Sorry guys but it's a long story!
You know that barber shop you used to go in to when you was a kid and they had all the neat Field and Stream, Sports Afield, Bass Master and NRA magazines? On the wall there was a 10' long skinned rattle snake, several monster bucks, and some of those 10 pound plus trophy bass. The place was on 28th street in Haltom City, it was called Petes Style Shop. It was a mans barber shop!
The manager there was a man named Don Weisman, who actually lived only 3 blocks away from where I grew up. I went to school with his Son Chuck and little Sister Libby, but didn't know it till I was out of school. I would ask for Don to get my hair cut every time because most of those mounts were his, and he would tell me stories about them. He was an avid fisherman, and would tell me stories of 100 black bass days on Amistad, and how they used to fish Squaw Creek before it was a Nuclear Power Plant and he told me that Ray Robrerts was a great Crappie Lake, it had opened up around 1989 and he would tell me stories of how he had worked in the watermelon fields up there as a teenager and knew the lake so well. My dad and I were always going out to Ray Roberts on the weekends and we would stay out all night long fishing at nights under lights for crappie. Then one day we were pulling out of buck creek around 1995 or 96 and here comes Don, it's August and hotter than fish grease and it's only 8:00 am, Don stops and asks where we are going and he tells me man the fishing is just fixing to start, why are y'all leaving? I tell him we been up all night fishing and were beat down and tired and had 15 crappie a few sand bass and a couple of catfish to go clean and we are out of here.
Well a few weeks go by and I go into the barber shop to get my hair cut. I was dying to know how he had done fishing when I last seen him at Ray Roberts. So I ask and he tells me he had caught 24 keeper crappie. I'm thinking WHAT. We stayed out there all night and caught maybe 20 fish. We go camping several times a year up to Ray Roberts so I got to thinking I gotta see what this guy is doing. The next time we get a camping trip together I have got to invite this guy up and see what and how this guy is catching all theses crappie. Well I set it up, and he insists we go in his boat. It's a older Ranger Bass Boat and its in immaculate condition. He picks me up at Isle Dubois State Park and we drive up to Buck Creek, stopped and got 4 dozen minnows. He pulls out a heavy duty bass rod made for flippin and it's got on 50 lb braid, and attached to it is a Texas Tooth Pick. I look at it thinking he's crazy! My daddy taught me for crappie fishing the minnow had to be alive, hooked up to a gold Aberdeen hook, on 6 lb test, there is no way a crappie will bite that! Well about 5 hours later we are heading back to Isle Dubois State Park with 37 barn doors. Heck on one tree alone we must have caught 12 crappie over 13" to 14". He called it the super tree it was a Black Jack Oak.
He had names for each tree we fished. So he gave me one of the Texas Tooth Picks and I made some. The very next week I took my dad and my oldest son at the time who was around 8 years old and we went back up to Ray Roberts. I went straight to where we had night fished for several years and the first tree we hit we caught 12 crappie. I named it after my son, we moved to another tree and caught 2, then another and caught none, then another, and on and on and before you knew it we had 30, we then went to the tree that Don called the super tree and must have caught 25 fish out of it. By 1:00 pm we had about 70 fish and loaded up. Through the years I always felt guilty catching all them fish out of that one Black Jack Oak tree that Don had named the super tree. We named it the Barbers Tree. It is the litmus test - when we go fishing for crappie. If you can't catch fish at the Barbers tree you might as well go fishing for something else. For 24 years I violated that tree and I can't tell you how many fish I pulled of of it, but it's several thousand. I kept thinking one day I would look up and Don would holler at me "hey get out of my tree" but I never did see him out there. My dad caught a 10 lb bass out of that tree and my mom caught an 8.
Just last June the Barbers son called me up out of the clear blue and wanted me to take him crappie fishing up to Ray Bob. It was my first trip of the year up there for Crappie and we slaughtered them big ol barn doors, with about 15 of them coming off his Dad's tree, we went back at least 10 trips after that and it just got better and better until they finally moved off in their fall migration which is always around Texas OU weekend. Chuck called me this morning to inform me his dad died this morning, he had heart disease and it had a slow death for him, Chuck would go home this last year and tell him the stories of our awesome fishing trips and how we would kill em at the Barbers Tree. Sorry for the long post, but I can't be here for the Funeral as I have another commitment this week out of state, I told Chuck I'd post the story about his dad and how he taught me how to fish the timber in Ray Bob, so please say a prayer for my Buddy Chuck and his little Sis and their family, as the Barber is up in heaven hoisting those 3lb slabs up out of that Black Jack Oak. And Chuck when I get back next week we got to go to a certain tree and pay our respects!

Great post! Prayers up for family and friends. The Lord Jesus Christ has control!

Sorry to hear the news. Amazing Post. Prayers to the family.

I met Don through a fishing buddy & fished with him 4-5 times.

He was a GREAT man.

ditto

Sorry to hear about Don. Great post. Glad he passed on his fishing spots and techniques. Just as you are doing. Great fishing family and friends.

Great story!!!

Really enjoyed your post... prayers to the Family.

Great tribute and story! My prayers are with you, and his children.

Great post. Prayers go out to the family.

Dang. Don was my barber for many years. I sold him a couple of my demo boats back in the day.
I fished with Don a couple times in the 80s at PK. He was a good guy for sure.
RIP

Awesome story but what is aTexas toothpick?

Copied from OP's post several years back:

I put a swivel on, so my beads are bumping the swivel. The Texas Toothpick is a 12" long brass brazing rod. I beat each end flat, drill a hole in each end, attach a 1/0 eagle claw lazar sharp hook with double barbs with a snap ring on one end and a swivel and snap ring on the other end, so the glass beads are on top up against the swivel. If you hold it all up and shake it it's not much noise, but it's enough that it makes a difference. The first time I ever saw one I thougth what? My daddy told me the minnow had to be on nuttin any heavier than 6lb line tied to a gold abberdeen hook and he had to be alive. I started fishing with my Barber back when I had hair - I was blown away. 50# spider wire, 1/0 hook and we double hook the minnow so the crappie can't steal the minnow. Sometimes I will catch 5 crappie on the same minnow. The Texas Toothpick keeps em from gettin hung up in the brush. I've pulled some 4 and 5 lb bass out of a cedar that way. My mom and dad both have pulled a 8 and 10 #bass out too.

Prayers on the way

That is a fantastic story David! Keeping the tradition alive, he was...passed it along to a good keeper. Now his son, is fishing with you as well! This story brings back many memories for me, thanks again!