Too Many Commercial Plug Builders Now?

[NIB]

I agree wit flap I am generally not a fan of split rings.I dropped a few fish a few yrs ago that i normally don't right around the time i started wit em so i removed em an I found my longline releases went down.i got a small pair of bolt cutters go thru hooks like butter.I just bend em to the side wit a good pair of vise grips the less marking them up the less rust.The VMC's rust up pretty quick when u mar the finish.After multiple fish nights u gotta change em up also they kinda get bendy an rust .I don't use pliers but guys that do have to change em out pretty fast.I still have a pretty good cache' of older mustads.I treat em like gold.the basic problem overall is wit the mustads the hook they make now is a sham.bends easy cut hooks break .They break under minimal load.How do they leave the factory.They gotta make some changes.U know they could come up wit a better configuration of metal.Its all about money.i would gladly pay an most anglers have shown the same. goin to all the japanese hooks that are in the market today. its time they get up to snuff.

[Joe]

I've been in business three years and I never got a phone call from a sales person from Gibbs or any of the bigger wooden lure companies. It's either you call them, or forget it.

The tackle industry has (by far) the worst business people I've ever met. Sadly, the market is populated by manufacturers who don't look for vendors, competitors who threaten each other, sales people who don't return phone calls, retailers who are rude to their customers. There is an industry wide disease of rampant unprofessionalism and its not working.

[Slipknot]

[fishweewee]

Originally posted by Joe
I've been in business three years and I never got a phone call from a sales person from Gibbs or any of the bigger wooden lure companies. It's either you call them, or forget it.

The tackle industry has (by far) the worst business people I've ever met. Sadly, the market is populated by manufacturers who don't look for vendors, competitors who threaten each other, sales people who don't return phone calls, retailers who are rude to their customers. There is an industry wide disease of rampant professionalism and its not working.

wow.

[beachwalker]

voted for golf wee.

the course is right next to the beach ....

[fishweewee]

Originally posted by Slipknot

Bruce, you are evil.

[Nebe]

Too many plug companies, but we need more couches at our spots

[Pete_G]

Originally posted by Joe

The tackle industry has (by far) the worst business people I've ever met. Sadly, the market is populated by manufacturers who don't look for vendors, competitors who threaten each other, sales people who don't return phone calls, retailers who are rude to their customers. There is an industry wide disease of rampant unprofessionalism and its not working.

Unfortunately, very true.

[fishweewee]

Originally posted by beachwalker
voted for golf wee.

the course is right next to the beach ....

What a waste of beachfront property!

[SeaWolf]

Originally posted by Flaptail
Seawolf, did you read what I posted? Joker Buyers? Who else was there? Have you ever talked with them personally? Did you call them and have an intelligent discussion on upgrades and what fishermen like yourself would like to see or do you just pompously type in your thoughts on a thread like this? Lot's of good that does.

Forget the .25 adder. You got the split ring, Vmc hook ( which rust just as fast) the time involved ( another step in the process) and the change in balance with the splits and hooks being that much offset and the slight increase in weight. If I was making them I would not sell them with hooks, like Beachmaster. Then you wouldn't have to listen to comments like the previous.

ok, flap. i do believe a long time ago i tried to email them, w/o a returned reply. as far as putting in "pompously thoughts lke this", i have, as many, many others, put in these thoughts, facts, and suggestions on boards like this for many years. there have been threads purposely titled w/ gibbs in the subject where others have complained about their plugs, be it mustad hooks, plugs cracking/splitting, poor paint quality, still using screw eyes on some plugs, etc. now, if you think i am naive enough to believe that they do not have people within the company or even people outside looking for them to report these things on these boards, then you are mistaken. and, if by some slim chance they do not look here or on other boards for these type of comments, then they are poor a business company. i respect others on this board that stick up for their company, are willing to post suggestions, and listen to these comments to change their product. obviously, one of them has changed theirs only after 1 month of unveiling it due to scrutiny here. where's gibbs? do they care? obviously not as they have not changed jack in the last 5-6 years and have in my opintion, gone downhill.

now, as for your comment about changing hooks/split rings myself, of course i do. theirs suck, but again, i do not buy their new stuff as i do not feel it is up to grade for what i want it to do. if i have any of their recent lures, the first thing i do is cut the wire out, put a real barrel in it, put vmc's on it, and rewire. sure, vmc's rust, but they still are strong months later. mustads simply are a weak, poor hooks due to changes forced on them by uncle sam. new hooks break w/ minimal pressure. hey, that's not my fault, change your designing processes and catch up to vmc, owner, tiamco, etc.

now, if gibbs wants to stay as they are and continue on the path that they have gone down, fine, but do not think you can compete with a company like habs, beachmaster, tattoo and the like that are higher quality, better design, and on top of the chain. gibbs raised their prices because of these other companies setting the market. gibbs just wants to cash in on their profits. gibbs needs to put all their lures in that "magic price range" that was talked about. more simply, $12. in my opinion, they are a $12 lure, no more. for them to ask $17 for any of their lures is an absolute joke. improve your quality, listen to what others have to say about your product, use better hooks and barrels, thru-wire you products and then maybe you can come play w/ the big boys. stan gibbs would be ashamed of what his company has become and what others are saying.

funny how joe lyons says that about dealing w/ gibbs. i have heard the same thing for several years now from shops i deal with. seems like they just do not care.

[fishweewee]

Gibbs has a lot of shelf space in a lot of tackle shops.

Gibbs also has a familiar brand name amongst anglers.

These are advantages that not many plug makers have.

Gibbs can easily screw it up by continuing to make a crappy product.

Flap, if you have any pull, ya gotta tell those new owners at Gibbs to improve the quality. Lest they throw away decades of hard work by Stan.

I don't buy them for all the reasons that Seawolf and numerous others have gone into ad nauseum.

[Moose Nuckle]

Originally posted by Eben
Too many plug companies, but we need more couches at our spots

Now that's a fighting chair !!

[Zeno]

And i thought i was the only one

[Slingah]

in all the shops I go in there is never enough wood

[Pete F.]

Originally posted by bluefishercat
Don't know as I'd agree with China but I would say Asia and the timeframe is less than that.

From SOL
"They look pretty good for the money. I saw two today which were kept underwater in a bait aquarium for three months as a demo. The paint just showed some signs of shrinkage (same as most plugs), no rust on the hardware. But the truth is in the catchin'. I'll give 'em a try.

Yes, they are made in Thailand. What I heard is a guy went there with samples of name-brand plugs and had many hundreds of them duped by the local labor, hence the low cost."