Lund Explorer

My long time fishing buddy named his Ranger bassboat "Dire Straits" as this was his absolute favorite band. A 5 foot jon boat? I'd suggest the exact same name, but for a completely different reason!

Break out the C/Card.... the bait monkey is calling! ;D

Has he got any footballs from 1958 when he got traded to the Steelers? That God awful 50 year curse he put on the Lions shows no signs of letting up....... Oops, that was Bobby Layne. Never Mind.

Jack, That was a great vent. From my experience though, you could have put Fill-in-the-Blank Lake in the title. Those folks are everywhere. Up here, we call them seagulls. Whether on water or ice, there are a certain number of folks that just can't get over the urge to move in on you. I like to think they are just slightly clueless and don't intentionally try to be rude. What's even worse are the tournament anglers that should know better. All I can suggest is a calm statement about you being in a tournament, and that you would appreciate a little space. Hope you rounded out a winning limit though.

I'm not sure if anyone here has ever had the opportunity (or the need) to visit one of the many Shriner's hospitals. Here is a link to a webpage that shows all of the various hospitals that the Shriner's operate. http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals_by_Specialty.aspx It is well worth a little of your time to click on a hospital location near you. If you may need their help, or know of a family that has a child that could use their help, pass along this information. Many local Shriner's groups hold special clinics locally to help qualify children in need of help. And the hospitals? They are almost beyond description. The staff of doctors, nurses, and all of the other specialists are some of the most dedicated and caring people you could ever meet. ALL children are treated 100% FREE OF CHARGE. Hospital wards are segregated by age groups, with rooms dedicated for either boys or girls. When the patients are able to, the staff has a variety of programs to help these children keep busy. They don't just lay around, but are given the chance to stay as active as possible. They even provide for a parent to stay right in the child's room, or next door if a Dad wants to visit their daughter. So how do I know about all of this? Because I am a Shriner's Dad. My daughter spent time off and on at the Chicago hospital for a number of years. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, the Shriner's hospital was her only option. They came through when so many other doctors couldn't. These folks will always hold a speical place in my heart, and they get all of the financial support I can give them.

There are only two times when using live bait could be considered cheating. Either when your state's fishing regulation prohibit it, or when you are entered into a tournament that does not allow it. Rhino says he'll do a little instigating? I'll push it a little further. Instead of anyone worrying about be labeled a cheater, a worse title would be "Elitist". When any angler looks down from their supposedly exalted throne upon another person, who is legally enjoying the sport, the word fits. When they think that their style of fishing, the price/speed of their boat, the price or type of their fishing rods, their selection of tackle or bait, or even whether they ever (gasp!) keep a few bass for the grill...... The word is Elitist. As fisherman, we are better off accepting all of the various ways people enjoy our sport. For if we try to mold everyone to be exactly like us, we will only kill off this mutual obsession. You need only to look at Michigan's trout regulations to see what happens when a bunch of special interest groups all try to get "their way". Now let's all talk about pushing for no wake times on all lakes!

Calling Irene!

It's not FIFTY. It's Fity or Fiddy ;D Hey! I'm too darn old to start talking Hip-Hop, Rap, or any of that other **** (rhymes with Rap but starts with a "C"). But when I see the first drive by shooting at a CW concert, I'll change my name to Lund Expizzle! ;D

Howdy Cowgirl, Gosh I'll bet that trip through your Dad's tacklebox did bring back a flood of memories. Another priceless gift that parents give us huh? On the first picture you posted, there were a couple of other lures that I can (or at least think I can) name for you. The first I know for certain is the small in-line spinner. It's called a "Shyster". They made them in a bunch of different colors, yellow, white, orange (all with the black dots) to name a few I've owned over the years. The second is the spoon on the lower left. Really has the outline of a Luhr Jensen Krocodile. The third is the fish shaped spoon on the lower right. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of it, but back when I was a youngster in the 1960's you could buy a spoon like that as part of a kit. As soon as this old mind kicks into gear, I'll get to you. BTW, thanks for kicking me down memory lane too.

I think the headlines this morning says everything you need to know about the state of country music.... Brad Paisley takes two, but T. Sizzle takes home top award. What? T. Sizzle? How long before she's on 8 Mile with Fifty Cent? Sorry, rant over for the day.

But I'll bet the doctor didn't have to "Lip Her"! Congrats to you and your wife. May you be blessed by many more.

Right back at you David, and to all of the other veterans in the Bass Resource family. And to all current members of our armed services... I'm proud to see you are carrying on the traditions set by our forefathers. SSGT Steven Jensen USAF 1974-1978 321st SPG/MSS3 Grand Forks AFB Michigan ANG 1978-1884 110th CSS Battle Creek ANGB

If anyone is interested, there will be a memorial service on the news channels here in a few minutes. Also, for Flechero or anyone else.... Here is a report from MSNBC that gives a brief profile of the victims. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33693222/ns/us_news

Seyone, I think that reason was because it could turn into such an explosive subject. I know from cruising a few of the other forums, it already has on some. Maybe it is a credit to our group that we've been able to control those emotions here. And I'm sure that many of us have also stopped to pray for all of the families that have been swept into this tragedy.

Tin brings up an interesting point. What happens if some dude from California catches the next record smallie? Being outside of its native range, can we dump on him like everyone did to the Japanese guy? Just Kidding!

Thanks for the sprinkling of salt in that wound Glenn! But Detroit is #1..... On Draft Day!

I have an almost complete collection of Clint's westerns on DVD, but I still watch them on TV whenever I stumble upon them. High Plains Drifter is my favorite one, but they're all pretty good...well, except for Paint Your Wagons. Clint shouldn't sing. Pssst! It was only one wagon. And Clint sounded a lot better than Lee Marvin! ;D

I've got a suggestion for head coach..... You need a person who is new to the professional level. Say a college level coach. Someone who can come in and make a change to to your team. I nominate "Rich-Rod"...... For the love of Christ..... PLEASE!

This topic seems to have broken off into a couple of different directions. However, they might be more interrelated in the long run. I don't really think that the introduction of alewives into Dale Hollow or anywhere else in your river systems down there is really going to help in the long run. Just like every invasive that has come into the Great Lakes has shown, they will disrupt what once was a balanced fishery. Alewives don't sterilize your local walleye population. What they do is compete for the food source that the walleye fry need to grow to their fingerling stage. A lack of suitable feed simply starves out the majority of them out. Invasives that have been introduced into the Great Lakes have thrown the ecological balance out of whack up here as well. And the list is a lot longer than what you folks down there have to put up with. Zebra mussels have indeed caused the waters to clear up, but in the long run this will bring on an increase in weed growth. We have already started to see this in the Lake Michigan shoreline's connecting waters. White Lake for instance used to support a fantastic smallmouth fishery. They have been experiencing a huge weed problem the last few years. While it has driven off the smallies, the largemouth have moved in. The only thing the area residents have done is spend extra money spraying these weedbeds to kill them off. The introduction of gobies have started to force out the alewives in the Lake Huron basin. With the loss of one invasive, the salmon population is suffering. On the other side of the coin, walleye and perch populations seem to be rebounding. They would probably be doing a good deal better if it wasn't for another unwelcome addition, the spiny water flea. Just another example of an invasive that disrupts the natural food chain, the spiny water flea has been a detriment to other native zooplankton that young of the year fish feed on. All of this leads to my thoughts on the original topic at hand. Given a purely natural environment in which to grow, I'd have to say that the best chance for a new world record smallmouth would come from it's southern range. If for no other reason than an extended growing season. But this constant juggling of their habitat by the addition of non-natural species may change that. My only hope is that we can figure out how to stop these invasions. The next one knocking on the door up here is the asian grass carp. I'll leave that subject up to some of our Illinois members to discuss.

My Uncle worked for CCC for a number of years before going to work for MI-DNR. If you ever get a weekend to go camping up this ways, try North Higgins Lake SP. http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=478&type=SPRK Right across the road from the park entrance is the CCC Museum. Here's the write up from the above web page: The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum documents the efforts to "put Americans back to work" during the Great Depression. The CCC enrolled more than 100,000 young Michigan men to perform a variety of a conservation and reforestation efforts. Between 1933 and 1942, the Michigan CCC planted 484 million trees, spend 140,000 days fighting forest fires and constructed 7,000 miles of truck trails, 504 bridges and 222 buildings. The DNR state park system still carries many examples of their work still in use today.Please check the DNR Calendar for upcoming events at this location and at all state parks and recreation areas. On a final sad note, many of the bath-houses in our state's parks are being torn down a replaced with "green-technology" buildings. Nice, but not very historic.

X2...And don't forget about the other Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The round gobie is the wildcard in this whole deal. The average overall size of fish is getting noticably bigger each year since the introduction of gobies. Time will tell! The round gobie is the <insert the word latest> wildcard in this whole deal. Until Canada and the Great Lakes States can figure out how to stop invasives from coming here in bilge water, nothing is certain for too long.

Way back in the 1960's, I knew an old guy who would do the same thing, but he was using a 10' cane pole with no reel. For the life of me, I can't remember what he called it. He would have about 18" of line off the end of the cane pole, and would fish a variety of baits. Topwater to Jigs, he would work the edge of the lily pads and small holes in the middle of the pad field. This old guy had a wooden row boat that was just about the same age he was. From watching the wrestling match he'd go through when he hooked one, I'm amazed that the guy in that kayak doesn't drown when he hooks into a big one!

Simple remedy........get a job ! I worked at the A&P stocking shelves at midnight while attending the Univ of Mich. Hmmm, I worked as an "MP" watching other people stock missile silos while attending the University of North Dakota.

The following link is to the Small Business Administration (SBA) website page that describes the various free training programs available for anyone thinking about starting a new business. The reason I suggested writing out a business plan, is because it makes a person think of so many easily forgotten parts of starting and operating a business. It provides a person the chance to put into words, their ideas so that others can see how you intend to run it. It also allows the business owner to stay on track by consistantly reviewing and updating the plan. The inclusion of a cash flow projection is also important. In this case, where the business may be seasonal in nature, the plan needs to show how enough cash can be retained during the 7-8 months of operations, to provide for expenses during the balance of the year. Anyhow, here is the link below: http://www.sba.gov/training/index.html

** No warning, simply deleted ** -Kent a.k.a. roadwarrior Global Moderator