What's going on?

[Mike Michalak]

Friday was a sad day for fishing.

A company that most of us grew up with and had been a standard in the fishing industry closed the doors of its reel operations in Tulsa. Zebco shut down its 160,000 square foot plant yesterday (see www.tulsaworld.com in the business section).

Brunswick (Zebco's parent co.) also closed down four boat plants last month. Then we read about Raytheon's Marine division being sold...trouble at Pure Fishing (Berkley) and the bankruptcy of OMC. Are things really all that bad? We also read of reports showing fishing license sales up, boats, both used and new up, more lucrative tournaments appearing, new stores for the major players in sporting goods opening. What's your spin on all this?

I just hope this is a moon phase or something and it'll pass. Right now I'm going to the basement to find my Zebco 202 my grandfather bought me when I first tossed a line into the water.

Mike

[BD]

Mike; You will still be able to buy Zebco reels only they will have "made in china" stamped on them. :'( I guess putting American workers out of a job is OK in the name of a higher profit margin.

"An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of
rivers doing nothing because his wife won't let him do it at home." --- Irish saying

[dmeyers]

I was in a big three Plant back in Dec doing some work and read on one of the boards that Zebco was moving there plant to China and closing it's doors in the US it said that it was the last union tackel manufacture in the US. Pretty sad day and it will get worse. I have been to China once installing some equipment lots of very cheap labor. I also travel to Mexico 1 to 2 times a month. The amount of Plants being built there is unreal. I've also been in engine plants where they are laying people off and at the same time building a brand new engine plant in mexico to build the same engine and etc.

[tstick]

ya really wanna know the scoop?- here it is: no profit anymore.- all you guys buy rods reels tackle etc at walmart,k mart, and big boxes who can buy in mass quantity-forcing more favorable terms (for them) on mfgs>- so now the reel zebco made 2 bucks on the make 50 cents on.- all the companies cave in to this-and the independants get left way behind- closing more small shops. and concentrating sales in big box stores.- enabling them to force even more lucrative terms again. - it's the cycle of a free economy and coming very rapidly to it's apex.- that'll be a scary day.
just My opinion. I am a small retailer- and see it happening all the time- look at what normark did to storm. gutted the whole line and eliminated the competiton rather than compete. must be a new way of teaaching business in our colleges today

[badmisterevil]

I have always supported the small guys whenever possible, but one person or even a few people cannot keep every shop open. That is part of our free market economy. The old saying "You're not fishing if your not losing tackle." was probably made up by a shop owner trying to move merchandise. It's all about profit on either side of the fence. The shops and manufactures want the money, and the fishermen don't want to spend it for the same stuff. The fish don't care about where you bought your tackle, so why should we?
I feel sorry for Americans losing there jobs period. It has happened to me, and some day it will happen to me again. Part of supply and demand free market. There is more at play here than making somebody feel bad about not payng higher prices for tackle to keep small shops open. Our own government doesn't care that jobs fly out of the country hurting people and crippling it's own economy.
If you believe in what you are saying about keeping the jobs in America then sell only American made tackle. Plain and simple. Stop supporting the same manufactures that take jobs overseas.

[ddt]

Whats going on?? The same thing thats been
going on for the last 50 yrs.Once in a
while it hits close to home,so we take a
look,then go back to what ever it was we
were doing,till the next time & the next
time @======the. d