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The only way anyone will have there name on me is if they are paying me or giving me free tackle. I play a lot of golf and it always seems like the guy that shows up in a Ricky Fowler outfit and a Cart bag can't play a lick. The guy that shows up in wore out khaki shorts and a rough looking polo with a stand bag and rusted up clubs is the guy who can play the game. Everyone is to worried about looking cool instead of being good at there chosen sport.

I told this story on another thread. When I was a young man there was a older gentleman that took a liking to me and took me under his wing. He would take me to fish team tournaments when his regular partner couldn't make it. He had just gotten a Brand new 21XD bullet. We were out fishing one day and I was throwing a DD22 crankbait. As I was casting it I drew back and went to make a long cast and when I slung it forward I heard what sounded like a gun shot. He looked back at me like "what the hell did you do to my boat". I was bewildered. I couldn't find my crankbait anywhere and couldn't figure out what the sound was. Well I tied another crankbait on and continued to fish. When he was ready to move we sat down and when he cranked the big motor all kinds of crazy noises started coming from the motor. I mean it sounded like a barrel of hammer was in the motor. It still didn't hit me what was going on but when he pulled the cowling off he was ready to kill me. Somehow I had slung the crankbait through the hole of his brand new Alien Cowl and when he fired the motor it destroyed the crankbait. There was bits of green and orange plastic all over the inside of the motor. He was ready to kill me. So I don't know that it was a practical joke but he still gives me **** about it every time I see him and loves to tell the story any time we are at a weigh in and there are a bunch of fishermen around.

Spinner Baits. I will always reach for a Chatter Bait now instead of a Spinner Bait. Hula grubs. I used to fish a hula grub on a jig head alot. Now I usually grab a Jig or a T-Rigged Brush hog instead.

I'm not the smartest fisherman on here by any means. Nor am I really qualified to put my .02 in on this but I am going to anyways. I think that what you are saying is kind of a natural thought but what I try to do is match the hatch. That is huge in fly fishing and it is why Green Pumpkin is such a great color. You are matching a color to the natural forage of a bass. If the conditions are tough sometimes you can add some chartreuse to the tail and get bit and I think that kind of leads into you line of thinking to an extent. I don't think you can just make a bait bright pink and get bit because it is bright pink. These are strictly my opinions so value them for what you payed for them.

Go to academy and buy matching Magellan fishing shirts for the kids and have them embroided with the school logo. That will probably be the cheapest route.

Not really though. Are you not going to fish the tournament irregardless of whether a co-angler gives you 20.00 or not. If you are expecting the 20.00 for them to be fishing from your boat in the tournament then that is your perogative but to me I am fishing the tournament because I want to. That being said there has never been a time I have fished on someone else's boat that I haven't offered them at least 20 to cover the gas burned but I can count on 1 hand the amount of times they have taken it.

Yeah it was defintaley a 1 in a million shot. I remember thinking when I couldn't find the bait and heard the gun shot. What have I done???? When I heard the sound coming from the engine I was just hoping and praying that it didn't hurt anything. He was honestly pretty cool about it. He really couldn't help but to kind of laugh. I mean what are the odds of it making it through a hole that was smaller than the size of the crank bait. He still gives me **** about it to this day.

1. Buy another Boat. Sold my last boat when my wife and I started our family 11 years ago. 2. Get back into tournament Fishing. 3. Catch a fish on a Crank Bait. 4. Catch a stiper on my local lake. 5. Take my daughters fishing and have them enjoy it. This will be the challenging one.

So I will tell you one about my self. When I was about 17 there was a guy that would take me with him to fish the club tournaments. He was honestly a pretty good mentor. He wasn't a great fisherman but he could catch fish if there was a good top water bite in the morning and a jig bite in the evening. If it was any other pattern he would d**n near blank. Anyways he was a great guy and I have to give him all of the credit for taking me under his wing. So we are fishing a club tournament and I was throwing a DD22 Crankbait and I was whacking them with that thing. He had just gotten a brand new boat and it had a hydraulic jack plate. I think it may have raised the motor just enough that I couldn't cast like I normally did. So I am slinging this crankbait as far as I can and I go to cast it sidearm to try to get it up next to a blowdown and when I sling it forward it sounds like that crankbait exploded. My line is broke, The crankbait is no where to be found. I am dumbfounded all while my buddy has this dumbfounded look like what the hell did you do to my boat. I still can't figure out what happened and neither can he. I grab another rod and fish until we get ready to move. When he cranks the boat it sounds like all kinds of hell coming from the engine. Somehow when I slung that crankbait I was able to sling it through one of the holes in his brand new Mercury Cowling. We didn't know that until we got the cowling off and there was little specks of green plastic everywhere. Thank god it only scratched the cowling and caused a mess but I thought he was going to kill me.

So here is my take. I have owned boats and I have done very little fishing as a Co-Angler. I am currently in the market for another boat. I have never expected anything from someone who is fishing with me on my boat. I bought the boat with the intention of fishing and I am going to go fishing regardless of whether they are with me or not. My only expectation is to be nice, have fun, and bring your own food and drinks. If they try to give me money I will give it back to them. If I can tell they are going to be insulted if I don't take it I will. If I wanted to be payed for taking someone fishing I would start a guide service. However I do expect them to have there own tackle and there own life jacket and rods and reels. I will loan them something if that is all that is working and they don't have it but it doesn't set very well with me when I go through multiple bags of plastic's or they lose a 9 dollar jerk bait. I always try to be helpful and accomodating.

Give it away. I seriously doubt you could sell it for much more than what ever shipping would be.

Green Pumpkin or Watermelon red for plastics. White bottom for top water. PB&J for jigs. White buzz baits. White Fluke. I will use pumpkin seed on my worms from time to time.