RIP, Mr Dye. I loved that guy. I just asked for him a few months ago at Oakridge, but I did not know where he went. He and I have the same last name, but we were not related - we just joked that we were cousins. He was a fine, fine man!!!

Sorry to hear this. Have been acquainted with Ernie for many years. Good man. RIP Ernie.

Many years ago back in the LFT days, I had gone into the store after a tough morning of fishing. I was pretty beat down and I guess wearing it on my face. Ernie came over and didn’t ask if he could help me find anything, he just said “young man are you ok today?” That sparked a great conversation, I started telling him about my struggles on the lake. He wanted to know where I was fishing, what baits, ect... he told me “Matt your in the right areas, you just need to slow down and really pick them apart. He grabbed a bag of trick worms in a certain color and told me that’s what would get it done. So I took it to the lake the next morning and caught the heck out of em in those same areas I couldn’t get bit in the day before. Stopped back by LFT and told Ernie about my day, he was so happy to have helped, you could just see it in his smile. From that day on, no matter what tackle shop he was at or how long since I had last seen him he remembered my name.