volzfan59

RIP Hank. I hate what you and your family are going through. As a dog (and cat) guy myself, been there so many times myself. He’ll be waiting on y’all.

Not even a question, BPS Platinum reel. I own several, no issues, very reliable, durable. Only reel I’ll ever buy from here on out.

Interesting, understand I am in no way saying that you, or your friend, are wrong. Just speaking about my experience this past Friday. I called BPS to place an order for several items. I had already looked up the items to get the correct sku number and checked the price against the one given in my BPS fishing master catalog, they matched. I never even thought about the tariffs. If I want something and have the money to pay for it, I’m getting it. Anyway, I called 1-800-basspro and placed my order, the customer service associate read back everything to me including the price which matched the catalog and online pricing that I had looked up. And, yes I always order by phone, speaking to a real person (preferably an American) when possible. I guess I’m old school.

I’m with Katy, “Fish on” sometimes followed by “Fish off”.

People that wear their f’ing pajama bottoms and house shoes (fuzzy or not) out in public. Also, gals wearing spandex bottoms that shouldn’t. Same thing goes for guys. Folks if you ain’t got the body for it, DONT WEAR IT!

I love to throw a buzz bait. It’s my #1 top water confidence bait.

RIP Catt! Thanks for everything.

I’ll be praying for you Katie. My dad had his eyes done years ago. He said that it was no big deal at all. Went from wearing bifocals to readers after his cataract surgery.

Congratulations to Shaw!!! Enjoy your retirement. Our paths crossed a few times, super nice and humble man. To be honest I thought that he had retired when he fell off of the bpt.

Looks like an excellent schedule.

I bought a Ryobi sawzall years ago when I was still racing. Used it in the pits to cut away bent up fenders, etc. still have it and use it. I use DeWalt and Diablo blades, Diablo being the better.

Several friends that have had knees and hips replaced. Not one regretted having it done. My wife is a nurse for an orthopedic surgeon. She deals with patients every day that have had the surgery. As long as you follow your doctor’s orders and do your PT you’ll be fine.

Right, wrong or indifferent I store all of my reels with the drags loosened all the way. True enough, one does have to remember to tighten them, but that’s no big deal at all.

One thing Rora, no matter what you use the fish still have to be there. Move around as best you can until you find them, play with your depths too.

Go to Walmart or wherever you can find some small split shot and Eagle Claw cricket hooks, buy two or three packs. Buy you a cricket basket while you’re there and find a store that sells crickets. Lite or ultralight rod with a reel spooled with 4lb line and your in business. For me, crickets work so much better than worms. Meal worms are okay too, but I stay away from night crawlers and red wigglers.

Yes I do, as a former BPS employee I know exactly how good it is.

Congratulations, you’ll love it but the bait monkey loves to hang out there. My closest BPS is in Little Rock, 2 1/2 to 3 hours away. Edit, If you can swing a part time job the employee discount is really good………really, really good.

Before retiring I used to run 2 to 3 miles every day. Sun, rain, snow, didn’t matter. You’d find me at the track or on the greenway in our community. I got hooked on high end Brooks running shoes. Still will only wear Brooks, however I gave up running when I gave up working.

I’m a proud B.A.S.S. member and will be until they put me in a hole and chunk some dirt on me. I keep and old B.A.S.S. decal, told my wife to slap it on my casket. Pretty much joking with her, but if she does it’s okay by me. After I read my Bassmaster magazine, I take it to the barbershop for others to enjoy. Do the same thing with my In-Fisherman magazine.

Sure I could! If that hawg will just stay buttoned up long enough for me to put on clean underwear! Never caught anything big from a yak or a canoe. Caught a 20+ lb carp and a 20+ rockfish (stripped bass) from my bass boat. From a yak or canoe? Don’t really know but I’d love to find out.

I purchased my Mighty Max lithium t/m battery on the advice of @MN Fisher That’s where Ken got his batteries I believe. He spoke awfully highly of them. Great people to work with.

I have three crankbait rods, all Bass Pro Shops Crankin’ Sticks. Excellent rods, great value especially if you find them on sale. Medium lite 7’ for jerkbaits mainly, medium 7’ for shallow runners and square bills and medium heavy for deep runners. Deep is a relative thing, I never fish any deeper than 15’. Usually it’s more like 10’.

New bait monkey tactic, lose all an angler’s crankbaits ensuring that he has to purchase more.

Like others have mentioned, I rarely eat on the water anymore as it’s usually a 4 to 6 hour trip. When I do, it’s something I can eat easily on the move. Peanut butter crackers, cheese crackers, an apple or maybe pop tarts………stuff like that. Wash it down with water, Gatorade or a Power Ade. Usually I eat something on the way home and just hydrate while on the water.

One of my firm, hard and fast rules to live by, Don’t go fishing on the weekends, especially holiday weekends. Living in middle and east Tennessee, the crazies pour out to the lakes and rivers on weekends and holidays. Even before I retired, never went out on the lake or rivers on the weekends. Thankfully being in law enforcement, once I became a supervisor I had at least one day off on weekdays. Before that both of my off days were on weekdays. Sometimes I might hit a small stream wading but even that was a rarity.