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My wife had her identity stolen and the thief had a phone hooked up at his grandma's house and wound up ringing up $2000 in 3 months before they cut it off. My wife knew nothing about this and tried getting a credit extension one day when whammo! You owe the phone company $2000 for this phone bill you never paid for. The phone was in a house in one of the worst parts of town. The phone records indicated hundreds of calls to numerous penal institutions in Missouri and Illinois. The worst part was how hard WE had to work to get this obvious identity theft charge off her record. The police told us it's not uncommon for the car detailers to have criminals working for them and they make a contact within the financial department of car dealerships they work for. The contact pulls the information off of loan applications and then the sky's the limit as to what they can do. This all happened just a month after my wife had taken a loan out for her car 2 years ago.

I have a few extremes. Excellant rods and lately they've been on sale for only $70.

Wow! Only $150 for a set of Bifocals. I need to look into these.

I've used a floating trap for years. Great in extremely skinning water above the grass. You can add some suspend strips and turn the thing into a suspender.

I really doubt that those rope lights would draw enough current to worry about running a battery down but it's still a good deal to put them on their own switch.

Actually it looks like he took the time to actually test all those lines. His methodology seems pretty fair and consistant across the board. What I found interesting was that the fusion style lines stretched the least. I have no idea what his experience is in testing procedures but he seems to have created a pretty decent chart for comparison. I would've love to have seen a second chart with the stretch factor after the lines had soaked in water. That page is bookmarked.

There are often good bargains to be had at boat shows and I've bought a few rods and some reels there. Take a look through the BPS catalog, get an idea of what you want and the prices and then go to the show and compare.

If you're fishing with a 60 million modulus rod you're fishing an Extreme. The Bionic Blades are IM8, 45 MM rods. I really can't say you'll see any appreciable difference in the Elite St Croix rods and an Extreme rod. As someone who sells rods and reels and test drives some of them I haven't noticed a great deal of difference in sensitivity once you get above say the 54 and 60 million modulus rods. Once you start buying rods higher than that you're paying for name recognition and a warranty you'll probably use because those thin walled, uber sensitive rods break. They also don't tolerate any kind of abuse and I mean even slight abuse. As for reels, as reel mech says, one you get above 5 or 6 bearings you're not gaining anything but price. There are quite a few reels out there for the $80-100 mark that will serve you well for years. Get into the $150 range and you're at the top of the scale in functionality and reliability, above that mark and you're spending way more money than you need to. I'd much rather spend that extra money fishing rather than having ultra expensive equipment.

Smart move for Ike & Basscat. I suppose they'll come out with an Ike Model Basscat. It'll come with an unbreakable, Titanium stern navigation light with a built-in US flag and a little LM bass defibulator for reviving dead bass when you forget to turn your livewells on.

There's a barely used Garcia Revo SX on the flea market now going for $125. Curado, meet the new kid in town with a drag system that kicks your azz. ;D

Pick up copies (DVD or VHS) of Larry Nixons seasonal movements of bass. One of the best guides to get you started in the right place I've ever seen.

Typical BPS paycheck for bass fishing part timers "lucky" enough to get a job there. Gross Pay - Taxes = Net pay - Employee purchases via discount = You're working next week for free to pay off what you spent this week.

I use a Garcia 2005LP. You can only find them on Ebay now. Another one is the Shimano Castaic. It has that pretty neat instagage switch on it which is sorta like a flippin switch.

I've got a couple Shimano Convergence rods and they came with a lifetime warranty. I can't believe the Crucials don't.

Here's a shot of mine, hook came out and dove in after him. He managed to wiggle free

Well, they're pretty doggone expensive.

I don't use the Mags very often but I've got quite an extensive selection of Pre-Rapala Wiggle warts. Great pre-spawn bait.

Probably one of the most useless gauges on a boat next to the speedo. High performance boats are driven by feel, reaction to what the boat is doing and watching the tach. A trim gauge merely shows you what position a motor is in. As I step off the front deck to move to another location I can see if my motor is trimmed all the way down, ready for takeoff or not. That's really the only time I'm interested in the position of the motor anyway.

Yes, Bridge of Sighs was a must have if you were interested in Trower. The standard, most commercially available version of that album cover came in beige, I was lucky enough to score a harder to find Green album cover. It was worth a few bucks more.

A halfway decomposed crappie. Not sure how I missed that one. Took a month of scrubbing, then open boxes of baking soda to get the smell out.

For most spinnerbaiting I use an old pistol grip Lightning rod, 6', M/Hvy action with a Garcia 2005 reel spooled with 14lb mono. I do change to a 6'6" Perf. Graphite, IM8 M/Hvy, BPS rod with a PQ round reel if I'm throwing long distances or big blades down deep.

The success of Frampton Comes Alive was always interesting. His solo work, which comprised the Live album, wasnt' particularly embraced nor very popular. His follow up album to the live flopped. I saw him on Tube TV the other day, he looked Old.

I'll also choose a plastic worm.

I use EC's lazer sharps, Gammies, owners, mustads, you name it. Honestly, they all make great hooks and I've yet to find anyone brand that is superior to all the rest across the board.