senile1

Congratulations on the beautiful smallies and a great day of fishing! Kent is really styling with that feather sticking out the side of his head.

It is our responsibility to teach our children right and wrong. My children are already adults and fortunately for me, didn't turn out too badly. When your children become adults they will make their own decisions. Some kids follow their parents direction and others do not. Some of the best parents have children that turned out to be not so good. And some children are better people because they didn't follow their parents poor instruction. So, in my opinion, it is important that the people children look up to try to be good role models. There will always be those who aren't, but it doesn't hurt to have positive role models other than parents. Some children do not have positive role models in their parents, so these people may be the only examples they have to show them another way. Having said that, no one is perfect. In such cases where we fail to set an example of good behavior, we should use that opportunity to set an example of remorse for our bad example and offer an apology. We all screw up but being truly remorseful for our shortcomings is the mark of a mature adult. I have no issues with Ike's excited demeanor and I have found him to be very engaging when he is teaching others. Getting hyped up and excited about fishing is one thing, but getting angry and breaking or tossing equipment is quite another.

Welcome to the forum.

Nice fish, Paul.

Ah yes . . . LaCygne, I suppose? Nice looking fish there, Bluebasser!

I don't really know what to think of Ike's behavior. Sometimes I think he needs to reel it in, and other times I don't. However, referring to the comment in red, if he would act this way on camera for all to see it doesn't matter how he would act back at the landing. All our children have to do is watch it on TV, YouTube, or the Internet. I sometimes think he should look at it as one would look at a social site like Facebook. You have to be careful what you put out there for everyone to see because some people may not understand or appreciate your behavior and it can come back to bite you later.

I have read bass fishing reports for this lake and they usually range from poor to fair though I have seen a rating of good a few times. However, some fishing reports are untrustworthy. I have thought about going to this lake a few times but usually when I am down that way I am headed to Truman or Stockton. My wife and I stopped in once on my way to Truman to check it out but on that day the boat ramp was closed for some reason. It is very shallow and very murky. One of us is going to have to try it out.

These are my thoughts exactly. There isn't enough information here to really give you advice. My parents provided no assistance to me once I went to college, and I paid for my car, clothes, gas, and much of my recreation in high school. Under those circumstances, I can tell you that spending 20 percent of my income on fishing while paying my way at your age would have been a very poor decision. If you have family who assist you financially or who provide lodging, food or transportation, then maybe it isn't a problem. If you have future plans with this girl, then you both need to sit down and come to an understanding of what is acceptable to spend on fishing. If not, it's none of her business.

Minor cuts and punctures from hooks are part of fishing. Be careful and try to avoid the really bad ones and you will live, I promise.

The only time a fish touches the carpet in my boat is when I accidentally drop them. Otherwise, it doesn't happen. I occasionally swing small fish up to my hand to lip them when the situation warrants it. Then I remove the hook, or hooks, and place them back in the water. As some have stated, it is a technique where you use the momentum of the fish moving towards you to swing it up to your hand to avoid stress on the rod as much as possible. With larger fish I avoid swinging them in with the rod and always lip them because I think the chances are greater that I will accidentally brush them against the carpet while trying to protect my rod. Usually though, I lip most of my bass while they are still in the water. I think there is enough evidence to justify protecting the slime coat of a bass, if possible, so that's what I do. As long as one is protecting the slime coat I see no problem with swinging a bass into your hand with the rod.

Nice recipe, Gary! You can also substitute other bourbons, rums, or 80 plus proof drinks of your choice for the Crown Royal.

Welcome to the BR forum!

Welcome to the community.

Welcome to the community.

The key when it gets cold is what Bluebasser and Big-O stated about deep water nearby. If you are going to fish shallower water in the Winter, you will increase your probability of success if you fish structure with deep Winter home water nearby. This actually applies to any season and shallow water. The structures you fish should generally provide a path to deep water even if it is Spring, Summer, or Fall. When the weather is unstable deep water provides an environment for bass that is less affected by the weather above the surface of the water. In a new lake, or a lake that has just been stocked you may find fish just about anywhere, but once a lake has matured I believe the Buck Perry axiom that most bass will eliminate structure that does not provide a path to deep water.

You assume I have never been in this situation. You are incorrect. Even now it angers me talking about it. From your words I can see you have never been in those shoes. These types of people usually aren't caught in the act. You find out after the fact and then you want to kill them, but at that point your kid needs you more than ever, so you can't do anything that would cause you to be imprisoned. It is a very tough situation to endure. But that doesn't justify being unfair to others who could be innocent. A few years back there was a big situation that was on all of the talk shows and the news. Quite a few children accused some adults of molestation. Some of those adults went to prison. It was only discovered later that the reports were false and that these people had been imprisoned for nothing. Joe Paterno heard the story about the coach with one kid from a graduate assistant. I assume he didn't know whether to believe it or not, but even if he doubted it he did report it per procedures. In such situations at the workplace, you as the reporter of the bad news, will never hear anything else about it because the company (or school in this case) protects everyone's privacy to avoid being sued. Even if he asked about the consequences, he would not have been told. If he was involved in a cover-up then he is guilty and deserves scorn. He did have a lot of pull but I'm not sure that would count for much in this situation. And if what you say is true then he deserves to be fired. My point is a question: Do you or any of us know this to be true based on evidence, or are we just assuming it? By the way, he did resign today.

Unless there is more to the story than I have heard, I don't quite understand all the flack against Paterno. First, he heard about the molestation from another source. He did not witness the activity. At your work, if you heard about such an activity from a second-hand source would you call the cops? If you would, then you do know what would happen if it turned out that your second-hand source had lied, or was incorrect in their description of the activity, right? You would lose your job and could be sued for filing a false report based on a rumor. At any workplace, unless your eyes actually witnessed criminal events you are not supposed to call the cops. You report it to higher levels of management and they investigate. That is what Paterno did. Is there more to the story regarding Paterno?

Beautiful striper, FC! I love the praying mantis photo.

Nice fat fish, A-Jay!

Excellent fish as always, Big-O!

Wow. That was a nice birthday! Those are some beautiful fish, especially the big smallies.

Nice catch!

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the community.

If you want to keep up with the wind speeds any of the popular weather apps should do that. I have The Weather Channel app on my Evo and I use the hourly forecast for the day to see what the wind will be as the hours progress. You really can't get accurate wind forecasts until the same day.