Madhouse27

Man, I don't know what to think of all this

Abel, the latest issue of Bassmaster magazine had a nice advertisement for Fisher boats in it.

KU were you standing in front of the tv with your video camera again

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/fishing/article/0,13199,1175441,00.html# This link that KU posted seems to paint a little different picture of the "accidental" foul hooking. I'm wondering if this is why they decided to pull the plug on getting it certified as the new world record. Man this could end up being a great movie.

Mo, the stuff won't absorb any water will it? Just wouldn't want the whole deal adding weight if it did.

Jeff, The reality of the situation is that I wasn't going to post anything about Toyota. I simply checked it off on the survey and read the thread. I felt your jap comment needed a response. The only person starting anything on here was you.....several times to be exact. Believe me I don't feel any of this so called "guilt or embarrassment" about owning Toyotas or about buying Shimano reels. This hard working American is about trying to get the best value for his money. I'm not really understanding your other informative tidbit about people in the south buying import cars. I live in Maine. The roads are covered with ice, snow and salt for almost half the year. I'll just say that the only vehicle in my yard showing the beginning signs of rust is not a Toyota and its a year newer. I like alot of American vehicles. What I'm not too big on are your snide racist comments and unfounded generalizations.

Ha Ha, looks like KU beat me to the Stratos comment. One other thing to keep in mind is that I would be looking for a significant discount on a two year old boat even if it is in showroom condition. When you go to finance it or sell it in the future it is a 2004 boat. Although it's nice my gut tells me that for 18 thousand freakin bucks we can get a comparable 2006 model, or like KU said we can get a 2 or 3 year old true tournament style big rig with lots of good toys on it. I'm probably not helping here. I agonize way to much over these kinds of decision. A good place to at least window shop is on ebay. It will give you a real good feel for how far 18k goes in the used bass boat world.

Abel, it looks like an awesome rig. The specs and the layout all looked great. Have you read any reviews on the Fisher brand of boats? I've heard their name but I'm not super familiar with them. Up here I see quite a few Lunds and the occasional Lowe and Alumacraft. This could be a real steal for 18 grand but I would certainly do some calling around to make sure. That's alot of money. I'd like to know what an 18' G3 with a 115 Yamaha goes for just for comparisons sake. If you were going to at least look at fiberglass in that price range my first thought would be to head toward Stratos. These guys seem to put out a well designed, good looking ride for a reasonable amount of money.

Jnamo, While I appreciate your patriotic spirit I don't think it is necessary to slam non GM/Ford vehicles with racial slurs. When either of these two companies can come up with a mid sized suv comparable to the Toyota 4Runner in quality and reliability I'll be more than happy to take a look at it. Mine was built right here in the good ole USA by hard working Americans. Here's some information to enlighten you. Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in North America in 1957 and currently operates fourteen manufacturing plants including two under construction. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sell more than 2.5 million vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs over 38,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $16.3 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $26 billion. According to a 2005 Center for Automotive Research study, Toyota, along with its dealers and suppliers, has generated nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs, including jobs created through spending by direct, dealer and supplier employees.

After reading up on things I kind of gathered that they believed the foul hooked aspect of the catch would negate and world record status. They decided to weigh the beast and take a few pics anyway because it was so huge. I was under the impression that they weren't even going to submit it for record status until someone said hold the phone, this thing might be recognized anyway. I'm sure in the craziness of this whole situation it would be easy to make a few bad judgements. I think I would have put it in my livewell and called the game wardens and told them that I don't know what to do. I don't want to break any laws but this might be history in the making please advise me of how to handle this. ITS A MADHOUUUUSSSSE!!!

If you end up liking the boat and are ready to buy it keep in mind his asking price is $11,500 so I would offer him 10 grand. You guys will probably meet at $10,500. Definately take it for a spin first.

Man, hasn't stuff gotten expensive. I guess I'd compare it to some similar G3s, Polar Krafts, Lowe's and Lunds. I see that Cart thinks it stacks up well price wise to the Trackers. Can you post a pic of it?

If their plan was to go back to catch the bass legally (not foul hooked) don't you think they would have kept their mouths shut about it? That lake is going to be a zoo. Something is a bit strange about this story. Question: would the fact that the fish was foul hooked disqualify the world record?

Somebody once said that your boat is only as good as your trailer and I've come to believe it. For probably under $500 you can get a nice new trailer that everything on it works perfectly. It's a good feeling going fishing with no worries about getting there and back. For a john boat I would get a bunk style trailer over a roller style.

You may want to find out if you would have to pay the sales tax all over again in your home state. That could negate any savings that you got on the deal. On the other hand if you had a receipt showing that you had paid the sales tax in California you may not have to. I know up here in Maine they always hit you with excise taxes which decrease each year that you register the boat/vehicle. The first couple of years are usually quite brutal. d**n taxes. Which model Skeeter are you buying?

I actually kind of like it. It's got a bit of a retro cool feel to it, particularly that Eagle flasher on the console. That's kicking it old school. Like fishnbear said, those old Johnsons are tough. There were alot of them made so any needed parts aren't usually to hard to find. The guy is asking $1000 and seems to want it out of his garage. Since he's family I'd give him $800 and offer to help clean up the garage after your new boat is out of his way. Keep us posted.

Catch and release fishing has certainly come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. It was not that long ago that most people who fished ate what they caught. That was a primary reason for fishing in the first place. Without the "meat fisherman" that came before us we may not be enjoying the sport as we know it today. Many of the early improvements in tackle and equiptment were driven by anglers desire to catch more and more fish albeit for somewhat different reasons than we do today. I admit that I tend to cringe when I see someone removing a nice fish from a body of water. I try to bite my lip because I understand that everyone has been raised differently. As usual Avid made a good point about keeping fish being legal and not imposing our morality on someone else. While watching someone fill a bucket with dead bass seems almost prehistoric, feel good about the fact that twenty five years ago nobody would have even noticed. Times are changing.

Dink, You made a good call when you contacted an attorney. While I'm no fan of this lawyer-infested, sue-crazy society we have become in this case you did the smart thing. I've seen far too many people get screwed on insurance claims, real estate transactions etc because they tried to do it on the cheap. A couple of hundred buck for a lawyer's advice and involvement is a steal compared with the potential financial loss. You tell them that this claim is going to be handled in a way that you are comfortable with or it will be done in front of a judge. When you are playing with snakes you have to beat them with a shovel.

I have my better finder up front. I spend way more time there then I do behind the wheel. About the only time this might backfire is when I am on a lake for the first time which is somewhat rare. If I got a new one with GPS then I would put that one on the console. Ideally there would be a nice unit front and console.

Personally I would save my money and keep looking around. You'll get more bang for your buck by buying a used boat that is ready to go. You may be able to get this one plenty cheap but it seems like you'll need to keep spending money on it to get is set up the way you want it. I've gone the piecemeal route in the past an I know I ended up with more money in the boat than it was worth. This one is going to need an outboard $$ and some steering cables, gas tank etc etc. What kind of price range are you shopping in?

There are several threads about ESPN's saturday morning line up over in the "everything else" department. Loudmouth Bass was cancelled by the morons at ESPN just for the record.

My goal for 2006 is an 8lb 1oz smallmouth. I'll be crowned the new state of Maine smallmouth record holder and the sponsors will be beating down my door. Hoping to take him in around 25 feet of water dropshotting a Zoom fluke. I hope the 6lb Yo Zuri Ultra Soft line is up to the task

Aint, I'm thinking along the same lines that you are. I'm definately going to try some larger size baits on a dropshot rig this year. I just picked up a package of larger sized Fin-S fluke style bait that I think is going to work out just great. I still need to get a few heavier drop shot weights. I'm thinking that fishing slow and deep will produce right after ice out. 14 more days to go until fishing season

Good advice man (I know this is going to happen anyway but at least you'll be off the hook) ;D

Glenn, where do we get this magic potion?