Tennessee Boy

There are many ways to measure greatness and even more ways to argue about who was/is the greatest. I'll just say this, if I could have one angler's skill and knowledge, I would choose Rick Clunn.

The Corps of Engineers does maintain records for some of their lakes. Some of the records are unclaimed so all it takes is a fish to have a lake record. I’ve caught several such Old Hickory “lake record” fish but haven’t claimed one yet. I’d feel kind of stupid asking two witnesses to sign for my 7 oz lake record yellow bass. ?

You just gave me a great idea for a new fishing product. Fishing Nuts! They’re just like the ones you get at the hardware store except they’re for fishing and they cost $7 for a pack of 3. ?

I do every time I go fishing. I’m right handed. I use left had reels on my bottom contact rods so I can use my dominant hand to impart the magical action on the lure. I use right hand reels on my fast retrieve rods so I can use my dominant hand to do all that cranking.

I work in IT and I have a lot of stories and I’ve heard many more from coworkers. My favorite from a coworker, a company had a critical server that went down around 2:00AM every Tuesday morning. It had backup power and they could not figure out what was causing it to go down. Finally they flew a guy in to spend the night to see if he could figure it out. Sure enough, at 2:00AM the janitor came in and unplugged the server to plug in his vacuum cleaner.

I agree with your point. I don't think the industry in general is that interested in growing the number anglers who fish tournaments. They are interested in growing the amount of money anglers spend to fish tournaments. I personally know several guys who have spent enormous amounts of money (well over $100K) that they could not afford to spend in pursuit of the dream of being a professional angler. If the tournament organizations would just lower the maximum horsepower allowed in a tournament back to 150HP they would greatly decrease the cost of tournament fishing and increase safety but their sponsors would not be happy and that's what matters.

I would be perfectly happy using the same rods, reels, line, lures, boat, etc that I was using 25 years ago. In fact I would prefer it in may cases. I would be miserable using 25 year old electronics. I'm a computer geek by profession and as a hobby. Fishing electronics is the one area where my passion for computers and my passion for fishing overlap. As such, I'm unable to resist spending money in this area. So take my opinion for what it worth.

Personally, I avoid any fishing related investments because it's hard to think of a worst industry to invest in. That's just my opinion. That said here are a few public companies I know of. Johnson Outdoors (JOUT) - Humminbird Electronics, Minn-Kota and a lot of other outdoor stuff like Kayaks and canoes. Brunswick Corporation (BC) - Mercury Marine, a bunch of boat brands including Lund and Lowes. Garmin Ltd (GRMN) - Swiss company listed on the NASDAQ. Electronics and now trolling motors. This is a large company, their fishing products are probably a small portion of their business. Shimano Inc. (SHMDF) - Japanese company but you can buy the stock over the counter. Rods, Reels and lots of other stuff.

Folks have been scorning new technology since the beginning of time. I guess you could say that it's cheating to use a boat. "Human's are land creatures and it's cheating to use technology to go into the fish's domain." It used to be very challenging to find offshore structure and those who could rise to the challenge were rewarded. Electronics has now made finding offshore structure much easier. It's always been hard to see fish in the water. Some are better at "sight fishing" than others. Is it cheating to use polarized glasses? Technology has now made it possible to see fish in muddy water at considerable depth. I don't consider it cheating but it does give an advantage to those that have the technology and know how to use it. I don't have live sonar. I will probably get it in 2021 and I'm looking forward to joining the ranks of the cheaters. ?

Very nice rig. Congratulations ?

They’re saying AT&T may have everything back online tonight. I’m impressed.

As I understand it, this is a fifteen story building full of wires and electronics. It’s a bad situation. There’s a hospital in Nashville that can’t access patient medical records because of this incident. We rely on the Internet for critical services but it’s very vulnerable. I’m wondering how long it will take to restore services.

There was a bombing in downtown Nashville this morning. At first it was perplexing why someone would set off a bomb in this manner early on Christmas morning when few people where around. We now know they were targeting an AT&T switch facility and have had a major impact. Most AT&T services are down over a large area in Tennessee, and parts of Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia. It’s affected area hospitals and the Nashville airport. I live in the next county over from Nashville and our 911 services are out. It’s scary how dependent we can be on the equipment in one building in our modern interconnected world. One person who knows what they are doing can do a lot of damage.

Definitely. The latest rumor is that the RV had a loud speaker warning people that there was a bomb, then it started a countdown before the detonation. It’s hard to imagine what the motive could have been. Bazaar.

In middle Tennessee we started the day with a bazaar bombing in downtown Nashville. I’ll be glad when 2020 is over.

Then: Find a specific tree on the bank and from there follow a specific heading on the compass until seeing the structure on the graph then drop a buoy. Drive around some more and drop a few more buoys to get a feel for the shape of the structure. Then position the boat and fish a spot that few other anglers could find. Now: Drive straight to the spot using GPS and exceptionally detailed maps only to find another boat on the spot. ?

MLF uses Becknell Electro Samson scales. They are pricey and have a reputation for poor moisture resistance. Mine is three years old and I haven’t had any issues but I take good care of it. I also carry Chatillon and Son’s brass scales which are indestructible and what I used for most fish.

It’s tempting to look at this photo and judge but we really don’t know who had the right of way, the boat or the dock? ?

In my 30 years as a boat owner I have never wished the guy in the back of the boat would take the front for a while.

It would be cool to have a record but I'm not gonna change the way I fish to try to get one. No way I'm gonna throw a frog on 2# test trying to break a world record. ? I try to know what the state records are for any fish I might catch and also the lake records if they exist. That's as far as I'm willing to go.

I would proudly accept any world record. I would change my signature here to World Record Holder and leave off the skipjack part.

His contribution to fishing is incredible. The In-Fisherman Critical Concepts Largemouth series of books are the foundation of bass fishing knowledge in my opinion. When someone ask me where to start in learning about bass fishing. I point them to those three books. It's a shame they are no longer in print.

Ever wonder how many record fish are never recorded? I was wading a creek as a teenager in the late 1970s when I caught an enormous redeye bass. I had caught countless redeye bass the size of my hand but this thing was easily three times bigger than the biggest I had ever caught. I weighted it on my trusty Chatillion scales and it weighted 1 lb 11 oz. It never crossed my mind that it might be a record until many years later when I checked and found that the current Tennessee state record is 1 lb 15 oz caught in 1991. I don't know what the record was before that and I don't know how accurate my scales were at the time but I was close and I had no idea. In the early 90s I was fishing a tournament in North Alabama when my partner hooked a huge freshwater drum on a rattle trap. It was the biggest freshwater fish I have ever seen. It took him half an hour to land the it. He quickly unhooked it and apologized for taking so much tournament time to land the thing. After he released it he ask me how much I thought it weighted. I said 60 lbs. He said he was thinking 55 lbs. Neither of us knew the world record was 54 lbs. Now I have no confidence in my ability to guess the weight of a large drum but it might have been close to a world record and it never cross our minds at the time.

I used to use a barrel smoker. Build a fire. Keep it just right. Get up in the middle of the night to check it. Then I got old. Now I use an electric. Put the meat in. Turn it on. Pull it out 12 hours later and eat.