done

Get some OC spray too. Easier to hit a blind pinata with a bat.

BP stinks sure enough, but let's keep in mind, they are a regulated industry, [edit]Political comments removed[/edit] One thing I would do with BP, sit them down and explain the meaning of a PR department, and its proper function. They need to muzzle their officers and quick. Every time they talk to a camera, they just dig a deeper hole. For those out there in the gulf either currently impacted by this or losing hair worrying...you are all in my prayers.

double that notion. I did that plus I also have a strap on the back of the trailer to the fence and a hitch lock. nothing will stop a determined thief. I only aim to slow him down long enough so my dog can wake me up. After that he will get to see some OC spray, followed by a bout of unconsciousness and a stint in jail. Thieves suck. I am glad they did not get your boat.

You know, that is why I take my grandfather. AT his age (75) he does not have time or patience for people. He also does not feel obliged to keep quiet. LOL. A good example, where we bowl, there were a group of mentally handicapped folks from a group home who bowled in our league. They knew nothing of bowling etiquette, nor did their chaperon. These folks were horrible to bowl near. None of us felt it right to give handicapped folks hell. Until the day one of them ran up and almost over my grandfather when it was his turn. To everyone's horror, he gently grabbed the young man (I am guessing he was 25) by the shoulders, sat him down and sternly explained all the rules of the lanes to him. The funny part was they ALL learned the rule that day, and actually became the most polite bowlers on the lanes. In the same way, you do that when I have gramps on the boat, you will hear hell. He is gonna get us shot some day. On the flip side, I am willing to rent him out to anyone else having issues on their lake. lol.

Brave man! Now there is a question I would be too afraid to ask.

As you will see from the many etiquette threads on this board, it is a dead idea. That dude was a dick. I can see sharing a large cove and working behind the dude that was there first. Gunning to his spot and throwing on top of him. he was a dick. However, I see this all the time. Had one dude run in on me once nearly cut my line with his prop. Then he turns and says "hey! Anything biting?". Oblivious, completely oblivious.

Well bassnblvd...the problem here is in NC the private signs carry the weight of law. So if they got a wild hair up their butt and called the cops, you can be charged as soon as they arrive and the weapons charge will at a minimum result in loss of your CCW permit. Our Gander is not that bad. They have a great firearms selection(though I would never take one of their floor model rifles that have been manhandled by 7,00 people and dry fired half a million times). Pretty good fish finders, reels, etc. Some great fishing stuff. Now the one thing BPS has a lock on is the trout fishing gear. They just have way more selection in that area than anyone i have found so far in this area.

First of all stuff happens. You never get to know when or where. Hopefully it never does anywhere near you. Odds are it won't but that does not mean it won't. I carry a fire extinguisher in my car, it has airbags, and seat belts. I have never had to use them in 20+ years of driving. But I am not removing them. Also, you think JUST BPS. On my last BPS trip, I had to stop at 3 bathrooms, 1 at a rest stop (I have 4 little girls, bathroom stops...way too common), go to a grocery store (one 5 miles from my home was robbed in broad daylight about 3 months ago), and a number of other stores. I am not for leaving a loaded firearm in an unattended vehicle. In my holster, it is under my control, reasonably safe from accidental discharges (I bought a nice holster that cuts that chance down to near zero). It would not take long to google and bring up a ton of cases where folks in perfectly safe areas where "that stuff don't happen" ran into the wrong person and ended up dead or seriously hurt. So it is not like CCW folks go army crawling through the store. It is simply a case of being prepared just in case you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes no matter how careful you are, trouble does find you.

LMAO. Guys...the manager apparently felt obligated to return my call. She JUST called me. Apparently they have gotten a number of calls in the last hour. She states, she is sorry for the misunderstanding with the sign and by her employee. CCW IS permitted within the store. I suggested maybe they need to fix the sign or add verbage similar to Gander's that states the exemption to the check policy for CCW.

See though that is it. Any other store (like Gander) requires that IF your weapon is to be worked on that it be checked. THAT makes perfect sense. I carry concealed everywhere. My gun does not EVER come out of its holster. 99% of the folks who carry weapons OC/CCW for protection are not out twirling them on their fingers or anything. They simply stay in the holsters unless the worst case scenario occurs (a criminal running in there shooting away). Folks who carry concealed just don't take loaded firearms out of the holster like that. There is no reason they would be confused. I carry/have carried in Walmart, Gander, Best Buy, Panera, Starbucks, and a couple dozen firearms stores...the list goes on and on. There really is no elevated danger. That's not to say there are not idiots out there with guns. there are idiots out there with cars, we don't tell everyone else they can't use theirs though because of them. Not trying to blast you VolFan, so please do not take my response that way. It is a common opinion that lots of folks walking around with concealed weapons means accidental discharges all over the place. While it does happen, it is rare compared to the number of folks carrying concealed. A LOT more folks will have one or more accidents with their vehicles (many resulting in injury or death) than firearms owners that carry concealed.

That is what I thought. When I gave up on contacting the local store, I emailed corporate customer service. They tell me "You may feel free to bring personal firearms to the Charlotte Bass Pro Shops. However, you will need to have them in plain view and check them with the attendant at the main desk before entering". So they pretty much reiterated my problem making it sound like a good thing. Like arguing with a brick wall.

Alright, I generally will not call out a company like this but this boggles the mind. Bass Pro in Charlotte, NC posts against concealed carry in the store. They sell firearms specifically for CCW, they sell holsters for it, they sell handgun ammo, and they HOST, I repeat HOST CCW classes. So while they are completely content taking cash hand over fist from us, allowing us to carry in accordance with state law, that is an issue. It just ticks me off to no end. it is not like a ma and pa corner store who do not want guns anywhere near their store. This place sells them, supposedly caters to us and then flips us off after they have their money. This is really the last straw for me with this place. I am done with spending anything at that place. Gander is about the same distance away, and they got some awesome stuff in there. Sorry guys...just had to vent...these guys totally ticked me off this weekend.

Since when is it a crime to be unprepared? One can be criminally negligent. It is a pretty high bar...but especially looking at the 11 deaths associated with this explosion. If BP knew they had maintenance issues and elevated risks because of it, then that is a crime. If they knew this was a real possibility and ignored it for money...well not sure if that is a crime but it should be.

Well I had enough when I saw the press conference where their CEO said he wanted his life back. I could not believe he was so @^#&^$ stupid to say that. 10 years after he goes home, the people in the gulf will still be trying to get the lives back they had 2 months ago. I put no comments, no matter how stupid beyond that company. They really would do better to stop talking to the press entirely.

Really if you are adhering to regs, who cares what others think. You might just get them to actually crack open a manual and read what the rules are. There is one dude on Wylie, when I had my jon boat he nearly killed me twice. When I would be motoring past his dock as he was thinking about coming in. He would floor it, overtaking me on the right hand side (at about 30 ft). get maybe 100 ft ahead of me and cut sharp left across my bow coming off plane as he did it. I had a 14' jon he had a 23+ ft fiberglass cabin cruiser. His normal wake was tough to deal with, when he did that I would get his on 3 sides almost simultaneously with HUGE wakes. He looked stunned each time that I was so P***ed at him. I grew up on the Niagara River and Erie Canal. There were a TON of boats in there and we had to be knowledgeable of nav regs. The Niagara river has a way of making you pay for ignoring them.

Before the floor or anything else, get a master plan for what you want. It is 100 times easier to pull wiring and crap before you do anything. I ran 40 ft of wiring throughout my 14' jon. Between TM, Fishfinder, lighting, and bilge. I ran 2 separate circuits encased in plastic conduit that I ran along either side. I called them the nice to have and have to have circuits. I sealed the conduit so water could not get in there. Once all the electrical lines were in (some of them stubbed till I got the device for them), I did decking and floors, with carpeting, this was an absolutely HUGE different in the boat. Made it soooo much more fishable. One note, I used a redneck livewell i made with a cooler and battery powered aerators (D batteries) so I could pull it out of the boat. If you do one more permanently set, I would include this in your wiring and decking project. For seats, I made the biggest mistake of the entire project, I got cheapos. I mounted them right, so the bases were good but the seats were from Walmart and I regretted getting them until I traded in the boat. After that...I just added as I saw fit. One other note. I had to go back for one thing. I had a Tracker Topper 1436 with a 9 hp motor. The darned transom on those suck. I mean really sucks. They are not strong enough and I had to go back and reinforce that like crazy after cracks started showing up around it and the welds. If you have any concerns in that area, shore up the structure before you do anything else. It was a PITA to go back and braze the cracks and rivet supports trying not to set the decking and carpet on fire.

Quit peeing off the front of the boat...lol.

IMO, getting the law is best. Confronting them yourself, even with the best intentions can have some really bad results.

I got 4 kids and I can tell you, the rotating trip is nice. I gives you one on one time with your kids which is not always something you get with a larger family. One of those times that lets you get to know them on a more personal level than you get with the whole crew. Not to mention you can get a true bass boat then.

The assumption you make here is that once these honorable narco's have taken your boat, they will leave you alive. Personally, I would not want to put my life in the hands of their honor. That being said y'all said a couple very important things. 1. DO NOT GO TO MEXICO. Since I started carrying I push even more to avoid circumstance that will necessitate the use of my firearm. Second, I would not advocate a stand-off gun battle but if you are running at high speed returning fire on them, they are likely to just decide you are not worth the effort. These types always prefer soft targets. That being said, one more reason I am glad I am on Wylie. Crossing the border here means I see a "SC" on the side of the wardens boat instead of an "NC".

Let me guess...you have a Tracker PT175? Mine does the exact same thing. That stupid plug that comes with it comes out VERY easily and drains it. The OTHER thing I noticed, If I am WOT and the aerator runs, it empties the well. I run it on recirc when I am trolling still then turn it off when I scoot.

Had my father visit this week and got a day to do out with him. Keep in mind the last time I got to take him out it was a high of 40 and we had 35 mph straight line winds with gusts to 50. Oh and we were on a 14' jon. This time it was high of 90 10 mph winds, and i had a PT175. I also had more than a years more experience on my lake. We absolutely nailed them. We were pulling Bass out all over the lake. It was a bit of role change though from the old days. He had no idea how to weedless rig plastics so after every fish, I had to rebait HIS hook, LOL. One wierd part though. we got to a point where some very large fish were breaching, I could not get a clear look to determine species but I could see they were huge. Hoping it was some Bass looking for topwater, I threw out a buzzbait. After a couple casts sure enough I see this huge fish following. I was stoked until i realized the fish was WAY to big and long to be a large mouth. As it gets in closer, I realize I got a 3-4 ft gar chasing it. Luckily he did not hit it but he followed it right along side the boat, got a great look at it. They may taste like crap but really gar are an interesting looking fish to say the least.

ditto. This past year my fishing trips have been limited thanks to a very busy work schedule but I have gotten a chance to meet up with a couple guys and go out. I can honestly say I learned a lot from both of them (I hope I provided them with some info as well, even if it is what not to do). Not to mention getting a chance to hit some other types of water. That would be sweet.

I have owned 2 boats, a tracker 14' jon and currently a Tracker PT 175 txw. Overall my experiences have been good. However, there were a couple issues I had with my jon. First and more serious, the transom was majorly lacking in strength to mount any motor on it. It flexed enough that after a year I got cracks on the bottom of it and along the sides. I had a 8HP OB on mine which was well below the max rated HP for it. They have since added a cross member to it to strengthen it but it did tick me off that they had such an obvious design flaw. While my service experience with them has been limited, I have seen enough folks post on here to get the idea that their customer service overall sucks big time. Should you have an issue with your jon you will potentially lose it for months as they ship it back to a plant and screw around with it. They do have a good price and look fine. Knock on wood my PT175 txw has performed flawlessly for about 12 months so far.

x2., That is as good a summation as any. My grandmother (who was married 56 years before she passed) sat me down before my wedding and told me "Marriage is the toughest thing you'll do. Sometimes it is heaven and easy to do, many other times though, it is hard, heartbreaking and you wonder if it would be easier to just give up. But you stick with it and those times make it all that much stronger...". I guess the key is to add to flecheros point, it is a choice. You got a good faithful woman, good kids, a home and a family. You fight for those, especially when the darker parts of yourself start poking and prodding you to go find something else. You are already blessed beyond belief. There are folks who spend their entire lives looking to get what you already posses. You just need to recognize it and make it up to that woman of yours.