CoBass

I like Mustad products but 20,000 for 50 yrs? Really??? Unless it's transferable, the chances of someone collecting the full amount are pretty slim. Even if you won that in your 30's you probably wouldn't live to collect it all. $50,000 for 20 yrs I would be ok with. At least that is an amount that would make a significant difference in most peoples yearly income, and it's an amount that in most parts of the country, you could actually live on if you wanted to. I'm not saying I wouldn't want an extra 20 thousand every year but if I won a contest for a million dollars I would expect it to have a bigger impact on my life than just making things a bit easier.

For small rivers and streams I go with inline spinners, Kastmasters, trout magnets, or small jerk baits. You don't have to buy a fly rod to throw flies. A small casting bubble a couple of feet above a fly works well and you don't have to go out and buy fly rods and reels. You'd be surprised how many big fish you can catch on tiny little flies.

Agreed. 3/4 inch of snow wouldn't hardly even get mentioned here. We've gotten 16 inches in the past week with 12 of it coming in 24 hrs and for the most part everything stayed open. No govt or school closures. On the other hand, if we got anywhere near the rain you guys get in the summer we'd have major flooding.

I personally won't buy anything from Storm. Every Storm bait I have owned needed major tuning to get it to swim true and in a few cases no amount of tuning worked. I know other people who really like them but I've never had a good experience with them. I really like creature baits though, and I don't think they are designed to look like any specific prey. They are what they are advertised as, creatures. Lots of arms and appendages flopping around that get the fishes attention. As far as the A-rig goes, my state restricts baits to 3 hooks so I don't even bother with them and I don't really enjoy throwing baits that big anyway so it kind of rules out the big swimbaits for me too.

Very impressive start. But, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. I actually think it would benefit them in the long run to lose a game here soon. The pressure they are putting on themselves to keep the streak going could effect them later in the season or playoffs.

There's a couple of ponds around here that have established populations of goldfish. One of them is bad enough that it is going to be drained this year to get rid of them.

Even with the talent he has at a young age there's no guarantee he will end up like any of the guys you mentioned. A college education will do more to guarantee him a better life than skateboarding. Not saying he won't make a lot of money on his board but like with any other sport, he's one injury away from being done. How many extremely talented guys have dropped out of college for the NBA only to get hurt before they made it big.

Good luck, I hope all goes well with this one. You might have to miss one season, but you may gain many more pain free seasons.

Our penalties are way too easy on poachers when it comes to fishing. I believe the fine is less than $100 and no license suspension for first offence. It's a set amount, not a per fish fine. We do have several fish species that are on the endangered list and keeping one of those will get you in serious trouble.

Couldn't agree more. I know they had to fish where the fish were but I could go the rest of the year without seeing another show about dock fishing and be a happy man.

I like watching sports and if I'm not fishing I will hang out and watch the game but I definitely don't schedule my life around it. If I'm watching a game and one of my buddies calls and says lets hit the water, I'm out the door. I can always listen to it on the radio and or catch the highlights after I get home.

Stockers do taste pretty bad right from the hatchery. If you catch them after they've been in the lake or river for a year or so the meat is pink/red and tastes much better.Once they get on a natural diet instead of the hatchery fed trout chow the meat firms up and makes a pretty good meal. Most of our lakes are deep enough to keep them alive through the summer, so catching 16-20 inch holdovers from previous years is pretty common. I rarely target them but sometimes in the fall when the water's cold and nothing else is cooperating a day of C&R trout fishing can be fun.

One of the few advantages of being and older guy, seeing some of those bands in their prime. Back in the day I went to a stadium show with dual headliners Metallica and Van Halen. It was an all day show with five or six other bands playing before the double headliner. Good suff.

Brookies are beautiful fish. Our Fish and game guys have recently started stocking tiger trout. They are a hybrid brookie/brown. Very cool looking fish that are very aggressive predators. They stock them to thin out populations of stunted brook trout. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6099/6337603955_6e6633b8d9_z.jpg

If you don't mind going back to school for a little while, the medical field is a good way to help folks and a lot of fields only require two yrs or less of schooling. They are also good careers to be in for family time. Most hospitals have full time positions that are three twelve hr shifts per week. Only having to work twelve days per month for full time employment leaves a lot of time for family (and fishing). You won't get rich doing it, most of the two yr degrees pay in the $20-$30/hr range, but you won't go broke either. In some fields like nursing you can specialize (ER,ICU,surgery) and make quite a bit more money.

The extra rod charge in my state is for use. I can have as many rods in the boat as I want but legally can only have two in the water at any time. I buy the second rod stamp for when I'm trolling or bottom bouncing for walleye. A lot of the bait fishermen buy it so they can have two bait rigs out.

Interesting. It's hard to find a lake around here that isn't stocked with trout. I'd be really happy if they stocked bass at even 5% of the numbers they stock trout at. In the states that have a trout fee, can you just not keep them if you don't have a stamp, or is it illegal to even target them without the stamp?

It surprises me how many states have a separate fee for trout. Our licenses are good from April-April and are good for all species. That jet skier tag is something I would definitely be willing to pay for.

Colorado base fishing license is $26. You are also required to buy a $10 habitat stamp and if you want to use a second rod that will cost you $5. The habitat stamp is only required on your first license of the year(hunting or fishing) so if you buy a small game, big game, and fishing license you only pay the $10 once. I don't hunt so my fishing license costs me $41 per year.

I might be land locked but I've got these little hills in my backyard you may have heard of (Rocky Mountains). They tend to collect a little bit of snow and send some of it my way too. We haven't gotten our usual 2-3 foot snowstorm in town yet this year but our snowiest months are still ahead of us. Here's a picture of what real snow looks like lol. The funny thing is that the road in the picture usually doesn't even open until Memorial Day so the picture is what snow looks like here in June. Hurricanes deserve names, snow storms don't. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AmpQrKVoNBw/S_w3CGxaovI/AAAAAAAAA2k/rAIE0oQn-0A/s1600/Trail_Ridge_Road_0003.JPG

I'm with Raider Nation on this one. I have no use for either service. One thing a lot of people don't realize is how much of a negative effect social media can have on your life. One of the first things most employers do when deciding if they are going to hire you is to search for you on social media sites. One stupid tweet or one odd picture or post on Facebook can be the difference between you getting a job and being passed over. People are also getting themselves fired for stupid things they post on social media sites. Just last week a local school teacher was put on administrative leave and might be fired for pictures and comments she posted on twitter.

How could they expect anybody to be afraid of a storm called Nemo? They need to come up with something scarier than Disney characters if they want to be taken seriously. From the list posted, I sure hope my state doesn't get hit by Yogi. I'm sure it will be smarter than the average storm and if he brings boo-boo with him we could be in real trouble.

One of the most memorable concerts I ever attended was KISS at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado way back in like 1990. It's an outdoor venue and during the show a thunderstorm rolled through. Huge lightning storm going in the background and with all of the rain, the lasers they were using looked like bright green,red, and blue dotted lines shooting out over the crowd. Here's a picture of the venue, Imagine it in the dark with tons of lightning going off behind the stage, and really cool lasers coming from the stage through the rain. Everybody was expecting them to take a break until the storm passed but they just kept on playing like it was nothing out of the ordinary. http://www.redrocksonline.com/portals/_default/skins/redrocks/rotation/rr11.jpg

As far as living, non-fish catches I've caught 2 Canadian geese, a duck, a coot, a bullfrog, and a bullsnake. Non-living catches include beer cans, sunglasses, a boat anchor, a couple of rods and reels, a shirt, several plastic bags, and most recently the rubber seal that goes around a boat window. I'm sure I've forgotten a few but those are the ones I can remember off of the top of my head.

I agree with this 100% The best days of fishing are when everybody is catching fish and having a good time. Me and my fishing buddies all take the open tackle box approach to fishing. If one of us is doing well with a particular bait everybody is welcome to share what is working. Nobody worries about losing baits or using the last plastic of a particular color because we all know that it will pretty much even itself out by the end of the season. The only exceptions are for higher priced baits and even with those you are welcome to them but it's with the understanding that you will replace it if you lose it.