MadGator

I live in Madison, WI. Up until a couple years ago we only had Gander as a big outfitter. Two Dicks stores were added a couple years ago. I'd say Dick's was a bit cheaper, and because the two stores (Gander and Dick's) were literally across the street from one another the Gander's were forced to lower prices. Gander had a better overall selection, but both had the necessities. I remember Dick's getting the first Chatterbaits a couple months before Gander though. Now Gander has closed both stores (that was awesome, 20-40% discounts on everything, I am stocked for the season), this weekend they are opening a new 90,000 sq ft store about 5 minutes from my house. I will be there for the grand opening this weekend. I believe it to be one of, if not the, biggest stores. I'll let everyone know how it is.

I have a Cabela's Advanced Angler BackPack. Holds 4 Plano 3600 boxes, has a rod carrier, a large open compartment on the top half, and several smaller compartments. I love it, use it in the boat and on shore. Works well with a bike and walking. It has a waist strap for support as it does get a little heavey. It also has a reinforced rubber handle on the top which makes it nice if you need to walk 25-50 yards down a shore line. I fish in a small club so I move my tackle from boat, to car, to boat, and I also tend to carry 1-3 rods with me where ever I go so this pack works very good. When tourny fishing it makes it easy to sling the pack over my shoulder and carry all my other gear from boat to car to boat to car etc.... I believe Browning also makes a backpack, can't speak for it, but the as far as the cabela's one it is very very nice.

I have a two year old daughter and this winter she got pretty upset when I didn't take her ice fishing. I felt bad, but she's just not quite ready yet. So last weekend I grabbed one of my ice rods and we practiced throwing a tube/jig with the hook cut off into a sled filled with water we had in the yard. She had a good time and it's getting me really excited for when we can go for real. I'm pretty sure the easter bunny is going to be bringing someone a Mickey Mouse pole.

I marked boat, but I fish from the bank a lot.

In my opionion get the biggest of everything you can afford. Longest boat, with the most storage, with the widest beam, and the largest engine. You will thank yourself in the long run. I have 17' Bass Tracker Tourment V-17. It was the biggest I could afford at the time, now I wish it was bigger, if nothing else I wish it had a bigger engine. I fish lakes that range from 300 acers - 10,000 and have been on bigger. There have been times where getting off the lake was imparative, and my little 45hp engine just dosen't get it done. Don't get me wrong, it's a great boat, I really love it, but it's also my first boat and I have learned some things. One of those things is bigger can be better and with boats, it most definately is better.

I pull them and put them in the basement. On the first of each month I hook up the charger and trickle charge them. I only picked that because it was easiest to remember. In the basement I put them on some old buckets so they are off the the concrete. Apparently, concrete can react with the battery and lower the life, don't know if that is true, but why take the chance.

This was a pretty good year for me personally. Here are some new things I did and learned.... 1. Fishing trips with good friends are awesome, even when you get skunked on the first day 2. Chatterbaits rule in early spring and early fall 3. Kentucky Lake is ginormous, and I am terrible at offshore structure fishing 4. Soft Plastic frogs are my new favorite topwater 5. Zoom Horney toads are the best soft plastic frogs on the market 6. Mustad 4/0 baitkeeper hooks are the best hooks for soft plastic frogs 7. Timing is everything, took the first week of October off had wonderfull fishing and beutifull weather, rest of the month has been horrible fishing and terrible weather. 8. I still suck at using a spinnerbait 9. Flipping a chatterbait under docks catches fish, including Bass, Muskies, and Northern Pike 10. GPS rules 11. Learing to use a locator is hard, but very very usefull 12. Boats break and are expensive to fix 13. Weightless t-rigged senko (and knockoffs) produce better than weighted 14. Wacky style is still where it's at 15. Rapala DT-10 and DT-16 seriers cranks actually catch bass 16. Rapala DT-10 and DT-16 seriers cranks hurt your arm after 3 casts 17. I enjoy fishing new water 18. All the information in the world doesn't make you the best fisherman, but it does get you a little closer 19. $35/year for local water topo maps is good price (www.lake-link.com) 20. I have a wonderfull, very cool, and awesome wife (she doesn't read this board) who let me go fishing almost every weekend this past year 21. Most importantly, Lunch breaks are for fishing, not eating. It was a good year, I caught more fish this year than in the past. I'm learning to establish patterens, based on locations, depth, water temp, structure, and weather patterns. Bass fishing is pretty much done here in Packer country, there is still open water, and the toothy critters are calling. Next the Ice will set in and I will cry myself to sleep on a nightly bassis until May when the game fish season once again and I can pursue the infamous Bass.

I fish on my lunch breaks, so nearly everyday. Although once the lake freezes over that will probably stop. Takes to long to drill a hole in the ice. During the summer I usually get the boat out at least once a week. This fall has been pretty crappy weather wise though so I haven't gotten out since the first week in Oct. Which I took off of work to fish.

I voted Triton. However, seeing how I am mostly a weekend Angler that doesn't really fish tournaments. I would really just like something around 17-18ft with a 90-120HP 4-stroke engine to save money, get me were I need to be, and enjoy my rides on the water. Not too expensive, but not too cheap. I'm thinking this will be the case in 4-5 years.

I'd go a step further and say.... If it's not reccomended by your Outboard Manufaturer Don't Use It!!!!

Well the attachment is generally called Ear Muffs or just Muffs (although this is probably a slang term). Any boat dealer will have them, they work very well. I would not run your motor dry for more than a few seconds, water is the essential element for cooling your engine and if you run dry for just a minute or two it can cause problems. Your engine is small enough that you could probably fill up a garbage can with water and run it in there, if you don't want to spend the money on the muffs. However, they are only about $20. Make sure after about 30 secs water is coming out the pee hole. There are two vent looking things on each side of the lower unit, these have to be covered by the muffs or submersed in water.

Try searching various states DNR websites. The Wisconsin DNR posts a lot of their research information/publicatons on the site. Usually it's pretty buried though. The other option is to find Universities with good Limnology departments. Some suggestions are the University of Wisconsin - Madison and UW Steven's Point. I would guess that Minnesota would have some, as well as Texas and Florida. Search their sites and see what comes up. This type of information may have to be specifically requested. I would also contact BASS and FLW as they not only do a lot of research, but aid in a lot of research. In Fisherman is another great publicaton. There are many books out there as well, although I would stick with things published in the last couple of years, as RW stated this is a challenging and changing science.

I like t-rigged or w-rigged weightless Yum Dingers for shallow docks and either 1/4oz weighted tube or fat IKA for deeper docks.

I stand if I am Bass fishing, usually I don't even bother to put the front seat in the boat when I am searching for bass. However, if I am out for Pannies or Walleye, where I am jigging/drifting, I will throw the seat in.

I have an Eagle FishElite 502c ff/gps combo unit. I would reccomend the unit with the external antena. The internal antena is a bit weak, takes several minutes to get the signal. I've actually lost the signal on a bluebird sky day in open water, usually it comes right back, but annoying regaurdless. I've heard much better things about the External antena. Other than the Antena, I have no complaints about the unit. In fact, for the money I think it's the best you can get.