Thread: When First I met Rango

don't remember which crappiefest it was, but I think it was '06-'08. Me and PIGZ met Rango for the first time and we had a ball going on with foolishness. He was a huge part of CDC when I first joined and shared a wealth of knowledge concerning nitestalking. Hate to hear this news...

Rango was alegend around the parts for sure,we bacame quite good friends over the years,we used to fish all the Rodeos he used to put on at Wylie,fished alot of the same times Striper fishing and Catfishing at Wateree,he was a wealth of knowledge and loved to talk..I work at the hospital where Rango spent alot of his final days after being diagnosed,I visited him and Kitty there a few times and had good conversation,not much at all about him being sick,he wanted to talk fishng and everything else,he was so anxious to get that Beast back on the water with the new powerplant,each time he would be able to get it prepared to go something or another would come up.I dont think the Beast ever got to see the water again...RIP old friend ,still missed and always will be

I worked at Cabelas a few years ago and would see Rango and Kitty every couple weeks. After I left that job we lost touch until one day a couple years ago. I walked in to the waiting room at the cardiologist office and saw Kitty sitting there waiting for Rango to finish his appointment. We talked a little and her voice cracked and she almost teared up as she said "Robert isn't like he used to be."

Shortly after that Rango came into the waiting room. He was a lot thinner and he was using a walker. We started talking and the conversation was all about fishing and he soon had me laughing. I thought to myself "Rango is exactly like he used to be."

Rango was definitely one of a kind. Spent many hours on the phone with him when he asked me to join him as moderator on the SC page. He was always willing to help even on a night he had already went to bed, he was like give me a minute to get up LOL that was just the man he was. I went to see him while he was in the hospital and it was like seeing a best friend, always welcoming at any time.
A crappie fisherman or was he really a crappie turned into a man? He was a dictionary on crappie fishing and taught many here how to nightstalk. We use to have many nightstalk trips on Lake Russell with many of our members joining in from time to time and many questions were asked to Rango by our members on setting up their boats.

Kunes, you have me sitting here in tears. I haven’t posted here in several years. I moved to Lexington, S.C. seven years ago. Hurt my back, had surgery, and haven’t been fishing in a while either. I’m now 73 and moving pretty slow. I of course knew Rango, being from Clover all of my life. We had talked fishing, but had never hooked up. I was striper fishing at Wateree one fine morning around the mouth of Col. creek, by myself, and I was killing them. I almost had my limit of 10, when I saw this huge John boat coming up on me, watching me catch fish. It was Rango and Pete Malec. They were new to bait fishing, and when Rango saw that it was me, he pulled the Beast alongside, crawled into my boat, and told Pete he was going to fish with me a while to see what I was doing different. Two hours later, we had 20, and I think Pete had his limit of 10. That started one of the best friendships that I ever had. I was working 60-80 hours a week at the time. I did very little crappie fishing because every day that I was off, I was at Wateree in the spring and fall. I watched two old gents early in my days at Wateree. We were catching nothing, and they came by and they were thumping the bottom of the boat with a small stick. We laughed at them and suddenly they started pulling big stripers in, one after another. That is when I started thumping. Not too long after that, Rango named me Thumper and it stuck. Rango and I caught hundreds of stripers together. In the spring, he would call me and we would head to what he called the “river run” behind the dam. We would bottom fish for striper and big cats. We fished together for 15 years and we never had a cross word with each other. Robert “Rango” Plemmons was one hell of a man and I miss the phone calls we used to have after both of us had to give up fishing. R.I.P my Friend!

Hey Thumper good to see you post and thanks for sharing that memory of fishing with Rango. 73? I'm 71 and I thought you were WAY older than me Fishing gets harder as we age for sure. That's why I fish with Crappiekrazy...he's 20 years younger than me and takes care of a lot of the work involved.

Rango never took up thumping, at least not when anyone was watching, but as I posted earlier Rango and I trolled next to you never more than 20' away and just had the "pleasure" of watching you catch fish while we didn't get as much as a pull down. I went striper fishing with Rango at Wateree 5 or 6 times and all together I think we caught 1 crappie and a small catfish. Take care.

thanks all for sharing the memories of an obviously great generous man. When did he pass? But his legacy and impact on others carries on still.

71? that's my age and I'm the guy who helps all the Old fisherfolk in my area. LOL. still nimble as a kid.

Rango passed away June 2021. He was 75 years old.