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My first boat was an early 70's Tomboy bassboat with a 1975 Johnson 35hp motor on it. The motor was only around a year old. It was one of the old bathtub style, cathedral hulls with stick steering. Only some tiny storage areas under each pedestal seat and a livewell. At 15 1/2 foot it wasn't much. I paid around $1200 for it. Half the money I saved and I financed the rest. I barely had it for a year when I sold it and bought a new 1978 Charger Bassboat with a 115hp Evinrude motor. The size of the lakes I was fishing just made that Tomboy impractical to fish out of.

Before you get to Branson check around for the coupon books. There's a number of places that have them for free. Those things are loaded with $$ off the shows, restaraunts and other attractions.

If you've never been to a Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede you should go. You get a warm up show. A meal along with a great horse show that goes on in front of you. Audience participation throughout the whole thing. Great for the family it's pretty reasonable. If you get a chance, check out the school of the Ozarks. The kids work their way through school. They have a pretty nice restaraunt that's reasonable too with a nice view. The White water there is pretty good. Silver Dollar City The Shoji Tabuchi show is supposed to be good. He bass fishes BTW. If you've got the cash, grab a helicopter ride. They're located towards the western end of the strip. Those guys will give you a few extra dives and spins that'll have you screaming. Ohh, and get a map and learn to use the backroads whenever possible.

The Emily Procter show,, I mean, Miami CSI, that's about it.

If you go back through the annals of bass tournament results, there are as many wins that were achieved by guys moving to several preselected spots using different baits and presentations as there are with guys who camped out on a select piece of structure. Cold front passes through, lake rises, lake falls, lake clears, lake muddies up, rain moves in or rain moves out. The possibilities are endless. Sometimes just the pressure of the tournament itself shuts the fish off. I've read quite a few tourney results where a guy runs to a spot knowing the bite is on in that spot for only an hour or so on a particular bait and then whammo, it shuts off. Then they pull up stakes and move to another pre-selected pattern for the rest of the day. How many times has a guy got a pattern setup to catch a quick limit and then change patterns completely in order to catch that kicker fish or two? While it's true that some tourney guys do camp out on an area, fish it and let the chips fall where they may. If I was fishing I sure wouldn't rely on a pattern to hold for 3 or 4 days considering the conditions under which I'm fishing will change (water level, clarity, air pressure, weather conditions, etc.) I'd definitely try and come up with some backup fish in case things go awry.

Taking one of their "spots", say like a rock jetty, and utilizing it to win a tournament. Just funnin with ya. ;D One thing a pro like KVD does best is set himself up with multiple patterns on a lake during the practice periods. Those multiple patterns usually involve different baits with different presentations in different types of water. Roland Martin did that for years. To think an angler as talented as Van Dam is would allow himself to become a "one method Pete" is crazy. Too many things change over the course of a 3 or 4 day tournament. If you can't change with conditions you won't be at the top of the leader board and being at the top is something that guy does often.

I'm going to disagree with this part If a pro tour angler used this line of thinking he'd probably bomb half the time he went out on the water. The one thing that sets the pro anglers apart from most is their ability to fish waters and techniques they aren't familiar with or have 100% confidence in in order to adapt to the water conditions or lake type they're fishing. If he used the technique you're describing, he'd try and find water that best suited his style of fishing, lure presentation and technique and THEN the chips would fall where they may. Most of those pro's though become familiar with all types of techniques because they have to in order to remain competitive. A guy like Denny Brauer may be known as a jig flippin expert but he's just as adept at switching to drop shotting if he has to. He may not like to drop shot, Probably doesn't have anywhere near the confidence in it as others but he will catch fish doing it. Conversly, KVD, who's best known as a spinnerbait king could switch to flippin to put fish in the boat if he had to. He may not necessarily like to do it nor be 100% comfortable but he can change gears like that if conditions dictate. He made the choice to not just toss his confidence bait and let the chips fall where they may and instead, change tactics to put the odds back in his favor.

I don't understand why the hooters post was deleted either. What's wrong with this?

I try and get out on Saturday. Usually fish around 6-7 hours. I'd love to fish more. I need to move somewhere with good bodies of water much closer.

I always thought the ultimate challenge for any bassfishermen(woman) was the original Bassmasters Classic format. Stick the top tourney pro's on a plane with a unknown destination, announce the destination in the middle of the flight and then hand out lake maps, allow 1 day to practice and familiarize themselves with the lake and then shoot the flare gun off and let'em have at it. Obviously you can't do this anymore but those guys did remarkedly well during those first few classics run like that. If you spend enough time on the water you're going to get in-tuned to what bass are doing. If you spend enough time on any single body of water you'll do the same. If you prepare yourself for fishing a new or nearly to (to you) body of water by studying maps, talking to locals or baitshop owners, checking the internet, you've cut the odds of you having a bad day on the water. Take the time to read Bassmasters "A day on the Water" series with the pro's. These guys are quite adept at putting fish in the boat. They're very methodical though they do have bad days. Big Bass fishermen and tournament anglers are about as different as the guys in the home run derby shows and guys playing a regular game of baseball. If you saw the amount of tape on the cutting room floor of the average fishing TV show, you'd quickly realize those TV show hosts WEREN'T catching a fish on virtually every cast. Everyday I'm on the water, I start to realize there are more exceptions to just about any rule in bass fishing. Take nothing for granted and never think you've got it figured out. The fish will always prove you wrong.

Now that's a whole lotta pork rinds there folks! I saw that Nat. Geographic special on the first hogzilla. Scary that those cross bred pigs can get that big.

A rough water ride and how wet you get depends on two things, the driver and the boat. Depends on wave height and time. Swells long distances apart can be driven up and down. Waves closer together can be driven across with a boat your size. Depending on how rough it is you can really get a workout feathering the throttle and trim as you move across the water. Practice makes perfect. Always attempt to take larger waves by quartering them, you really don't want to wind up nosing a wave. That's a good way to end up in the water. I have quite a few years running on Lake of the Ozarks on busy weekends. That is rough amplified. The only thing worse would probably be the Great Lakes, the ocean or Gulf. Even if you're a good boater, some boats just take the rough stuff better than others. Boats with a deeper V like a Champion, Charger or Stratos tend to cut through waves better and deflect water away from the driver and passenger. Boats like a Basscat or Ranger, to name a few, with a shallower V not only don't cut through the waves cleanly but they also send more water over the side and onto you.

I've got moles pretty bad as well. I've tried the peanuts and so far I've gotten 2 of them. I've had far less success over the years with the traps.

Good point.

How rough and what kind of boat?

Whether the reel is defective or not, Academy is representing something as New in the box when it isn't. If I'm buying something at a NEW price, I expect the only hands to have been on it before mine to be the assembly line workers and a QC person at the end of said line. Anything else is mis-representing the reel as NIB.

Hmmm.. I work in electronics repair. Companies regularily get returns back due to liberal exchange policies most big box retailers have these days in order to compete. You're right, lot's of times customers think they have to make up an excuse in order to return something even though said return policy doesn't indicate that. Regardless of whether the unit has a listed problem or not, unless the customer didn't even open the box, the unit is sent to service, we check it out and find no problem and send it back but at that point the retailer is obligated to sell such item as 'open stock'. It comes with a full warranty but there's no mistaking the unit was previously owned, whether used or not. If the box was never opened, it's OK at that point to return it to stock, commonly happens during the Christmas returns season. I'm not aware of a law on any books that makes that a requirement but it would seem as though sticking something back in stock as new that was previously used isn't kosher.

A guy on Bass Fishing Homepage has one like new with box and papers for $135!

Do we know this is happening and how could it be proved? Just wondering. Most retailers will take a return on something like a fishing reel, have it checked out, then sell it as a new, open box item. Not put it back in with normal stock. If Cabela's and BPS aren't doing that I'd say there's a bone to pick with both retailers. Then again, BPS has their outlet store right next to World HQ and their reel repair center, I'd assume any returned reel that checked out would wind up there. Even if these were restocks on returned items, the fact is they were defective new. If Flech is getting these in just 3 orders how many more of these are being returned defective for the same problem? That, or this is one incredible coincidence.

For $5 more I'd take it though side by side you probably wouldn't see a whole lot of difference.

I put one in a year ago and wished I'd done it sooner. No more back pain here.

Both the S and SX Revo's are nice reels. I'm not fond of Centrifugal braking systems but that's a personal choice. The SX has the external mag adjustment. Both reels feel pretty much the same on a rod other wise. If you poke around on the forum boards you can easily find an SX, NIB for around $120. Matched with a Shimano Clarus rod you're right at $190-200. Go with the S version Revo, which you can find on Ebay for around $85-90 NIB, and you can go with a Compre rod for the same price point.

My Senko rod is a Team Allstar wacky worm special baitcaster. I don't think they make it anymore in a baitcaster though. I've thrown baits down to 3" with it with no problem.

I've use the mesh sleeves just like the ones those two companies sell but I got mine from Fivebasslimit here. I basically leave them in the mesh whenever I'm not using them and that includes putting them in the bed of my truck.

I've seen a few interesting recipes for gar. None of which ever included actually eating the fish after you were done cooking it.