I currently use Rhys Davis for several reasons but that could change:
RD is a very good product with a proven track record. One area I have mixed views on is the issue of vacuum packing. It adds to manufacturing cost and if I don’t need them vacuumed packed and will use them in the short term and they were fresh when I bought them that is fine. If I had bought in bulk and have to carry them over to the next season I end up having to vacuum pack them myself to prevent freezer burn. One also does not know how long they sit in retailers freezers and they don’t have a manufacturing or best before date on them like food products. I understand that it adds to manufacturing costs but some bait manufactures vacuumed pack. Further I suspect that there may be tradeoffs involved with vacuum packing related to possibility of the process causing scale damage. Have the manufactures done research on this? For me the jury is still out on the vacuum packing issue but I am tending towards vacuum packing.
I have also supported Rhys Davis Bait because it has been a good product and until very recently been produced by a local business, which has supported our local economy. As or even more importantly they have given back a great deal to the sport fishing community. Tom Davis has made donations and personal effort with the conducting of fishing workshops and demonstrated concern for the well being of Pacific Salmon and sport fishing. I have enjoyed his workshops and my short talks with him in his booth at the Victoria Boat show where he was selling factory discontinued, test and minor paint flaws teaser heads and other products at low cost with the proceeds donated. He is a humble and knowledge man that has given back a great deal in exchange for the living he has made from our Pacific Salmon, Herring and Anchovies. From what I know he appears to have conducted himself with the highest level integrity and ethics in the operation of his business. There are to few like him and they seem to be a dying breed.
Now that the business has been sold it remains to be seen if the new large corporate model business that has purchased it including the Rhys Davis name can live up to the Davis legacy; lets hope so. Will they cut corners on quality for increased profits? Will Rhys Davis bait remain the great product it has always been? - only time will tell. On the other hand new blood can lead to innovation such as the newly available 7 nch Chovie. Unfortunately there are far too many examples of great tackle and fishing related products developed and turned into business’s by anglers and then sold off to the big boys only to turn into low quality crap that looks similar but is a shadow of its former self and surviving off its name. Bait is not fishing spoons, so let’s hope not.
I was interested to read 777's information that some local retailers have already agreed to sell only Rhys Davis bait products, one assumes to keep their access to Rhys Davis name products. What a coincidence now that Rhys Davis baits have been sold. If accurate, it is rather sad to see the continued rise of cut throat, anti competition practices which can exist at both the wholesale and retail level. Established retailers can and do pressure wholesalers not to sell to upstart or smaller competitors with the threat of losing their business and wholesales can do similar things with retailers. I suspect that is not the kind of thing that Tom Davis ever did.
The entire free enterprise system is based on fair competition or so they tell us. Canada use to have very good fair competition and consumer protection legislation and shiver, governments actually use to enforce it, but not anymore.
I expect they are too pricey for a commercial operation...they work out to almost a buck a pop at single case pricing, but given the recent exclusive arrangement of some of the local stores to buy only RD, I bet there is a deal you can negotiate.
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