DogBone_384

Hang it from your rear view mirror?

Not so ironic. They were great cars. I had a '72 Skylark convertible in college that I paid $2,500 for. Before that I had a '72 Cutlass I bought from my 5th grade teacher (she finally got tired of my hounding her for the car) and grew up riding around in a '70 Olds Vista Cruiser. I'm an Olds guy first, but there weren't any in a range I could touch. The Buick I was outbid for sold for $23,000. Best sunroof you can get. My wife and daughter both have Jeep Wranglers. If I didn't need a pickup for work I'd have one too. We'd be the crazy Jeep family in my neighborhood.

Got back from Florida last night. Didn't bring any fishing gear, which was the right call. My resort closed the lake again due to wind & cold. I spent 2 1/2 days at the Mecum auction, bid on a couple cars, but they got past my budget. A '70 Skylark convertible and '67 Cutlass convertible. Going to keep the tackle monkey locked up for a year and bring something home next year. Looking forward to meeting members on the 21st.

Took a ride to Houghton's and Blue Hills Reservoir this afternoon between shifts. Houghton's was 2/3 - 3/4 open with just a skim coat on the W-NW shore. Blue Hills was wide open. I fished both with no expectations for a little while. Nada. There was one other fisherman at Houghton's that looked like he had a few lines out. I didn't see him catch anything while I was there. Regardless, I got out for a little while today. I'm heading to the Mecum Auction Thursday and am bringing a rod, just in case.

I had 2 PB's in 2016. My best Larry came on a black/blue Chigger-craw and the smallie came on a 4" wacky rigged Senko in baby bass.

A few bags of soft plastics and tungsten jig hooks I picked up this past holiday sale season. That's about it.

Welcome to the forum. BTW, are you Yankees or Red Sox?

Happy New Year to all!

Fish with more members.

.... the bills, what else!

January 7 and 28 are the only two days I won't be around. Whatever the consensus is, I'm in.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and thanks very much for your great service!

Best of luck, and Merry Christmas!

Congratulations!

Follow your gut. If you really want to be a Police Officer find out what you need to do in your state/county. In Mass, where I am, Police/Fire have to take civil service, physical ability, and psychiactric tests before earning consideration by a municipality. Veterans in MA get hiring prefernce too. Talk to Police Officers in your town to get their opinion of the job. I'm a firefighter and interact with the Police every shift. What you see on the news represents a fraction of a percent of every day reality, and movies, well, are movies. Lastly, my father always told me to consider a job that I could picture myself doing when I'm in my 40's & 50's. I give my daughter the same advice. Best of luck with your career choice.

I did well this year. I'd say I got our somewhere between 50-75 days this year. Many trips were only for a few hours before or after work. Caught fish every month except February, April, and December (though it's not over yet...).

Merry Christmas. Look forward to meeting up after the holidays.

Houghton's Pond is close to home. I might give that a go when it gets thick enough. See what I can pull up.

Only doing my part in trying to keep MA bass nervous.

Funny you say Ice fishing. The waters I drove by today were skimmed over. I've never ice fished, but bought some stuff in Kittery on closeout last Spring with the intention of giving it a go this winter. Sine it's pretty well ice out and we have more time to read, I found this while buying my '17 license: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/education-events/masswildlife-news/masswildlife-monthly-august-2015.html#pondmaps

Fast & Loud, All Girls Garage, and Jay Leno's garage..... 'bout it for me now that bass season is over up here.

Welcome to the forum. Start here: Then go to your local shops and handle as many different models as you can. There are a ton of great rods in your price range. There's also a big 'subjective' factor. Abu Garcia's Veritas are my favorite rod @ $99.

What the membership already said! Welcome to the forum!

Checked boxes are good.

I agree with many of the points yakingfisherman makes regarding the 128T. I bought one in '14 and had the leaks, warping hull, and hatch opening issues. BPS was great and replaced my first one. My second one again leaked, but I remedied that myself. On the positive side, it's very stable, accepts a transom mount trolling motor straight away, has an all day comfortable seat, and less the leaking hatch, is a great entry level fishing kayak. You can get out the door with it, a PFD, and paddle for under $1,000. As far as transporting it, yes, it's big. I have a scupper cart and load it on my truck's ladder rack by placing the stern on one of my rubber floor mats and levering it onto the rack with a bear hug. I've heard Ascend remedied the known issues. I hope so, because without the leaks and binding hatches, it's a great fishing kayak. Also, it's made here in the US, so while it's got its issues, keeps a number of folks employed.