MN Fisher

My best bass this year (the one in my profile pic) was caught on a 3/8 oz Jawbone spinnerbait in Chart/White with a 3" Berkley Pit Boss in Skeet's Chartreuse Shad as the trailer. Ran it fairly shallow over the tops of the submerged weeds close to the edge of a patch of lily-pads. Don't know if the bass came out of the pads or up from the weeds...didn't matter as it was a good fish for me.

What's this thing called a 'rod box'? For transport, my rods sit across the rear seat and middle work-table, held in place by bungee cords.

Just part of my OCD-ness. Battery gets unplugged, charged up, put in the basement. Even with the canoe in the garage, it gets darn chilly in there and I'd rather be safe than sorry.

The legends of horror films.

Birthday money! The actual date isn't until next month, but the parents gave me some cash early. So since my old 3600-size Advanced Angler bag was getting a little tight, and I have a wishlist on TW a mile long...got a BPS Extreme Qualifier 3700-size in Camo with 4-3700 and 1-3750 boxes. Now I got room to for what I've wish-listed and a bit more to expand. The Advanced Angler bag is going to be my new Plastics bag - 6-3600 size boxes in the main compartment, 1-3600 size in the front pocket plus the room in the side pockets. More storage than the Plano Weekender that WAS my plastics bag...it only held 4-3600 boxes then loose stuff in the pockets. Yes, I've already done the sorting - the AA bag will fill when I do my TW and FishUSA orders after I get my Yule present (usually a grand in a check).

When I'm storing my drop-shot rig - the Avocet spinner - in my rack, I put the hook in the keeper and wind the weight-line around the handle so the weight doesn't go flipping around.

Looking over the history - there was a short time when Garcia had an issue in re-distributing the Cardinal reels because of a contract with Mitchell of France. So for a time, Zebco was the distributor of Cardinal reels...first batch of reels were labeled "Zebco by Abu", but Tom Lenk (President of Garcia at the time) objected to the Abu link as they had the Ambassaduer line, so the label changed to "Zebco Cardinal" until Garcia was able to distribute Abu spinning reels. http://www.realsreels.com/IntroductionZebco.html

I've got my three old rods gathering dust as I've upgraded. All were 'cheap' rods, the most expensive being an original Ugly Stick. They're all 30+ years old, still intact, and usable, but don't have the action I want, so they sit unused. They've caught hundreds of fish without a problem. Statistically, if a rod is going to break from accident, it'll happen in the first year - which is what my Aird-X rods are warranted for.

That ones that catch fish - which is all of my 'budget' rods.

Darwin Award Contenders.

Add to that, some lakes have multiple launch points - Minnetonka has 10 public ramps, Mille Lacs has 11, Leech has 8. So if you can only assign 1 enforcement officer to each lake...which ramp do they watch?

No ramp fees in Minnesota at all. A portion of taxes, license fees (fishing and boat registration) and lottery earnings go to the DNR for maintenance of ramps as well as pay for personnel to man the ramps for 'invasive species' and regulations checks.

Or a set that's not expensive - this is the set I got. https://www.amazon.com/Punasi-Polarized-Plastic-Sunglasses-Outdoor/dp/B01C5GF77M/ref=sr_1_65?dchild=1&keywords=flip+up+clip+on+sunglasses&psc=1&qid=1571968969&sr=8-65

That totally sucks, man. I can't imagine what going through your head right now. I'm in a neighborhood that's seen 2 serious crimes and only a dozen minor crimes in the 33 years I've lived here. Stating that - I put the canoe in the garage and lock the door...maybe it's time to invest in at least a lockable storage shed that'll fit the boat?

My point is that I'd rather watch a Pro go out and hunt down the big girls than watch a bunch of yahoos catch as many dinks as they can. I have much more respect for the guy who comes in with five that are 4#+ than the guy who catches twenty 1#-2#ers. We have people here (amateurs) who've logged 30-40-50 fish days...so the 'dink fest' that MLF is doesn't impress me at all. I'm gone.

Just be careful too - my Yo-Zuri is $2 more for a 600yd spool on Amazon than it is from TW.

(Raises his hand) I'm on trifocals and use clip-on sunglasses. My prescription glasses are ANSI certified, polycarbonate lenses in a reinforced frame - I did machine-shop work and all I needed were side-shields. At 60 (well, next month) there's very little I CAN do without my glasses - so yes, I wear them fishing.

I use the Owner Safety Caps on my cranks and jerks. Keeps the hooks from tangling and my fingers from getting pierced when tying on or cutting off. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Treble_Hook_Safety_Caps/descpage-OHC.html

What I'd like to see is Plano coming out with a 3706 - the 3606 has six sections running front-to-back instead of end-to-end...so an end-up box would still allow the worms to lay flat.

They will, but you'll not get as many in there - probably six stacked flat...a seventh if you put it on end. The Advanced Angler Bags are designed for on-end storage of the boxes; any other configuration will be inefficient.

From MLF's own rules - https://majorleaguefishing.com/about/select-rules/ "18. THE WEIGHING OF BASS All MLF Events shall utilize the MLF term “scorable bass”. A scorable bass is any bass caught that weighs one (1) pound or greater. Any bass caught that weighs less than one (1) pound shall be deemed “un-scorable.” So any bass weighing at least one pound scores for their points. A person catching 30 one-pound bass gets the same score as someone catching 5 six-pound bass. Total weight is what matters...doesn't matter how you get there.

I've really liked my Aird-X rods, planning on replacing the Ugly Stick my Trion spinner is on with one as well. For $45-$55 depending on where you buy it, it's a really well-built, inexpensive rod.

I've enjoyed my Fuego CT-XS for flipping/pitching/topwaters and such. I'm looking at replacing the Nitrous with another Fuego CT in the 6.3 for cranks/jerks/heavy spinners-chatters.

What forecast you looking at? From Weather.com for my town which is in the Lake Minnetonka area

I use clip-ons over my ANSI certified, tri-focal, prescription glasses - mostly dark gray or amber depending on light conditions, but occasionally the brown.