oteymc

This is probably not a big revelation, but I like using the hooks with an offset shank, but a round bend hook. Kind of the best of both worlds.

Looking at taking the kids to see Mickey the first part of May. What is the fishing going to be like in the area, and where would you go? Not opposed to driving, I see Stick Marsh is only 80 or 90 miles away, I have wanted to fish there for a while. Would you say a person could get along without a guide on the Stick Marsh not ever being there before? Not opposed to hiring a guide at all, for a one day trip it sometimes is the only way to find the right spots in time. There is also a place where I caught my PB only 35 miles away, and we could definitely get by without a guide. I wouldn't even rule out the big O if that would be the best fishing at that time. Look forward to the feedback.

Mike - just emailed you my form, pdf. If I need to mail it, let me know. I am still planning on going down on Friday the 15th, fishing Sat and Sunday. I have a boat, not fancy or anything, older skeeter 17ft. Lynrdsky was planning on fishing with me at least one day, not sure if he's still planning on coming? Whoever wants is welcome - two disclaimers 1) I know nothing about the lake 2)I will occasionally get sent on a last minute trip for work, so I could have to cancel last minute. Not likely, but could happen. Looking forward to it

I just moved to the Terre Haute, IN area. My brother came to visit, so he and I did some exploring yesterday, looking for places to fish in the future. I know there are a lot of reclaimed strip pits to fish around here. Took the poles, but didn't really expect to do any fishing, many places still had ice. One little place right here by where I work had no ice 3 days ago. I have permission to fish there, so we thought it would be fun to cast to open water whether we caught anything or not. The water could not have been over 40 degrees, if that. We ended up catching 3 in a couple hours. The first one was a pretty descent fish, probably in the 3lb range. I didn't care if it was 1/2lb, it was a fish in February in IN! We figured those were just bonus fish for us!

Have you seen the size of this thing? http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/classic/photogallery?id=6135275&photo=26

That's like talking bad about Santa Clause!

I was at a BPS yesterday and noticed the bionics were all $59. I am pretty sure they were not the new ones, don't remember any split grips. As far as split grips go, I think it is just preference. I have not found many that I thought were comfortable to hold on to. I bought one to try it out - I never could find the "right" place to put my lower hand when casting and setting the hook. I ended up throwing it in the lake on a cast. I had almost lost it overboard at least ten times, then I finally did. To be fair, this was a relatively short handled split grip, I think it would have been better if it was longer.

I have had several trips in the last year or so. This year has allowed me to visit Lake Fork twice. The most recent trip my brother, two buddies, and I went ice fishing on Lake of the Woods over new years weekend. This is going to end up being an annual trip for us. Last year we tried out Lake Millacs, and were not impressed. This year was much different. We caught a lot of fish, drank a lot of beer, and had a lot of fun! We stayed in sleeper houses and slept, fished, cooked and everything out on the ice. We were there for three days, and the middle day we went out on snow mobiles on a guided trip and fished out of portable shelters. The whole thing was quite a bit of fun, and not all that expensive. It was cold, but not unbearable. We caught mostly saugers and walleye. We ate huge fish dinners the first two nights and then everyone took fish home with them when we left. Good way to end the year and start another. I am trying to post some pics, hope you enjoy.

I grew up not far from there. My family still lives around there. How long are you going to be stationed there? When I get in the area to visit them, I will give you a holler.

I think the thread below answered my questions.

I don't want to h-jack the thread, but Wayne, are all those images from a 798? is that side imaging, or down imaging? And is it hard to learn to use?

RW - a blind pig can find an acorn every now and then. lynyrdsky1 - I'm not that old! Will make reservations today.

Kentucky Lake is only about 4 hours from where I am moving to, so I will probably come, but I doubt I can do the week days. I will try to come the first weekend. Drive down Friday night, fish Saturday and Sunday then come home. I have an older (96) Skeeter that anyone who wants can join me on. I am a poor fisherman and have never been on Kentucky Lake, but I guarantee we'll have fun!

Going out with a guide this weekend -absolutely can't wait. I don't go out with guides often, 1 or 2 times a year, I feel it is a great way to learn. I have always just gone by myself - just me and the guide. I have always tipped 20% (or more). My question is if there is two of us, should we both tip 15-20% or should the total be 15-20%, just like a restaurant? I don't want to be cheap, but I don't want to be naive either.

I have an extreme spinning rod that I really like. Not sure I would use it for spinnerbaits, but I guess you could. I will probably get a casting rod at that $59 price, and put a $69 PQ on it.

I never thought Texas would beat the Yankees (although I was glad they did), and then I never thought they would have so much trouble with the Giants. That's what's great about baseball.

I think everyone on earth should read the book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie.

That does help, thanks. Went ahead and fogged the motor last night. Just need to change the LU oil and check the batteries, and I should be good! Can't believe I used to pay someone to do that!

All the winterizing discussions talk about what you need to do to the motor. Do I need to run some rv antifreeze through the livewells, the livewell fill pump, and the bilge pump? Won't the pumps be damaged if not? If so, how do I get the pump to pick up the pink stuff? Thanks

I sent one to mark and got it back about four days later, good as new. I don't know how he fixed it, and shipped it in that time.

x2 on emeril's restaurant in the venetian. The buffet at the Paris is awesome, but both are expensive. The breakfast buffet at the belagio is great. The rio used to have a great seafood buffet that was good and not bad priced. Do all the rides, the roller coaster at New York New York. The rides on the Stratosphere. Just walking around all the different hotels/casinos and seeing them is pretty fun the first time. I like going downtown, some of those older casinos still have $1 and $2 blackjack, with one deck. You can sit there for a long time on $20 and have a good time. Just don't entertain the idea of winning money, consider it entertainment. Hoover Dam is amazing to see the first time, too. If you like to golf there are no shortage of great courses. There is supposed to be some amazing striper fishing on Lake Mead.

I have been in Indianapolis the last week working a booth at the national FFA convention. The last day of the convention I walked around to see some of the other booths. In the Stihl booth, I saw they had a bass boat in their booth. There was a sign that said something about Joe Thomas. I thought "huh, I wonder if he is here?" I walked in the booth and there he was just visiting with some people. I had the chance to visit with him for about ten minutes. He was really nice and we just visited and laughed for a while. We talked about fishing and the convention, we both shared the opinion that the FFA is a great organization, with a lot of good people involved. He showed no signs of being big headed, and had I had the time, I think he would have talked to me all day.

The whole time I'm asking what's RW like? What's long mike like? How's glen to be around? He pretty much said your all a bunch of jerks......just kidding. It was a lot of fun! ghoti gave me the grand tour like I was his guest. It would be good to meet some more of the guys on here. Mike - one thing about fishing with Steve, you wouldn't have to think of things to talk about.

About any half ton truck equipped with a towing package will do what you want. You need to check into the powertrain though. A smaller engine near max load will use more fuel and wear out faster than a bigger engine at normal load. Unless I had an almost everyday towing application for my truck, or I was hauling really big loads, I wouldn't buy a diesel unless you got an unbelievable deal. For the extra initial cost, higher cost of fuel, maintenance costs, it just doesn't pencil out. I own one, and it is really nice towing with a diesel, but when it is not hooked to a trailer it becomes a very expensive vehicle to operate to drive empty. I like Dodge. I work for a company whose only client is RAM, so I am very prejudice. I did drive Dodges before I worked for them, though - and they make very good trucks. I agree that the smaller suv's would be a little under powered, and probably not have enough braking power for that application. If your stuck on an suv, you need to go to the bigger ones like a tahoe, suburban, etc. The ones built on a half ton or 3/4 ton frame.

I have always had great experiences with their customer service.