Lake Levels in the Eighties

The lake level was all over the place in the eighties. In 1980 it stayed pretty close to normal all year. In 1981 it was nine feet low to begin the year and nine feet low to end the year, which were both the "highs" for the year. In between it hit a low of about 637 (17 feet below normal pool) in April. In 1982 it finally got up to normal (654) in February and bounced around that level for most of the year until December when it started going up. It continued up for about 25 feet during that month, peaking out at 680 around the first of the year.

It's always a pain to move the docks any time the lake is going up or down, but in the winter it is extra difficult. Not only did the lake come up 25 feet in December, but then it went down 25 feet in January. That kept us very busy.

The rest of 1983 and most of 1984 the lake stayed between 650 and 660 until the winter of 1984 when once again it went up big time -- around 35 feet over the months of November and December. The last 20 feet of that came in the last two weeks of the year. Norman Eubank was working for me at the time, and I remember coming down one morning thinking we had left the walkway in good enough shape to make it through the night, yet when we got there we discovered only the top of the handrail was visible above the water.

So, after going up 35 feet at the end of 1984, it then went down 25 feet by March. Then back up 25 feet by July. Then back down nearly 40 feet by November. Then up 20 feet by December. I think it was shortly after that that many of the older private docks were either torn down or moved away.

I guess the Corps decided they had punished me (and every other dock owner) enough after that because in 1986 and 1987 the lake bounced between 657 and 645. In 1988 we saw a little up and down in the first quarter of the year, then beginning in May it dropped from 663 to 645 by November. 1989 was almost a carbon copy of the previous year.

Despite the lake levels being all over the place, fishing was pretty good in the eighties. Our old albums in the store are full of pictures, but here are a few samples:

Jim Price

Bill Allen

Left to right: Don Atchison, Steve Powell and Tony Allbright.

Written by Cap'n T Morgan

More on the Eighties

There were a lot of things going on at the marina in the eighties. In 1986 we built our current office. The old office dock was 24-by-48 feet with a building that was 16-by-36 feet. The new one was 48-by-80 feet with a building 36-by-68 feet, so it was more than four times larger than the old one. In case you ever wondered why we have a garage door in the back of the office... well, that was how we got our display Champion boats in and out of the store.

Our first showroom boat. Chris Geroff bought this boat.

Dave Schlicht moving boat to showroom.

Newspaper clipping of new showroom. Dock employees Les Ford and Jamie Teeters standing by.

At the same time we built the 200 Dock. It had 18 double slips, and they were 18 feet wide by 26 feet long. We thought these would accommodate the "big" boats for a long time, and it did for a while, but not anymore...

200 dock under construction.

Even with a boat in the store, it still seemed empty. At the time we had a couple small beer coolers. We had just started selling beer at the dock a couple years prior to that. Quick side story: Before we started selling beer I was at a dock operator's meeting and during the "social hour" I asked the colonel at the time if we could apply for a liquor license and sell beer at the dock. He turned around and grabbed a beer out of the cooler and said, "I don't see why not!" He and I got along well. In 1990 we put in the large walk-in cooler and expanded our selection of cold beverages for sale.

On July 30, 1986 a bad storm hit the marina. In fact, three Fridays in a row we had bad storms that resulted in damage to the docks, but the one on the 30th was the worst.

It was a mess.

The roof was blown off the 500 dock. That dock was then totally destroyed in 2006.

This was actually from a previous storm, which was also a big mess.

Ed Kolaks left of me looking at damage. I think that is Mike Cochran with his back to us in the boat.

The storms kept coming. On July 4th, 1988 we had the worst hailstorm ever. It was the middle of the day, and boats were out everywhere. David Relyea, Goldfire sailboat owner, was anchored up at The Saddle. He would occasionally call in on the VHF radio to report weather and other activities. He first called and said a storm was rolling in, then he said it was hailing, then he said "Listen to these hailstones!" Within a few minutes it hit Pontiac.

Biggest hailstones I've ever seen.

Tom Antoff shows off one of the hailstones.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

The Dive Shop

Back in the early sixties when my family first took over the dock, my brother Dan and I both learned to scuba dive. The closest and about the only place to get tanks filled was at Theodosia Boat Dock (they were just a boat dock then, too). We were about their only customers so they sold their compressor and air bank to us. We started handling U.S. Diver equipment. It was pretty much state-of-the-art at the time.

Our old dive manual and equipment service manual.

We had to replace our original compressor sometime in the seventies and then again in the eighties. Then had to do a major overhaul on that one later in the eighties. The dive shop was NOT a high profit center. When the 1969 office (now known as "the dive shop") was replaced in 1986, I was approached by Jim Turk to set up a "real" dive shop in the old office building. He offered lessons, sold and serviced gear, and filled tanks. Many of our current customers, including my wife, Johnna, and Dave Schlicht, got certified by Jim.

As you can see from the card, Dave also became an instructor.

After a few years Jim gave up the business. We ran it as a dive shop ourselves for a short time until we were approached by Cliff Mashburn, another dive instructor, who came in and ran it as a full-service dive shop for a few years. Jabet and Caldwell took their first dive lessons under Cliff and earned their open water certifications as young teens.

Cliff Mashburn's dive shop sign.

Next was Amy Bean and Randy Graham. Amy was running a shop in Lebanon called Blue Water Divers, and Randy was going to run the shop in Pontiac. Amy and Randy's partnership did not last long. Randy took over and opened Pontiac Dive Service in our building. Randy did a great job. He moved a houseboat here and lived on it all summer while he ran the dive shop. He was open daily, offered lessons, dive trips, sales and service and had an air station.

Randy's old houseboat, Parrothead. It's mine now, and that's another story for another time. :)

Randy could teach advanced open water diving, deep diving, and other classes all the way up through Dive Master. Caldwell and Randy hit it off, and Caldwell took all the classes Randy offered and became a Dive Master. Matt and Jabet took their advanced open water class through Randy. Unfortunately, Randy gave it up after a few years, too. We have since gone back into the airfill business, and we have a few scuba accessories for sale. No lessons or equipment rental at this time. Below is a picture of our current compressor. I suppose this is our fourth or fifth, and hopefully it will last a long time.

Our current compressor.

As for the Dive Shop building? It sustained some damage in the storm of August 2013. I wanted to tear it down - or give it away - but Jabet insisted we keep it. We now use it for storage and for our summer Docktail Hours. Join us for our first Docktail Hour on Saturday, June 6.

Written By Cap'n T. Morgan

The First Houseboats

We had great success with our first houseboat, so in 1985 we purchased a second "Boatel." Many of our customers were really interested in renting houseboats, but they wanted bigger boats, air-conditioning and more amenities. I started looking into a company called Great American Houseboat Company. It sounded too good to be true. Sure enough it was. The company, Master Fabricators, was building the boats in Arkansas, selling them to investors in California, then leasing them to dock operators like me to rent for them. The company went out of business, and I lost my deposit. The boat was sitting at the factory in Arkansas. The factory was also left holding the bag so I made a deal with them to buy the boat anyway. It was a fifty-footer.

Boatel left, Master Fab right.

1985 was quite a year in Pontiac. Some of you will recall that was the year the FBI and the ATF raided the CSA camp just across the state line in Arkansas. Johnna and I drove in one evening pulling a Champion bass boat, and there was a roadblock set up at the junction of Highway W and Highway 5. I thought I would just wave at them and drive on through, but I did not see anybody I recognized in the group. They told us if we had anywhere else we could go until the standoff was over that we should go there. So, we took the new houseboat out and spent the night out on the lake. We could hear the plane watching the activities at the CSA camp flying overhead all night. Click here for more details on the CSA (Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord).

After our first year with the Master Fab, I was at another boat show and I saw my first Sumerset Houseboat. It was a sixty-footer. I met with the owner of the company, Jim Sharpe, and he offered me a really good price on a rental. Mike MacPherson was with First Home Savings and Loan at the time. (Looking back, I think he was way too easy too borrow money from.) Shortly after that, our new Sumerset arrived for the 1986 season.

The first Sumerset.

Everyone wanted the bigger, nicer boats that accommodated more people. So, we sold our two Boatels and in 1987 bought our second Sumerset. One of our original Boatels is privately owned (see below) and is still at the dock today.

The Lynda Sue.

Written By Cap'n T Morgan

The Champion Dealership

After the first Champion tournament, I had a chance to sell another boat. I talked to John Storie again and this time he said: "I guess we need to set you up as a dealer if we are going to keep having the tournament there." So, in 1985 we became a Champion dealer. Boy was it fun handling those shiny new boats and motors and rigging them up. We didn't have a shop back then, so we used a hoist in my father-in-law John Luna's garage to hang the motors. We even made a hoist for the back of my pickup.

Norman and I rigged most of the first boats, but he soon became the only rigger. When I first met Norman, I wasn't sure he knew which way to turn a wrench. Next thing I knew I was turning him loose with power tools, and he was drilling holes in expensive boats. We needed a mechanic to help set up and service the boats, but Phil Petars, our mechanic at the time, didn't want any part of these high-powered rigs, so I ran an ad in the paper. I requested the responses be mailed so I could screen the applicants before meeting or talking to them. But then one day I got a call, and the guy on the other end asked if I was the one looking for a mechanic. I said I was, so we set up an interview. I didn't have to think about it long after I met him. And that's when I hired Dave Schlicht.

Dave Schlicht, the best mechanic I know.

As our sales grew, we built a shop on the hill by my mom's house, and our new business became "Pontiac Cove Marine Sales."

A couple of new Champions outside our shop (what we call "the barn" now). The sign posts are still there today.

Seeing the picture of the boats above reminds me of a story about their design. My old buddy, Quentin Moore, bought a Champion from me. Quentin was a civil engineer, and after taking delivery he called to tell me the boats weren't symmetrical. I asked him how he knew. He said he had bought a special set of numbers for the side of the boat and was going to put them at the exact same place on either side of his boat in the "arrow." Well the arrows did not match. I didn't believe him at first, but sure enough, he was right. I called Champion, and they weren't surprised. They told me that each hull mold only fit certain top molds. They concentrated on how the boats handled and let a few other details go. That was changed later as all the molds were redesigned so any top would fit any hull, and then everything was symmetrical.

The pink stripe on the boat pictured above is called the "arrow."

The boat and motor business was really fun. It was very exciting back in those days to sell something worth $15,000 and to be entrusted to custom rig it for each customer. We really wanted to get out and market our new product, but the venues for showcasing our custom rigs were few and far between. Norman and I worked the boat show at the fairgrounds in Mountain Home. One year they had a couple of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders there, and of course, we had to have our picture taken with them.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan

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