JT Bagwell

The Pflueger President is an excellent baitcasting reel and the price point is about the same (sometimes lower) than what you listed. I have fished the Presidents a ton with no reel faults to speak of. You might even check BPS or Cabelas. Sometimes they have the President combined with one of their rods for somewhere near your price point. Here is a link to a review I wrote about the President 2 or 3 years ago. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/pflueger.html JT Bagwell

You are correct Muddy. JT Bagwell

The spinning reels are very nice too. I have the President and Medalist in spinning and they are great. Last year I really got into finesse fishing more so these reels saw a lot more action than previous seasons. You will love the reels, I am sure of it. JT Bagwell

I can't wait until I get this new Pflueger reel. It looks awesome. Here is a link to the product info page on their website. I haven't got one of these yet, but I am probably going to. http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/products/products.php?p=56 It is kind of hard to tell in the picture, but it has a shiny metal finish. Cabelas has a decent picture of it on their website. JT Bagwell

Muddy, most of my Pfluegers are Supremes now, but I still have some Presidents and also the Summits. I don't think it matters which model you get, they are all nice reels. JT Bagwell

All of the boats mentioned above are great boats. I run a 20' Triton and it is also a great boat. The one bit of information I would provide about Triton boats is their issues (if you want to call them that) with Chine Walking. These boats are made for speed and will chine walk pretty bad when you get going about 65+mph. After you have learned to drive them it is not an issue at all, but if you are new to this level of performance/speed in a boat you might be nervous at first. For most people it only takes a couple of weeks worth of "seat time" to get it figured out. I have driven them so much that I don't even notice it at all anymore unless I purposely make it Chine Walk to scare people. JT Bagwell

I fished an early spring tournament on the upper Mississippi river a few years ago and I was catching them on frogs. This was in early April (start of the season for us) and the water was still pretty cold. I was fishing around clumps of dead lilly pads. One thing I learned that day is to fish frogs really slow when it is cold. Two of my keepers crushed the bait as it was just sitting there while I was trying to warm up my hands. JT Bagwell

Sammy and the G-Splash for sure. JT Bagwell

I am with you guys. Pflueger has some awesome reels. I am glad the snow is finally gone and fishing season is about to begin up here in the Northern part of the country. JT Bagwell

I have this one too. JT Bagwell

Thanks for the offer. I half way thought about fishing that Stren Tourney down there in July, but I am not sure if I will have time. This warmer weather in this area sure is nice. The snow is just about all gone from my yard. Another day and it will be for sure. JT Bagwell

I can 2nd the fact that Shelbyville gets tons of boat traffic in the summer. I was fishing a tournament there about 6 years ago and hit so many boat wakes that I thought I broke my ribs. I couldn't believe the number of boats flying around that place. It is a nice lake though. I did a similar thing with my bachelor party. A bunch of my bass fishing buddies met at a smaller lake here in North West, Illinois and we fished all day. JT Bagwell

There are 2 stations down the street from my house, one of them sells 2 grades of gas and the other sells 3 grades. Here are their prices (Price to fill my boat with gas 1 time is to the side of each price, makes me sick and that doesn't even include the Optimax oil) Station #1 $3.29 ($184.24) $3.39 ($189.84) Station #2 $3.29 ($184.24) $3.44 ($192.64) $3.64 ($203.84) I am not sure what the price of diesel is because they don't it on the big sign. Also I do not know what the octane ratings are for any of the grades listed. I just saw the signs when I drove by tonight. JT Bagwell

I do not live in Iowa, but if there were no trees behind my house I could see it from my deck. I live just across the Mississippi River in Illinois. I see there are a lot of guys here from Pool 19. As close as I live to that pool I have not been on it. A guy I know runs the ABA tournies down there and has invited me down a bunch of times, but I have yet to make it. Maybe I can get down there for some fun fishing this year. Of course, I have no clue where anything is down there. JT Bagwell

Several years ago I was asked to do some product testing on a Lure Retriever and to this day it is still the one that I use. It is called the Go-Get-It. It fits right in my rod locker and extends out to I think 15' or 18'. I am not sure what the price is, but I remember it wasn't bad at all. During my testing of the product I was crashing Lucky Craft baits into a brush pile that was 10' - 12' deep and I never lost one. I think if you do a search on google for Go-Get-It lure retriever you can find it. They used to have review that I did for them on their site. Except for when they copied my review they didn't spell check their version and they had made tons of typing errors and that kind of bothered me. (not that it has anything to do with the product lol) JT Bagwell

I don't have a lucky lure, but I guess I have certain lures I like best. JT Bagwell

You might want to check out the American Bass Anglers (ABA). They have a division that fishes some the area waters over there. I personally know a lot of the guys and most of them are pretty cool. There is a pretty broad age range too (anglers from 19 to 60+). JT Bagwell

I know the American Bass Anglers (ABA) have a couple of Iowa districts. One fishes just north of Davenport in Leclaire. Another is down at Burlington or Fort Madison and I think there is a third up around Bellevue. All three fish the Mississippi river on different pools. It isn't too far of a drive from Des Moines. JT Bagwell

I actually started using the Senko as a replacement for the fluke several years ago. They work great and they are very multi-functional. I actually prefer fishing them on PowerPro line so I get more action (as a soft jerkbait) out of them. Just loosen your drag a little bit so you don't rip the hook out. JT Bagwell

MegaStrike is all I use. JT Bagwell

The 3 I am rotating through right now are as follows. Light Blue - Dolce and Gabbana Proof - Abercrombie and Fitch Romance - Ralph Lauren (my wife bought this because it is her favorite) JT Bagwell

I had a Lucky Craft CB200 that was beat to death and it was my best crank ever. It was missing an eye and have of it's paint and it still worked great. JT Bagwell

Wow, this thread is over a year old. It is kind of cool to see someone revived it. JT Bagwell

G and Skeet have the same haircut now. What's up with that? JT Bagwell

I have often thought about taking my dog fishing with me. I did take him when he was only a couple of months old and he pee'd on the carpet because I couldn't get him to the bank fast enough. Now days, he likes to remind everyone that he sees, that he is a big tough Rottweiler, so I don't even risk it. And now that he is a couple of years old, if he pee'd in the boat it might make my bilge pump kick on. JT Bagwell