They've been reading the board, and some e-mails were sent and recieved and I won't get into the nitty-gritty but I will say this. After receiving a couple of the e-mails, several points had been raised about the construction of these plugs where we were in error (so to speak) and I would like to pass along that info. This is hard fact, what the plugs are made with and out of. This is info which is not debatable such as construction materials used as opposed to percieved and actual perfromance or quality, which is really determined by the people that use the product.
Wanting to get the right info out, I have no problem with posting the correct construction materials which I was corrected on by one of the co-owners of Gibbs Lure, Dan Smalley:
Quote:
Some of your assumptions as to what I questioned as bashing and uninformed were in regards to plug construction etc. Many of your clients made totally untrue comments as to what had and had not changed i.e..
1) Not all plugs are thru wired or ever have been
a) darters - birch construction and screw eyed
b) 1/2 oz pencil popper - birch and screw eyed
c) 5/8 oz casting swimmer -" "
d) 1 oz Polaris popper - " "
2) All other plugs are still made from sugar pine and thru wired
w/stainless wire and any plug that has screw eyes is of birch construction
3) Never has any of the screw eye plugs currently in the line been tail
weighted as one person points out. Many have a belly weight but no tail
weight and never have.
4) I can say personally that I nor anyone in my employ have ever seen a
split darter. It sounds almost to unbelievable that one person could have
been unlucky enough to have "7" such rejects.
5) As far as cost we had an initial increase 3 yr. ago and have held firm
since. Plugs are now available and with a more consistent quality. Returns
are at an all time low and volume has tripled. Regrettably I am unable to
control what dealers might charge.
6) Most of our clients do not want a plug with splint rings holding the
hooks on and would prefer an open eye hook . When hooks need to be
replaced customer can either use a split ring with a closed eye hook or once again use an open eye hook. Most customer feel that an open eye hook lacking the split ring is still stronger. From a cost point a closed eye hook is also cheaper.
7) Gibbs plugs have always been hooked with a mustard 3X and still are.
Maybe these are not the best but all I can say from past experience is
that more trophy fish have been taken on these than any other plug ever made. With proper care the hooks should provide many hours of great fishing.
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I'm sure that if bad plugs were returned to them, they would stick by their promise to back them up. I think that's fair to say too.
The above was put up as to get everyone on the same page as far as construction methods and I think that should be put up. There are still questions on the performance and quality of said plugs and that's where a lot of your opinions have been coming in. Especially those of you that have been working these plugs for generations.
But they have been reading the boards, whether they are listening or not, I can't tell you. But I think it's a hell of an opportunity for them to see what "Gibb's clients" are saying and feeling about their product. I say "Gibb's clients" because even though he stated above that you are my clients, that's not entirely true because I don't sell you anything. But you do buy Gibb's product as well as others and you fish 'em.
I also invite Dan or Dennis from Gibb's Lures to come onboard to give some insight to some of the other issues which are being disputed here such as quality and to a lesser degree, performance.
Again, they have been reading the progression of this thread and I hope they use this as an opportunity to interact with their clients that buy their product...
IF they do come on board to take the opportunity to discuss their product, tell them what you think and what you know in a constructive manner.
Thanks,
John