Karma

if you go to barlows tackle website (google it) and look up the particular mold that you have, they usually have a chart. It is the only website I have found to do so. It will tell you what hook sizes are compatible with each weight and it will even list other brands and models of hooks that will work in that mold.

caught it on the Cumberland River near Gainesboro, TN fishing the old port barge mooring pillars with a black spinnerbait. 2 lbs 11 ounces.

a search bait like a spinnerbait or chatterbait would be the first thing I grabbed out of my tackle box.

reminded me of a humorous story. My boss and I went on lunch break, picked up some popeyes and drove to a nearby park on the edge of a lake. Hadn't been there long and an RV pulled in, obviously well to do folks from the north east. Just to be honest, Florida natives, are not fond of snowbirds. Anyway the woman, mid 50s or so got out and started walking her little toy dog around the edge of the pond when my boss said "mam you probably shouldn't be doing that, we have alligators around here." She stuck up her nose at him and made a snobby comment for him to mind his own business. He rolled his eyes and we went back to munching down our lunch. A few minutes later, CRASH! and a blood curling scream, a gator grabbed Fluffy, leash and all. My boss and I both burst out laughing, couldn't help it. They occasionally get under the cars in the employee parking lot and we have to go out there and chase them off for the women. None of them are very big, 4 feet tops. Most of the time they see us coming and run, a few times we have to grab their tails and drag them. Only once have we felt the need to call Fish and Game. The only time I have ever had any trouble with them was when we found some babies and we started handling them. Had been there maybe 2 minutes when we heard momma growling and making a beeline for us from a hundred feet or so away, start the engines and moooove!! lol.

I haven't had any of them break yet. How do you store yours? A lot of the skirts that I use are the Boss skirts. I use the same bands that they use on the ones I create myself though.

I had a Garmin Echo 551 DV from my old boat I mounted on the trolling motor. I will probably be upgrading both console and bow to Lowrance Elite 7 Tis this winter when I replace the carpeting.

Honestly... the Neptune system looks like something you could build yourself for 1/4 the cost in an hours time in the garage.

I guess I got lucky. I keep my boat in my barn and I live on a farm out in the sticks. I got all sorts of black snakes, and when I find one somewhere it shouldn't be. I catch them and take them to my barn. Not only that but I have a family of opossums that live in the barn to. I had a baby one run up playing on my boot the other night in the barn. Scared the bejebus out of both of us. Cutest little ugly sob I have ever laid eyes on. So get yourself some opossums and snakes. They love mice.

I just got tired of all the mechanical issues I was having with my 1990 Javelin so I sold it and went looking around for a new one. I really liked the Triton TRX-179 but honestly.. I am not paying over $20k for a fishing boat. I paid that for my pick up truck, used with 40k miles on it. I use the truck every day, the boat I may get to use 3 or 4 days a month depending on my work schedule. I ended up buying a brand new 2015 Tracker Pro Team 175 TXW with a 60 hp Mercury 4 stroke. I bought it July 6th, they really wanted it gone so they could make room for the new 2017 models. I wanted the 15 model because it had features the 16/17 models don't. The extra forward livewell and the built in cooler. It had the vinyl flooring which I didn't want and it was peeling in places, so with the flooring a little messed up and them needing the space, I was able to haggle the price a bit. I got the boat for less than $15k. Other than the flooring, peeling in places (it will be recarpeted this winter), I have had no issues with my Tracker. In fact I am more than happy with it. I do miss the extra 20+ mph that my old Javelin had. The fastest I have gotten my Tracker up to using both my phone and its speedometer was around 39 mph with a full forward livewell with two grown men aboard with gear and 3/4 tank of fuel. The few minor complaints I have are that the lights on the trailer are not sealed. I will be replacing those with sealed LED lights as they go out. The rear restraint straps are beyond cheap. They are absolute garbage. I have replaced those with boatbuckle straps. The electronics mine came with (a lowrance elite x4 pro) is garbage as well. I should have looked into upgrading that when I bought the boat but it slipped my mind. Oh well.

I just recently got into making my own football jig and ended up starting to sell them. It was hard to find exactly what you wanted in my neck of the woods, the nearest bass pro is 70 miles away, Cabel's 100+, Academy 50+ and the local bait shop is over priced. You either make your own, know someone who does or you order online and wait. It's really not as expensive as you think but if also depends on how deep you want to get into it. I order most of my lead off of ebay for about a dollar a pound or I go to the local gun range and buy a bucket of spent lead from them, $5 for 100 lbs but you have to sort out all of the brass casings. Ordering pure lead from ebay is the easiest way. Then you will need your melting pot... I ordered the Lee Precision Production Lead Melting Pot for $60-$65 off of ebay. The mold I bought was a Do-It brand football jig mold... $40ish and then the hooks... $8 per 50 for the Mustads. That is really all you need.. I went a little further and bought a heat gun for $20 and various sorts of powder paint for $7 each and a cheap wal-mart microwave oven to bake the paint on in. Do not use an oven you are going to be cooking out of... lead is bad for you. Speaking of safety I also bought some thick leather gloves, and a respirator P100 ($40 at Lowes, can find cheaper ones). so.... buying the same equipment and materials I did just to pour some basic molds with no paint, your looking around $120. I dropped around $350 on my initial set up with all of the hooks, jig skirts, paints, weedguards, equipment, materials.. etc. I haven't made all of that back yet even though I have sold quiet a few but I have my little assembly line set up in the barn and I live out in the sticks. It's relaxing to spend some time out there at night in the barn with the radio going enjoying a cold one stamping out something someone is going to catch fish on. I enjoy it and take pride in my jigs. If nothing else it is a fun hobby to get into. some of my work below. Kentucky Battle Craw

I travel all over the country for work. I don't even consider California to be part of America with all of its ridiculous laws. Thank God I live in the south.

If they meet regulation length... I usually take those eye hooked fish home and eat them.

totally thought this topic was about something else when I clicked on it.

someone maybe able to help you just by looking at the red badge on the front of that but.. if you can go look on it there should be a serial number or a model number stamped on it. Usually on the right hand side of the motor below the cowling... you can look that model number up on a google search easily.

a $7.00 Heddon Baby Torpedo..... only because I got it stuck in a tree I couldn't reach. for everything else I've almost lost

I am a cheapskate but ... I am using the Plano 3700's as well and have encountered the same problem.... What I did was I had recently received an item in the mail that had the shipping foam in it like in the picture below. I just took the foam and utility knife and cut the foam into squares the fit tightly into the divided compartments in the plano box. Took a sharpie to the lid and wrote what was under each piece of foam in every divider (swiviles, 4/0 ewg, clips... etc). Works well, holds them in their dividers and they don't rattle. I am working away from home or I would post pictures. Not very good at describing things but I hope I made sense...

A few years back we had a pond dug in one of the fields near an area prone to flooding on my family farm in Tennessee. That section of the field would become swampy and hold a few inches of water after a big rain, we dug the pond in hopes of fixing that problem. The pond is approx 50 yards wide and 150 yards long and 8 feet or so deep, so it is pretty nice. We never stocked it, and it has bass and bluegill in it now. The nearest pond is 1/4 mile away. No idea where they came from and no one can access the pond except for family members. It can be seen from almost all of our houses (mine being the only exception ) , so no trespassers have been fishing it. We have no idea where they came from.... but we sure like eating them.

caught this one playing around in one of the ponds on our farm. Held onto the JJ's Magic dipped Chatterbait like trailer trash on meth. first catch on a chatterbait to.

Thanks for the advice guys!

I have been having issues with my 1979 Johnson 140 for a few months now. Sometimes it would start with no problems, other times it wouldn't start at all. I've been tinkering with it and replacing random parts here and there.... anyway Monday I was going to take it to a shop for repairs. Before I took it to the shop I decided to give it one last shot and noticed two of my spark plugs were loose. I tightened them down out the hose to it and fired it up and it cranked up! Within a few minutes though, a spark plug goes shooting off the back of the motor, almost striking my cousin and a piston shaft went flying through the block of the motor.....no need for a shop now. I have been looking for a new engine on craigslist and LSN and I have found two. One of them is a 115 Evinrude ($600) and the other is a 150 Mercury Power Tower ($1,000). Both engines start and run fine. The boat is a 1990 Javelin 378 FS and its rated for a 150 HP engine. The old 140 horse engine would push the boat around 50ish mph. I am wondering how much speed/power I would lose if I went with the 115 HP engine. I would like to go with the Evinrude because I wouldn't have to change out the controls from the Johnson..... Thoughts?

you can find lot of videos of various ways to do this on youtube.

I bought a Ruger SR40 to carry and I absolutely love it. Great line of handguns.

I stopped at Cabela's again today this time in Richfield, WI and of course my wallet got victimized. This will actually be my last purchase of baits for a while. I am looking forward to seeing what I get in my upcoming MTBs I just signed up for. Cabela's brand Silver Glitter tube (crappie) Wingding jig 2 packs (crappie) Reality Shad 2 packs in chartreuse and chartreuse/pink (crappie) moving on to the bass lures... Cabelas brand RealImage swimbait in chrome shiner more shaky heads Strike King KVD Jerkbait Cabela's Fisherman series Scuttle Shad crankbait Strike King Rage Tail Structure Bug in Bama Craw Cabela's brand 5 inch chartreuse trick worm Cabela's brand fluke in white and chartreuse I am really liking this crankbait. I think the primary color will work well with some of the bait fish we have in my favorite lake as well as the chartreuse on it to perhaps get a little more attention Also i liked their brand of Flukes over the Zoom brand I have been getting a walmart and the like. Has hook slots on both sides of the bait.

not in Tennessee or Florida

Don't really have a lot of cool pics... This was the cull buck I took opening day last deer season with my AR-15. One shot to the heart and dinner was served.