Lund Explorer

X2.... or more inches. >

Gov. Granholm is getting close to just that: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9237583

I'm afraid Twenty-Ten is going to force to me to face up to a couple of hard choices. I got out of tournament fishing a couple of years ago when my long time partner got sick. Now, another friend of mine is going to be looking for a new partner as his old one is moving out of state (@#$%& Economy). So I've already got that proposal bounced off me. Then our middle son who is graduating college (the 2nd time) this spring, is bugging me to get into chasing Ol'Marble Eyes in tournaments all summer. Nothing wrong with tournament fishing, but I really don't know if I want to get back into that game right now. I'm still getting used to the idea that fishing doesn't have to be strictly regulated. Anyhow, if I can get out of that mess, 2010 will find me putting newer electronics on the boat. I just bought a new Lowrance HDS-5x, so now everything is in color. Next toys on the list are a couple of new b/c combos to replace some of the old stuff. Not sure yet whether I'm going to stick with Abu, or shift over to Shimanos. Finally when I get on the water, I really need to get back onto crankbaits a little more. I'd also like to find out where A-Jay is slamming all of the smallmouths he keeps posting on here.

Sounds like fun, but we're going to have to do that where you are. It's snowing here this morning! And while I'm at it, California? Have you even tried to get into bed yet? I can proudly say that I got a whopping 4 1/2 hours in the sack before Uncle Arthur made his nightly visit. Maybe you've met Arthur before..... His last name is Itis.

I'm going to bounce around in my reply here. To start, your final comment that your time is limited on the ice. I know exactly what you mean when you said that. As a person who makes a large portion of their income preparing tax returns (during ice fishing season), my time on the ice is also restricted. But I used the reverse logic as the reason to spend my money on one of these things. With so few days to be on the ice, I wanted to maximize my chances when I could get out. Now, with regards to flashers. They do have a slight learning curve if you have never used one. A flasher unit will do somethings an LCD can't, and an LCD does other things better. The biggest issue when on the ice deals with "the picture" being updated faster, while not having to deal with the historical picture that scrolls across the screen of an LCD. The concept of a flasher's picture is that you are looking at a series of brief images set on something that looks like the dial of a clock. The surface is always set at "Noon". As an example, if your flasher is set for 20' and you are currently over 10' of water, you will see a broad band sitting in the 6 o'clock position. 15' of water would put you at 9 o'clock, and so on. If your unit is set to shallow, say in 30', you won't get the bottom echo at all, and you will need to set the flasher to a deeper setting. With the deeper setting (say 40'), now the 10' reading would come in at 1/4 of the dial, or 3 o'clock. You always want to set the flasher at the minimum depth you can get away with. It allows you to see the most detail. Now let's go back to that 20' setting, and set up in that 10' of water. Your dial shows a bottom echo that isn't going to move or change. You may even see a second echo further down the dial that you can disregard for now as it is only a secondary echo. What you watch for are the brief flashes that show up between Noon and 6. When I first get on the ice, I set my gain button on my unit to the day's conditions. To do this, I will drop my teardrop w/waxworm on it dow towards bottom. You will be able to watch the echo from this slowly move down the dial. Then I adjust the gain until my bait shows up as a small orange echo with a touch of green on either side. Now, if the waxworm is missing, the signal will change to only a green band. This adjustment can be done with a variety of baits such as perch minnows, or larger baits for walleyes, lake trout, or pike. A brief item on signals. Just like any other fishfinder, the signal is sent out in a cone shape. On a Vexilar, the flasher reads the strength of each signal and shows them in color based on that strength. So, a fish near the outside of the cone shows up as the weakest signal (green) while targets closer show up as either orange, or red (strongest). Note that your gain setting will also have an effect on these readings. Once you have the gain set on the unit, you're ready to do the catching part. Like I said before hand, I usually start my day on the ice by drilling a series of holes. These either spread down a drop line from shallow to deep, or broadly across a flat. Once all the hole are drilled, the gain is set, its time to start looking for fish. I do this by moving from hole to hole, looking for solid echos somewhere between Noon and where ever bottom shows up. Sometimes you'll see bright red echos (those are fish) and can immediately drop down your line. Other times, you may see just a brief glimmer of green. If you wait at the hole, the signal may strengthen as the fish moves deeper into the cone's signal under the hole. A typical days will have me cover a number of holes. Once I find a hole with fish, I will stay put to see if I can get them to bite. As fish typically move around a bit, some holes can dry up. When this happens, I just repeat my search of the holes looking for one with a school moving under it. Back to that double echo off bottom. With time, you can read that echo to tell what type of bottom you are fishing over based on the echo. It's kind of like seeing a bottom echo for the first time on a color LCD -vs- the B&W's version called "grey-scale". Yeah, all of this takes a little time to learn, and I got most of my education by trial and error. To see some of this (and much more) you can go to Vexilar's website. They have a bunch of videos that show off their features. Disclaimer: Just in case anyone was wondering, no I don't work @ Vexilar. They are not a client. I'm not even married to the owner's daughter. I've just become a very big fan of their product.

Only option #1 works. This employee brought it up because they knew it was a mistake. The other employees supposedly know it was an error, and most likely figure you are going to fix it. If not, they would be up in your office complaining. Best case - The employee accepts it, and life goes on. Worst case - The employee gets mad and leaves. In this economy, they may be fairly easy to replace. One of the very hardest parts of being "The Boss" is dealing with employees. A fair employer (and you must be if the issue is bothering you) wants to try to do what is right for all of their workers, while still making a livable earning themselves. In good times, employees should be rewarded for their extra efforts. In hard times, everyone needs to shoulder part of that burden. The best reason for any employee to get a raise is because they took on more responsibility or learned extra skills your company needs. Fair employees understand these concepts. It really sounds to me like all of your employees are fair minded. And I figure they are waiting to make sure that you will be fair about this as well. So my suggestion is to go with option number one, with just a slight change. Maybe add a bonus check to each of the other employees to cover the mistake. Maybe holding an employee meeting to explain the error and how you are planning to deal with it. But before that meeting, try to figure out a set of goals the employees could meet to get that $.75 raise. Of course all of this is just an opinion.

Trying to get my heart started......... I've been up for a 1/2 hour or so, though I really don't want to be. Coffee, more coffee. I can't be held accoutable for anything I type until I've at least had my second cup of go juice.

Not that it really matters I guess, but I think Tebow is going to get his wish with a national championship. The guy is already blessed. If he had come out last year, the Lions would have drafted him. The Lucky Little Snot! ;D

Well Farmpond, you've still got a few days to go sit on Santa's lap. And when you do, make sure to tell him the only thing you want this year is a brand new Vexilar. If you're afraid that you'll be in bold print on the naughty list, then you'll have to pull out the plastic. Yeah, the Vexilar IS that good. I bought my first FL-8 back in 1991 and would never think of going onto the ice without it. It was hard to believe, but after a little while, I could tell if there was a wax worm still on my tear drop. Also, as fish would start to enter into the cone, they would show up as a light green bar. If my bait was not at the same level, I could move it to that depth. then as the signal started to go from green, to orange, and finally to red..... Bang there would be the bite. On days with a tougher bite, I learned that you could judge the mood of the fish by the jigging action you put on the bait as the fish neared it. Imagine seeing a fish move from light green to red and then back to light green before fading away. that would tell me that whatever action I was using didn't work. The next fish to move under the hole would get a diffrenet action until I found the one that would trigger strikes. And suspended fish? No problem with a Vexilar. No more using a weight to set depth or find bottom with. No more adjusting a bobber until you find them. My normal day of ice fishing starts with me drilling a series of holes, and then moving from the first through to the end of the line until I see fish. Have you seen the thread over on Gen'l about live bait being cheating? Well when the guys first saw me using my Vexilar, that was the same comment I got. If you are serious about ice fishing and catching, then I can't imagine you'd be sorry for the investment. I'd seriously look at picking up a new FL-12.

I would agree with everyone here that the catching doesn't turn them off. But I have seen a school shut down when you start releasing them. At least with schooling smallies, one or two tossed back or lost will kill the bite.

Just to bring a little clarity into this subject, the following link shows the ballistic charts for Federal Slug Ammo. http://www.federalpremium.com/products/compare/slug_compare.aspx You will notice that the max range shown on this chart is 125yds. The most important things I would concentrate on are the bullet drop as the range increases, and more humanely, the foot pounds of energy drop as the slug moves down range. These shells, sighted in at 100yds shows the path of the slug dropping approx. 4" drop from the top of it's arc to the 125yd mark. Any guess as to how high you would have to aim to lob the slug out to 200yds? In the military, we called it plunging fire. These shells also show a drop of foot pound energy of about 36% by the time they get down to 125yds. There is still enough energy to produce a clean quick kill, but I highly doubt that is the case at the advertised range of 200yds. I also am rather dubious of the "3-4 Group" statement when the closest slug of any of the three shots in each group is approx. 3 1/2" from the bullseye. One shot barely scores on a 10" ring which is what I'd call a miss. All in all to anyone, unless your name is Crockett, I would suggest limiting yourself to a shorter range until you have done a lot of practice or practical shooting with any shotgun using slugs.

The choice of a shotgun for a first gun for deer hunting is probably a fairly choice. There's a pretty good selection of choices, from single shots, to pump guns, and auto loaders. Depending on your budget, you can choose from a smooth bore with standard ammo, to the newer style rifled barrels that use the more accurate sabot shells. You may also want to take this opportunity to look into seeing if you could find a shotgun with interchangeable barrels so the weapon could be used for ducks or upland game as well. Now I'm sure not going to try to start an ugly argument here with Catt or anyone else, and the following link from Ithaca Arms backs up the claim. http://www.ithacagun.com/deerslayer3.html But I've got my doubts. As a certified range official with over 20 years experience hasn't shown me anyone yet who gets those kinds of results. I think you'd be better off scaling back your expectations from such claims. Even with a rifled barrel w/scope and sabot loads, I've found that the average hunter can see good results out to half that range. Better accuracy, which is paramount when the goal is more than just "cutting paper", tells me that you can expect that range to get down to a more manageable 50-75 yards. With practice.

Wow, what a critter. The first question that pops into my mind is... How old does a gator have to be to get to that size? The next is... How many boots would that thing make?

Yup, I'm gonna be hard at it today and all weekend. Of course it's only 32 degrees out with a windchill of about 22, so who cares. BTW, sorry if any of you guys down south had to google up the term "windchill".

Height? I'm assuming that you mean length. Start with a 5 Weight fly rod sort of like this one..... http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10200176____SearchResults The second choice is a 7'6" model that should be fairly easy to learn the ropes with. For line, you'll need some 15lb Dacron backing, a weight-forward floating line (5 weight), and a small spool of 4lb leader. As you are new to this kind of fishing, you want to spool up the first time in reverse. That means you put the flyline on first, and following that with the Dacron backing until the spool is close to full. Once you've done that, take all of the line off the reel onto two spools, and put onto the reel correctly. Going in reverse order will allow you to calculate how much backing your reel will hold. There are a number of choices as to how to attached the leader to the end of the fly line. What I use is a small eyelet with a barbed shank that is sunk into the end of the fly line. Depending on how finicky the bluegills are, you'll want a leader of between 3' - 5' in length. Whatever length you use, you want to make sure that you can lay the line (fly line and leader) out straight as it touches down on the forward cast. Baits can be any number of things, but I would start out with a selection of spiders, poppers, and terrestrials. Your local bait shop should give you a good idea of what colors you need. Lastly, before you hit the water, take the time to practice casting in the backyard. I was taught using a length of yarn and an Uncle standing at my shoulder. I'm sure that you'll find any number of tutorials on you tube that will help you out.

NICE smallie A-Jay! There's been a few days this month where I wish I hadn't already done the Kevorkian thing to the boat already. Spring sure feels like it's a long ways away. :'(

Years ago I went to a Bass Techniques seminar and saw Jimmy Houston. One of his comments was that "All fisherman are born tournament fisherman, once they catch something worth showing off". He was talking about how people will hang around a landing just waiting for the next guy to show up. I have to completely agree with that. Its probably why there's so many posts in the "My Tournament or Outing Page", while I can't even find the part of this forum called "My Livewell's Farting Dust". ;D

I don't really pay much attention to the stars. At a certain point, a person should learn that it is the content of the post and not the numbers that count.

Amen to that Glenn! As bad as things are in Michigan, it is even more important than ever. And don't forget our four legged friends either. The economy has really stretched the resources for shelters/rescues as well.

After the first dozen, I can handle almost any of it. When I have to limit myself, I'll take almost microbrew.

Hey, great update!!! Dog Toys? Those plush toys don't last very long do they? The cheapest soft chew toy we ever used was just a pair of socks. Roll up the first and stuff it into the toe of the other, then just tie a knot to keep it together. If you want something that lasts, you'll have to part with a few bucks. Try these things..... http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.html If that puppy gets to where he can can destroy these things, you only option is to buy him an old Ford pickup to chew on! ;D Anyhow, I'm happy to see you two are enjoying yourselves. Best of luck. By the way, the best thing to stuff a Kong with is plain peanut butter. Save the bucks by ignoring the store bought treats.

All of the "pre-rigged worms". Up here, they're named K&E Worms, but another maker has Kelly's Plow Jockey's. Some are weedless, but most use the open hook variety. They come with a built in bend, and work great when slowly reeled in. Also work when deadsticked without weight, or a simple split shot. Probably because they work best with a snap swivel to reduce line twist, a lot of tournament fisherman I know avoid them like the plague. But if you walk through the parking lot after a day when the bite was really hard to come by, the guy that has lots of little pieces of weeds all over his carpet is the guy taking home the paycheck.

Exactly. This comes up about twice every year. The sight of a man, causes most wild animals to lose their appetite Roger Wow, only twice a year? I thought it came up twice just this week. People just need to learn to keep a low profile, wear subdued color clothing, and walk very very quielty. That or take up stalking a few trout creeks for practice. And while we're at it, what's this sexist comment about "seeing a man" thing? Whose wife told you that one? ;D

This Yankee has a couple of drift socks.... three actually. I have two shorty's that I use when trolling. One on each side amidships helps slow down trolling speed while allowing for a straighter track. I have a slightly larger version for when I want to drift fish in heavier winds. I will switch it between all three spots (bow, stern, or side) depending on how I want to move over an area, what I'm fishing, or how many of us are in the boat. One last idea you may want to dry is a drift anchor. The river rats up here use a length of chain to help slow or stop movement on the river they're fishing. This method can also work on a windy day on the lake. A second type of drift anchor that I enjoy using is one of the old fashioned window weights. Placed off the stern of the boat, it has enough weight to slow the boat right to a crawl. If you want to move, you simply stomp on the trolling motor. The weight's design slips through most vegetation without hanging up.

Morning Sam..... Well, I got a call just an hour or so ago from my local marina. My boat's winterization is complete, and I'll be picking it up later on today. This was done at the same place I purchased the boat. They put sta-bil in the fuel tank, fogged the motor, and changed the lower unit lube. They also ran the diagnostics on their computer system to check for any other issues. The cost for all of this was $98. In the spring, I'll take it back out and run it for a day or two before I take it back for a full spring tune up, and to have the trailer bearings checked out. Last spring, that cost was $126. Total cost for the year was $224 to service my best source of fun that cost over $10,000. Seems like really cheap insurance to me, but that is your profession right?