Long Mike

Glenn, I visited Salt Lake city in the mid-eightys and stayed in a major hotel. I went to the bar to have a drink and was informed that they were allowed to sell "set-ups" only. That is, they could sell you all the mixed drinks you wanted, but there was no alcohol in them. This problem was easily solved, because all one had to to was to walk out of the bar, and right in front of you across the hallway was a liquor store. The liquor store sold only six packs of the little bottles you get on airlines. You could buy them, go back across the hall to the bar and get blitzed, assuming you had enough money to pay for both the booze and the set-ups, and enough stamina to keep running back and forth across the hall. I know I'm way off topic, but that was the wierdest!

Catt, congratulations on your great deal, and your new job at Academy. Just out of curiosity, how much of your new monthly salary have you budgeted to satisfy the lust of the Bait Monkey? ;D Mike

RoadWarrior, my apologies. Yes, it was Avid who who mentioned that six hours on the water is about all he can handle. This created a conflict with BassMaster and he apparently opted out. To Avid, BassMaster & CigarSmoker. What we have here is the perfect opportunity to solve all of our problems. If I can team with Avid I will be more than happy to spend only six hours or so on the water. This allows BassMaster & CigarSmoker to share a boat and spend as much time on the water as they wish. I realize that the info I have is dated from October, but I found no resolution to the problem in subsequent postings.

I wish you all a very wonderful Christmas and hope that you are able to spend it with as many family members as you can cram into your house. Christmas IS being with your family. For all of you who are overseas protecting our nation, you have my best hopes, prayers and wishes on a day that makes us all, more than ever, want to be HOME. MERRY CHRISTMAS

Booze clarification required. Some of the above postings indicate that the Lake Fork area is a dry county, but I get the impression that alcoholic beverages can be purchased at Fisherman's Cove. Beause the BFR group will be taking advantage of our hosts and will be providing its own evening meals, and because our hosts are being so gracious, I would much prefer to buy my beer from them than dig it out of my ice chest - although it would probably be cheaper to do so. The reason I am asking is that, once upon a time, just after dirt was invented, I was forced to visit Texas, and at that time the only way you could get a drink was to become a member of a "club." If you paid for your $5 membership, you could drink anything you wanted. The "clubs" were very rare. You could find them only if there was a stop-light near-by. Keep in mind that I was driving over from Louisiana, the home of the drive-through Daguiri Factory, so I was I bit disgruntled to find that I couldn't buy a six-pack at any convenience store along the way. These events took place in the early seventies. Do the Lake Fork area laws still pretend that it is still 1975?

RoadWarrior, I finally spent the time to read through ALL of the postings on this tread. I noticed that your boat-mate was forced to drop out because you are unable to spend more than six hours on the water. I'm getting a little long in the tooth myself, so six hours on the water is fine with me. If the position is still open, I would like to apply for it - provided that you will allow a Mature amatuer aboard your boat. There is only one caveat. I've got a hand-shake agreement with CigarSmoker to share a boat and room. If we cannot find a boat-partner for him, then I withdraw my request. A hand-shake is a hand-shake, whether on-line or not. Mike

Welcome, GristMill, I too am a newbie after a long hiatus. Here's my advice. Read the Beginners articles - several times. Go fishing. When you get back, re-read the beginners articles and then the others. Go fishing. When you get back, read the "sticky" articles about Senkos, rods and reels. Go fishing. Do you get my drift? I say this because I've been there, done that. It's amazing how much a person forgets when he gets on the water. Mike

I went to my local BPS to buy Suffix braid because of all the positive things said about it on this site. When I couldn't find it, I asked a sales rep, and he told me that Suffix was such a slow seller that this store took it off their shelves. He said that PowerPro was THE best selling braid that the store had. So, I'm using green 30 lb. PowePro with a Fluro leader. I'm not experienced enough to know whether or not a leader is really needed, but I figured, why take the chance? Mike

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to go with the mushroom anchor. I found one at Academy for $13.00. If I lose this one, I will be a concrete anchor guy 'til hell freezes over. Mike

The biggest fish I ever lost is one I never saw, and it put me out of business for the rest of the day. I was fishing for red snapper with a spinning reel and 20 lb line. Whatever it was that hit the hook never slowed down. Despite the fact that I had my drag cinched pretty tight, turning him was out of the question, and he was taking line so fast that I couldn't get to the drag to set it tighter. Well, that fish ended up swimming around with about 150 yds of mono hanging out of its mouth and I ended up with an empty spool. I had only the one rod, so I got to watch my friends fish for the rest of the day. Mike

LBH, if you have Google Earth, type in the address of Captain's Paradise. The satellite imagry will show you right where it is - across the bridge and about two miles inland. If you don't have the program, go to Google and download it. It's free and is really awesome. Mike

Unless there has been a cancellation, yes, all the rooms are booked - and the only reason I managed to get a room was because there was a cancellation the morning I called. Try to get into th Cove, because the Captain's Paridise is about two miles inland - on the other side of the lake.

I wnet fishing today in my Eagle 9 inflatable. I shouldn't have, because the winds were 15-30 mph. In order to fish selected areas I would drop the anchor. I HAD an old fluted anchor that weighed about 5 lbs. Long story made short, I was fishing in a small rocky lake and the anchor got hung up to the point that there was no way I could retrieve it. I finally had to cut the rope. Okay, now I need a new anchor. Will a say, 5 lb. mushroom anchor be adeqate for my needs in both rocky and muddy bottoms, or should I look at the mushroom with the large V's cut into it? Another fluted anchor is out of the question, but any other recommendation would be very much appreciated. I remember reading on this forum recently that someone uses a bag of sand.

Alpster, Are you going to be cooking chicken and sausage gumbo? If so, I have a source deep in the heart of Cajun country that makes some of the best smoked sausage I have ever put in my face. It's from a little meat market called Rabideaux's, located in a little town called Iowa, My wife has family who live near Lafayette, so she travels there on a fairly frequent basis. If you are interested, just tell me how many pounds you want. BTW, the sausage is smoked, but it doesn't have a strong smoke flavor. Mike

I would suggest that you coil the cable in a figure 8 and then fold the 8 in half to make a circle. This will reduce the posibility of interference.

Alpster, you're from Buras? I didn't think anyone actually LIVED in Buras. I thought that was just a place one went to catch a boat or a helicopter to go offshore. ;D That's what I used to do. I've also traveled from other Louisiana garden spots such as Grand Isle, Morgan City, Intracoastal City and Cameron. I know what you mean about the carnage of the oil economy in the 80's. That's how I ended up in Tulsa. Ronnie, I will be proud to eat your Gumbo. Mike

From what I read, the sale would most probably be more aptly called a Crush and Dent sale. Apparently, about 40 boats were totally destroyed. Mike

There is a function in your menu selection called "Reset". Use it and everything will go back to normal. It appears to me that the 480 executes a "Let's go Nuts" sub-routine every now and then, especially if you are in very shallow water. i.e.less than 4 ft. Mike

I posted this on the "General Bass Fishing" forum about a month ago , but got no takers. Now that I am Really on the right forum. I just want everyone to know that I will be driving down from Tulsa on Sunday. If anyone needs a ride to Fork from DFW or Love Field, I can pick you up and drop you off on Sunday and Friday - providing you are arriving and departing in the afternoons. I drive a Suburban so have penty of room for three passenger and their gear. If push comes to shove, I can handle six passengers, but your gear wiil be in your lap and you may have a rod tip or two up your nose. If anyone from the OK City area wants to hitch-hike and is willing to be picked up along I35, just let me know. BTW, my Suburban is a gas hog, and the trip to/from the airports(s) is about an hour out of my way in both direstions. A small contribution into the gas tank would much appreciated, but not required.

I need new glasses. It wasn't until the day before yesterday that I learned that clicking on the subject of a thread does not list all of the postings in the thread - only page one. This explained why some of the postings I made did not show up. They were on another page. It wasn't until AVID posted that we should check the Lake Fork updates that I realized tha I had missed every post since mid-October. To make a long story short, I can't read the fine print about the number of pages posted unless I get very close to the screen - and I have a 19" CRT. Well, water under the bridge. CigarSmoker and I have confirmed reservations at Fisherman's Cove and reservations for a boat from Rickey's. I will attend all of the group meals with the possible exception of Alpster's. Alpster, your profile shows that you are from (choke) Yankee country. Unless you grew up in SOUTH Louisiana and know how to make a DARK Roux, I think I'll grab a burger in the restaurant. ;D Kidding aside, I'll eat anything put in front of me. I grew up in South Louisana. Everyone knows that we eat road kill. On a side note, for the group dinners, do we pass the hat with a minimum donation? That would seem to be a very fair way for the host to recoup his costs. Mike

Guys, many thanks for the responses. In particular, thanks to Ronnie and Flechero, and now, Catt. The reason I posted the original question is that I was greatly confused about what equipment was required to be able to go out and catch bass on a regular basis. After a thirty year hiatus, and entering semi-retirement, I decided to jump into bass fishing with both feet. My initial Jump took me to Academy Sports and the purchase of an Ugly Stick to replace my thirty-year-old four piece spinning/fly rod. I paired the Stick with my equallly ancient Mitchell 300 spinning reel. I promptly went out and started bank fishing, with only moderate success. During my first couple of months at this endeavor (I started in early September) I was able to land a couple of two pounders and a number of dinks fishing plastics. Then I discovered this site. The first question I asked was about my Ugly Stick. I was told to throw or give it away, because it was not sensitive enough for finesse fishing. One respondent urged me to spend $300+ for a GLoomis. I must confess that I was floored. I thought that my Ugly Stick was a damned good rod. Little did I know. So, wanting to be a "successful" bass fisherman, I went out and bought a $100 St. Criox and paired it with a Pflueger President. I've fished with it only twice and didn't get a nibble, but the difference in the sensitivity is truely amazing. Because of the experience, I recently bought a combo from BPS with a comparable (I think) rod with another President. The upshot of the whole deal is that I want to now go out and have average or better-than-average equipment to pursue my goal of becoming a "successful" but by no means "professional" bass fisherman. I want to start with the right tools - but within my financial resources. If I can start with the right tools, the skill will come with time, practice and mentoring. This Spring I'll be looking for a mentor in the Tulsa area. Thanks again for the input. As a newbie I'll keep learning from you folks. Hopefully, one of these days, I'll be able to offer meaningful advice. Mike

Launching the boat is easy, as the respondents above have shown. I had a 16" aluminum v-hull. My problem was with Retrieving the boat. In Oklahoma, the wind always seems to be blowing. In the wind, trying to line the boat up on the trailer, keep it in position, and then get it out of the water without help was a major pain in the a$$. That's why I sold the boat and bought an inflatable. BTW, I'm sixty so my agility ain't what it used to be.

Check out the Tournament 480, made by BottomLine. It has 480*480 resolution and provides depth, water temperature, battery voltage, and other stuff. I bought mine at BPS for $99.99 about a month ago. I use it on my 11' inflatable and run it off my TM battery. BTW it shows structure very well.

To Daniel-My-Brother. After reading your recommendation for the BPS Extreme/Plueger President Combo I spent almost four hours on-line, including E-bay, trying to come up with something better in my price range. To make a long story short, late this afternoon I drove over to BPS and bought that Combo. $99.94 plus tax - I consider that a "reel" bargin. BUT, though I couldn't sse him, the Bait Monkey was standing on my shoulder, and he doesn't care if I've been naughty or nice, or whether or not I've just spent a large chunk of my hard-earned cash. He forced me to buy other things. I hate him. It cost me almost $200 to get out of that store. Mike

OK, I think many of you have confirmed my hypothesis. I'll never put another boat in that pond. To George Welcome - Thank you for providing me with a list of potential excuses. I assume that you have used them extensively and successfully, otherwise you would not be recommending them to me. Thanks to All, Mike