Long Mike

why drag muddy into this? Because, based upon PM's he seems to have some sort of fixation on bulbs. Wouldn't you agree?

Whatever happened to good old American Ingenuity? I'm not talking about engineers, and physicists. I'm talking about people who aren't teaching kids to use both their heads and their hands to accomplish a goal. I'm talking about grown men who haven't the slightest clue about how to repair such a minor problem as a leaky faucet and I wonder why their parents didn't teach them. Why is it that kids are not taught, in school, how to use the most basic tools, like a hammer, saw, screwdriver and most importantly, a measuring tape? It sees to me that almost no one knows how to work with their hands anymore - and that is a crying shame. Society is changing, but it's not all good. It seems that no one knows how to do even the slightest mechanical thing anymore. If this trend continues, mechanics, electricians and plumbers will be earning as much as neurosurgeons.

Avid, I lit up when I saw your response. You will have to agree, however, that there is one more person on the planet who knows more than he did yesterday.

I've got the Fishing Hot Spots chip and have been very happy with it since I had nothing to compare it with. But I learned this week that Navionics very recently introduced a new chip that blows the socks off everyone else. I'm fishing with a Buddy tomorrow who has the new chip. As I mentioned above, I have replaced my H2O with a Lowrance 522C. We'll be fishing a Hot Spots lake tomorrow, and will be swapping out the chips. I'll be able to tell you more tomorrow night.

Has anyone noticed that the photo is obviously doctored, or am I the last one to notice? :-/

Russ, many of us would very much appreciate it if you would provide the exact coordinates of where you want your ashes to be spread. No use taking a honey hole like that with you. ;D ;D ;D

Live by the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It will always pay off. It's a different version of "What goes around, comes around," but he long-term result is the same.

All fluorescent bulbs have mercury in them, and you've had fluorescent bulbs over your head all of your life. Why get worried now? Just dispose of them properly and you should have no concerns.

Gosh! A dead cat! What a pity!

I'm going to hijack this thread. You know you are NEVER too old when: 1. You wake up at 5:30 A.M. and feel like you've been in a train wreck. An hour later, you're out and about without the use of pain killers. 2. Being in pain is so normal that you just ignore it. It's like having a wart. 3. You can go fishing any time you want, launch and retrieve the boat by yourself, and feel very comfortable about fishing alone. 4. You have a loving wife of thirty-eight years who ignores your train wreck condition in the mornings because she knows you do not want her to see it. 5. You have a loving wife.

Not Me. Maybe it's your good looks. ;D

Thanks for the input guys. It's now obvious to me that I should strip off the braid and start with, say, Yo-Zuri 10# mono. My learning curve will be much less expensive, but I doubt that the expletives will be reduced by much for the next few weeks. ;D

C'mon guys, Avid is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unless he is able to zoom in only the fish, the entire frame will be filled with ugly. Not even Monet was able to fix ugly. I think Van Gogh could give it a good shot it he was "tripping" the way he was when he painted "Starry Night." But, alas, the only artist to bear witness is Avid, so we get a lot of ugly. Sigh!

Dave, thanks for the tip. I'l try it the next 150 times I get a birds nest. I'll let you know on Saturday how it worked. I will have worked out about 150 of them by then. ;D

I do it all the time with my Lowrance H2O with no problems. The cigarette lighter puts out 12V, just like your battery, assuming the socket is working. Two things I would note. My Suburban has three "lighter" outputs. The one that actually holds the lighter is slightly smaller in diameter than the auxiliaries. That one always works. The other two are iffy. Secondly, my H2O runs on only three volts, not twelve, so the lighter adapter MUST be the one that came with the unit, because it has a transformer in it that reduces the voltage. Hope this helps.

In my above post I neglected to mention the two most important things I've learned from this site. 1. Do not believe a word of what Muddy or Avid has to say. 2. See no. 1

Dominick, you're on. What is a good time to reach you EST. With the hours you work, I'm always a bit leary about calling you in the evenings.

New Sponsor! Grab hold of the Dickies!

You could be right Muddy, but I bought two left-handed Slaes1's for $7.99 each today. Now that's a steal!

Muddy, I tried out my new baitcaster for the first time in the back yard today. Your mantra served me very well, but I had to add twelve more expletives to it. One of my bird's nests took me and hour and twenty minutes to remove. It was brand-new thirty pound braid, so I wasn't about to cut the line off the reel.

If you are going after trophy bass, by all means wear the proper attire. No self-respecting Lunker would allow itself to be caught by some Yay-Hoo wearing a sleeveless undershirt and a John-Deere cap. As much as possible, try to dress like Indiana Jones, and be sure to include the John Wane neck scarf. Your Lunker catch ratio will go up exponentially.

OH, HOW I WANTED A TRION BAIT CASTER, but couldn't put together a combo within my budget. I'm an avid Pflueger fan and would put their Trion and President spinning reels on the top ledge for quality. I am also a big fan of the BPS Extreme spinning rods. Well, BPS put together an Extreme Bait Casting Reel /Extreme Rod combo for sale at about $100. Today I went out and bought it. I have been a spinning reel guy for more years than I want to admit, but today i bought my first bait caster. I did a lot of research on the BPS Extreme reel and it got high marks right up there with the Trion. I have yet to throw the first lure into the water. Are there any anti-backlash mantras that I could chant tomorrow?

With the end of both the football and NASCAR seasons, I call the ensuing months the "sports doldrums." That's the time of year when my attention turns to Curling, the cultivation of my Chia Pets, and, of course, painting my toe-nails.

That's one I haven't heard before. Steven Brill could become the next Aristotle.

I guess I got lucky when I decided to buy my aluminum Tracker. It has a 60hp engine and will top out at about 40mph. Since I don't fish tournaments, I always launch the boat as near as possible to where I'm going to fish. On average, I fish twice a week. My thirteen gallon tank will last about three weeks. That's not bad when gas is in the $3.00/gal. range.