When First I met Rango

I moved from out of state to a house on Lake Wylie in 2002. I had been an avid night fisherman for years targeting trout and salmon in the Finger Lakes of Upstate New York. Searching the thing known as the internet it became apparent that crappie were going to be the species that would provide the best opportunity for nightfishing Wylie. Also found Crappie.com on the same internet.

Back then the most prolific poster on the North Carolina board was this dude "Rango" who was obviously very astute in the method of nitestalking which was a word invented by Rango to describe the less provocative nightfishing. I guess it was possible to post pics on that old board because as I was driving on Windjammer Drive where I lived I looked down and saw this guy with a green boat and wearing his signature fatigue hat poking around the bend in Torrence Creek. Being a quick thinker I decided to try that spot for my first Lake Wylie nitestalk. I went out that night and set up exactly the way Rango described in several of his message board posts and caught 10 or 12 crappies and I was thrilled and hooked forever.

I got a hold of Rango and he invited me to join him at that same spot a couple of nights later. I rounded the end of the peninsula by Windjammer Park and I could see the lights of the Beast in the distance. Rango liked having plenty of light, I mean PLENTY! I pulled up beside the Beast and rather than anchoring Rango tied a couple of boat fenders on the Beasts gunwale and I just tied to the Beast.

Rango had a friend named Jerry with him who was a frequent companion to Rango on nitestalks. He was a good guy and we all had a good time and a lot of laughs. Rando was heading down to visit his daughter in Georgia and she wanted to have a fish fry so this was a meat gathering trip. Being such we ended up with about 48 fish between the 3 of us including a fair number of what Rango used to call Taterchips. For years after that night he would complain about having to clean all those fish. I caught a 14" slab and I was happy as can be. When the night was over I knew I had made a friend that I would end up fishing with many times over the following years.

A few weeks later Jerry took a .357 and shot his wife, his dog, his nephew, his neighbor and himself.

I remember Rango and all of his great posts. I was going to a work conference in Charlotte and inquired about renting a boat while down there. Rango said no need to rent a boat, I could join him and fish on "the Beast". Unfortunately the week I was there it stormed alot, we did go on a night stalk, and I believe it was "OT" that joined us. Caught a few but more important had a great time. Then we went to another lake, with his daughter and another friend of his. I believe his name was Jerry but not positive, this friend fished out of a pontoon boat (but fished with us that day) that he later replaced the decking with aluminum. We spent the night in a house on the lake and joined in 1 of the stripper tourney's the next day. It rained most of the day, I believe I caught the smallest fish that day, but still a great time was had.

Sad to learn of Jerry's fate

Rango was that kind of guy He would take anyone that wanted to go. That second day was probably Lake Wateree. I went down there with him striper fishing a few times. Never caught 1 striper lol. Even trolled next to a guy that went by "Thumper" cause he used a baseball bat to thump the bottom of his boat to attract stripers. Me and Rango never bought in to that method but Thumper caught about 5 stripers and we caught none.

Sparked my curiosity about the beast boat. This is what I found on earlier post if this is it. Monster boat.

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/atta...st-seaark6-jpghttps://www.crappie.com/crappie/atta...st-seaark1-jpg

Back when I first found this site I read quite a few posts that Rango had posted and that rekindled my thinking about going out night fishing again. Back when we used to fish at night it was under our favorite bridge with two lanterns hung over the side.

After awhile I began posting on Rango's posts asking questions and finally we started having private conversations. Wasnt long after that then it was phone conversations. Rango didnt hold back ANYTHING! I couldnt believe he was telling me all his secrets to setting up and catching crappie but I took 'em to heart and did everything Rango suggested from getting the boat set up to actually catching the fish.

I was so hooked on night stalking that I began buying minnows by the lb and was fishing every chance I could go. After some not-so-good nites I'd bring back questions and Rango was always the first to answer 'em. We even got to meet at one of the Crappiefests and everybody surrounded Rango like he was a celebrity....which really he was when it came to crappie fishing.

It was a big pill for me to swallow when Rango was called home. He was (and still is) a legend. Definitely one that anybody coulda learned a thing or three from. BTW, I never fished under bridges again after talking with Rango that very first time.;)

That big SeaArk is most definitely a beast. Should be one heck of a fishing machine

Met the old man many nites on the water. He knew what he was doing for sure. He helped me get my rig setup for stalking. Would say try this or that and improve on it. Saw him on Wateree one morning while striper hunting. He couldn’t talk much for having to pull in fish. I asked and he gladly told me what I was doing wrong. I tried his way and it was dead on for that day! If you wanted to know something bout fishing all you did was ask. Haven’t seen his partner OT in couple years. Last time we met he said he had moved to California. Never said why. The only thing I believe he ever changed on The Beast was his motor. He put a new Yamaha on shortly after he got sick the first time. Don’t know what happened to The Beast but there is a boat at the marine dealership on Red River road that sure looks like her. Yes sir we lost a dictionary on fishin when he passed. And a legend!


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rufishn--that was the beast but it doesn't show the bow rod holders mounted lol. I believe Rango had 18 rod holders all together. Rango used to say the number 1 most important thing was to look like you know what you're doing.

gabowman--Rango didn't hold back on info. He would tell you or show you everything there was to know. Fishermen used to launch at Allison Creek landing and hang out close by til Rango showed up and launched the beast so they could follow him and find his "spots". I always set up the same way he did except for anchoring; He would run an anchor off the bow and one off the stern and get them so firmly set you could tie off an oil tanker to them and they would hold. I got to the point that I didn't mind a little slack so the boat could drift to either side a little covering more area.

Yep, those that came in after the Rango era missed out. On forums you have to decide who is posting truth and who is blowing smoke. Never met Rango but felt like I knew him. Got plenty of info he posted. There are still a few that I trust their info and appreciate them.


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Ot is still around,he called me last summer and we talked a good while, we were suppose to fishing and something came up. I need to call him and get him back on the water. I meet rango at the 321 flea market years ago, he was there alot. I followed him all the way to Georgia one time to fish one of the clash get togethers. Meet Gabowman there.... and a few others down that way. We left 30 mins before Rango, headed home at 1 am in the morning, there was a bad wreck right behind us and rango got caught in the traffic and called us to see if we got caught in it and we made it threw ok. we got home about 4 am, he didn't get home till after day light. I fished right beside him at wateree many times.

Thanks for the memories we shared of a dear friend Rango. He was kind to everybody and loved sharing his knowledge about "catching" to anyone. Was on many perch jerks with Rango and OT. He fished in my boat sometimes and I had the honor fishing in the beast. I remember one dead of winter out where Big A spilled out in the main channel and caught over 100 of perch and crappie in 50 feet of water. I think we even posted about that trip. One time fishing in my boat in Big A he had one of his rods in the holder and was not secured good and a fish took his pole into the water. We laughed over that one. I remember there was an article about his fishing and his willing to help those learn to catch those fish.

When Rango was having health issues, I went and visit him at the hospital, he was always gracious as usual and have the big grin.

Rango was everybody's friend and just a joy to be with.

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 :biggrin 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.

Original Thread: https://www.crappie.com/crappie/sout...o/#post4215927