Tennessee Boy

This topic gets debated often here. It depends on how you fish. It’s not unusual for me to spend much more time idling around scanning structure than I do fishing. For me the console is far more important.

You guys have stumbled upon a brilliant idea. A cartoon fishing show! It would have cartoon anglers that catch 5 lbers on every cast. The MLF fans would love the high numbers and the BASS fans would love the big fish. Just for fun, it could have a coyote angler that would constantly drive his boat over a waterfall and hang there in midair for few seconds before falling.

Strike King was purchased a few years ago. Their offices were recently closed and a once great company is slowly being turned into a brand only. I expect we will see lots of products coming on the market under the Strike King brand as the owners try to monetize the brand. Typically they don’t add any value to the product, they just order something from an Asian manufacturer and stick the name and logo on it. This happens all the time in the fishing industry because anglers are very brand loyal.

When I was young I made my share of overnight fishing trips. I found that campgrounds were a good value. You get power to charge the batteries, more security, a warm shower, a place to pitch a tent, and a picnic table for $40 or less.

I used to live in north Alabama and fished Guntersville a lot. That was 20 years ago. I've been back twice since then so my knowledge of the lake is old. Guntersville is known for it's grass (mostly milfoil). In April the grass will be growing but well below the surface. Fishing the grass on good structure will probably be the key and most people will know that. The most popular bass fishing areas are in Goose Pond Colony area of the lake but good fish can be found south of there. I have never fished north of Coon Creek and I don't think many people do. I've never been a kayak fisherman but I can imagine the unique challenges of fishing from one would bring in a tournament. Fishing in a field of 600 would be interesting as well. Will you be fishing in early or late April? How far from your launch location is it reasonable to travel?

I think you’re getting Vol Fever ?.

Yeah that one had me sweating. The decision in the first quarter to go for it on the two came close to being a huge mistake. It’s gonna be fun watching Eric Gray for the next few years.

I may stay up later than usual to complain about the neighbors and their fireworks, but I'll be in bed by 10:00PM. Gotta get my rest. It's gonna be a long day of football tomorrow. Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.

Sure there are lots of options. I believe there are condos in the area that include a slip in a community dock. My point is that the lots on the water with a dock permit cost $400,000 more than a lot right across the street and that does not include the cost of a house or a dock. To make matters even worse, the Corp of Engineers owns the land around the lake. It may look like your back yard but it does not belong to you. It is public land and accessible to everyone. I think you even have to get a permit to mow all the way to the water.

LOL. Yeah, I could get by with a tent and outhouse as long as it's on the water. My wife, like yours has higher standards.

Boat + Fire = Bad

Outside of Nashville on Old Hickory Lake there is a new subdivision with lots for sale. 0.7 acre lot on the lake with a dock permit $529,000. A lot with a community dock shared by four homes, $475,000. A lot in the same subdivision, not on the lake with no dock, $129,000. Living on the water ain't cheap. It would be great to be able to walk out the back door and walk to your own dock and just go fishing. My concern is security. There's too much money in a bass boat and thieves know this. I wouldn't feel safe leaving everything in the boat and I wouldn't want to carry everything back and forth to the boat every time I go fishing. My dream has always been to have a house on the lake with my own ramp and a garage with doors on the front and back. Just hook the boat to the truck and put it in reverse to launch on my own private ramp, or put it in drive to go launch elsewhere.

There‘s no way they will ever go to a five fish limit. There are endless ways they can tweak the rules. Some more radical than others. One simple change would be to raise the minimum scoreable bass weight to the approximate weight of a legal keeper on the lake they are fishing. It’s always seemed wrong to me to let pros count a 1 pound fish that an amateur angler couldn’t count because it’s under the 15in limit.

Most bass boats come pre wired so most TMs come with a short wire to connect to the existing wiring. My boat is hard wired with a breaker / switch near the battery which I turn off when I pull the boat out of the water. My first boat came with a 28# TM that I upgraded to a 45# and I did upgrade the wiring. I was able to pull the new wires using the old wires. I just duct taped the old and new together with many layers of tape before I started pulling. You don’t want the tape to come loose in the middle of the boat. You will love the new TM! Good luck.

Everyone should watch the video of the church shooting yesterday even though it’s hard to watch. I’m glad my church makes sure there are trained armed people at every service.

My grandfather who passed 10 years ago, is always with me when I'm fishing. He preferred fishing for catfish and my earliest fishing memories are of catching catfish with him. This photo was taken after my very first trip to Kentucky Lake in 1972 where I caught this 7 lb 2 oz Flathead or Yeller Cat as we called em back then.

I like it ?. Any idea what the world record is in cubic inches?

Yeah, I see what you’re saying and I agree to some degree. Personally, I would value a 9# fish over four 5# fish. Would I value a 5# over three 3#?, probably not but I think the math needs to be simple enough that every calculator has a fish scoring key. I don’t think it’s gonna happen regardless of what curve we come up with.

The weight in pounds squared. 1 squared is 1x1=1. 5 squared is 5x5=25. 9 squared is 9x9=81. Just about every calculator has a button to do it but some people don’t like math. I’m a geek so I like to mix math with my fishing.?

Very nice boat. Enjoy

If it was up to me, I would use a points system that would reward bigger fish and have no limit. I would square the weight of each fish so a 1lb fish would be worth 1 point, a 5lb fish would be worth 25 points. That would allow the anglers to consider many different strategies to win. 1 - 9lb fish = 81 points 9 - 3lb fish = 81 points 50 - ~1.27lb fish = 81 points That might be too “mathematical” for some but it’s not up to me anyway.

The new Heavy Hitters tournament will add an interesting twist to the BPT next year. Hopefully we’ll get to see some guys targeting bigger fish now.

I agree and those strategies are what I find the most interesting but I don’t know if they make for good TV. I think the BPT is focused on the fans experience more than the angler’s experience. Just about all of us would prefer to catch one five pound fish over catching five one pound fish. I guess most people would rather watch someone else catch five fish than to watch them catch one big one.

There is a lot of luck in fishing so consistency is difficult compared to other sports. After the first year I see a lot of consistency at the top and even more at the bottom. Some of the guys that I consider to be hardcore offshore structure fishermen seem to be struggling which is not surprising.

I enjoy listening to that cool wining sound my Scorpion DCs make.