Bob Kavanaugh

very cool. thanks. I have been playing with both emulators I downloaded from the Lowrance site, and feature wise, they are identical. I think the color one would be far easier to read in a real world situation, especially at night, which is about the only time I can go during the summer. I was leaning toward color, but needed a little "push." Thanks!

Ok, this will be going up front. I have a color gps( gps only, no graph on it. i have a grayscale graph at the console too, but it reads at top speed, so I'm not taking it off) unit on my console, and initially wanted the x96 for the bow. But, I'm worried that I'm spoiled by the color unit, and should get the color one for the front too... So, you guys that have experience with color versus grayscale graphs chime in. Thanks!

I have 2 of the All Star Instinct rods. They are certainly well built, have nice cork and solid reel seats. My only observation is that they are a tad heavy, but at the 59.99 price point, it's an acceptable trade off. You'll be happy with it.

A toss up between Clear Lake and Erie. Aww shoot, both! 8-)

Well, looks like there is no locking allowed in this one... Per the rules on the website for that tourney. :

If that's a FLW rule, then maybe not. Otherwise, anyone can use the locks, but the main risk is availability. Sometimes boats can get stacked up waiting on barge traffic. The Tennessee is a commercial river. The FLW was here (Pickwick) in October, and they were allowed to lock to Wilson AND Wheeler. About 40 boats stayed on Wilson (who knows why) while about a dozen went all the way to Wheeler. It also seemed that they had somehow set up pre-arranged lock up and down times at Wilson during the tourney. And.... I think the vast majority of the commercial barge traffic is headed to Wheeler, where they can drop off chemicals to Decatur companies. I don't think (I could be way off, but I've never seen one on the G) there are too many barges locking up to Guntersville. There just isn't any industry up that way. That being said, I'm excited about a FLW and an Elite Tourney on Wheeler the same year. It's just a hop and a skip down the road! 8-)

You shouldn't let your guard down like that. He'll sneak up behind you and whop you on the head with a frying pan, steal your credit cards, and go to town!

Sweet fish! Looks like a long one!

Loomis GLX Shimano Stella 2500 Bullet with a 300 on it Pulling said Bullet with a new truck Money being the limiting factor. Oh well, one day! 8-)

An avid or a premier???? I think he is talking about the Avids on clearence. Yeah. Avid.

Go back and get the Avid. Ask someone to ring it up, it'll ring up as 74.97, not 99.99 or 159.99 Trust me, I bought 2 today 8-)

Quote of the day right there! I wish I had that mentality. I have buttloads of moderate stuff. Extremes, and low end All-Stars and the like... They work for sure, but with what I've spent, I could have had a few really nice setups, instead of a ton of adequate ones. Nice score!

I plan to improve on it TOMORROW! ;D

Drum. Yuck. They slime up everything. :-X

I grew up using a Daiwa underspin model on a spinning rod. Seemed less clumsy than a 33 on a trigger rod.

Oh, it was on Wilson Lake, on the Tenn. River. Around 11am, water temps around 57 degrees.

Well, despite the all day rain when it was supposed to sunny and 75 ( It's Dec. 12 so I'm not really complaining) I went fishing. Good thing I did, because shortly after I got started I caught this beauty on a 1/8oz shaky head and a zoom finesse worm. 4lb even. I still cannot capture the true patterns on these fish with my crap camera, but this is not only the biggest smallie I've caught, it's the prettiest.

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I hit the water at 8:00AM today, temps in the high thirties, water temp 57 degrees with current scheduled to run until 10:00. I didn't even have to leave the dock for minnows, they were everywhere, the biggest I've caught yet. This should be a good day. I'm debating where to go as I'm headed out of the marina. Do I go up river toward the dam? Or, do I drift down the bluff as I'd planned. I decided to stick with the plan. I rig up my trusty live bait rig with a circle hook, check the current and depth and decide on 2 split shots, pop on a big ol' yellowtail and cast it all out, only to find that my line is a coiled twisty mess, making maintaining contact with my lure an impossible task. I reluctantly take out my drop shot setup, grumbling about not wanting scales all over my nice rod and new reel. I get the rig all set up, pop on a minnow, and sail out a cast that seemingly goes on forever. As soon as the weight hits bottom, the line tears away from the bluff, toward deeper water. I whip the rod tip up, and out of the water comes a beautiful three pound smallmouth. My heart is in my throat, and despite several full body jumps, drag tearing runs toward the depths, and hitting the fish in the head with the landing net, I manage to boat the thing. I turn on the aerator and set her down in the livewell, planning to take a picture at the end of my trip to help remember the great fishing that is sure to be ahead of me. By 10:15 all that remains of the once powerful current is a slight movement of the glassy smooth water, noticeable only by watching leaves drift ever so slightly past the shore. The sun pops out from behind the clouds, and I whip the boat around for the best possible light for my much awaited photo session. There are now 5 keeper sized smallmouth in the livewell, and I'm really trying to get my camera set up on the tripod and positioned just right for that perfect photo. A large part of me feels terrible for keeping those beautiful fish captive, so that I can selfishly take a photo of myself holding up two handfuls of fish. But soon, they will be again swimming freely. A quick glance at the screen, and I think I'm set. It takes some time to wrangle the fish from the livewell, the sudden burst of bright sunlight seems to have startled the fish, making what for me is usually a tough task, that much tougher. I grab my first fish, the largest, and one of the other 4, who all seem to be the same size.I plan to take the first photo of myself with only 2 fish. I walk around the camera, press the timer button with a free pinky finger, nearly knocking the tripod over, and press the button on top with the same. I scurry to the back of the boat with my fish and hold them up, waiting for the "click." Once that photo is complete, I get a great idea. I'll press the timer button, then try to load up with the other 3 fish, and all I'll have to do is hit the shutter button with my nose. I try my best to hold all 5, but can only manage 4 total. I decide that this is sufficient, and press the shutter button with my nose, as planned, before scurrying back to wait for the "click." After the picture is taken, I plunge the fish in the water with both fists, wiggling them around a bit before watching them swim off. I toss the fifth fish in on my way to review my pictures. This is where things get bad. I am greeted by a white screen as soon as I hit the button to review my much awaited snapshots. "Oh no", I think to myself as my heart drops to the bottom of my gut. I knew right away what went wrong. The camera auto focuses and adjusts for light when you press the shutter button, making no more adjustments before firing off 5 seconds later. By pressing the shutter button with my nose, I blocked the lens, making it pull in the maximum amount of light, while also trying to focus on my cheek, only an inch or so away from the lens. I press the button to check my first picture expecting the worst, and what do you know? My head is cut off. The focus is perfect, but I am the headless fisherman. I also fail to capture the beautiful stripes and patterns these fish have, making them look dull and brown. So, despite having the most productive day of live bait fishing for smallmouth I've ever had, I am pretty much disgusted by my lack of photographic prowess. Such is life for the solo fisherman. Pictures of personal best fish at arms length, awkward angles of self pic attempts, and now, tripod and timer woes. I can't wait to do it again.

I use the BPS Extreme Woo Daves Worm rod for my worm fishing. 6'6" MH etc... but, why do you want to throw a shakey head on casting gear? It's a light line finesse technique, unless you're going to be throwing some big ol' jig heads. Whatever you decide, good luck and tight lines!

I wish I had pics of my canoe when I had it rigged up for bass fishing. It had nice boat seats, carpet, trolling motor, depthfinder, padded rod storage, bow and stern lights, an under seat utility light, and cupholders. I also built a custom trailer for it, since it got so dang heavy! Note the GA registration on it, because it used to be propelled with a TM. I've since stripped it to the metal for creek fishing...

I use the Bass Pro XPS double sided crankbait box. I keep all of my cranks and jerkbaits in there. I bet I have 60-70 lures in it. As a bonus, it's on sale right now. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=62287&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults Despite the reviews, I've not had any problems with the latches.

Dang electrikal! I thought it was a brownie for a second there too! RW, how big are the shad you typically catch trophy smallies on? I have a small cast net, so I'm mostly limited to the 2 1/2" sized minnows you can see near the top. Got any pics? I really hope I'm not wasting my time out there with tiny minnows...

I have not been hooked. I have a very tight fishing budget now that I have a ring on my finger. That, and the fact that I don't make much to begin with. I very rarely fish hardbaits anyway. -Bob, and always trying to keep the bait monkey at bay...