senile1

According to this article McGwire's election to the HoF isn't looking good. BASEBALL HALL OF FAME | Numbers low in poll of voters Outlook dim for McGwire For one glorious summer, Mark McGwire was bigger than baseball itself. America stopped to watch each time he came to the plate and cheered every time he sent a ball into orbit. He could do no wrong, it seemed. Surely he would be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame someday. And then came that day on Capitol Hill. Over and over, he was asked about possible steroid use, and his reputation took hit after hit as he refused to answer, saying he wouldn't talk about his past. Now, with Hall of Fame ballots in the mail, McGwire's path to baseball immortality may have hit a huge ro***. The Associated Press surveyed about 20 percent of eligible voters, and only one in four who gave an opinion plan to vote for McGwire this year. That's far short of the 75 percent necessary to gain induction. In fact, that total would put McGwire, for all his 583 career home runs, closer to the 5 percent needed just to stay on future ballots. There is a clause on the ballot indicating that character should be considered, and after his nonperformance at the congressional hearings his character certainly comes into play, said the Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy. He doesn't want to talk about the past? Then I don't want to consider his past. McGwire, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn headline the ballot that was released Monday. Results will be announced in early January. Mark fits the criteria, just like everyone else, Hall chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark said. The ballot says a player's record of achievement, contributions to the teams, the game, their character, longevity and sportsmanship should be considered. I think this year's balloting will be interesting. The AP contacted 125 of the approximately 575 present or former members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who are eligible to cast ballots. Just 23 said they would vote for McGwire. That means if all the undecideds and those refusing to say voted for McGwire, and everyone else voted, McGwire would need 84 percent of the rest to get into the Hall. Big Mac voting Results of a survey conducted by The Associated Press among eligible baseball Hall of Fame voters on whether they plan to vote for Mark McGwire on the upcoming ballot. Of the 125 voters contacted, 97 gave an opinion: Yes: 23 No: 74 Undecided: 16 Not allowed to vote by their employers: 5 Won't say: 5 Won't vote: 2

People have differing viewpoints on this subject and they always will. If Lucky Craft ------ through its marketing efforts, production methods, and the perceived quality of its product ------------- is able to sell enough of these lures to make a handsome profit, then the lures are worth it from a business standpoint. As for each individual, the answer is up to you.

Two strokes are more susceptible to fouling plugs due to the oil burning with the gas in the compression chamber. This also causes more deposits on the cylinder walls which can cause problems later. It is imperative that your oil/gas mixture is just right when it travels through the cylinder. Two strokes are more powerful because they fire every revolution of the piston, while a four stroke fires only once every two revolutions. Four strokes have more parts due to the fact that you need something to move the valves such as a camshaft or pushrods. Two strokes, on the other hand close the intake and exhaust ports when the piston passes in front of them. Four strokes tend to get better gas mileage because they use fuel more efficiently but four strokes are also heavier engines which can balance out the fuel efficiency advantage to some degree. I, personally, think that the two strokes of today are much more reliable than in the past. If you take care of them, and maintain them you will have years of boating pleasure with them.

Bass2187, are you attending SIU at Carbondale? Just curious. I grew up in Southeast Missouri, which is similar in climate to that area. When it was really cold (water temps in the 30s) I used small spoons and lighter jigs with pig trailers. On a "warm" winter day I occasionally had some luck fishing jerkbaits extremely slow. Dead sticking a Fat Ika or Senko type worm would be worth trying also. I live in Kansas City now and I haven't done any winter fishing in Southeast Missouri in a long time.

6.9 lb - T-rigged, Black, Original Culprit Worm

Welcome, Blaker.

Decent bass, Roger. Glad you could get back out on the water.

I'll use Megastrike now and then to mask the smell of my hands. Does it work? As stated by others, it would be difficult to prove. When fishing for bass, I'd say I really don't see a difference. However, when my wife and I go crappie fishing, there seems to be a noticeable difference in how the crappie bite my Southern Pro grubs.

Good Point, Raul. I misunderstood you. Althought there would be many mechanics who would still work on these, some people would be afraid to buy it used.

I'm not even bothered by Girardi having more votes than La Russa. I just couldn't believe he didn't get any votes at all. Oh well, it is just an award. He did get the series and has now won with teams from both the National and American Leagues.

Is it just me or are the Cardinals being snubbed a little bit in the awards distribution this year? First, Pujols did not get the MVP. Now, La Russa does not get a vote in the NL manager of the year voting. He is the first manager to win a World Series and not get a vote. Now I didn't expect him to win the award, but to not even receive one vote is wild. He took a team riddled with injuries, picked up a questionable pitcher in Weaver, and took this team to the World Series title. And Weaver turned out to be one of the bright spots for the Cardinals in the playoffs. I know I'm a rabid Cardinal fan, so forgive me if I'm being a little biased. I just wondered what everyone else thinks about La Russa not receiving a vote.

I was thinking about the banning of two strokes, also, Raul. But when they ban them the law is rarely retroactive, and usually doesn't affect equipment from preceding years. When two stroke motorcycles were banned from being sold as street bikes, there were still plenty of Yamaha RD400s roaming the highways legally. The initial ban was only for selling this equipment. It would be a poorly conceived law to ban them outright so that something bought the year before would now be unusable.

I believe confidence is something that follows most of the time, as Rolo stated. But you can have confidence to begin with as well, but this type of confidence isn't as long lasting as confidence that follows. Let me explain. A football player can have the confidence that he will be a good football player before he ever plays. If he is fast, fit, and strong and he knows he has the attitude for the game, he will believe he is going to be a good football player. That confidence could disappear fast, however, if he gets knocked on his tush a few times in the beginning. The same can be said of fishing. When a beginning angler starts out he may be confident that he will catch fish, but if he gets skunked a couple of times, this confidence will fade fast. On the other hand, the angler who has experienced numerous situations with numerous lures will have confidence over a wide spectrum of situations. A couple of skunks won't likely affect this angler because he knows he has the knowledge and ability to catch fish and that it's just a matter of time before he is boating some fish. So his confidence, which followed his experience of time on the water, is much stronger than the confidence one might have in the beginning. A "confidence lure" is a lure that one knows how to use well under a number of circumstances, and this is a lure that he/she will turn to when the chips are down, due to his/her confidence in that lure.

Every Rapala lure that I've ever used caught bass. A favorite would be impossible to choose, but I've caught the most on the Original Floaters, Shad Raps, and Husky Jerks.

Bummer, Troutfisher. I hate it when my quarry escapes to die a slow, painful death. Fortunately, I have not experienced this with deer.

If you're in this guys position in this video, the only thing I can say is you better not have heart trouble.

Yes, this can be bothersome. I think we're all guilty of doing something like this at one time or another. I've been guilty of posting a joking reply to someone's post that doesn't answer their question.

Yes, thanks, Roger. I needed this information as well.

Well, we don't know what else you tried, but dropshotting is a finesse technique, so if that's all that was working, it sounds like your bass wanted something slow and subtle. Did you try deadsticking some plastics, or possibly using a jerkbait with long pauses between the jerks?

There is a gray area here. Similar to what Triton9 said, I would prefer catching 5 bass over 5 lbs than 20 one to three pounders. However, if I were to get skunked a few times in a row because I'm fishing for nothing but hawgs, I would prefer catching at least some smaller fish to make up for the lack of action. I don't know exactly where the line is drawn to determine when I would prefer quantity as opposed to quality, but at some point it does occur. Overall, I'm looking for bigger fish, but I enjoy catching two and three pounders also.

Fast tip, heavy action, at least 7 foot, and any brand with a good reputation that fits your budget.

This sounds interesting. It uses microscopic particles of titanium alloy suppposedly for reinforcement. I saw this in Bassmaster mag also. The following link is from the Rapala press release for this product: http://www.rapala.com/press/pressReleaseDetail.cfm?pressreleaseid=58. Like anything else, we'll have to see if this translates well in the real world.

There is also a spring turnover due to water having its greatest density at 39 degrees. A colder, less dense, layer of water forms at the top during the winter and this is where ice forms. Once spring arrives, this layer will warm and eventually reach the 39 degree temperature of the deepest water in the lake, and at this point, it will sink and mix with the rest of the water. The following link is a good explanation of turnover and was provided by GMAN a month or two ago: http://mdc.mo.gov/documents/fish/aquaguides/turnover.pdf

If I was fighting a 500 lb plus fish I would want to have something in which to seat my rod handle. He had the rod handle stuck between his legs. I cringe when I think of the damage that could have occurred.

RW, repent and come back from the dark side. Red and gold all the way.