Flukeman

I have a friend that has one of the baitcasters. It does cast a mile, but it really shines in cold weather. We bass fish right up until things ice up and he steelhead fishes with the reel during freezing conditions. No line guide to freeze up on you.

My weights I keep in one of those Plano water tight boxes. The hooks I keep in one of those worm binders with the plastic bags.

This argument is irrelevant. In their country they are paid well by their standards and feel they have a great life. Just like our unions feel. The problem is quality control and process decisions. The big three decided to give us crap for some years at a high price and the American people said no more. That gave these other companies time to get a foot hold, who knows if they will go back. Reel companies will have to make the same kind of decisions. When they make the wrong one people will move on to other brands. I have used Abu's for a long time with no problems. Switched to some Bass Pro reels for a while with very little problems. I recently switched back to the Revo's after a friend had them for years with no problems. I could not be happier with mine (2009's)and I here the newer ones are even better. If the over sea's factories pay attention to process decisions and quality control, they will have no problems no matter what wage they pay or where they are made. In fishing confidence plays a huge roll in my opinion. If you feel better about buying from one country vs. another, then that is the route I would go.

That is the rod I use, it works great and is reasonably priced!

Had a guy clean my clock six to one one day with that darn smelly jelly. Yes, I now use the smelly jelly!

I think some are athletic, but do not consider them athletes. I put them in that category with golfers, the DH and first baseman in baseball, prof dart players, and poker players. They all compete, may be able to run a mile, or lift weights, but are not athletes. But I must say it doesn't bother me what people call them, what would bother me... is if I could not catch fish ;D

I was surprised to find the chartreuse/black back did not come with a rattle in the 1.5 size. I would have thought if you needed the color for murky water, it would have had the rattles too.

Remember too, he was fishing Venice, 100 mile ride each day, maybe through some rough conditions. Not sure how rough that ride is. I have had some reel seats loosen up on much shorter rough runs on our lake Ontario waters.

Our Gander has the DT's for $4.99 all the time and always have a ton of stock.

We had our Federation board meeting at the Auburn store tonight. The unfortunate part was we had a major snow storm and Chris and Woo Daves flight was canceled, that was a bummer for folks. We did get done in time to walk around a little and pick a few things up. Even though the storm kept people away, the KVD 1.5/2.5 in chartreuse sold right out. They had some nice sales going on and the staff was great.

I had some BPS tungsten with the inserts. I pulled them out and have had no problems with fraying or breakage. Of course I use fireline instead of braid, maybe that makes a difference. Now BPS has come out with tungsten weights without inserts.

Did you have to go and let the color thing out of the bag. I have always been able to find my baits because our water is so different than what the Elites fish. Now my colors will be gone ;D I am so not the bait junky anymore: Only throw one kind of frog Only use 2 colors of tubes Only throw one color of fluke Have 20 cranks, but I don't even own a square billed crank. And most of them are the same just a different color. What I do have works around here, I think location is the biggest key. All those guys were whacking the fish that last day and they were not all using a square billed crank.

My zoom Flukes fall horizontally, maybe it is the set up your using. Bill's show is filmed on his private pond, he has a nice spread.

We were giving alternate options because he is going as a Co-angler and may not get a decent shot at the bank fish.

That's too funny ;D

Guy's on here are not going to give you spots on a lake. But here is what I do for a spawning tournament when I go as a Co. 1.) Not all fish spawn at the same time, and hope your boater has half a brain to put you in the right spots. 2.) Take your boat out a head of time and prefish with a hand held GPS/map. You are looking for the best bedding spots, and then turn around and look out deeper. you are looking for slight drops that would hold fish as they move up. 3.) if you are there the week prior you will actually be able to see the beds. When you find a bunch of beds get on the trolling motor and look for that drop. If it is within casting distance mark your GPS. 4.) While your boater is working a bed, check to see if the drop is close enough and begin fan casting to that spot. Does not matter how slight the drop is, your looking for the staging fish not locked on yet. 5.) Other than drops you will want to be looking for edges of weeds or wood out away from the bank. 6.) Some of these bed fish will take a litle work from the boater. So you will want a couple rods rigged with water covering fan cast type baits and a couple rods with bottom dragging banks. 7.) Even in areas where you don't have GPS marks, fan cast first. If the boater starts locking onto a bed, start dragging the bottom. Many times there are beds deeper that a lot of boaters don't even know about. This will give you the best chance against the other Co's. the Co's that will give you the most trouble will be the ones who draw a boater fishing staging fish. It's a lot harder back boating someone in deeper water. Even if everything goes right, spawn tournaments are a grind for Co-anglers. I have had some Co's do this to me, so I know it works ;D

I don't know about KVD's wife, but Aarrons wife gave away he did not win when he was on stage. Either that or he did something really wrong in her book, she looked just evil ;D

the BassTraxx is not very accurate. I did that for a tourney before, basically you are tallying what the angler tells you. Let's just say from 50 feet you can tell when a fish is 2.5 and not 4lbs. But they all seem to be 4lbs on the last day ;D

You have to remember, ESPN scheduled the Classic, not the new ownership. I am the membership chair for NY and I have heard nothing but positive about the new ownership taking over. And when it comes to the magazine, last time I checked they out sold the FLW magazine by quite a bit nationwide. I have no complaints with the new ownership, Jerry even came to our state banquet to be the keynote! We wanted more grassroots and I think they are trying to deliver. They have already secured additional TV coverage outside the ESPN nonsense time slot. Give them some time to prove themselves, they have only had the keys for a couple of months. Jeez

I'm not worked up, I think it is funny. They inundate you with paper and web broadcasts until it is one that this audience happens to be waiting for.

Cracks me up: 5 or 6 catalogs a year, usually in triplicate 2-3 emails a week Flyers for lesser sales weeks in advance, usually in triplicate Biggest sale flyer of the year out at the last minute... priceless :

That is the deal. He has a new show called Zona's Awesome Fishing Show on the Outdoor Channel.

1. Lindner's Angling Edge 2. Bass Pros 3. Classic Patterns would be third, but not aired here right now

I knew you would reply when you saw that, lol. Those bluegills and perch are just so much closer to get to. What I am really waiting for is the 6 feet of snow up there to settle out after this warm front.

Has anyone seen the Classic Ad yet? I usually get it sent to me weeks before the event, but have not seen it yet. Usually they even send me three of the things. I have not even seen it on line yet. I generally take a break from ice fishing, spend those couple of weeks going through my gear and making my plan according to the ad. Reload the stock and start my Steelhead season. They are messing up my routine ;D