Lund Explorer

Sorry if it sounded like I was accusing you of being their company's CEO, but all of your postings looked like they came right from their marketing dept. I personally like to get an independent view of most matters. I'm also sorry that your favorite lake is so restricted. I don't think I would have the patience to waste over an entire month just to fish any one lake. As a retired accountant with over 30 years of practice serving the retail community, I'm somewhat aware of the requirements of both the manufacturing sector and publically traded companies. When I first pulled up the company in my own Google search, I noticed that the stock's value was on a steady downward trend since the spring. With an IPO price of $12 in August of last year, a high water mark in the high teens has been followed by drop down to just over $3 per/share, before the announcement that an internal audit raised questions about what income was being reported. A 3/4 drop in value before any such public airing of its accounting problems leads me to believe that the investors were having second thoughts about the company.

No Onions? No Mushrooms?

Why should something that someone else does upset you? They aren't free-spooling your fish. For what it's worth, I have landed countless fish from bass to bluegill by giving them total complete slack in the line. A fish wrapped in brush or weeds will often times quit fighting and reverse course away from the obstruction if it doesn't feel the pressure anymore. Once the fish is back into more open water, the fight can resume.

The only accurate way to determine if fishing is on the rise or decline is to review long term trends for license sales. If you are still concerned about age, you can look at states such as Michigan that offer senior citizens a reduced license fee and are accounted for in that manner.

I have reverted to using length only for measuring all of the bass I catch. As the only one I am competing against is myself, I find that this is a good method to determine how well I did on any given day. I use a 22" tournament style metal bump board and measure all fish with the mouth closed and the tail fanned. All fish are measured in round inches so that even a fish measuring 14 3/4" still scores in my book as an 14" bass. At the end of the day, I want to score my five best "keepers". Scoring as follows: 5 x 14" = 70" Better than nothing 5 x 16" = 80" Decent 5 x 18" = 90" Good - Primary goal on my best water. 5 x 20" = 100" WOW! Now we're talking.

I don't know if you're going to have to worry about this stuff or it's effects. It seems the company has enough troubles on dry land. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hagens-berman-reminds-investors-in-marrone-bio-innovations-inc-of-november-4-2014-lead-plaintiff-deadline-and-expanded-class-period-2014-10-06

I understand. In my youth, I always thought that the acronym on those red colored signs stood for Squeal Tires On Pavement! The most important part of my initial post though still stands. Don't think that your current job will continue at the same pay rate. My wife's shop was went through this very thing. Purchased by an investment group that once included your former governor. Within a year, they had filed for bankruptcy, handed over the employee's pension to the PBGC, and forced the union into a new contract that included a pay cut of over $6.50 per/hour in pay.

Do you know anyone with an ownership interest in this company?

You have to remember that at one time, zebra mussels were nowhere to be found in the USA. They came from European waters in the ballast of ocean going ships and were dumped here. In Michigan, they first showed up in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. They then moved from the Great Lakes into many smaller inland lakes either in the bilge water of recreational watercraft, or attached to the carpeting on boat trailers. I'm sure that the pests moved into your lakes via a fishing boat or something like it. In a lake that already has these things, there isn't a whole lot of reason for inspections or closures. The horse is out of the barn so to speak, so closing the door doesn't make much sense. If this stuff works as advertised, then I'd start to worry about increased enforcement. Another old saying goes "Once burnt, twice learnt." As I stated before, the cure could be worse than the symptoms.

The very first part of the "news" story stated the following: "Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBI) (Nasdaq:MBII), a leading global provider of bio-based pest management and plant health products"

Great Job! To most of the guys I know, Simcoe is a place to go to pound jumbo perch through the ice each winter. Here's to hoping that you aren't now going to get swamped with Yankees during the soft water season too!

If Lake Michigan had King Crab or Lobster, my wife would never let me practice C&R either. And I would have to trade in all of my regular fishing rods for crab/lobster pots!

I might agree with that statement if the attached article had been more complete, and hadn't been written like a press release by the company itself. That and the fact that the headline is misleading! Before I would call this a cure, I'd like to see it work on an entire lake, see the cost for that treatment, and most importantly, find a way to stop the potential for re-introduction of this scourge once eliminated. Color me the skeptic, but I'm surrounded by some pretty huge lakes that are loaded with these things. I don't think it is feasible to wipe out zebra mussels from Lake Michigan. This stuff might help control the pests around such things as a water intake or discharge, and it might even be effective to clean out a connecting waterway for the short term. When you consider the fact that these exotic/invasive species are mostly introduced to new waterways by humans transporting them, the real cure may be worse than any of us could accept.

I played the "Cast for Cash" game for many years and fished in all kinds of weather. While I've gotten old enough to get over that part of my life, I'm still young enough to know that there will be better days ahead if I can choose to stay in out of the rain. Maybe when I get to that stage in life where buying green bananas comes with the risk that I might not be around when they're ripe, I'll feel the need to get soaked!

Here's to hoping that your wife continues on the road to full remission and that the only time you are pulled off the lake in the future is when you are welcoming a whole slew of grandchildren into your lives.

Wow, where to start? "I work full time as a cnc operator making $17 an hour w/union. And $1 annual raises until $20." The truth of the matter is that your current pay scale is anything but secure. Your type of job is worth about $10 per/hour which is exactly what you will be earning there once a venture capitalist group purchases the company. Fortunately at your age, you haven't had the time to setup a family and a budget based on the type of pay you are currently making. "I have a lot of bills..i have $750 rent , $150 car payment , $515 a month car insurance( i was an idiot behind the wheel when i was in high school, still paying) $225 phone bill, which my brother splits with me." Seeing as how you haven't even listed all of your expenses, I would agree that you do indeed have a ton of bills! How much do you have left over once you add in the cost of fuel and maintenance on your commuting vehicle, food, and the cost of keeping a girlfriend? Thinking back to the first part, how in the world are you going to meet these expenses when your pay gets cut by 40%? "( i was an idiot behind the wheel when i was in high school, still paying)" "I am thinking about transfering shifts, say to 2nd or night shift, and going to school full time during the day." So was it only behind the wheel that you acted this way, or did it extend to the class room as well? If you weren't a pretty darn good student in high school you're going to find college level classes harder than you might think. Add the fact that you've been away from school for a few years. Add the fact that your current budgetary woes seem to require you to work all that overtime. Add the fact that you're going to have to figure out a way to pay for college. Where to end? Like I said before, you are lucky that you are still young and aren't stuck with a family and all of the budget woes that can cause. In my honest opinion, I think you need to seriously look into going the trade school route that could give you the chance at a skilled trade type of job in the future. These types of schools will give you the chance to work on the actual education you need for your job, while skipping past all of the extraneous classes you need to take for a full degree. You will become what college deans like to call an "educated idiot" because you haven't taken a half a dozen English classes amongst many others. Does your chosen career path require that much English? In the short term, try to bid over to second or third shift to see if you can acclimate yourself to working when it's dark and sleeping when the fish are biting. You can probably figure that this is going to take two or three years to complete. When you are done, you're going to add another monthly payment to pay for it, so make sure that the schooling you get is going to give you a job that will help pay for it. Also, don't assume that you'll be staying with the same company you are working for right now. Study the job opportunities in the area you think you'd like to raise a family, be realistic about the future potential of that type of work, and whatever else you do, don't go crazy with student loans.

There is no typical amount as prize money is usually based on a combination of the number of boats fishing, and the entry fees charge. You also need to consider that many clubs or organizations withhold a portion of these fees to use for either a classic pot or administrative costs.

So did you get on the water before the off limits period?

Long before the advent of the current C&R craze, Michigan's DNR didn't bother to stock LM or SM Bass into our lakes or rivers. There was a very simple explanation for this. Despite former or current harvest levels, the population of both species are self sustaining renewable resources. That's right, the highly revered bass is exactly the same as the lower class bluegill, white tailed deer, or just about every kind of tree growing here. It doesn't hurt one darn bit that a certain segment of the population is removed each year, as natural procreation will maintain itself. Perhaps your state is different and requires an annual stocking program to maintain a fishable population. In Michigan, this is the practice for species such as walleye and a number of the salmon and trout that so many fish for. In this instance, the term used is "put and take" as the state stocks these fish knowing full well that anglers will harvest them for consumption. One other strange thing about our state is the fact that we have a closed season for bass that only three other states maintain. These closed seasons were established to protect spawning fish, something that many on here express as the best time of year to target the species. Other states may want to adopt this practice. At the very least, anglers who feel that bass deserve protection should begin to practice it.

From your description of the company you work for, they bid out their work based on how many production hours are involved in producing the finished item. If you provide them with proof that you have increased productivity, then a pay raise is in order. The amount of that raise should be based on the amount of increase. One other way to skin that cat. A local company up here pays quarterly bonus checks based on productivity. An employee that exceeds their quota for that time period is paid extra on a sliding scale matching that productivity.

Archeologists discovered this couple that have been buried together for 700 years! Even though many have stated how beautiful this was that they have remained together all this time, my only thought was. Spot the Wife!

Perhaps 15 or so years ago, we had a small family living just down the street. A single mother (get your minds out of the gutter) with two young boys ages 9 and 5 and a father that was completely missing. Anyhow, it was just before Halloween when the wife and I saw this young mother at the neighborhood store. When the wife asked her if the boys were getting excited about the upcoming holiday we were told that the eldest of the boys had just gotten the word that he had a rather severe case of diabetes that would require insulin shots and absolutely no candy. The mother said that both of the boys would still be going out for trick or treats, but that the oldest of the boys would be handing over his stash to his younger brother. Needless to say, it just didn't sound fair. After thinking about this for a couple of days, I went to town and purchased a small tackle box and proceeded to stock it with all kinds of tackle for both bluegills and bass That night when these two boys showed up, I handed him another bag and told him that I thought he should get something that he could enjoy even if it wasn't candy, but he couldn't get into it until he got home later that night. Well, the next day the doorbell rang and here was this kid with the biggest smile you've ever seen. Candy, Schmandy, he had his very own tackle box! A number of times the next summer he would stop by the house to tell me about his fishing exploits with his granddad, what he'd caught and on what lures. He even shared his fishing tackle with his younger brother. Before summer was over his mom got a job in a new town and they had moved away, and since his grandparents have moved to warmer climates I have seen him in years. Every fall as Halloween gets closer, I think of that night, and I realize I learned a very important lesson. People say it is better to give than it is to receive. But I think the giver gets just as much when its a smile.

Hence the reason why you see some member's here repeating the same advice that the brand name of your boat doesn't mean nearly as much as the dealership you buy it from.

Imagine how much nicer the world would be if these acts of kindness happened so often that they would no longer be called "Random".

I'm sorry, but I'm one of the old school tournament guys. Way back in the day, boaters and non-boaters were each given equal time in the front end of the boat. Unfortunately (for the non-boaters), the majority of boat owners decided that they deserved the right to control the entire day, and the guys who didn't own a boat gave it to them. Since that time, the back seat guys have been doing two things. Complaining about being short boated, and paying more entry fees. The only cure to the first one is to stop doing the second! I hope you found a way to overcome a difficult but understandable situation, however short of buying your own boat, the only permanent answer to the problem is for non-boaters to demand that tournament directors give you an equal chance to compete. If every non-boater took a year off from their tournament circuits, the TD's would have to either resolve the issue, or be faced with the potential of lone boat owners cheating. And the bottom line truth of the matter is that this the only reason you guys are sitting in the back of those boats now.