Using Photos to Tell the Stories of Fishing’s Past and Future

Dave Zeuner was fed up with the corporate world. He didn’t want to wear a suit and tie everyday anymore. He was ready to retire – or so he thought.

Zeuner said he owned his own sunglass company for about ten years, then followed that up with his own nutritional products company.

But now, he said, he was ready to just live the retired life. He was on his way to Cape May to buy a boat when his plan took a detour.

“I saw this little tackle shop and it was for sale,” Zeuner said.

The shop was The Girls Place Bait & Tackle on Route 47 in Port Elizabeth, where the owners were looking to move on.

“I did some research on it and it had a really good reputation as far as a bait shop,” he said. “But it didn’t really have a lot of inventory. It didn’t really cater to the offshore guys.”

Zeuner said he saw it as the perfect opportunity to get involved with a new business venture he could improve upon and one that was in an ideal location, where fishermen headed to a number of different southern shore points could stop for bait and gear on their way out in the morning.

“I bought it and we revamped it, and here we are,” he said. “I don’t have to wear a suit and tie any more and it’s just a great retirement gig.”

That “retirement gig” has him getting up every morning at 3:30 so he can make the drive down to the store from his home in Washington Township to open up by 5 a.m., seven days a week.

He took over the store a little over a year ago and renamed it Big Dave’s Tackle.
But even with the revamping and renaming, Zeuner said they are keenly interested in learning all about what came before them.

He said his wife Kim has been working on putting together a pamphlet to keep in the shop for visitors looking for information on the area. Zeuner said they plan to include interesting information about Port Elizabeth, but also about the shop itself, and its history.

To help in that effort, the store put out a call on social media for anyone who had any knowledge, stories or photos of the store and its many names over the years. They’re looking for photos, advertisements and anything that could help tell the history of that location.

“It’s going good,” Zeuner said of the project. “We had a local lady come in here, an older lady, who said she bought her hunting license in here in 1954, when she was 14 years old.

“She actually brought it in. She had the hunting license in a little case that actually said Brad’s Sporting Goods.”

Before it was known as Big Dave’s, and before The Girls, it was known as Little Dave’s, Ted’s, Big Charlie’s and Brad’s.

“Nobody ever owns anything forever,” Zeuner said. “You’re just kind of taking care of it. It’s kind of cool in a way.”

Zeuner said other people have brought in photos and other items and they’re still looking for more.

“If anyone has anything we would love to see any artifacts or history, whatever you got,” he said. “But we also want to talk about Port Elizabeth. We’re looking for insights to that too. If anybody has any histories or stories about the town it would be helpful.”

Another way Big Dave’s has been using social media and shared photos to connect with their community is through their online photo contest.

Zeuner said they had great success with the contest when they ran it for the first time last year, and he said it’s going great already this year.

The contest began in March and will go through November. Contestants send in their photos of them with the fish they caught and Big Dave’s shares it on Facebook.
Whoever has the photo with the most likes by the end of the contest, wins a prize.

Zeuner said they have an adults division and one for kids this year, with multiple levels of awards in each.

In all, Big Dave’s will give away more than $2,000 to the contest’s winners, with prizes in the form of credit at the store.

“It’s a lot of fun. It’s really just to help the kids and help the community,” he said. “I think that growing the fishing industry is really important. The more we get kids involved, the better off we are as a recreational industry.”

If you’d like to summit any photos or other items, email them at [email protected].