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

More on the Seventies and Early Eighties

It would not have been possible for Johnna and me take over the dock had we still owned The Galley. The restaurant had consumed almost everyone's time except mine to operate it. I spent all my time at the dock. Fortunately, prior to us taking over, we sold it to Guy and Penny Resch. (See previous post about the Pontiac Cafe.) Guy and Penny did a great job of running the restaurant, but they only lasted a few years. Guy also joined our construction crew. Guy, Steve Purcell and I worked on several projects during the winters to help make ends meet.

Guy Resch and Ed Kolaks.

The fishing was really good in the late seventies, especially the striped bass (striper) fishing. The first striper record for Pontiac was 23 pounds, 3 ounces and was caught by Ed Kolaks on May 21, 1976. When Ed brought the fish in, I remember telling him that thing must be a record because I had never seen a fish that big before. Sure enough it was.

Ed and his record striper

Before Ed's fish was back from the taxidermist, the record was broken by a fish caught on Norfork. We got the record back a short time later, as on May 5, 1980, the record was broken three times in one night. Don Atchison and Tony Allbright caught one each over 38 pounds and Don landed the big boy that weighed in at 47 pounds, 4 ounces.

Tony and Don with their three record catches.

It wasn't only stripers. Doc Klayman joined the fun on February 26, 1983, with his own record. His was a 6 pound, 12 ounce smallmouth bass.

Doc Klayman

And from the Theodosia area, Bernice Morello weighed in a 5 pound, 5 ounce record white bass on April 15, 1980.

Ralph McNair and Bernice Morello

Of course, the granddaddy of record fish is Marvin Bushong's 13 pound, 14 ounce largemouth bass. That record still stands.

In addition to all the records, there were a lot of really good stringers of fish as well.

Left to right: Unknown, Pat Godwin, Don Atchison and Bob Robbins.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Seventies

The early seventies saw some more expansion to the docks. With our new office dock in place we converted the old office to a shop. Phil Petars had been working in Theodosia for a year or so but came to work at Pontiac around 1970. A Johnson Outboard was the motor to have in those days, but since Theodosia Marina already had them, all Dad could get was Mercury. They had a reputation of running really fast, just not very long. Phil attended Mercury service school, we stocked up on parts, a few motors, and were up and running as a full service Mercury dealership.

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Dad next built a 10 stall dock that was located across the cove from the main dock below the abandoned steps near the old swimming area. The slips were 12 feet wide which we thought would surely house 2 boats......RIGHT!  It later became part of the 400 dock which was destroyed in the big storm of 2013. He also added what we thought at the time was a huge dock.  It had 10 stalls with 16 feet wide slips that we thought would surely house 2 really big boats. Again.....RIGHT! This dock is still being used and is slips 301-320.

Left to right, 200 dock, main office, 100 dock and 300 dock today.

In the mid 70s when Johnna and I arrived, Dad had plans for more expansion. We bought the property directly across highway W from the boat dock road with plans to build a motel and restaurant. Property prices had gone up a bit as the 25 acres Dad bought cost $25,000. I guess Mom was right. He should have bought it when it was $100 per acre a few years before. We also had plans to enlarge the marina. We weren't able to build the motel at this time but we did expand the dock. I drew up the plans and submitted them to the Corps for the dock to be constructed. The new dock had 14 double slips, seven on each side to hold two boats in each slip. They were 14 feet wide and again had plenty of room for 2 boats. Steve Purcell joined our construction crew and he, my brother Dan, and I built the dock which is now called the 100 dock.

100 dock being built in spring, 1976.

Part of our motel plans included building a restaurant. The restaurant in the park was closed at the time and since we weren't going to be building a new one with our motel at that time we made a deal with Clyde Oberlin and bought the Green Trees Cafe. We changed the name to The Galley, hired the best cook in the country, Argie Wilbanks, and we were in business.

The lake level stayed pretty close to conservation pool in 1971 and 1972 only dropping down to about 640 in the winter time and then coming back up to normal pool for the rest of the year. In 1973, however, the lake reached its highest since we bought the dock. It got all the way up to 691 by midyear and remained above normal for most of the summer. In the winter of 1973, it came back up again to a level of about 675 and dropped back to normal and then up again to nearly 680 in the middle of the summer. It was a real roller coaster ride until about mid 1975 when it finally settled down for nearly a whole year. In 1976 Johnna and I bought some land to build a house on. Naturally by now land prices were up again as we paid $2000 per acre for our 8 acres. I enlisted the help of an old retired carpenter in Pontiac named Caskey Norfleet to help me and we took on the building project. It was a similar style house that my brother had built, one and a half stories. My total carpenter experience up to this point was building docks. Caskey taught me how to frame a house. In fact when we got to the second floor he said, "I can't handle going up and down the ladder any more so you're on your own now, Son."  It turned out pretty well. Several years later we sold that house to Tom and Mary Cline.

Our building project on our new house went so well that winter the next year we bought some property and decided to build a spec house on it. Caskey Norfleet had decided to move back to the city so we bought his place...a mobile home with a garage on 40 acres. We sold the mobile home and moved it off the property and began building our house. My brother, Dan, had started working with Jim Barron in the plumbing and electric and heat and air-conditioning business part time. We finished the house in the spring of 1978.

Our spec house, original garage on the left.

Dan really enjoyed the construction business and he did not want to go back to work at the boat dock. So, Johnna and I put together a deal to buy the business and on May 1, 1978 we became the sole owners of Pontiac Boat Dock.

               Written By Cap'n T. Morgan

How We Got Here

In the late sixties my parents decided to buy some land. They along with my Dad's cousin, Larry and Mildred Winkler, purchased 15 acres from Guy Johnson, part of which Matt and Jabet's house sits on, for $1,500. Guy tried to sell them more. My Mom was all for it, but my Dad did not think we needed to be putting money in land. We needed to focus on the dock. Big mistake, huh.

The Winklers built a small cabin on their half, and my parents were going to build a house on their half. The new dock office (now known as the "dive shop") was being built about this same time. Larry Winkler was helping with the construction of the dock and suffered a severe stroke. He was unable to come to the lake any more so my parents bought their cabin. It was a good thing, as in 1970 my brother Dan married his longtime summer sweetheart, Patty Martinek. They moved into our trailer, and my parents and I moved into the cabin (now Matt and Jabet's living room).

Left to right: Me, Laura Martinek (Patty's sister), Dan, unknown and Patty Martinek.

My love for the lake still revolved around skiing. We had bought a different boat by now: a 16' Mark Twain with a 120 HP Mercruiser. I loved that boat. I named it Lizzie Beth after my grandmother, whose maiden name happened to be Caldwell. When I was home from Mizzou, I would sleep on the couch in the cabin. In the summer I spent many nights sleeping in our boat. It had back to back seats that would lay down. That way I could get up when I needed to in the morning to help customers, and my parents didn't know what time I came in at night. My love for the lake was about to change.

In 1969, Sue Ann Luna Jones graduated from high school and started school at Mizzou. She and I became good friends. She was also a lake bum. Her Dad, Mearl, and his cousin, John Luna, owned one of the four houseboats in the cove just around the corner from the boat dock, below Pontiac Lodge. We called them "houseboats," but they were really "boat houses." I think I knew her cousin, Johnna, by then, but Sue Ann actually introduced us in 1970. Johnna started school at Mizzou in the fall of 1971. After a couple wild and exciting years, including a diving trip to Grand Cayman in 1972, we were married on August 4, 1973.

Left to right: John Luna, Erma Luna, Johnna, me, Alice Morgan and Joe Morgan.

After my graduation from college in December 1973, I took a job with Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville as a Civil Engineer. It seemed like every time we could squeeze in a three-day weekend, we were coming home. Over Christmas 1974, we visited an old college buddy, Quentin Moore, in Kansas City. Quentin worked for Burns and McDonnell. He said they were hiring and that I should apply. I did, and they offered me a job (making more money) and to pay my moving expenses, so we were on our way. Our Tennessee neighbors weren't sad to see us go, as we really didn't see eye to eye when it came to college football.

Newspaper clipping Mom saved when we incorporated.

Now that we were living in Kansas City we were even closer to the lake. It seemed like every weekend we were headed home. The lake kept calling, and in 1975 my Dad turned 62 and was thinking about retiring. We decided the city life was not for us, so we left Kansas City and headed home. My brother had built a house by now (now Tom and Dee Glenn's house located behind Matt and Jabet's house), so we moved in the trailer on the hill and began working full time at the dock. Dan's summertime sweetheart from the city did not last long in Pontiac. After a short marriage they were divorced, and on August 4, 1975 he married the real love of his life, Joyce Fry.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

Happy fall, y'all!

Good Monday morning. Just a quick update about what's happening at PCM, campground and Lake Harbour Resort on Bull Shoals Lake...

The store is now open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. We will maintain these hours through November (or until further notice). We plan to have "winter hours" from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays only in December, January and February - weather permitting (aka: If it's snowing, sleeting, icing, pouring rain, or freeeeeezing cold, we probably won't be here). If you need something during these winter months, please call ahead to make sure we will be open. We are happy to make arrangements to meet you another time and day if you call ahead.

This month you might find the store locked during business hours - this probably means we are working out on the dock or in the park or up at LHR. You should be able to find a phone number for Jabet, Matt or Josh posted on the door. Call us, and we'll be right down to help you. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we have to multitask this time of year!

Josh is finishing the winterization of the docks today. This means there will be no water available on the docks until spring, including at the fish cleaning stations. Fish cleaning tables may still be used - you just won't have running water.

We will have fuel all winter!

The shower house and sites 1-24 are now closed, and this area of the park is open to foot traffic only through the winter. Sites 25-38 are open year-round; there is water and electricity available at sites 28-37 (loop by Jackie's) all winter.

Lake Harbour Resort is open year-round; $99/night or $599/week.

We will likely have annual slips available at the first of the year. We have a couple small slips available now. Call now to guarantee your slip for next year!

We're available year-round if you need us. Call 417-679-3676 or email info@pontiaccove.com if you have any questions.

We hope you're enjoying this lovely fall season!

Houseboat for Sale at PCM!

Help us sell our 64' Sumerset houseboat! Tell your friends or anyone who might be shopping for a boat like this. This boat is a 1990 model and in very good condition. It was a rental at PCM for many years and was then completely remodeled in 2006 with the following: new 4.3L V-6 Mercruisers with Bravo drives (now with 200 hours), new dash panels with gauges and electric shift controls. The latest improvements this year include: new gel coat on top, new side curtains and bimini top, new carpeting inside, new toilet. Stainless steel appliances and furniture are like new. Everything works. Almost everything was new in 2006 except the generator and heatpump - both are in good working condition. The boat can stay here in its uncovered slip (as shown above) at Pontiac Cove Marina if the new owner chooses to keep it here. Price reduced to $79,000. Any reasonable offer will be considered. Call 417-679-3676 or email info@pontiaccove.com for more information.

PCM: All About Fishing

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pontiac Lunker Club

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

PCM: The Early Guides

You can't talk about Pontiac Boat Dock in the sixties without talking about fishing. Of course, most everyone knows the current state record Largemouth Bass was caught on Bull Shoals near Pontiac Cove. It weighed 13 pounds, 14 ounces and was caught by Marvin Bushong on April 21, 1961. We had the fish on display at the marina for many years on loan from the Bushong family and showed it off at numerous boat shows around the Midwest. The big fish made the rounds. It went from Shorty Wallace's Sport Spot in Gainesville to the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, Missouri.

You likewise can't talk about fishing in those days without talking about the early fishing guides. I asked all the old timers (like me) still around the area if any of them had pictures of these guys, and I pretty much drew a blank. Here are the ones I can remember. I'm sure I've missed some, so please remind me. Clarence Shockey: His sons Joe and Marvin have been long-time dock customers. Jewell Hayes, George Shaw and Art Kosek: Art lived on Highway W about 4 miles from the marina. Clifford Sanders: Clifford lived on the corner across County Road 607 from Rod and Gun Resort. Hoy Shaw: Hoy owned Shaw's Tavern on the corner of Highway 5 and Highway W. Hoy always called me "Little Morgan." And Leo Vaughn. Many of the resort owners guided as well - like Bob Schultz (see previous post about Home Comfort Resort).

Left to right, Hoy Shaw, Art Mahan and unknown.

And, you can't talk about the early fishing guides without talking about Art Mahan. Art was the Doc Klayman or the Tony Allbright of the early years. I have many fond memories of Art. He was always friendly, and he always caught fish. In those days many of the guides had their own outboard motor, and they would rent a boat at the dock when they had a trip. Art had an 18 HP Johnson.

Art driving the boat and Frank Martinek in front.
I'm pretty sure this picture was taken before Frank owned Cactus Ridge Resort.

Often the guides would be loaded up and on their way out long before the dock opened. I can remember many times Art waking my brother and me, sometimes he needed some gas or bait, but he always wanted a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. He called it "his Beech-nut."

This is the old case that we kept the Juicy Fruit in. It displayed all the gum, candy and cigarettes we sold in those days. It now displays old fishing lures and memorabilia.

In those days they didn't run all over the lake hitting one spot and then another. If you were going to fish Music Creek, you left early, stayed there most of the day and came home late in the day.

Art and Verne Kelly.

Art even guided some celebrities. Harold Ensley was host of a television show called "The Sportsman's Friend." He always ended the show with this: "If you're looking for Harold, he'll be heading out in his Ford Station Wagon, Gone Fishin' instead of just a wishin'."

Art and Harold Ensley.

In those days NO ONE filleted fish. You would gut and gill and scale them. Art was left-handed, and my Mom always said she knew when Art had caught a bunch of fish. He would stand at the table with the lake to his left and clean his fish. Without looking up he would sling the guts toward the lake and sometimes he would miss the lake.

Art with a mess of fish that have been gutted and gilled and most likely scaled.

I got these pictures from Art's late son Dick. After Dick retired he built a house on a portion of the family farm and kept a pontoon at the dock. Dick stopped me one day to tell me how much he enjoyed reading the blog, particularly the stories about the history of the resorts. I told him I was going to do some stories about the fishing guides and asked him to find some old pictures of his dad for me. He came through. I'm just sad I was not able to post this story about his dad before Dick passed away. We lost him and his dad way too early.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

PCM: The late Sixties

When we first bought the dock we lived at and continued to run the resort for a short time. That was pretty short-lived as there was just not enough time to do both. We then rented a couple cabins at Pontiac Lodge to live in. In 1966 we moved a mobile home into the park (where the gray storage building now sits by Just Jackie's). It was very convenient... just a short walk down the hill to work. The bad thing was, it was accessible to the public. During the summer months my brother Dan and I would sleep at the dock in the lounge area of the original office. Fishermen would come in all hours of the night and wake us up for gas or a pack of cigarettes or just for fun.

We had an ice machine and freezer in the shed outside for ice for sale.

Jimmy Buffett always says he has a great summer job.  Well, let me tell you, no one had a better summer job than Dan and I back in the late 60's. Everyone wanted to be a beach bum. With Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys knocking out No. 1 hits left and right such as "Help Me Rhonda,"  "I Get Around," "Good Vibrations," "Surf City," "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena," and "Dead Man's Curve," who wouldn't want to be a beach bum? We ran around all day in cut-offs, barefooted, and half the time without a shirt.  Our biggest worry was who was going to get the best tan. And, of course, we were always comparing our hair to see who's hair had turned more bleach blonde from the sun. Our first summer at the dock I was 14 and Dan was 16.

Old office with lounge area on left side.
Bubble Masters weighing in fish.

Scuba diving was a big thing in those days, as it still is today. The Bubble Masters were around in the late 60's and were a big presence during the holiday weekends with their spearfishing tournaments. They would have their tournament on Saturday, clean the fish afterwards, and have a big fish fry that night. Dan and I both learned to dive from members of the club.  Dan learned in 1965, and I learned in 1967.

Divers cleaning fish for fish fry.

My true love of the water in those days revolved around water skiing. When we first bought the dock it came with a 16-foot Lone Star runabout type aluminum boat with a 30 H.P. Johnson. It was great for pulling a surfboard or a tube but not really enough to pull water skiers. Some time in 1965 or 1966 my dad traded for a 65 H.P. Mercury. Now we had something! Every day when we could get away and had somebody that would drive the boat or ski we were skiing. Dan skied with us some, but two of my best skiing buddies were Jim Kirkland from Gainesville and Skip Callahan from West Plains. Jim was in my brother's class in school and Skip's parents had a boat at the dock.

Skip on the left, me on the right. Sometimes we couldn't wait until summer.

When there was a group of us one of our favorite places to go was Reaper's Island. It is only an island when the lake is really high. It is the point that sticks out straight across from Marker Bluff on the southeast side of the lake. The point was mostly small gravel and didn't really have a lot of brush growing down to the water's edge. One day we had a really big party planned on that point. We were taking our boat, Skip's boat and a lot of other people. Skip and I were going to ski our way out there, and my brother and his girlfriend and another couple were in our boat. They were making a big circle around us when they hit a log and flipped the boat over. No one was hurt badly, but it really put a damper on our party.

It wasn't all fun and games around the dock, though. For the first few years we owned the dock the lake level was good to us, as it ranged from a low elevation of 640 to a high of about 658. That was a good thing - moving the docks was a lot different back then. The docks were all held off the shore with stand pipes and held to the shore with cables. To move the docks out you had to first walk the shore line through all that brush and loosen the cables, then raise the pipes on each corner of the dock, push the dock out and then walk back around and tighten the cables back up. Moving in was a little easier as you could raise the pipes, pull the docks in and then tighten the cables as long as you didn't wait too long and let one of the pipes slip out of its brackets. Then you had a bigger job. To move all the docks would take the three of us most of the day.

In addition, we would carry customer's motors, help them with their gear and help them load and unload when they rented boats. Then on Sunday afternoon we had the arduous task of cleaning all the boats. We had a rack to store the boats on that had a winch on one end of it and a high-pressure gasoline powered pump to wash them out with. It was made much easier on the hot summer days when all you had to do is just dive in and swim around a little to cool off and then get back to work.

New office. Old office/soon to be shop in the background.
Bubble Masters there again.

By the end of the sixties, things were changing for us and around the world. Dan graduated from Gainesville High School in May of 1966. He joined the Navy in September and was sent to Vietnam in 1968. He returned when he was discharged in September of 1969. I graduated in 1967 and started college at Mizzou in the fall. I continued to work at the dock throughout my college days in the summers. In 1969 Dad built a new office (now known as the "Dive Shop"). He also took on Mercury Motors, brought in Phil Petars as our mechanic and added a scuba air station.

Even though we weren't fully involved at the time it was still "Joe Morgan & Sons"

Many more stories to come about the marina. Stay tuned.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan