Ellesar

I love the dark color of that fish! She's got a good tan!

I installed a set of Bluewater LED's and love them. They certainly enhance the stock lighting.

Nah they werent all in the 2-3 lb range. There are alwas some really short ones in a school. Just wished there had been a few big ones in there. Usually we can find a few aound 5 lbs in a school that size.

Oh I agree the bigger bass are more likely to be found deeper. But that's not what was said. I can catch 2-3lb bass on top on just about any day during the summer.

It's getting to be that way on Guntersville... I rarely have a hard time finding schooling bass during the summer.

I don't necessarily think #3 is true. When they are schooling on top in the grass, you won't catch more going deep in the grass. I actually tried this last night while they were schooling. I tried a variety of different lure types to see what worked and what didn't. Topwater baits FAR exceeded the others in numbers of fish caught. I ran a variety of worms through the school and caught a few fish. Then I threw a pop-r into it and caught fish on every cast. I think it depends on the circumstances as to what works best.

They're also toxic....

Took my daughter out yesterday evening since we havent had a chance to fish together much this year. The schooling bite on Guntersville is really starting to kick in now that the weather is acting more normal. We caught 94 in 4 hours. She actually had to stop from time to time to rest her arms. The fish weren't big, but 94 fish in the 2-3lb range are fun. Especially for a 14 yr old that gets bored easily when fishing. And she didn't make the stupid face!

which is why I said "I'm sure if you added enough options you might could get it up there, but then if you added those same options to an Allison, you would be talking $80,000.00. " I didn't say you couldn't get one that expensive, but if all of the same options are applied to the Allison, which doesn't come with all that much optional stuff, then it would be an $80,000.00 boat. The hull alone is $42,000.00 without a motor attached. Don't really know what the point of this discussion is anymore, we all agree that custom boats like Allison don't make enough boats to appeal to a mass market and thus sponsoring pro's in the elite series doesn't make a lot of sense for them.

If you guys want something a bit closer, Lake Guntersville is absolutely on fire these days. You can easily catch 60-75 or more fish in a day or go after some big ones if you are more interested in quality over quantity. I really don't know if there is any place that can compete with Guntersville these days. There are a number of quality guides that can put you on the fish any day of the week.

DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER FOLKS! I'd bet the farm that if any of the 'go fast' boat companies laid out enough money to become the primary boat sponsor of the Elite Tour (knocking out Triton), put up contingency money and also sponsored several of the top pro's, you'd see every Tom, Joe and Harry buying that brand all of the sudden and your local lake would be over flowing with 'em. I don't know. How many people are going to drop $60,000 - $70,000 for an Allison? If you like speed, and that's your priority in a boat, you likely already know about Allison. But I don't think you would see many people dropping that kind of cash even if they did sponsor the Elite series. Ofcourse if they did, they would have to change their entire business model, because that would require them to be able to produce more boats for the Elite series than they currently make in a year. Darris Allison hasn't shown any inclination to make that sort of change. They fit quite nicely in their niche. I fully understand that the go fast companies would have to change their whole business around to accomodate new customers and they probably arent up for that. They are comfortable being small....and expensive in their little niche market. As for people not wanting to spend $60 or $70 grand....I know there are Z9's that are that much already and I see plenty of them on the water. A Z-9 that's over $60,000.00? They list at $47,000.00. I'm sure if you added enough options you might could get it up there, but then if you added those same options to an Allison, you would be talking $80,000.00.

DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER FOLKS! I'd bet the farm that if any of the 'go fast' boat companies laid out enough money to become the primary boat sponsor of the Elite Tour (knocking out Triton), put up contingency money and also sponsored several of the top pro's, you'd see every Tom, Joe and Harry buying that brand all of the sudden and your local lake would be over flowing with 'em. I don't know. How many people are going to drop $60,000 - $70,000 for an Allison? If you like speed, and that's your priority in a boat, you likely already know about Allison. But I don't think you would see many people dropping that kind of cash even if they did sponsor the Elite series. Ofcourse if they did, they would have to change their entire business model, because that would require them to be able to produce more boats for the Elite series than they currently make in a year. Darris Allison hasn't shown any inclination to make that sort of change. They fit quite nicely in their niche.

In Allison's case, they're hand made and from what I've heard they just don't care about sponsoring elite guys. I don't think they make enough boats to feel that it would be worth the time. I think in the case of hand made boats, like an Allison, the mass market appeal isn't there, its a speciality niche market. Cookie cutter boats are a different story. Don't know about some of the others like a Bullet, Blazer, etc. But they really don't make that many Allison's in a year.

I dont think that's necessarily true. My buddy was a marshall when the elites were at Guntersville and none of the boats he ran in would run that fast. They carry a TON of stuff, like spare trolling motors and so forth that make their boats VERY heavy. The follow along boats had no trouble keeping up. He was suprised at how slow their boats would run, and how much extra stuff they carry. Guess when 100,000 is on the line, you can't afford to have to run back to the dock to get something if you need it, they carry it all with them.

Mercury has a try it before you buy it program for their props. Their website has a lookup page that will show you the dealers closest to you that are participants in the program. I'd be very surprised if your 150 could turn a 24p Fury, usually you drop down a pitch for the fury. Are you sure your new LU has the same gears, it sounds like to me you may have different gears in your new LU and that's what's caused the difference in speed. Nothing that cant be fixed by repropping though.

I wondered if anyone would notice that.

So I was looking some pics of me holding fish and I realized in every one of them I am making the same stupid face. I don't know why I'm making that face, but I always seem to make it. Then I started looking at other folks pictures and realize that a lot of people make that same stupid face. So I've set myself a goal. This weekend I'm going to try and make a concious effort to make a totally different and less stupid face if/when I catch anything worth taking a picture of. I may have a ridiculous smile and giev a big thumbs up, but anything is better than stupid face. Here are a few samples of what I'm talking about...

10" Rage Tail Anaconda's and Zoom Ultra-vibe speed worms have really done well for me this summer.

Grabbed one of these at the store the other day because it just looks crazy. Anyone ever fished one of these things?

I love the 10" anaconda in green pumpkin. I've had lots of success with it this year. I've yet to find a big worm that has the tail action of the anaconda. Here are a few of my anaconda fish this year...

lol, ofcourse he did. He probably also said they were the most stable and best fishing boat ever made too. Now I wonder why he would say that? They are good boats, buddy of mine had one and it was a good fishing platform. For the money though, I'd buy a Basscat personally.

Yahoo finance isn't going to be involved. It might look like they are. There were some paypal scams that did the same sort of thing. The web sites looked like paypal but they were spoofs. Quite a few people fell for it and believed that everything would be ok because paypal was involved.

I'd look for fishing reports about the lakes you are fishing. They can contain a wealth of information about what is working and what isn't. Also, going on a guide trip can be extremely valuable in learning where the bigger fish are and how to get to them. The problem I have with telling you to use a certain bait is that it's very dependent on the water you are fishing. Bringing a spinnerbait during the heat of the summer on Lake Guntersville isn't going to get you very far. You have to fish the grass and a spinnerbait isn't going to catch you a lot of fish, and most definately not anything very big (outside of random chance). One of the biggest hurdles I had with finding the big onese on Guntersville is that it doesn't fish the way I used to consider traditional bass fishing. I see people making the same mistakes I made every time I go out. It took going out with some guys that knew how to fish Guntersville and a guide trip or two to really learn how to approach fishing there. If I hadnt done that, I'd rarely catch anything over 5 lbs, because the approaches I were using were way off.

I haven't noticed that its stopped people from driving like blind, crazy morons. But atleast they don't have an excuse for thier antics.

Yes, in alabama you have to take a test just like a drivers license test. You get a code on your drivers license that says you are qualified to operate a boat. You are supposed to do this within 30 days of purchasing your boat. Prior to that 30 days you can carry your bill of sale to show that you are within the 30 day window. I've never had it checked, although I have had my fishing license checked. The coast guard check your boating license, while the DNR checks your fishing license.