and then drag him out of the hole. Clarence was said to have been able to hold his breath for upwards of four minutes. In doing a little research on the sport I'm sure Clarence must have been doing it in Arkansas as noodling has been illegal in Missouri since 1919.

Left: Flo Haege (I think) and Clarence, 1970.

Clarence loved top-water fishing. According to his son, Joe Shockey, Clarence's favorite baits included the frog colored Lucky 13 and the Baby Zara Spook. But, when fishing got a little tougher, he would go to the creek and catch some big slick minnows and use those for bait. Joe said he caught his best fish that way.

Clarence on right, 1970. (Not sure who is with him.)

Clarence liked to fish in Cowpen. In fact, some of his favorite spots were from Cowpen on up the White River to Music Creek. Those Music Creek trips had to be special and well-planned back in those days, as you didn't just run up there in your 10 HP Johnson for a few minutes of fishing. If you went that far, you'd take your lunch and spend the whole day.

Clarence, left, and again, not sure of the others.

One of Clarence's fishing buddies was Uncle Johnny Harlin. He had a 15' Lonestar boat and 7 1/2 HP Johnson. Joe told me that Johnny traded for a 20 HP and that Clarence told him the first time he saw him come around the corner with that boat he could not believe how fast he was going. It was one of the fastest on the lake at the time at nearly 20 miles per hour.

Clarence with Irene and Blackie Kutilek.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

More pictures...

After bringing the big rental tube "Weenie" back to life in pictures, Norman Eubank dug through his old pics and found a few more and shared them with us. Pretty hilarious!

Norman and his friends getting ready to take off. Norman is the end, far left in this picture.

All four still hanging on and doing great.

Look just left of the tube and you'll see the first guy going in the water.

Second one bites the dust.

And the last two hit the water.

No more passengers!

Proof of Norman standing on his head on the Surfjet.


Written By Cap'n T. Morgan

More photos from the Champion Tournaments, etc.

Linda Dunsmuir shared some pictures with me after I published the post about the Champion tournaments. Here they are. Enjoy.

Early morning, just before takeoff.
All the red, green and white lights looked like a giant Christmas tree.

A little later and a little closer to the action.

A little later again, with several boats already out.

A high water shot back in the early eighties.
The big tree on the second road (far right) was still standing.

Just Jackie's was "The Galley Restaurant" in this photo, and the fuel tanks were still in their old spot.

One of our many "rental items" over the years.
While this was a rental item at Pontiac Cove, a water patrol once stopped and told me that there were many pending lawsuits on Lake of the Ozarks that involved injuries from riding one of these things. He strongly suggested I sell it before it happened here. So I did.

Back in 1980, a distraught young woman and her very young son showed up at the dock. She told me she was out of gas and had no money, and I'm not sure she knew where she was. She asked if I would give her $5 worth of gas and promised to bring the money back later. She even offered to leave her son, Scott, as collateral. I had done this for someone once before, and I am pretty sure I never saw the guy again. But, I wasn't sure what I would do with them otherwise, so I took a chance on her. Well, she came back with the $5 and has been a friend and PCM customer ever since. In fact, after almost 35 years calling Linda my friend, my grandchildren, Lola and Finn Henry, now call her "Nanny." :)

Brian and Serena Dunsmuir (Linda's husband and daughter) in the boat that Linda and Scott first showed up in.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Champion Tournaments

Not long after the Gutweiler boat deal, John called me and wanted to start a Champion owners tournament, and he wanted to run it out of Pontiac. I was all for it! Thus the First Annual Champion Bass Tournament was held in October of 1984. What an incredible event! The entry was very simple: If you owned a Champion bass boat you could enter, and there was no fee.

An early morning take-off.

One of the first tournament weigh-ins.

There were 205 boats in the first tournament, and the planning had only begun earlier that summer. Over the next few years the tournament grew to a record-breaking tournament with 816 boats in 1991. The planning for the next year's event would begin immediately after the current one ended. We would have a meeting with Champion to discuss how the tournament went and how we could improve it. Champion not only sponsored the greatest tournament, but the customer support was amazing.  Factory representatives from Champion were there to tend to any problems owners had with their boats. Reps from Trailer's, Inc. (now E Z Loader) were there walking around checking trailers and fixing any problems they found. There were also support teams from Mercury Marine, OMC, and all the electronics people. It was a first class event.

Awards ceremony. John Storie, left, and Bill Pace, right, walking off stage.

We, along with the help of Verne Cubbage, raised money to help offset the cost of the banquet that was free for all participants. Verne sold advertising specialties and printing. The tournament was much larger than our small resort area could handle. so we reached out to surrounding areas for support. We sold ads around a map of the lake to resorts and restaurants and marinas so the participants could see where they would be staying in relation to where the tournament was held.

Verne Cubbage's tournament map in 1991.

In order to make as many boat slips available as possible, we would ask our annual stall customers, primarily pontoon owners, if they would allow us to pull their boats out for the tournament in exchange for a free winterization. We also built a special weigh-in platform that would allow the boats to swing by and weigh their fish without having to leave the water. Our crew would spend a solid two weeks leading up to the tournament getting ready and then another two weeks after putting things back to normal.

One of the earlier weigh-ins.

Our local fishermen did quite well. Doc Klayman and Gary Arthaud took second place twice. They won boats in the second and third tournaments. Lots of other prizes were taken home by other participants.

The winners of the second annual tournament. Recognize those two guys in the lower right corner?
Gary Arthaud, far right front, and Doc Klayman next to him.

Eventually the ownership changed at Champion, and the tournament was broken down into other areas and left Pontiac. We were sorry to see that record breaking event go.

Written by Cap'n T Morgan 

The End of an Era

Anyone who has visited PCM regularly over the years knows Josh. He has been a staple at Pontiac Cove for nearly two decades. An institution, if you will. I often thought he might be here forever. That as long as Pontiac Cove was around, Josh would be around, too.

So, it's with a bit of sadness this morning (even though he irritated the heck out of me sometimes) that I announce he is no longer with the company. He was offered another job, and he decided he was ready for a change. We fully support his decision, and we wish him all the best in his new endeavor. He isn't moving, which means he is still right down the road. And he will likely still do a few side jobs for us in his free time.

Josh started working at PCM as a kid nearly 20 years ago. It was a summer job at first, but over the years his role evolved and grew into a full-time position; in fact, he's the only full-time employee we have besides family. He has a lot of skills and talents, and his dedication and loyalty to our company has been truly admirable. If there was a storm, he was usually one of the first ones here to check things out. If we had a big snow, you could find him on the roof of a dock with a shovel in his hand.

So, as you can imagine, we're now on the hunt for his replacement! The job description is lengthy, so I won't post it all here. It's a jack-of-all-trades kind of position. In short, this person will oversee the maintenance on all the docks, campground and at Lake Harbour Resort. There will be routine duties and maintenance as well as spur-of-the-moment fix-it situations to be handled. Close proximity to Pontiac would be a major plus. If you or someone you know is interested in the job, please call us at 417-679-3676 or 417-989-0688 or email info@pontiaccove.com for more information. The marina isn't open for the season yet, so please do not drive down here without talking to someone first - just in case we aren't around. You can also pick up applications at Ozark County Gas in Gainesville.

Pontiac Cove Marina

I was working the St. Louis Boat Show in February of 1984. While on a break from our booth, I was wandering around looking at the boats and came upon this neat pontoon houseboat called a "Boatel." It was 12 feet wide by 40 feet long, slept six, had a full bath and a kitchen. I convinced Johnna we needed to get in the houseboat rental business, and thus began a new era in rental boats at Pontiac Boat Dock.

One of our first houseboat rentals on its way out for the weekend.

Around that time, Norman said to me: "This is more than a boat dock now... this is a marina." Being a former water patrol, I figured he should know what a marina was. We decided it was time to rename the business. My friend from college, Quentin Moore, was the one who came up with the name "Pontiac Cove Marina." He was also the guy who got me to move to Kansas City from Knoxville, Tenn., which was just another step toward moving back home. It's funny that most of the commercial docks on the lake are called "marinas," but the largest one back then and still today - Bull Shoals Boat Dock - is still a "boat dock." I've always admired the Eastwolds. They never got hung up on their name... they just take care of business.

No longer a boat dock.....we were a marina :)  

We put a 90 HP Mercury outboard on our new houseboat. It was the biggest motor I had ever bought from Mercury, but that was about to change. Ted Gutweiler stopped by the dock one day and said he was ordering a new Champion bass boat with a 150 HP Mercury. I asked Ted if he would let me give him a price on the motor. He agreed. I didn't want to make a lot on the sale, I just wanted a chance to sell a big outboard. Well, since I had known John Storie, the owner of Champion Boats, for many years, I thought he might let me sell Ted the whole rig. John agreed but told me to not tell anyone, as the dealer Ted was talking to, Kinsey Prop and Marine, would not like him doing a "back door deal."  I made the deal with Ted but told him to keep it quiet. A couple days after the deal closed, John Storie called me all put out. Pat Duncan from Kinsey Prop and Marine had called him and was mad because I had cut in on his deal. I asked Ted about it, and he said, "I got such a good deal I just had to tell some people!"

Ted Gutweiler, my first Champion customer. (I could not find a picture of his boat.)

Written by Cap'n T Morgan

A Gain and a Loss

In 1983 after a couple seasons as our water patrol, Norman was going to be transferred to Smithville Lake just outside of Kansas City. It was not exactly what he was hoping for. He came to me and asked for a job. He said, "I'll do anything for little or nothing... just so I don't have to go to Smithville." So, I hired him. Norman was my first full-time employee.

Later that year Dad became very ill. He had been battling a blood disorder for some time and had to have multiple blood transfusions. In September his doctor made arrangements for him to be sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He spent the last few weeks of his life there. Mom was there the entire time. Dan and I spent the last three weeks there. At one point an infection in his right hand got so bad they amputated it. He said, "I guess I will have to learn how to eat left-handed." He lost his battle on October 21, 1983, just 10 days before his 70th birthday. Thankfully, before he got sick he was able to enjoy a few years of retirement.

Joe Morgan

I remember one of the few (if not the only) vacation Mom and Dad took.  It was right after Johnna and I had moved home to Pontiac. They took a driving trip out east. While they were gone there was a bad storm, and we had considerable damage to the docks. We all agreed that we could handle it and make the repairs and decided to not tell them so they could enjoy their well-deserved time off.  When they returned home they said they knew something was fishy, as every time they called the dock all of us were there working!

After Mom and Dad retired I spent the first five years as owner/manager trying to convince people they did not need to talk to Joe when they had a problem. They could talk to me. After all, I was in charge now. (Ha.) I was having a hard time getting the respect I thought I deserved. I learned a valuable lesson from Dad. Respect is not something you inherit, can pass down, or can buy. You have to earn it. I think about Dad often... about his work ethic, his good nature, his belief that the customer was always right, and that he knew the difference between right and wrong. He most certainly had my respect. I think he would be pleased if he could see that his granddaughter is in charge now. She probably spent her first five years here trying to convince customers they did not need to talk to me when they had a problem. After all, she is in charge now, and she has most certainly has earned my respect.

Jabet at the 2012 St. Louis Boat & Sport Show

Written by Cap'n T Morgan

Jet Powered

Wet Bikes, Surf Jets and WaveRrunners. We've tried them all. In 1983 we had 26 rental boats and 12 motors, which included a ski boat and one or two pontoons. Jet powered personal watercraft were becoming a rage on the lake so I jumped on the bandwagon. We started with two Wet Bikes. They were the coolest thing to ride. It was like riding a motorcycle on the water. The big problem was that you had to idle all the way out to the no wake buoys, and they were kind of like riding a barrel until you got going fast. Most people would fall off a few times before clearing the no wake zone. And, quite often they would have them flooded with water before they ever took off. But, man, would they rent. And at $10 per hour they paid themselves off in less than two seasons.

After a couple years of wrestling the bikes, we sold them and bought what I thought would be much less maintenance... Surf Jets. Manual start and you could hardly flood them - and they were fun to ride as well.

Norman Eubank was the most skilled on the new Surf Jets. He could stand on his head while riding along. I'm sure I had a picture to prove it, but I think the only one is on the bar at just Jackie's.

One of the biggest issues when renting these toys was whenever we rented two at once, they would invariably run into each other. A classic example... brother Dan and I had been working on a waterline project, and when we finished I said, "I know how we can cool off. Let's take out the Surf Jets and knock the ticks off." Well, I was lying down on one, making a sharp turn. The water was splashing me in the face, and I did not see that Dan's had died and he was trying to start it. When I leveled out and could see it was too late; he was right in front of me. I hit him broadside. When I came up my leg felt like I had broken it. He said he was okay, but the throttle tether was torn off of his, so we climbed on, and I towed him in. On the way in he asked, "What are we doing out here?" I sped on in. He and I both ended up going to the emergency room. He had a concussion, and I just had a bad bruise. We didn't have any ticks on us though. Mom and Dad were sitting at the boat ramp watching us when it happened.

We next tried Wave Runners. They were probably the most successful. Very easy to ride and held up well except when you run into one another.

We get calls all the time from folks looking for JetSki and wave runner rentals. Unfortunately, I don't see any jet powered personal watercraft rentals in our future, as insurance is almost impossible to find. However, I'm guessing the fourth generation will catch us in a weak moment some day soon and we will have one again. But only one.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Breakwater

With the docks turned perpendicular to the shoreline, it was much easier to maintain the docks, but the ones on the outside were left very vulnerable to the wind. We had tried building an uncovered pontoon dock with sheets of steel hanging from the side as a breakwater dock, but the waves were continually causing structural problems with the dock. There were some exotic and very expensive concrete ones going in at Lake of the Ozarks, but we couldn't afford one of those. I contacted the Corps of Engineers, and they sent me some information on a study done by Goodyear on floating tire breakwaters... all pretty much built from salvage materials.

Phil Petars, our mechanic, was like the "King of Salvage" in the area. He started saving scrap tires. Whenever he was by a tire shop and saw a pile of old tires he would pick them up. Quite often they would pay him to haul them off. He piled tires along the driveway into his house until there was no room left. I got some used short pieces of cable from my Springfield connection and a bunch of used cable clamps, and we were in business.

We built the breakwater in 8-foot wide by 30-foot long sections on Phil's big homemade flat bed trailer. Phil,  Dad and I worked all winter weaving together eight rows of tires with 5/8" cable, and by the spring of 1982 we had completed a 300-foot long breakwater!

The remaining floating tire breakwater.

Of course, anything put together with steel cable and placed in the water is not going to last forever. We have had to rebuild the breakwater twice since that original one was built. What a labor intensive project that is. The last time we rebuilt it we used stainless steel cable--hoping that would last longer--but no one told us, including the dock builders, that you can't use galvanized clamps on stainless cable. Those two metals don't do well together when placed in the water. We have since replaced all the bad clamps, and in 2012 we removed a portion of the tire breakwater that was bad and replaced it with the first phase of the future breakwater: a floating steel breakwater dock.

The breakwater dock; aka the "600 dock."

The 600 dock is currently used for nightly dock rentals so as the demand for additional nightly slips increases we will extend the dock to replace more tire sections.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Early Dock Hands

In the beginning we didn't have the money to hire much help, so I worked most of the hours myself. We were open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in those days. My dad would spell me occasionally. Some of the early dock hands included Dan Schultz, Larry Schultz--or "Fish," as we called him--and the first third-generation Morgan dock employee, Brad, my nephew and Dan's oldest son.

On October 24, 1979, the first addition to our family (and soon-to-be dock hand) came along; Jabet was born. She was named after one of Johnna's sorority sisters at Mizzou, who Johnna still stays in touch with today.

Jabet Lee at age 5 months.

We decided Pontiac Boat Dock needed a logo. We scratched our heads for an idea, and Guy Resch, owner of the Galley at the time, came up with a good one:

Without much help, I found moving the docks to be nearly impossible. With Dad and Dan's help, it would take all day. With no help it would take me several days. I was forced to come up with a better idea. I found a salvage dealer in Springfield that had used elevator cable for sale. One day he called me and said he might have something I would be interested in. He had gotten in a bunch of old window washer scaffold winches. I bought a few and tried them out. I ended up buying all he had for about $25 each. Those winches are still in use and doing a great job on all the wooden docks. I took the older one-sided docks and put them back-to-back and anchored them with 55-gallon drums of concrete and those winches. The dock moving went from taking several days to just a few hours. It was a good thing and good timing, because the lake went as high as 680 in the summer of 1979.

The dock on the far left was made up of two one-sided docks that I put back-to-back. One was the old breakwater dock and the other had been situated across the cove below one of the old sets of abandoned steps. The dock on the far right was also made up of two of the original one-sided docks that used to run along the shore.

One of the many winches used to anchor the docks still today.

On April 8, 1981, Norman Eubank showed up in Pontiac as our new Missouri Water Patrol. Our current water patrol, Mike Cochran, told me he had asked for a little help, so they sent Norman. The reason I remember the date so well was that our second child, Caldwell, was born that day.

Does this guy look old enough to be a water patrol? :)

Timothy Caldwell at age 4 months.

Our lunches at the boat dock were about the best ever back then... for Norman and me, anyway. There was always a big school of crappie hanging around the fish cleaning table, so Norman would take a few minnows and catch what we needed for lunch. Since he was in uniform, I would clean them. We had a "Fry Daddy" behind the counter that we'd use to fry them up for lunch. There's nothing better than very fresh Crappie fried for lunch. Sometimes when it was all gone, we'd look at each other and say, "Yeah, I could eat a couple more." So, we'd repeat the process until we got full or busy. Note to current dock hands: Don't get any ideas. :)

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Blowout

Not long after taking over the business, we realized we needed to do something around the end of July or first of August to encourage people to come to the lake and to reward our annual dock customers. So, in 1979 the "Blowouts" began on the first Saturday in August. The first one was pretty primitive. We stacked up some concrete blocks and put a wire rack on the top. I can't remember if we started out with pork steaks (which is what we cooked for many years) or if we did hot dogs the first couple of years. Of course there was beer, and everyone brought a side. Johnna remembers the first year well, as she was pregnant with Jabet.

Food line at one of the early Blowouts.

Left to right: Johnna, me and Joe McMahon with his back to the camera.

Left to right: I can make out,Bob Simms, Tom Cline, Brian Dunsmuir (sitting in blue and white striped shirt in background), me kneeling, Johnna and Norm Robinson in the white shirt walking toward the camera.

Each year the party seemed to get better. We added live music. We started using Chris Geroff's big cooker. A couple times we even brought in the Budweiser beer truck.

Anyone recognize that cowboy standing there? It's Bill Adams.

My mom always loved the Blowout, or as she always called it, the "Bash."

Left to right: me, Elmer Bax and Mom. Don Atchison and Tony Allbright sitting to the right.

The cooks were always volunteers. We had some great ones. No matter how hot it was, they came through. I'm sure I'm missing some, so please excuse my memory and comment if you remember more of them. They included Ernie Bloom, Jim Price, John Luna, Gene Gunkel, Bill Bauer, Nub Rackley, Ted Gutweiler and many more.

From left: Jim Price and John Luna cooking on Chris Geroff's grill.

Gene Gunkel grilling next to one of our early make-shift grills.

Another one of our early grills.

In 2005, we decided to move the party to the water, where it belonged. We simplified the menu - we started doing pulled pork sandwiches, chips and drinks - so that our guests didn't have to worry about bringing a dish and instead just anchor out and enjoy the day.

Our "floating opera."

Just one of the strings of boats you'll see on Blowout day.

Bobbing is what we do best!

This past August we surprised everyone with margaritas. They were a hit.

The Blowout has always been a customer appreciation party for our annual stall customers and their families. Over the years the word has spread, and it has grown a bit to include more folks, and that's okay. The more the merrier. Blowout 2015 is scheduled for August 1st.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan