Hillbilly_Hooker

I generally just have mine concealed in my vehicle but I will start carrying it more on my person than I have been since getting my concealed carry permit. My usual carry gun is a Glock 17 9mm, but I'd like to get something less bulky and heavy, as finances permit. I also sometimes carry a .380... much more comfortable, but I don't feel nearly as well protected as when I have the Glock with me.

I shop in the same store as Five Bass Limit. I've been impressed with the selections offered, not BPS or Cabelas, but definately better than anything else we had previously. The sales clerks have always been helpful and friendly and I got a great deal on a Stearns rainsuit that had been drastically marked down. I was also impressed, while fishing an open charity tournament recently, at the level of support that SW gave our tournament. They donated several gift cards and other merchandise. As far as corporate donations, theirs was likely the largest... I was impressed and will definately give them my business in the future.

mafishing, Just wanted to say 'hello.' I'm just north of you in the Fort Chiswell, VA area. Hillbilly

Ike does a lot of work with youth in B.A.S.S. and I've personally met him and talked with him. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy! But, what impressed me the most, was watching him stick around at the end of a tournament until absolutely the last person that wanted one, was able to get his autograph. He was there long after the other anglers, and even most of the staff, were long gone. Go Ike!!!

I have a Fritts reel for cranking and I love it! My only complaint is that, when it was new, I was constantly backlashing it. I took it to a local shop, had them clean and lubricate it, and I don't recall backlashing it since. Hillbilly

Sam, I'm also fishing Buggs this weekend, pre-fish on Friday and tournament on Saturday. Look for me, I'll be the one in the red rainsuit huddled over trying to avoid the wind! LOL Hillbilly

If your friend hasn't yet sent the reels back to Abu-Garcia, he might want to find a shop locally to clean and lube the reels for him. As odd as it might sound, I had two Bass Pro Shop reels that we causing me very similar problems. I had them cleaned and lubed professionally, and I haven't had a problem since. Hillbilly

Burley, From talking with the President of the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation of TN yesterday, the 20" smallie limit still applies on Douglas and you can only keep 1 smallie.

Burley, Hello from another SW VA hillbilly! FSU, I'm curious how the TN smallie limits are going to impact everyone's fishing this year. I haven't fished South Holston in years but I do fish Douglas once or twice every year. We're going to make another push to get license reciprocity between VA and TN on South Holston. If anyone is interested in this issue, please PM me. Thanks, Hillbilly

Skeeter, Check your PMs for some info on Harris. Hillbilly

To all that asked about clubs in the Richmond area, check your PMs. I sent all of you information about the local region there for the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation of Virginia. If you need more information or other assistance, please feel free to PM or email. Hillbilly

Steve, I'm an hour north of W-S, just off I-77 in SW VA. Give me a shout sometime... I occasionally fish Lake Norman and others. Hillbilly

I'm proud to say that I finally got to meet Marcia in person at the Classic. She is as nice in person as she is on the forum, or even nicer!

Memphis bassin', If you would prefer a B.A.S.S. Federation Nation club, the Region 2 director lives in Lynchburg and can easily put you in touch with a club there. His email address is: reg2fish@gmail.com You can also check out their website at: http://www.region2va.us/ Let me know if I can be of further assistance and good luck finding a club! Robert B.

Jnamo, Dang it! I was gonna buy B.A.S.S. but I guess you beat me to it. I guess I'll just buy NASA instead, then I can make money by selling rides on the Space Shuttle Hillbilly

That's a nice boat, I'm envious! I'll let ya know the next time I'm headed to FL and you can take me for a ride Hillbilly

Ribbit, I'm not sure about clubs in your area, but the President of the Lakeland Bassmasters is also the President of the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation of Florida. Get in touch with him and I'm sure he'll know if there are any clubs in your area. If you're close enough to get to the Lakeland club, though, I hear it's a great club. They have a lot of members, have some really great raffles at their meetings every month (G Loomis rods, Shimano reels, etc.) and have educational presentations every month. I've met their President and talked with him at length on several occasions. I was impressed enough that I'm going to get down from VA to make one of their meetings this year. The website is: www.floridafederationnation.com and the President's name and phone number are listed there. Regards, Hillbilly

jigman, Welcome to the forum! Check out the following website for the TX B.A.S.S. Federation Nation. I'm sure someone there can put you in touch with a club in your area that would welcome a new member... and I'm sure there are clubs looking for serious tournament anglers. If you're in east TX, I'll throw my hand up and wave on my way through to Fort Worth next week. http://www.texas-bass.com Regards, Hillbilly

OC, Congrats on your strong finish in your first tournament ever, keep up the good work! We've all had fish expire on us, despite our best efforts to keep them alive. Hillbilly

The tournaments that I generally fish all use a '1 for 10' payback, one position for every 10 boats. That may cut back a little on the money for the guys at the top, but it spreads the money out over more of the field. In the long run, I think that the larger number of people getting some amount of payback will increase the number of those that want to compete in future tournaments. Just my $.02 worth, Hillbilly

I'm in sales for a national distributor that sends out 1,000s of packages each day through one of our 7 U.S. warehouses. We've used UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, and other smaller regional carriers. Occasionally, I too have seen packages that resemble a hockey puck after a hard fought game, but my hat's off to LBH and the other guys at UPS. There is no other carrier that we've used that comes anywhere close in service. Big Brown does it for me Hillbilly

ouachita, Here in Virginia, I know of one fellow and some partners that have several miles of streams leased for trout fishing. They operate all of it as catch and release as they are trying to create a trophy trout fishery. That's the only fishing lease that I've ever heard of. Hillbilly

Virginia just went to a 12 month license, good for 12 months from the date of purchase, this past summer. Costs for '07 are $34.00 per year for both freshwater and stocked trout waters, not including saltwater. To add in saltwater is another $12.00 annually. Hillbilly

My two resolutions are simple... fish more and eat less 8-)

preach4bass, Great post! I'm laughing my butt off! Fivebass, I hope you're right and that Bin Laden won't be far behind!