Lund Explorer

The answer is extremely relative as well. In my honest opinion, if your efforts are getting you "Lunkers" with any degree of consistency, then you need to do one or two things and perhaps both. First, you may want to redefine what makes a lunker. Secondly, you may want to consider putting your skills to the test by entering the field of competitive tournament fishing.

I have to tell you that your story was one of the most entertaining I've read in a long time. Way to get those fish in the boat without getting a case of Happy Feet.

Or bounce them off the carpet, or sprinkle them with sand/gravel/grass.

Great boat, with a so-so motor. Price sounds decent for what you've described. Definitely have the motor gone over. As far as the boat goes, the only bad thing I remember about my 300 series was those darn shut off / recirculating valves. The thin membrane would dry out and warp which would cause the water level to drop slowly. And they were a real pain to get to. Post some pics if you pull the trigger on it.

Without a doubt, Traverse Bay should be your number one priority. End of June or the first part of July would be better, but you should still find plenty of fish. Other choices if the weather turns sour should include Duck/Green Lakes, Elk/Torch/Skegemog Lakes, and many of the other smaller lakes in the area.

Lost in the forest, the voice of reason was found by some, appreciated by less.

Actually her name was Dolly Madison. You may recognize that name as her husband was the President at that time.

What did your history books have to say about the day an invading army burned down the White House, Congress, and many other government buildings in Washington DC? How many of your peers even know that it actually did happen? My point, is that the events of 9/11 will lose most of its shock value someday and new events will take center stage in our collective memories. As our country ages it will create more history and more of our history will be set aside for the sole use of the few history geeks. Let's not even consider the large segment of our population that can only remember two dates. July 4th and December 25th!

Sadly, there will come a day when we as a people will forget. It's happened many, many times before and there will come a day when the date of 9/11 carries no more weight than all of the other dates that lived in infamy. To see why this is true, you need only ask an 80-Something year old where he or she was on December 7th. Even if they didn't have 24 hour a day news, and there weren't the dozen TV Channels that replayed that day each year, those events are still alive in their minds. A lot of us know what that date signifies, but it is different when you weren't there to see or learn about the horror of the moment. Within a year or so, we will have members of this forum who weren't alive in 2001. They'll see the video of those planes tearing into the twin towers, but they will miss the real shock value those of us who lived through it will never forget. Just perhaps, that's a good thing. By the way, let's not forget that on 9/11 the word hero was spelled FDNY!

Anyone who would get angry with you for your choice of boat or any of your equipment is most likely an idiot, and the rest of the group is already going to know it long before you ever show up! Perhaps the only question that may (and perhaps should) come up would be your ability to keep a limit of fish alive for the length of the tournament. As long as you have a working livewell though, I can't think of any rule that states that you have to spend a minimum amount for a boat to compete. You may want to look into a smaller club to begin with as the more serious big spenders shy away from groups with lower entry fees and lower payouts. If you find that you are near the top of the standings within that group, then it would be up to you to see if you match up to one of the bigger circuits.

Have you been given the name or contact information of your partner yet? If he is a local in that area, he would be a valuable source of information on what's hot and what's not. You may also want to research the "regional" section of this forum to see who else has fished this lake. Other than that, the only thing I can say is thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and here's hoping your first tournament experience is a great one. Good Luck!

I'm just happy that I'm not ten years older, or I'd have a few of those fishing jumpsuits stuffed in the back of my closet!

Everything in my experience has shown me that painted blades of any color help to mute the amount of flash put off by the blade. The same can be accomplished with hammered blades, or by changing from silver to either gold or brass colored finishes. The only way to determine what the fish are looking for in your area is to try different combinations during the many types of weather or seasonal patterns you run up against. Success will tell you which choices work on the lakes you fish.

The term "Over-Thinking" should really be changed to "Directionally Challenged Thinking". With any amount of experience, an angler should know the basics of how to go about catching fish. However, if you have to spend hours trying to decide which type of rod and reel to use, what kind of line should be on it, which of a myriad of lures, and what color of who knows how many colors should get tied on, you are losing the battle before you make your first cast! You'll know you've hit rock bottom when you are following the advice for all of these choices, given to you on an internet forum from somebody 1,500 miles away from you.

After spending thousands on a boat, hundreds for rods and reels, Lord knows how much hooks, line and sinkers, the last thing I'm concerned about is the few dollars it costs me for a bag of soft plastics. I primarily use Berkley Power Baits, Ragetail Craws, and the numerous offerings from GYBC. All of them were bought for the ability of them to produce fish and not because they can last all day. Who saves money by using the least expensive line they can find?

In the vast majority of lakes I fish, I don't have the choice to fish anything but clear water. When the "dingy" lake you fish still has 10' of visibility, you learn to adapt your approach. Fish during periods of low light, going smaller on baits and lighter on line improves your odds.

I couldn't tell you how many times I've gone out with a guide or on a charter trip, but there was only once when I was tempted to not pay. When it comes to paying a tip, the amount paid is based on the service provided and never on the conditions. Of course, it goes a long ways if you actually talk to the guide/charter captain before you book your trip. When I've hired a guide, my primary purpose was to learn something at a faster pace than I would have on my own. It doesn't matter if its the first day of a week long fly-in trip to Ontario, or a day on a southern bass lake. I come right out and tell them that I'm not looking for their hotspots, and honestly tell them I will be returning to the spots we'll fish during the trip. I give them option to tell me to look somewhere else if they are afraid I'll burn their spots. When I book a charter trip such as a salmon boat on Lake Michigan, I tell the captain before we book that I want a hands-on experience. I want to learn and participate in setting the lines, netting the fish, and I may even want to sit at the helm for a short time. Most full day trips have a slow time, and that's when I want to be sitting on the bridge talking about fishing. To me, it all boils down to the experience, and not what comes over the side (or backend) of the boat or ends up as filets to take home. The better time I have, the more I'm willing to express my appreciation. But it all starts long before the day of the trip.

Imagine how much easier it would have been if your neighbor had discussed this issue with the guide when he booked his trip?

I'm predicting a short career on the river during the day, and a much longer one at the drive thru window at night. Perhaps his biggest mistake is failing to mention that he wants everyone to "Like" him on Facebook. It seems to be the key to success these days.

Knowing her ability to joke about herself, I'm surprised there wasn't a stock tip in her obituary. Sell Botox!

I limit my salmon fishing to pier heads whenever the water temps get down into the 50's, usually in August or the early part of September before the fish go from chrome to whatever you want to call that brown color they take on as they start to die. On this side of the lake, that means we watch the winds as a heavy Easterly or Northerly wind can flip water temps almost overnight. To or three rods on every trip. One for casting spoons like a glow in the dark 3/4oz Little Cleo, with the others setup for bait fishing. Without a doubt, live alewives are the top choice. Dead baits include whole smelt, spawn, and on occasion, shrimp.

Poppers, Prop Baits, or Spooks - Size and action is dependent on what they're feeding on and how much action they'll respond to. Any serious topwater angler is going to have quick access to all three. They're also going to have a spinnerbait and soft plastic follow-up lure handy as well.

When it comes to more than one person having the desire to use something that others also have access to, almost everyone will have their own ideas of how that resource should be restricted. All types of water have restrictions on them. In Michigan you'll find lakes with horsepower restrictions, no wake lakes, electric motor only or no motors at all lakes, and most popular are the no wake or high speed boating time restrictions. On our rivers, some have limited use restrictions where the gov't limits the number of canoes (also known as the aluminum hatch) that can travel on that river each day. I'm quite sure that most other states have restrictions on their lakes or rivers. Then there are all of the restrictions on fishing. In our state, we are restricted from where we can use a drop shot rig. We have closed seasons for a whole rash of different fish species, and some areas that are closed to all fishing at certain times of the year. We have stretches of rivers that are restricted for using flies only, hardware only, and no kill zones. From reading some of the comments of users here, I'm going to assume that many of us could come up with a few restrictions we'd like to see. How about no bucket fishermen? What about a restriction on how close a boat can get near a shore bound angler? A time limit on how long a person can tie up a launch site? With a little thought, we can all come up with a list of restrictions we'd like to see. Some real great ideas that would fit the way we see as the proper way the resource should be used. If enough people got behind those ideas, we could influence the power that be to change how everyone enjoys this sport. Wouldn't that be great? Of course, how long before all the dock owners get a law passed that keeps fishermen 100' from their docks? The bottom line is that every restriction that sounds great to one group of people takes away from the rest of us. I don't mind seeing some restrictions if they are based on safety or the protection of a resource in danger of being lost. After that, it becomes nothing more than a special law for a minority.

Maybe a deer or a pronghorn, questionable on an elk. Okay on a lion, but a bear? Only if you are in a tree and your guide has a real gun!

I must be the only guy in the world that was ever happy to buy a single box of 50 rounds of ammunition. Maybe its the fact that the only time I pull out my .22 is at the start of squirrel season, or it might have something to do with the other fact that my rifle is a bolt action. Just how many bricks of ammunition does the typical shooter go through in a year? I know that in a few trips to our gun club, I witness the spray and pray boys popping off countless rounds. I've seen their rifles. Everything from old school modified Ruger 10/22's to lord only knows what they are. To be blatantly honest, many of them need to shoot so many shells, because they sure don't have a clue to accuracy. Then there is the mess left behind. I've been in charge of mowing those ranges every couple weeks, and in that time the shell casings can be piled up like snow drifts! I have literally vacuumed up over 30 gallons of casings in a single pass over those ranges in a single swipe. Then there are the guys I've talked to that tell me about how many cases they have sitting at home. Cases! It's lead not gold, but to many of these guys you'd think it was. And we all sit around and try to figure out why nobody has any bricks on their shelves, or why when you do find one, they are so expensive! We'd all like to see availability improve and for prices to return to normal. The only way that is going to happen is to see consumption return to normal as well. If the spray and pray gang would learn to enjoy the sound of a sting of Black Cat firecrackers going off for a year, and the hoarders would try investing in something with real value, maybe sanity will return. I wouldn't bet on it!