Long Mike

Since we are not psychic (though there are a couple of guys on this board are psycho) you will get little information unless you are able to post a photo of your current boat and its decking. Also, please provide a detailed list of what you wish to accomplish with your proposed mods.

"Buds," For too many years, like you, I had to be the *** - first as an Operations Manager for a large oil field service company, and then, for the last ten years, running my own marble restoration business. I got so sick and tired of the incessant employee problems that one day, about two years ago, I said "Screw it. I'll do it myself." I now work alone, but I have the luxury of choosing the jobs I wish do, when I wish do do them. I don't make a lot of money these days, but I have the great good fortune of being married to a successful CPA. Our kids are grown and gone, so it's just the two of us.

Sorry, Burley, I just don't get it.

It would take a very small-minded man to not understand that everyone has a very bad day once in a while. It also takes a REAL man to publicly admit when he has made a mistake. It's all water under the bridge. I would feel much better though, if you would send me a Gift Certificate for Outback Steak House.

Ronnie, I am patience personified, so long as I get what I want.

In order of increasing expense, Academy, BPS , AND THEN THERE'S WEST MARINE

More questions from the ignorant one. Does each ramp charge launch fees? If so, how much are they - and can you buy a temporary permit for all ramps? Also, can the above permits and temporary fishing licenses be purchased at the lodge?

You gradually realize that the only parts of your body that continue to grow are your nose, ears and hair - which now flourishes in your ears, nostrils and on your eyebrows. It becomes apparent to you that you are totally invisble to attractive young ladies, unless they peg you for a sucker and want you to buy them a few drinks. You buy her a drink or two.

Oddly enough, I read that article today while having my oil changed. One of the things that really intrigued me was that if the bass can see you or your boat, make sure that you do not place yourself in a position to block access to deep water. If you do, the bite will turn off.

I grew up in the swamp country of Louisiana, so I'm no stranger to poisonous snakes. Caution was the order of the day when out amongst the "critters" so I've never known of anyone being bitten by a Moccasin, or any other poisonous snake. I've therefore never witnessed the tissue damage that can result from a bite. Those photos are scary stuff. Have you got any idea how much time passed between the bite and receiving medical attention?

Since boat slips are not available, how will everyone be re-charging their boat batteries overnight?

One other thought. Most depth finders have a RESET function in the Menu. Try that as soon as you get into water over 6' deep. I've had one experience with a depth finder that executed a "go blind an internally hemorage" routine every time it was in less than three feet of water. The only way I could get it working again was to take it back into deeper water and Reset it.

Huh? I'm sure that I may have misunderstood what it was that I think you said, but I'm not sure that what you said was what it was that I may have misunderstood. Please clarify.

Let me be the first to welcome you to a great site! There's lots of nice folks around here and many of them are trophy hunters themselves.

I posted this several months ago and it is a true story. It is not one of my favorite screw-ups, but it is, by far, my biggest. I learned several valuable lessons from that little outing; not the least of which was to always keep a key for the truck in my boat. Anyway, here goes. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. It all started last week when I backed my Suburban up to the boat trailer and tried to hitch it up. The receiver on the trailer would drop onto the ball OK but there was no way I could get it to latch down. I tried raising and lowering it, shaking it, jerking it, banging it with a hammer and every thing else I could think of, but it would not latch down. Finally, in desperation, I sprayed everything with WD-40. I again lowered the receiver onto the ball and it latched with ease. Go figure. Finally on the road, I drove from Tulsa to Lake Skiatook (about 30 miles). The moment I got to the boat ramp it started raining heavily. I sat around for about thirty minutes and the rain didn't let up. So, I called my daughter and asked her to have a look at the National Weather Service radar. She told me there was large cell in the vicinity, and that it would probably be at least a couple of hours before it passed. Thoroughly disgusted, I drove back to Tulsa, and into sunshine. When I got home, I checked the radar myself and discovered that the cell my daughter was referring to was due South of a place called Ponca City - nowhere near the lake. The radar did show a couple of Popcorn showers that popped up over the lake and then fell apart right after I left. Needless to say, I was somewhat perturbed to learn that my daughter was Geographically Challenged. Back to the lake I went and was graced with a partly cloudy sky. I was boating alone so I kicked off my new sneakers, put on my flip-flops and backed the boat into the water. Because I drive a Suburban, I can't see the boat without opening the cargo doors. No problem, I opened the doors, backed the boat in, and got out of the truck to get the boat free of the trailer. Without realizing it at the time, I kicked one of new my sneakers into the water as I got out of the truck. Luckily it landed right side up. I waded around to the back of the truck and checked its cargo area before I launched the boat. Sure enough, I had neglected to place my tackle box in the boat. There is a door lock button in the cargo area on the rear post. I must have hit it when I reached for the tackle box. It has a fifteen second delay on it, so I didn't hear the clunk of all the door locks until after I had closed the cargo doors. OK, so now I have a locked truck with the keys in the ignition, setting in water up to the running boards on a busy boat ramp and a new sneaker that is slowly floating away. First things first. I fired up the boat, chased down the sneaker and then tied the boat at the dock. I waded back to the truck and found that there was no way I could get into it without breaking out a window. I found a boulder about the size of my head and decided to break in through the window on the right-side rear seat door. I swear, that glass must be bullet proof! I literally ended up throwing that boulder at the glass and it would bounce off without a scratch. After eight or nine attempts, I gave up and decided to try the front seat passenger side. The boulder went through the glass like a knife through butter, scattering glass as if I had thrown a hand grenade into the truck. The first thing the boulder hit inside the vehicle was the console and it knocked the lid off its hinges. The boulder, and a lot of glass ended up in the drivers seat. I do not want to discuss what those objects did to the leather in the seat. I'll cry later. OK, so my truck is still in the water. Twenty minutes and several lacerations later I had removed the boulder and enough glass out of the driver's seat to allow me to get the truck out of the water. That was a big relief! I then reminded myself that despite the fact that it was now 3:00 PM my intent since 6:00 AM had been to try to catch a few bass. So, I hopped in the boat and went tooling off across the water. I was so angry with myself that all I wanted to do was haul azz across the water. I did this for about an hour and then cooled off enough to try fishing. I found a point and half-heartedly fished it for about twenty minutes, all the while thinking about all that glass and blood in my truck. Needless to say, I gave up and headed back to the landing. In my absence, a Park Ranger came by, noticed the shattered window, and left me a note advising that he had notified the police of the break-in. Luckily he also left his phone number, so I was able to cancel the Red Alert. And then the kicker. I had the boat out of the water and was getting it ready to tow when a Game Warden drove up. He had the audacity to ask "Had any luck today?" What I said to that poor guy is not fit to print. Let's just say I was VERY vocal about the luck I had had. He never did ask to see my fishing license.

This is an extreme case in point, but I think it's worth mentioning. I was working on a project several years ago and had my head stuck up inside a suspended ceiling. I had a "temp" working for me as a go-fer, and asked him to cut me a piece of wire about three feet long. I waited and waited and he finally handed up a piece of wire about 8" long. When I confronted him, he admitted that he didn't know how to read a measuring tape. So, I told him to cut me a piece of wire the length of his arm, and he handed me a piece of wire about three feet long. As I said above, that was an extreme case, but there have been a number of occassions when I've had employees who couldn't read a tape more accurately than 1/4". 5/8's of an inch to them would be "a little over 1/2"" or "a little under 3/4"" I could go on and on, with things like: - Do you tighten a nut by turning the wrench clockwise or counter-clockwise. Answer, I don't know. I used the ratchet wrench you gave me, and it got tight. - Did you replace the light bulb in the closet? Answer, no it was burned out, so I could't see where it was. Response. That's why I gave you the flashlight. Answer, oh, I didn't think of that.

Great!

Just like all the others on this topic. ;D

I was hoping to see LSU and OU vie for the National Championship. Oh well. :'( Bradford must have really got his bell rung. Every time the camera panned on him he looked like he didn't know what planet he was on.

Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember both Hank Williams (senior) and Buddy Holley. Both were lions in their respective music genres. I've always enjoyed country and most other forms of music including (dare I say it?) Classical. I absolutely refuse to listen to rap, hip-hop or any group that makes up for its lack of talent by screaming. As for the newer country music? I like almost all of it, with the exception of Rascal Flats. Can't stand 'em.

Yup, the top of the body of the fish has been replace by another at the point where the dark amber turns to green.

I'm sure you have already thought of this, but the transducer needs to be immersed in water before the unit will work properly.

Ronnie, every time I turn around you amaze me even more with the gifts that you give to those less fortunate. You are hereby awarded one heartfelt ATTABOY!

I don't know how large your boat is, but my aluminum Tracker is 17,' with a 60hp engine. I can take her out on any decent sized lake without fear of sinking. If the winds are 25 or more, I stay close to shore or to areas of short runs across big water areas. I love my tin boat because my area of the country has lakes with a lot of stick-ups, i.e. tree stumps, even in thirty feet of water. I hit one today, but I was only going six miles an hour. Took me twenty minutes to get my boat off that stump, and I was in 12' of water. Fiberglass boats are great for stability and the amount of horsepower you can hang off of them, plus they come in all sorts of neat glitzy, glimmering colors. If I had run a fiberglass boat up on that stump I would be very concerned about scratches and/or cracks to the gel-coat. I do not fish tournaments, so there is no need for me to go tearing across a lake at 60 mph and burning up gas at an obscene rate. I like my little tin boat and I will keep it.

I was afraid of that. :-[ Being a relative newbie, my pisscatorial skills are not the match of you experienced pisscators. I suppose you folks are now going to try to convince me that peacock bass are really well endowed.