Long Mike

Simp, at this time, if we assume that each boater will fish with only one co-angler, then four people will be left standing on the bank. However, there are those of us who can easily fish with two co-anglers, so I think we will be OK. That said, it would be nice to have another couple of boats. BTW, I fished G'ville out of the same boat you have on the Road Trip several years ago. It was so windy that my trolling motor couldn't keep us on station. Other than that, no problems. The great thing about this lake is that there are at least twenty-five boat launches within twenty miles of our hotel. There are plenty of places for those with smaller boats to fish without having to get out on the main lake at all. Also, I added your name to the list. Please send me your Registration form.

So, they couldn't be bothered to sell you a sheet?

Just a reminder for those who may be signing up late, the Registration Form has not been changed from the old Val Monte address to the new Hampton Inn address. Go to Glenn's first post on this the thread for the correct information.

OK, here's the latest list of attendees. Scrutch WMD in Kentucky Zip Pow Alpster Ghoti and Mary Steezy Glenn and Keri FishTN and wife, plus maybe two more Fishin Rhino 00 Mod Siebert Outdoors and friend Long Mike Roadwarrior Triton_Mike Big O Riskkid2 Scorcher214 Raider Nation Fisher Chris at Tech Simp A definite maybe from 5bass To Triton-Mike, Raider Nation Fisher, Zip-Pow and Chris at Tech. I have not received your registration forms. I NEED THEM. I will be sending each of you a reminder PM this evening. If any of you have a bass boat, but were not planning on bringing it, I urge you to reconsider. At this point, most of the boaters will have two co-anglers on board. I'm not talking about small jon-type boats here, I'm talking about boats that can handle a lake the size of Guntersville.

Those cheap Berkley digital scales are pretty darned accurate, much more so than the estimation charts. I agree with Packard. Regardless, that fish is a Hawg. Nice Catch!

Nice fish Bluebasser! Other than that little boat towing incident it sounds like you guys had a great time and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. Ghoti, Roadwarrior and I fished the White below Bull Shoals dam two weeks ago. Over Friday and Saturday we caught over 120 trout, the great majority of which were Rainbows. Ghoti and RW were primarily fishing for Browns, but I was content to haul in Rainbow after Rainbow. You are absolutely right about the scenery. It's awesome.

ROCbass that video was hilarious! Thanks!

Yep, Rhino was right on target. He who overlooks the little things dies - little by little.

My Johnson. I once had two uses for it, but now I'm down to only one.

OK, we'll try to plan the next trip to wasington if you can tell us which State you are referring to.

Sloanzp, don't get me wrong. I'm a fervent supporter of the U.S. developing its own resources, and the Bakken is a hell-of-a-resource, as is potentially, the Alaskan Wildlife Preserve. If you are not aware of it, I grew up in the oil patch and spent the majority of my career in it. To begin with, one has to get all of that oil out of the ground, to the tune of 18 million barrels a day to offset our imports. Since it is as difficult these days to get approval to build a refinery as it is to build a nuclear reactor (no one wants it in their back yard) we will have to build the infrastructure to ship all that oil to Houston or California or several other places for refining. With the environmentalists banging their drums none of this is attainable in the short term. Remember the Freedom pipeline debacle? My best guess is about twenty years. In the meantime, we are at the whims of the speculators.

Welcome aboard! There are a lot of good folks around here that are willing to help. Be sure to visit the Fishing Articles section. There is a world of information there. I've been a member here for years and I still haven't read them all.

Sloanzp, the fact the U.S. is currently exporting oil because many of our refineries are in "turnaround" mode. This time of year is when most maintenance is done and when the refineries are changing over to "summer blend" gasoline. The refineries can't handle the influx of the oil at this time of year so they sell it to offset some of their turnaround costs. It's just a short term thing. Secondly, if the U.S. oil companies had carte blanch to drill anywhere they wanted, they would NEVER discover enough reserves of oil to offset the amount we are importing. BTW, only ten percent of our imports are from the Middle East. The rest comes from South America, Mexico and Canada. The U.S. consumes over 18 million barrels of oil a day. That's well over twice as much as the second largest consumer, China, and four times as much as the third largest, India. Check this out. http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con-energy-oil-consumption The upshot of the whole deal is that the U.S. is never going to be a net oil exporter until such time as alternative energy sources become viable, e.g. nuclear, natural gas, wind. Until such time, we, and the rest of the net oil importers, are at the mercy of the wretched speculators. They could care less what happens to the world economy. They are just in it to make money in the short term, and they will use any excuse to drive up the prices. This is a part of our commodities market that desperately needs tight regulation. It's one thing to speculate on the price of orange juice or pork bellies. This type of speculation does not affect the economies of nations.

CATT IS BACK! Welcome home! What took you so long to rejoin us?

Wow! That is one very moving article! Go to the Home Page and read it. You will not be disappointed.

Well, as one of the resident "Old Farts" I know who Davy Jones, Jemi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jim Croce and a host of others were. These days I primarily listen to C&W, so I've not taken the opportunity, until recently, to listen to such talents as Lady Gaga and Adele. Adele is a fantastic talent, as is Lady Gaga if you can block her outrageous outfits out of your mind. I will refrain from posting my opinion of Taylor Swift.

Raider, I lived overseas for eleven years (oil patch) and I've never run across a Mom and Pop outfit that specialized in American food. Probably my worst experience with American food was in the early seventies at a KFC in Great Yarmouth, England. They fried their chicken in fish oil! That was the most disgusting fried chicken that I have ever tried. I never went back.

What Raider said.

Bassn Blvd, you are not alone. I do just as you do, and despite the protestations from some of the above members, I think most guys who aren't light in their loafers do the same. Sure, there are circumstances when you can't avoid standing elbow to elbow with the next man, but these are rare.

The two worst habits I've inherited from my parents are drinking and smoking. I'm sixty-five and haven't kicked either habit. The one worst habit I didn't inherit was by father's bigotry. He was a hater, and there were many times when I hated him for it.

In my case I had a duel with a ten-foot-tall steel hangar door. In Oklahoma the wind blows a lot. In this instance it was blowing about thirty, gusting to forty. The door was propped open, but a big gust was a little too much for it. It slammed closed on me just as I was walking through it. Two busted ribs and a bruised kidney. I wish that it had hit me in the head. My IQ would have gone up by at least twenty points.

I suggest you read the Road Trip thread. We are all headed to G'ville the third week of April. There is a lot of good information there about the lake. One comment I would make is to say that the boat lanes are well marked and if on plane you need to stay in the lanes. You can go from thirty feet of water to six inches in a heartbeat. Been there. Done that. Scared the crap out of me.

I use Stick Jackets on all my rods. The only negative comment I have is that if you get a hook caught in the jacket weave, it is a huge pain in the butt to free it.

Welcome aboard! There are a lot of nice people around here.

How long bass have been in existence is immaterial. Only after George Perry caught his world record twenty-two pound plus bass in 1932, did bass fishermen look up and take notice. It's been a contest ever since.