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Passing of a legend....


Matt Breuer

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I would like to let everyone know that on Sunday morning we lost a local fishing legend.

Dennis Phelps, the originator of the Phelps Floater and many other great fishing products throughout the years passed away after a long bout with cancer.

Dennis and his boys Matt (MJP) and Mike (T-man) are great friends and some of the nicest people in the industry. Please think of them in their time of mourning and include them in your prayers.

Denny will be missed!

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Thanks for the post Matt. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers everyone else also. The Legend, my business partner, my father, and my best friend, passed away at 1am on Sunday morning. He will be missed tremendously. Thanks again.

Matt Phelps

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Phelps Family- My deepest sympathy goes out to your family. You will be in our prayers.

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This is a hard one to deal with. frown.gif When we think of Denny 2 words come to mind, compassion and loyalty. Denny will be sadly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, kelly and Patsy

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I haven't had the pleasure of meeting those of the Phelps family, but feel I know them from the stories I've heard. My thoughts and prayers are with you and know that we all have a little of Dennis with us everytime we go out fishing.

Ken

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My thoughts are with his family and friends. It sounds like the boys have some big shoes to fill, but from what I hear they are very capable. Take care.

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Thank you all for the gracious comments. We do have big shoes to fill....my Dad was a great inventor of some fabulous lures. You wouldn't believe some the things he's come up with trying to find something different that could catch fish. That was his main objective, he loved fishing, not so much the fishing business. That's how he was though, always trying to find that different approach to presenting bait. One that never took off was the Phelps "Slip Jig", a slip sinker with a bucktail tied hook that worked like a regular jig and Lindy Rig combo, but when you felt a "tap" you released the line and let the fish take it because it had a slip sinker that formed onto the bucktail jig that would slip out line and let the fish take the jig without pressure on the line. Great invention, ahead of its time really, but it took too much education to teach the Consumer" how to fish with it. Matt and I still have a few thousand if you want some :-) All I can say is that he taught us how to fish and enjoy the outdoors, which is all we could have asked for. Seems anyone who we meeet that has the same outlook on life are pretty good people, hence our hanging out on this site with you folks and getting to meet a few of you in person...thanks again.

Mike Phelps aka TMan.

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My thoughts and prayers are with you. I lost my father a few months ago and is a rough road. Hang in there our prayers are with you.

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My condolence goes out to the Phelps family. May God comfort your hearts but be assured your father is in a better place and sharing his love for fish with many angels.

I would love to try the lures you mentioned out. In fact you should consider selling them to start a memorial/scholarship fund to support some future fishing entrepreneur's education. This would help your Dad's legacy live on.

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We had dad's service last Thursday and we started discussing the idea of a tourney next summer to raise money for a certain cause. We may do a two day thing. One day on the lake, the next on the links. It should be fun. We will let everyone know if it happens. Thanks again to all who sent thoughts and prayers. There were over 300 people at the service.

Matt Phelps

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