Lund Explorer

Solid Gold! Digesting what Rolo is trying to explain, I can sit here with my eyes closed and see exactly what he is talking about on any of the many natural lakes I fish up here. The man has the gift.

This will be the second quote from Rolo I've seen today: "Roe is Overrated Most anglers agree that the growth rate of fish is influenced by water temperatures. On the other hand, anglers are sharply divided as to the seasonal period when bass attain their peak annual weight. Fish eggs (roe) add an average of 8% to the bodyweight of a cow bass, reportedly ranging between 5 and 11%. For all practical purposes, cow bass fast during the bedding season, and the 8% weight gain due to roe, amounts to about 10 ounces for an 8-lb bass. Solar energy peaks during the summertime, when weed growth is full-blown, feeding is in high gear and baitfish are large and plentiful. The same 8-lb cow that gained 10 ounces during the spawn is very likely to lay-up a pound during the summertime, while toting a 1/2 lb minnow in her gut." Roger Simple search got me this from the following thread. Quite easy as the subject comes up every year. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/81035-eggs/page__p__921344__hl__bass%20weight%20with%20eggs__fromsearch__1#entry921344

I'll agree with Marty. Look into the Boat Trader website and you should find a number of boats for sale from owners and dealers. Dealer names will either link directly to or give you a name to search for their own websites to see everything they have for sale.

Define a "long way". I had a 130hp Yamaha that drank oil like a lush. Either that or I just drove a lot of miles with it. I'd be interested in know how much oil per gallon the optimax uses and then the fuel mileage for that motor on that boat. The next question would be how much throttle time the OP plans on an average trip. Bigger lakes and rivers can drink up a lot of gas if you want to cover a lot of water.

"Swebow" Sounds like the name of a lure banned in many states for its deadly effectiveness. Hopefully on something besides suckers!

By all means, Prayers sent.

It's all about the "-vs-" Cost of 4-Stroke -vs- Optimax. Boat Speed and Operation - Weight of 4-Stroke -vs- Optimax & Oil Reserve. Cost to Operate - Fuel Mileage & Annual Oil Change for a 4-Stroke -vs- Fuel mileage of Optimax and 2 Cycle Oil. Both are good motors so it depends on what you are looking for as far as cost, speed, and operation.

The true call of spring!

Count me in. Sadly this will probably be the only time I'm ahead of Dwight!

So this end of the world thing, what day are we talking about? Mayan Calendar of December whatever? If so, does anybody know what time this happens? Midnight, Sunrise, Noon? Local bar is holding an end of the world party the night before and I figure it's the perfect time to get completely wasted. The only thing is when to start. If the end comes at midnight, I should really start early. If the world doesn't blow up until noon, then I need to pace myself as I'd hate to wake up and suffer the hangover. BTW, I've decided my best option was to write a check for the bar tab as it will never have the chance to bounce!

Sounds like the whole thing boils down to a possible $53 -vs- time for fishing, girlfriend, and chilling. Question comes down to whether you think the fishing, girlfriend, and chilling is worth the lost money which only you can answer. Can you make it on $128 per/week?

The punishment can start with Gregg Williams, and then proceed directly to the actual players who decided that it made perfect sense to go onto the field with the intention of ending another player's career. There's many levels of stupdity in this, and they all deserve recognition.

If those in charge at ESPN and/or BASS think that airing an hour long recap of an eight hour event makes for edge of your seat viewing, I would expect that the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500 would both be better served using the same logic. I refuse to help ESPN's ratings by tuning into a show that took over 1,000 manhours of fishing effort and tried to boil it down into less than 20 minutes of action. I'd be better off watching a rerun of the movie Apollo 13 to see if those astronauts make it home yet again. IMHO, It's not just Houston that has a problem!

I wanna hear from the first guy that lips a bass with one of these things!

Riddle me this. How deep were you fishing last year while you were kicking keister? If you did well on a chunk rock "bank", that is now 5-10 underwater, what has changed? So how deep are you fishing this year? My guess is that your fish have reacted to rising water by moving to stay in the same depth of water they were in last year. You most likely have to do the same thing. Just tell us that you took a lot of pictures during all of this record low water as it is going to give you a whole bunch of place you should be targeting now.

Before this gets too far along, I'd like to be the first to say that I'm thankful that my fishing partners DO NOT post here!

Here's a link that describes some of those duties. An Air Force recruiter is going to give you a pretty rosy picture if you walk into their office blindly, so I'd start by studying this. Many CE duties cover what you're thinking about in a civilian career. Decent pay and benefits while the economy is slow, and after a tour you'll have on the job experience others won't. Notice that the CE's work on plumbing, electrical, HVAC, which could all be good trades in your future. For God's sake though, don't tell your folks I'm suggesting EOD because I can get in enough trouble on my own. http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/afjobce.htm

You're only about 5-6 years too late for Michigan and quite a few other places as well. Look into new housing permits issued in your area and if possible see if you can get those numbers for the same time period. With housing starts down so far, all of the related subcontractors (plumbing, electrical, etc..) went down right along with the builders. Best bet would be to look at areas that are either booming like Minot ND or the whole bunch of towns rebuilding from last year's storms. My clients say they aren't looking for any kind of rebound for several more years. Most are trying to scrape by with remodel or repair work, and then that isn't constant work. Have you considered a few years of "Civil Engineer" training that the military might have?

Stocker Trout - They're just another variation of trout found in small streams or the Great Lakes. The biggest difference is in how they were raised and the food source that stocker trout feed on. That's going to be pellets, the kind that float until the fish eat them. 1st - Go down to the local Feed & Seed Store that carries Purina Fish Chow - Predator Mix. Buy enough to fill a lunch size paper bag. 2nd - Pick up some Berkley Power Baits that match the size/color of those pellets that you can rig onto a aberdeen style hook. Tie a casting bubble onto your main line, and the hook onto a 3' leader. No Weight Needed. 3rd - When you get to this pond, start tossing out small portions of the pellets until you locate a school of these fish. Once you have them located, cast you line into the middle of the frenzy. Once the school spooks, move along until you get more fish coming up to those pellets.

Only once back in the days of Coho Fever did we ever see the CG on Lake Michigan. That was in the days before everybody carried safety gear, or radios. Eleven miles NW of Portage Lake's breakwalls, your comrades came out to warn all of us off the lake. Most made it back, but some didn't. Riding into the waves until they ran out of fuel the waves pushed them ashore. Next wave crashed over the stern and sucked them right back into the surf. We were one of the lucky or semi-smart ones that wrapped up and headed for shore pronto. Still it was quite an adventure to go between the waves and see nothing but water on all sides that first time. You'd crest a wave and see boats all around you when a moment before you would have sworn you were all alone. After that, we learned to keep a sharper eye on the weather.

Hopkins Spoon?

As well as some real tragedy. A few years ago one of the local news stations replayed the radio calls between the Coast Guard and the Arthur Anderson which was the ship ahead of the Fitzgerald as they were trying to seek shelter behind Whitefish Point. Unbelievable that they turned to in that storm to go back looking for them when they went off radar. I've been in some white-knuckle trips on Lake Michigan in waves a mere fraction of what they faced. Makes me question my sanity every time I pass the end of the breakwalls.

I had the pleasure (?) of going to the classic when it was held in Chicago. Weigh-ins held inside Soldier Field, the audience wrapped around the endzone from about the 20 yard line. Parts of it were interesting while long periods were down right boring. Hardly anything I could say wanted to have me standing and screaming. On the final day, other than not knowing if Woo was going to pull it out, my mind kept returning to a four hour drive home after getting out of miserable parking. If BASS wants to see more emotion involved in their showcase event of the year, then they need to figure out a way to not hide all of the action that is taking place on the water.

J - Waves like those always reminds me of the words to a song: "With a load of iron ore 26 thousand tons more, than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty......" My answer to the original question is YES!

There you go, let them put on an air show! Half the fun of hooking into a big smallie is watching to see how high he/she can clear the surface.