Enid bait shop

I remember when the store at the turn to Cossar was the closest to mom's to buy bait. Not very far from the Long Branch bait shop. The Long Branch wasn't that clean of a place, but it kept most of the regular customers.

Since nearly all shops get their bait from the same place... I go where the count is best.

Is the one at Sylva Rena still open. That's where I always go on the South side. That's where we used go for the MCC when Water Valley had the Crappie Days thing. Good food there too.

It is, Dunn's. Its very rare I go in from that end myself so I don't use them much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigcrappiemax

I chewed on this several times wanting to post something but each time I kept winding up on the "Mind your business" end of things. Reading this post, I was finally convinced that it was, in fact, my business. So here it goes.

If possible, fellows (and gals) try your dangedest to use the bait shop at Sylva Rena and/or the one at the Shell station right off I-55. They are open year round and suffer with us through the slow times. I hate to see folks opening up just as the lake starts to get busy and siphoning off the business that the local, steady folks need to help cover the cost of being open during the slow times.

My family runs a small business and we grin and bear the slow times. It is the busy times that let us keep our doors open. I’d hate to have somebody open up a competing shop right next to us just as our busy season rolled in. We’d be out of business. That or we’d have to start closing during the slow times and opening only when it was most profitable.

As I’ve started fishing more in the late fall, winter, and early spring, I’ve come to appreciate knowing I can drive to one of those joints and get my minnows and try my luck. For me, that’s worth starting out twenty or thirty minutes earlier each morning. My business stays with the guys who stay with me.

---

I didn't read this till after I posted above.

I 100% agree with you. I'd take a few less Minnows to do business with someone who's there when I needed them year round. That's why I forward my store number to my cell 24/7. If you call my shop, you'll either get an answer or a call back every day or night.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigcrappiemax

I chewed on this several times wanting to post something but each time I kept winding up on the "Mind your business" end of things. Reading this post, I was finally convinced that it was, in fact, my business. So here it goes.

If possible, fellows (and gals) try your dangedest to use the bait shop at Sylva Rena and/or the one at the Shell station right off I-55. They are open year round and suffer with us through the slow times. I hate to see folks opening up just as the lake starts to get busy and siphoning off the business that the local, steady folks need to help cover the cost of being open during the slow times.

My family runs a small business and we grin and bear the slow times. It is the busy times that let us keep our doors open. I’d hate to have somebody open up a competing shop right next to us just as our busy season rolled in. We’d be out of business. That or we’d have to start closing during the slow times and opening only when it was most profitable.

As I’ve started fishing more in the late fall, winter, and early spring, I’ve come to appreciate knowing I can drive to one of those joints and get my minnows and try my luck. For me, that’s worth starting out twenty or thirty minutes earlier each morning. My business stays with the guys who stay with me.

---

I agree with this as well and think we should share this with the new owner of the Long Branch Shop. I tend to use a place that I can count on being open whenever I need bait, if I leave home at 5 and get to the bait shop and they are closed then I go to the next one, if it is open then the next time I go fishing it is the one I go to first.