Preparing for a summer of fish tales

Cyrus Moulton
Apr 10, 2010
M&D Bait and Tackle shop owner Michael Thomas' handmade lures have diversified the business. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
Thomas' lures are specially designed for the stripers that migrate through Cape Cod canal.  This Memorial Day, Thomas said to expect 32-pound stripers. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
Thomas completes one of his hand-made lures. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
Owner Michael Thomas rewinds a customer's reel in preparation for the season.  He estimates that in 27 years in business, he's strung approximately 5.25-million yards of line - using 70 spools with 3,000 yards of line per year. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
Thomas helps Matthew Pearl, 8, pick out some minnows for bait.  Pearl and his brother Joseph, 7, are good for ten award-winning fish a year, Thomas said.  But he hinted that the best angler in the family may be their 11-year-old sister Angela. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
Nightcrawlers are a big draw for freshwater fishermen.  Thomas has learned a secret, however, to keeping them in good condition: a special additive to their food that reduces their metabolism...otherwise, they are so gluttonous that they eat themselves to death. The minnows (previous picture) also require special "care." He always leaves two dead minnows in the tank: the school of fish always cannibalizes weak individuals, and if you remove the dead fish, they will very quickly be replaced.  It's better to just leave two dead ones in the tank so the rest of the school can pick at their carcasses rather than find new victims. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
One wall of the shop is dedicated to lure "parts." Thomas said he is one of only three shos in the country that sells supplies for wooden lures or "plugs."  Each winter, he hosts a Plug-Fest where luremakers bring their wares to trade.  Last year, 300 builders attended. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
The Thomas family: Barbara, Felicia, and Michael.  Barbara said that the customers who come in and chat are her favorite part of the store.  Felicia is a junior at the high school who already builds her own rods and lures. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH
M&D Bait and Tackle has been on Main Street for 27 years.  Originally next to Majestic Mattress, the shop is now located just before the Narrows.  The shop sells all your fishing needs from shiners to sunscreen.  It is also an official weigh-in station. BY ANDREW W. GRIFFITH

They won't arrive until Memorial Day weekend, but at M&D Bait Shop on Main St. the 32-pound stripers have already got fishermen talking.

"We've got clients who make every tide on the canal," said shopowner Michael Thomas, who reluctantly said he can no longer make that commitment. "They'll be casting in rotation," to avoid tangling lines.

But the clients always bring back the proverbial fish stories, even now as they arrive to tune up their gear and buy their line.

Brandon Byther of Onset wonders if the $200 titanium reel, which has attracted so much interest that Thomas just keeps it out of the glass case, will be strong enough for tuna. Unlike previous years when the stripers were pursued by porpoises and a very persistent seal, Byther can do something about the tuna that fouled his dreams of a big striper last Memorial Day.  Thomas reminds Byther jokingly that Father's Day is coming up - last year Byther "borrowed" the lure that he bought for his father at the shop.

But although the fish come every year, M&D has had to adapt to best serve a changing clientele.  The region has lost five bait shops in just the past six months, according to Thomas, who blames the recession for not only decreasing business, but also causing the State to increase the price of a license and adding issuing fees to decrease revenue shortfalls. Combined with a predominantly older clientele and 'kids who sit in front of videogames,' the economic outlook for a bait shop is bleak.

But Thomas has found a new love, and source of revenue, in making lures. Hand-made wooden lures made by Thomas and a network of fellow fishing enthusiasts arrived from across the country for the store's annual sale last weekend, selling at $20 a pop. He has also become the go-to supply shop for lure "parts." Last year, the store sold over 100,000 plastic eyes, and feathers and bucktails hang along the shop walls. He also will build a custom rod, and offers everything from frozen squid to sunscreen.

And the constant stream of visitors keep the shop lively... even when Thomas isn't there.

"I don't open until 7 a.m. for the sale," he said. But I leave chairs and a coffee pot set up outside."

 

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