Lures'n'Liberty

All vessels must show required running lights between sunset and sunrise and during periods of restricted visibility. Check the Pennsylvania Boating Handbook for details. • All boats must display anchor lights when they are anchored on any boatable Commonwealth waters (except in special anchorage areas). •Unpowered boats must display a white light either handheld or installed in time to avoid a collision. Yes you are a powered vessel under 65.6 feet No you are not required to have a boating education safety certificate, as you are under 25 HP Yes you must carry PFD's and a sound producing device that has some means of making an efficient sound signal audible for 1/2 mile. Yes you are required to wear a life jacket From November 1 through April 30, as your vessel is under 16 feet. Yes, you must have a flare gun if you operate on Lake Erie, No, you don't need to bring it anywhere else. No, you do not need to carry a fire extinguisher http://www.fishandboat.com/Boat/BoatingRegulations/Documents/boatrecap.pdf Yes, you can duct tape a flashlight to a stick and duct tape a clear plastic cup to the light and be legal. Yes, even if unpowered, you must display the clear rear mounted 360 degree light any time you drop anchor. Hope that answers your questions.

A Wrangler had about 30 different roof and roll bar options, which do you have? Sport Bar? Family Cage? Sound bar option or no? Soft top, hard top, bimini cover, totally topless? Is the spare on the back? Do you have a trailer hitch? Lift Kit? What kind of 'Yak and are you planning to carry one or two?

Cool Hand Luke or Kelly's Heroes, although Shawshank Redemption is way up there

You might, but I won't be there nearly as often. Really, though, spincast gear gives me less headaches. I trade a couple feet of distance for not backlashing, ever, I can use them on lighter lures than most of you use baitcasters for and I don't have to adjust anything but the drag. The only time I really have to deal with line twist is when I bring the kids.

I use spinning reels and spincasts all day long, never have these problems...

Kinda wish I saw this thread before I bought one, although now that I look, Cabela's is out of stock, so it may have been the last time anyone has to worry about it. I picked up a 7'6" spin/fly combo purely because it was discounted to $14.99. I took it out of the box yesterday and it looks to be quite nice considering the price. The cork grip and reel seat are very nice, the action is super light, and it breaks down into 4 pieces. I liked the idea of an el cheapo easily packable multi purpose backup rod. Guess I'll have to keep an eye out for another, now.

I was a tow truck driver for many years and have seen a few trailer failures ruin vacations. #1 - if you have AAA, make sure you have an AAA Plus RV membership, as it's the only one that covers trailers should either your truck or trailer fail. #2 - Bring a spare spare tire. If you've got a dual axle trailer and one tire fails, you've only for a couple miles to notice it before the other one will follow suit from the additional load, especially if you're running cheap tires. If you've got 2 flats and one spare, you're going to be cussing and kicking stuff #3 - bring a little compressor and a tire plug kit. Make sure the cord will reach from your cigarette lighter to the trailer tire, if it doesn't, make up an extension cord or carry a booster pack. #4 - Road flares. Bring some, if you're on the side of the highway, people will try to run you over. They will run over your safety triangles, too. Fire seems to be the most effective deterrent for drunk drivers and morons. #5 - tire club and infrared thermometer. OK, so the thermometer isn't such a big deal, but if you have one and use it to check your bearings when doing your walk around each time you stop, you'll be a lot more likely to spot a failing bearing before it fails on the highway, as it will be hotter than the others. #6 - I believe you said above that you serviced your bearings recently, but have you had them underwater since then? You're about to go 2500 miles each way, pack the bearings before you leave AZ and again before you leave MI. It doesn't take long to do in a parking lot and it certainly beats replacing a bearing with 18 wheelers flying past 3 feet away at 80 MPH. #7 - Bring a heavy ratchet strap, practice strapping up an axle to lift the tire off the ground long enough to get you to an exit or safe place to change a tire or bearing on your tandem axle trailer. This isn't a 2500 mile solution, it's a get your busted stuff 2 miles up the road so you can fix it without getting smashed solution. You can also use it as a jack, but bring a jack/wood blocks too. #8 - Pack your emergency roadside stuff where it's accessible. Having a jack and a spare is great, unpacking everything you are bringing onto the side of the road to get to it is not. Every second that you can save on the side of the highway can save your life. #9 - WRB gave great advice, follow it. #10 - Don't get the oil changed the day before you go, do it about a week in advance if you can. If the schmuck at the local quickie lube double gaskets your filter or leaves the drain plug loose, you will be in a lot less of a pickle if it fails at home, and a mechanic that you know and trust will be back home replacing your engine while you're northbound and down in an Enterprise Rent a Truck or SUV. #11 - map out places along the way that carry spare tires. If you have to use your spare, replace it ASAP, don't wait to get where you're going. Running 15-20 minutes out of your way to stop at Tractor Supply Co could save you a real headache. AAA usually runs within the hour, but when it's midnight and the small local towing company they dispatch only has one driver on call, He's got to finish his local calls before he comes and takes you 100 miles closer to your destination, and he (or she) will have to wake his backup driver out of bed to bring a second flatbed to haul the trailer. The "I'm broke down and towing a trailer" call is one that many drivers dread. They don't always carry a hitch ball, if they do, chances are really good that it's the wrong size or someone borrowed their ball wrench and never returned it. They get that trailer call once every 2 years, it's hard to justify putting $2-300 worth of trailer towing attachments on each truck knowing that they will probably never pay for themselves. #12 - Tip the tow truck driver $10 when they show up and say thank you, even if they're late. If they take a while, it's usually the fault of the dispatcher, not the driver. Don't shoot the messenger, they're busting theirs to save yours, and the dispatcher probably has them just as frustrated as they do you. Nobody likes being yelled at because they work for an *******. A little kindness and courtesy goes a long way. Kind words and dead presidents will ensure kid glove care 99.9 percent of the time. Thanks for serving us and hope you have a great trip!

Haven't looked at a new one in a long time but the old man has several that are over 30 years old and still very fine optics.

I don't fish tournaments but I choose to trade the extra 10 feet of casting distance for the simplicity of a spincast reel where 99.9% use baitcasters. A $29.99 Daiwa Silvercast 170A will burn a lure across the water pretty darn quick (faster than a Zebco Bullet) and keep up with the big dogs rather well and you'll probably never birdnest it.

A point I'd like to make that you might not realize, The main reason why tournament fishermen bring 8 rods is because they're fishing 8 baits and they don't want to waste half the tournament time tying knots. While there's no reason that you couldn't fish every one of these baits on the standard 6'6" MH Ugly Stik and Mitchell 300 that everyone has in the basement, each different rod and reel combo has advantages and disadvantages with each bait and each fisherman's personal preference. You'll find that lighter spinning setups are generally preferred for lightweight baits and baitcasters with heavier rods are preferred for heavier baits. There are quite a few threads that go into a lot more detail that you may want to read up on when the tackle monkey bites.

I already have 5! (actually 2 goldcasts, 3 silvercasts, one Gamefisher 33-Sears branded GC, an apollocast, a couple various 100 and 120 series vintage Daiwa spincasts, an Abu, and a Zebco 33). Most of them are mated to quality rods. While they run around $50 new, I highly recommend looking for them at the flea market, where you can often find them used for under $10.

I'll be honest, I don't like baitcasters. This may come as a shock, but if it's not spinning gear, it's got a spincast reel. I love my Daiwa Goldcasts and Silvercasts. I will gladly trade 5 feet of distance over not having to deal with birdnests. An SC170 is kind of a fat fellow, but at 29.4 IPT, it's in the ballpark with a lot of the high end baitcasters as far as retrieve speed goes and you can absolutely stop your lure before it hits the water by tapping the button and releasing it. If I do buy another baitcaster, it will probably wind up getting traded or sitting on a shelf when I get mad at it. I take medication that sometimes slows my reaction time, so that birdnest that ruins your day is almost inevitable. While catching fish is important, it's not nearly as high on my priority list as peace and tranquility. It is neither peaceful or tranquil for anyone when I have a baitcaster, as I tend to be quite vocal with a long stream of obscenities when I'm untangling those no good stupid $%^ $%^&(*!*(ing mother#$%(ers like the dirty $%^& %$^&*&*(*()(%$$#### ^&*())%$#%&&*%$s that they are.

I'd imagine that you could have your rods and electronics stolen off the trailer and replace them out of pocket at least 5 times before you pay for that cover.

Mom is well taken care of and I don't have a boat. She did say that she didn't have enough club points for the pedal driven kayak that I think we all want, too I've definitely thought of getting the high end stuff I'd never buy on my own like a high end St Croix, but I have a problem dropping $100 or more on a rod without holding it in my hands first, although I did decide to pick 2 rods. One 12'0" Medium/Light Whuppin' Stick Crappie rod ($25) and one 7'6" Copper River Spin/Fly rod M/L spinning/ Moderate Fly ($27). I needed a new baitrunner, too. After careful consideration, I went with the Salt Striker SSBF65B ($79.99). I would have bought another KastKing Sharky Baitfeeder for half that but they've been discontinued From what I've seen, the Salt Striker is a better bang for your buck than Okuma's Avenger. I still have a few bucks to go and I'm missing a few bass baits. I'm debating reels for the new rods or baits. The Whuppin Stick will primarily be a panfish rod, but will definitely see a few trips to Erie for Steelhead as well as trout duty on big creeks and small rivers. I have a pretty nice shimano reel to put on it, but the reel on my primary UL (Daiwa 70RL purchased new in '94) may have seen it's better days, so I'm torn. As for the Copper River Spin/Fly, I'm thinking that a 4 piece rod with a reversible handle for under $30 it's the perfect backup for everything and as a bonus, it fits in my tackle bag. It will likely be mated to a french made Mitchell 308 and one of the 10 vintage fly reels currently on a shelf in my basement, but I like that rear drag knob, so I may add to the list. Pulling out some hair, also don't have any buzz baits, could use a few frogs, and never have enough Flambeau boxes.

I enjoy a nice hike with a nice and light 20 ga or .22 over any other kind of hunting. When I can't make up my mind, I have a 20 ga/.22 mag over/under.

I'm sooo that guy at night! Chair, 3 rods, sometimes a 4th for boredom, cooler full of bait. Generally I'm with 3-4 friends with the same gear, and depending on the launch ramp's accessibility, sometimes we will even park a couple pickups on the bank, too. You will usually only find us at night, though, and whoever is closest to the ramp will get their lines in before anyone is actually ready to put the trailer in the water, though, as we are all courteous catfishermen. In the unlikely event that we do hold anyone up, we will generally offer up a cold beer while you wait.

A plastic "bass tub" might fit the need all around. Bass Raider 10E, Sun Dolphin Sportsman, or something of the like could fit the bill of all the boats that you mentioned. It's not impossible to find a used one for under $200 or a new one on sale for $400. If you're on a budget, you can row it and carry it in a pickup truck for starters, then work your way up to a trolling motor, an outboard, a trailer, and all sorts of other stuff. There's a thread around here on the little boats that's been going for years with lots of great information on them.

Carpal Tunnel, Arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, or any of about 100 other itis's and syndromes. An over the counter NSAID anti inflammatory like Tylenol, Motrin, or Aleve will help with most of them temporarily but you should definitely see a doctor, as it will only get worse until you figure out exactly what it is and a medical path to a solution. If you are looking for an herbal remedy, try turmeric root. It's pretty awesome stuff and it can get expensive but if it works it's not too hard to grow in your garden. Google and YouTube will help you to make tea or plant it.

I couldn't care less if I get skunked every time I fish so long as I'm not at work!!

Jimi Hendrix played a right handed stratocaster upside down and still did a fine job, I'm sure you can, too! tell that to my girlfriend's 8 year old who wants to fish with my "Professional equipment." He's enthralled by the size of my catfish rods and thinks they're something extraordinary. If it gets him excited about fishing I'll play along but I do hope it takes him a while to find the MSRP on a Cabela's King Kat with a KastKing Sharky Baitfeeder, as in present used condition I'd value every last river combo I have at under $50 each. He's in love with the 3 Shakespeare Tiger combos I just bought his mom for $19.97 each on sale at Walmart, too!

It won't help here, but about 5 trucks ago I mounted some homemade PVC rod holders to a wolmanized 2x6. I notched the lumber and mounted the holders at about a 45 degree angle. I then mounted the rack to the bottom rear of my tool box with bolts and wing nuts so it was removable and I had a couple of eye hooks mounted in such a way that I could run a bungee across the reels. 10' rods fit in a 6' Silverado bed with no problem. Wish I had pics, it was a pretty slick setup.

I tend to return the favor on both her birthday, mothers day, and at points randomly throughout the year. Good lookin out, though! I'll send flowers.

So it's my birthday in a few weeks and mom just informed me that she has Cabela's Club points that she would like me to use, and although I put the list together pretty quickly, I figured it would make a good thread. If you had a $250 shopping spree at Cabela's, what would be in your cart?

Another reason to shop small business when you can. Really, though, we've all been to Walmart after work on Friday night when the bait shop is closed and you're fishing Saturday morning. Do you know those pegs on the wall that are always empty? That's where the good stuff used to be, much like the shelf space in the case behind the counter in sporting goods where the .22 shells ought to be.

What was that reality show where the little people had a farm? I seem to remember the eldest male in the family having an ongoing battle with moles. He used to run around in a golf cart with a sawed off 20 ga and blew all kinds of holes in the yard.