Bob Kavanaugh

Neat article, but the Alabama record was caught on Wilson Lake, in the Wheeler tailrace. Not on Wheeler in the Guntersville tailrace.

Steve Kennedy got his start in a borrowed aluminum boat. As long as you don't have to accommodate a co-angler and your live well is in working order you should go for it. Any embarrassment you may feel will be long gone when you beat guys in sparkly rigs. Good luck!

Shaw Grigsby caught a 7+ on day 2 (actually Saturday) He didn't catch anything over 2 on day 1 when I rode with him

4-0 Wilson Lake, TN River

The first one. My first thought was also that the fins look more realistic. Both are nice though.

My wife is wondering what the heck I am laughing about. I used to work in an office of over a thousand people, and it is all sooooo true!

Nobody pi$$ed in anything. I wasn't even a little bit upset. Some people do just enough to get by I guess. :

Wow. I'm surprised to see these responses. All of this care and attention to detail most of you take with different aspects of your gear (like using a scale to set drag for example...) and you'd skimp tying one knot that could make a difference. No doubt if you get spooled it's bad, but at the very least you give yourself a chance. You may even be able to salvage your line, getting spooled can be expensive. Plus, what poor fish deserves to be swimming around with 150 yards of line trailing it? The only reason I can think of to not tie a knot is pure laziness, and that's not a good enough reason for me. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right.

"don't try and buy it all at once" That is some great advice. When faced with the decision to buy one killer setup or 2 so-so ones, get the killer one. If you don't, you'll end up replacing the so-so ones, which is a waste of your hard earned money. Buy your last rod first, kind of deal...

DANG!!! Even though the water circulation looks good, I'd check the water pump to make sure it hasn't dried out or become brittle. What a score!

Congrats! How awesome. I wish you much success! One day I will have the nerve to do my own thing too.

I'd venture that it keeps more than coyotes away. I wouldn't want to mess with that guy! ;D

I am a full fledged member of the Quantum crew. I also used to work for one of the W.C. Bradley family of companies.

Nope. Unfortunately. :-X

I don't ask. Most of the time I don't take it when they offer. The only exception is if it's a significant distance away, and tow vehicle gas is involved, then we'll agree to a split of gas expenses. Boat payments, and insurance are just part of the joys of boat ownership, and I wouldn't factor that into splitting expenses. Same with vehicle expenses other than gas. Maybe tell your guests to halve gas costs and pop for lunch, and you'll take care of the rest. Seems fair to me. At least it's a heckuva lot better than fishing alone