AM

Wow thanks for the replies. I have considered getting a smaller tent and using 2 and just riging up the vestibules kind of together facing eachother so i have like a little shanty town one for kids and one for us. that may still be an option. Hey WIII-60, have you been through any weather in the cougar flats tent yet ? just curious if the outcome was good. hopefully it was. thanks again - Andy

I have owned a high quality kelty backpacking tent for the last 6 or 7 years and it is still in tip top shape. couldn't ask for more out of a tent. Now that my kids are getting old enough I want to take them camping and my kelty is only a 2 or 3 person tent. Looking for a family tent that will hold up, is built structurally strong and is absolutely weather proof . preferably with a vestibule or enough room to keep my dog in part of it. I also do not want to pay 500. I was looking at a columbia conrad ridge or high trail. http://www.columbia.com/Product/7/Equipment/76030/8-to-10-People/5832/Conrad-Ridge.aspx I can not find any info on either as I guess they are new. I like how the conrad has a rain fly that covers the whole tent so no sides are really exposed to elements ( although they are rolled up in the pic ) anyone familiar with these or ever had a columbia tent at all. what were / are your thoughts on them? thanks - andy

thats awesome clipper..I love bills commercial for BPS talking about people breaking rod tips.."don't do that" lol

this is your boss. I'm on to you and nothing will work. see you tomorrow!

good advice. in general what is your take on water temp as far as gradient, in which the patterns of bass are affected. Meaning if your avg lake temp in the summer is 80's and the temp drops 10 deg. is that enough to usually start seeing the patterns of these fish change?

weather: been 70's to 80's for a week or 2 during the day. this being after 100 plus for a month or so. 50's at night spot showers going through thurs day . fishing on fri and sat partly cloudy- sunny water: Lake wappapello , MO resivoir off of the black river. has many creeks and a deep river chan running through it. 75 degrees , stained . probably a bit low how would you handle this situation? I am thinking shallow rocky banks and laydowns in the morning and deep along the river chan drop off in afternoon. but tell me how you would approach this ?

when i'm on the river I'll go right to where there is a shallow bend going into a deep area or some riffles. right where it seems like the current picks up. you can see the schools of minnow and or small shad flash as they spook or try to move in the current. I'll throw a casting net over them and catch a dozen at a time sometimes. the deeper the area the heavier it needs to be. or the bigger the school needs to be. at least from my experience.

not bad even for a sox fan.........just kidding andy from St. Louis

the best show by far is classic patterns. which by the way if anyone has any of the DVDs they should contact me and mabye we can colaberate our collections. I enjoy watching bassmasters and hank parker / shaw grigsby (are they brothers?) i love the underwater shots they get. the in fisherman ones are pretty informative too but i would say that bill dance is just as informative as well.

holy crap chris!!! is that an 18 pounder? nice pic

has anyone used oil paints to color plastisol when pouring? I saw an article somewhere that talked about it but didn't hear how it turned out.

believe it or not, one time when i was just a kid (before I could tie a decent knot) I was fishing with a small lipless crankbait hooked one and the knot slipped out. Tied another bait on and put it a few feet down shore. about 5-10 minutes later i pulled that same 2-3 pounder out, and it still had my rattletrap on it's lip! i still to this day can not believe that.

anyone know where to buy small pontoons for a kick boat? or has anyone made their own? thanks, Andy

the cheapies at walmart scratch soo easily. I would imagine a more expensive pair have better quality lenses to prevent to an extent the small scratches that come so easily with the cheap ones. Check out your eye doctor's selection if you have insurance sometimes they have good quality polarized sunglasses that have waranties and whatnot. plus you might be able to discount them on your insurance.

the thing that reaches into my head then my pocket and makes me spend at least 20 bucks every time i pass Bass Pro Shop. Usually on stuff i don't REALLY need

a firetiger crank or something else that looks like a bluegill.

First of all I'm not sure how you would really describe what kind of resivoir this would be. I fish several power plant cooling lakes in IL. one I fish in particular has no real structure outside there are a few points and coves, a large land bridge that comes out from the plant about 200 yards into the lake a side that brings in cool water from the river and a warm outlet that pumps into the lake . for the most part it is a huge rectangular lake. this lake being regulated by the power company stays around 65 - 70 deg year round. I have been thinking that I should look for underwater points / drop offs and ledges vs beating the bank all the time? do you think that the water temp being so regulated throws off a bass's clock as far as the spawn and whatnot? should I look for fish where you would think they should be this time of year holding in postspawn patterns / some still possibly spawning. Or should I look more into the temp of the water, considering that they regularly pump water in and out. You can tell by the stacks on the plant. Am i right to look for underwater structure and substrate changes in a lake that really has no decent structure or protected sides (no hills or trees for the most part) large flats , and rip rap. or where the land bridge bottle knecks a "Channel" from the cool side to the warm. thanks, Andy

do you work for bill dance? ;o)

here we go walking the fine line of political corectness on this board again. let me remind those of you that are offended that IT IS ONLY A F^#%^&* COMERCIAL . If you don't like it don't watch it. really insignificant in the midst of things. but an interesting poll none the less.

i've heard that before but never tried it. do you tie on a small lure or just pull the line out with nothing tied on as you are moving. i'm afraid that if i pulled off all the line (except for 10 yards or so) that it would knot up.

if all you waannt is to catch fish buy a minnow bucket and bait hooks, mabye some floats.

i don't really know if i would really START by buying crankbaits. if fished wrong or in the wrong places with an innexperiennced hand they can be lost very easily. take my word for it. go with something soft plastic that you can rig up weedless. flukes, senkos, power worms, tubes, small finesse stuff. you'll save yourself alot of pain.

anyone ever do this? what have you used for skirts? either from a fly tying store or a home craft place, what have you used? i have never really been good at fishing a jig and i am going to give a go at it this early spring/winters end. i have a ton of weedless jigheads just like you would see on a booya or an enticer but no skirts. just looking for tips anyone know of any informative "bass plug' tying sites? thanks, Andy

it helps me to only fish crankbaits from a boat. it makes it a bit easier to get them off when they get hung up.

could be a poo fish. fry it up.