Zel

Very nice looking boat. I'll be looking for it on those "Joisey" lakes. Is that the Minn Kota 55 Powerdrive? Just had a one put on my boat, but the ice isn't melted here in the Poconos yet, so haven't got a chance to try it out. How do you like it?

Thanks muddy, it would be great fishing out of the Muddy Boat. Hopefully that Muddy Waters song Got My Mojo Working will work for us chasing those weedy bass.

Muddy I called M&H Marine this morning (near Beltzville Lake). I'm planning on taking the boat in on Saturday to have another fish finder installed. They said there is still ice on Beltzville and Mauch Chunk, although in their words it's getting MUSHY. Was hoping to do some bass fishing in this weekend oh well. Looks like I will be doing some transom work on the 14 ft Mauch Chunk Special instead. This spring, when I'm planning on going solo to Mauch Chunk, I will PM you in advance, and maybe we can get a couple of days of fishing in. Question is, can you deal with a Phillies fan? Sending you off the reel tomorrow via UPS.

So it seems the Mooks had an interesting experience with a rental boat at Lake Fork. Can't wait for the story, but does it really surprise anyone? Just curious we've seen and enjoyed Muddy's pre trip postings. So what do you think would have been your choice regarding a Mook rental (before it happened)? My choice would have been "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and proclaiming loudly----WOW----What a ride!", but it was too long an answer for the poll.

Welcome from another PA (gateway to NJ) guy.

jbordy... you might want to check out this boat. It's on ebay but located at a marine in Bloomsburg. A little over 2 days left. Seems it's a lot of boat for not much money (so far), but it looks like it was used in 2001 and 2002 Bass Masters tour. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997-185-Pro-18-Procraft-Boat-Motors-Trailer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63724QQitemZ130089936957QQrdZ1

R1Peacock... you pose some very good points. Thanks.

I hope all will be well with your Grandpa. Let him know he is in your thoughts, and be there for him if he needs anything. Last Wednesday, I also was informed by my doctor that I have cancer. My Gleeson and PSA score is relatively low-grade, and my prognosis is also good (95% survival rate) for about 10 years. Now just have to decide which method of treatment to attack it with.

Watching Fishing University over the weekend I saw how easy it was to install the Blackfin replacement skeg by yourself. With my son-in-law planning to drive the boat a lot this year, I'm afraid I will need something like this. :-/ Has anyone every installed and used one of these things?

If you're just graduating from high school you might want to stay in the USA. Maybe Orlando area (so much to do there), and fish the Harris and Kissimme chain of lakes, and of course Toho. Lots of guide services around there.

CONGRATS... I have 4 daughters, and each delivery experience is different. Just relax childbirth is a natural thing. If it's her first child and it goes much beyond the due date, your wife might be induced. If this is the case, take her out for a nice meal on the way to the hospital the evening before. If labor comes natural, and it's the first child, labor will probably be quite awhile, so I wouldn't fret about the distance from work. I went through all those fun classes twice, and it comes down to just doing what the doctors say, and above all to just comfort your wife and help her with the breathing when you see the "spikes" coming on. If you plan on going natural childbirth keep in mind plan B (epidural). Natural childbirth could drain you wife so much that she might be begging for the drugs eventually. I would recommend if you do switch and go epidural, don't wait too long and let her become totally exhausted. All mine were to be natural childbirth but they all ended up being delivered with an epidural. Don't let anything your wife might say to you during childbirth bother you (take along your iPod). When our last daughter was born (six years ago), the doctor asked if a new doctor recently out of med school could deliver her. I asked if he had delivered any children before, and the answer was no. The young Dr. Doogie Houser was deaf (so you had to speak directly to his face), hard to understand, but one heck of a nice kid. So we said what-the-hell, sure. He was more nervous than us, and we had to comfort him throughout the process. Hey, we figured all doctors have to learn their profession sometime. I understand he is quite a good doctor today.

nboucher, Yep from what you described, US Air seems to have messed up big time. A new computer system along with a winter storm, and no apparent contingency to deal with the problems is a recipe for disaster. And 2 days to get you guys out is just pitiful. Hope you get out soon.

Was the problems only with US Ariways, or did it affect every carrier? I think some of the problems had to do with a shortage of deicing fluid, and a new federal regulation that gives pilots a narrow window to get their planes in the air once the chemicals are applied. This change has meant some jets need to get doused repeatedly if their takeoffs are delayed. This also means bigger problems than ever before in bad weather. I might be wrong, but I think the responsibility for supplying and maintaining terminal deicing equipment is the job of the airport, not the airlines. (I don't work for US Airways)

Welcome... Most of all, you will really enjoy the additional freedom to move about, that you'll get out of your new boat, over the canoe. We did when we went to a 14ft... my son-in-law won't even fish out of the canoe anymore.

Yeh, the old girl is gonna take out a contract on that Punxsutawney Phil.

SIGH!!!!!

Did I hear something was spotted outside Knoxville?

Oh come on LBH what's wrong with a little coup d' état now and then amongst friends.

Those are good looking quality bass in the pictures. Is the Largemouth Bass a relatively new fish to Croatia? My grandparents came to the U.S. from central Slovakia, and they only ever talked about fishing for trout and eel.

Are you feeding us a load of crap? I would stay away from using deep diving crankbaits in that thing.

Feel for you Muddy Tough breaking in a new fishing partner. Two fishing seasons down and my son-in-law is starting to come around. Maybe we can meet up and hit Mauch Chunk a couple of times this season and also work on the C.A.S.T. event in the process. Is there an initiation process to Mookdom?

Couldn't really say (don't use the 112 for Smallies), but the 112 is only 1/2" longer than the 97, so I don't see why not.

Spiroh... Just a personal preference, but I use the Slender Pointer for SM, Live Pointer for LM&SM and the regular Pointer for LM - when I use suspending Jerkbaits. I guess I'm somewhat old school and still partial to the 4 Original Floating Rapala (front hook swapped out with a larger red treble) when I don't need the Jerkbait to suspend for the Smallies.

Most of the Smallie lakes around here are fairly visible, and alewife is a main forage, so I use the 4 Aurora Black.

Using old spark plugs are the best way to retrieve them when they get hung up. I hardly lose any and I use blade baits in some real nasty locations.