Jimzee

You know what Muddy, I still feel the same way I have always felt. All joking aside, use what you like and are comfortable with, don't worry about what anyone else thinks. There is good and bad in all makes and models. With that said, I'm still not buying any Shimanos. LOL!! J/K

I do have two Shimano Core's I purchased recently and love them, but I feel the Daiwa Steez represents the pinnacle of fishing instraments. IMHO...Shimano has remained somewhat idle in recent innovation and Daiwa has leaped forward. This is a whole other topic! I don't know about that...while there are plenty of folks around here that recommend Shimano, I think you will find an equal number of anglers that prefer Diawa 8-) Who prefers Daiwa? Yeah, it really gets to me, especially the one's recommending products from hear-say instead of first hand experience.

Hit the nail on the head. Try what Infidel suggested, it works.

Nice fish guys! Keep posting them Randall.

Great pics and fish. I would love to get into some of those peacocks.

Welcome Aboard Champ Girl!! 8-)

There goes my diet.

See there, you're getting all your basic food groups in one setting. That's the way to do it man.

I may end up changing into one. Seems like that's all I eat here lately. Eating healthy sucks. I have been on a diet for the past six weeks. I cheated a little bit on the BR trip though. The meatballs were awesome. I had my fair share, trust me.

I'd be interested in knowing where I could get one of these! Make that two people interested. Something new I don't know about?

I'm eating raw baby carrots with diet Mt. Dew.

I've got one of those of my own. This was the first time I found out my Lab has seperation anxiety. I come home from work and this is what I found. He was not even a year old yet. I had to get a picture before the wife came home. I made him sit right in the middle of the mess when I took the picture. He just pouted and sulked in the picture. The end result was two books, one CD and case, and one new pair of Nike Shox. I had to laugh. ;D

I felt the same way too Wayne. Maybe on the next one people will have more consideration for the amount of planning that goes into these trips. BTW, I'm not talking about those of you that cancelled for unforseen reasons, I'm talking about the ones that fell off of the face of the Earth and wouldn't let anyone know if you were going or not. Not cool...

Well I guess I better tell a little bit about the trip. I will try to keep it short but there is a lot to tell. Saturday, we left WV about 6 am Saturday and headed south. I stopped along the way to pick up AJ Fernatt and then we were off. I got to meet a forum legend along the ride down. Yep, that's right, Burley in the flesh. We stopped and had lunch with Burley at Cracker Barrel in Abingdon, Va. He came all the way down (50 minute drive) to meet us for lunch. After lunch, Burley gave me a pack of Lake Fork 7/0 weighted hooks to use with my swimbaits. Guys, Burley is the real deal. He also tried to get me to take one of his setups and numerous other lures. I can't wait to fish with him this summer when he comes up my way. We finally arrived in Guntersville at 7 pm after a short BPS detour along the way. I was beat from the ride down and turned in about 10:30 pm. Sunday morning we hit the lake early. Words cannot describe just how big this lake was. Keep in mind I am just a country boy from WV and the biggest lake I fish is 2,650 acres. (Stonewall Jackson) You really had to watch for the depth changes in the lake. One minute you were in 35 feet of water and the next minute it was 2.5 feet of water. CRAZY!! We fished all day getting used to this monstrous sized lake. I started throwing a spinnerbait at around 5 pm that evening in about 5 foot of water. The next thing I know I was hooked to a freight train. After about a two minute struggle, AJ finally lipped her for me. I was shaking so hard I could barely stand up. My first fish at Guntersville ended up being my new PB. She was 7.5 pounds, shaped like a football, and beat my old PB by three ounces. A few minutes later I hooked a dink on the spinnerbait and that was it for the day. We got back to the dock and I was still shaking from the fish. We meet up with Jeff, Alpster, MassholeMike, and Speedbead. These guys were high-fiving me as I could still barely stand up. Man, what a rush! Monday morning we headed out and went 17 miles north of the lodge. It was 38 degrees and it ended up being a tough bite. We finally figured out that the fish were holding in about 12-15 foot of water. AJ put a few smaller bass in the boat toward evening on a trap along some riprap. I got a big goose egg for the day but did manage to hook the biggest crappie I have ever seen. That thing was 17-18 inches long! We got back just in time for the evening dinner and meet everyone. Special thanks to Muddy for the awesome meatballs. They were fantastic!! Also thanks to JJ's Magic for the awesome products. This stuff works people!! Tuesday morning came with 32 degree temps along with it. AJ and I started looking for places that looked like back home. We had a miserable boat ride that morning for 2.5 miles until we found "the spot." It had everything we were used to fishing back home, flooded brush in deeper water. We went to work with the jigs. In a half hour we boated 12 fish, the smallest was 2.8 pounds. I ended up getting broke off in one brush pile. I set the hook and had her on for about ten seconds and then the line went limp. It was a big fish but I'll never know how big. We were loving life. We finally found a pattern that worked - look for places that looked like back home and fish them. ;D We picked my wife Dawn up around noon after it had warmed up to about 53 degrees. We went back to same cove and caught a few more fish on cranks along the riprap including a white bass that Dawn caught. That evening we fished closer to the park and campground. I was slow-rolling a spinnerbait along a cliff in about 20 feet of water and hooked up with my second biggest fish of the trip. AJ lipped her (thanks again man) and she ended up going 6 lbs. 4 oz. These fish look just like footballs and have huge guts on them. To give you an idea, earlier in the day I caught a spot on a jig that might have been 15 inches long, but it weighed 3.25 lbs. CRAZY!!! We retired that evening for some great camp pasta prepared by Ghoti and his wonderful wife Mary. This stuff was so good, and they fixed enough to feed an army. We took some back to the cabin with us for later. Special thanks for Ghoti and Mary for the great food and Please Release Me for the generous samples you provided. Wenesday morning, AJ and I headed out down the lake in search of some more places that looked like back home. We had studied the lake map the night before and found another cove that resembled the one we fished Tuesday and we were right. laydowns with deep water nearby. This cove was shaped just like the lower section of Italy, so from there on out it became "Little Italy." ;D We got the jigs out and went to work again. We ended up losing four fish in that cove that were brutes, but caught several nice ones too. The other side of the cove had boat houses and docks and we caught a few more on cranks around the docks. They were all dinks. We headed back up the lake around evening time to be close enough to the ramp so we could fish until it was time for dinner. We settled on fishing deeper water with laydowns on the main lake close to the park. AJ was throwing a jig and I was throwing a crank. We caught several more fat spots along the cliff wall. Those spots fought so hard compared to their size. They were all three pounds or better. That evening we were treated to a awesome dinner with loads of stuff to be given away from the BR sponsors. I learned a ton from the speakers and you guys should have seen all the stuff they were giving away. I was like a kid in a candy store. ;D Special thanks for Glenn for having the dinner in such a fine place, the guys at KVD line conditioner, Bob "Pond Boss" Lusk for a great speech, and all others who donated for this dinner. It was awesome, THANKS!! Thursday came, knowing this was our last day on the water we were on a mission. Dawn, AJ, and I headed out down the lake early back to "Little Italy" to see if we could convince those bruisers to bite again on a jig we lost the previous day. We tried a cove first across from Lil' Italy because the wind was blowing in excess of 30 mph. AJ hooked up with a nice fat four pounder in four foot of water and that got us to thinking. Are these fish finally moving up shallow the day before we leave? We tried for the rest of the day to stir up something. We even resulted to drop shotting in 50 foot of water for suspended fish but could not hold the boat over the fish long enough due to the wind. We ended up running a brand new trolling motor battery down. It was crazy out there that day. Four foot waves and we nearly lost AJ out of the boat on the ride back to the dock. Never-the-less, we went back smiling and laughing from all the fun we had. That night, AJ and I spent time with all the guys and had one heck of a BS session. Best part of the trip right there IMHO. Thanks fellas!! Friday morning, it was now time to leave. We left a sunny 72 and came home to a miserable 39 with rain. On a side note, we stopped back by BPS again to ease the pain of not getting to fish the Big "G" one more day. This was an awesome trip and I can't wait until the next one. "09" NO EXCUSES!! 8-) I also want to give some thanks to every one I got to meet on this trip, without them it would have been just another fishing trip. Glenn and Keri, thanks for all the trouble you went through in setting this trip up and the great site you provide us. I'm glad I got to meet you both. Alpster, this guy is the real deal. Always positive and a joy to be around. He is just one of those guys that draws you to him. Ronnie, thanks for all the hard work you put into this trip to make it happen. I feel like I found a true friend for life after I met you. Thanks a bunch for all those crank boxes. Keep on keeping on. Speedbead, thanks for the brews man and for all the daily reports on the cell phone. We will get together this summer and fish a few days whether it be down my way or up your way. Glenn, thanks for the class on the mojo-rig and all the advice on the lake. Glenn is a stand-up guy with lots of knowledge. Risk Kid, one of the first BR guys I got to meet. Let me tell you, he is the real deal. What he done for Ronnie and Wayne was awesome and he has a place to stay at my house anytime he wants it. Roadwarrior, thanks for the jigs man. I still didn't get to put that Kistler rod and Daiwa reel in your hand. Maybe one step at a time, enjoy the Revo man. Long Mike, probably one of the biggest surprises on the trip. Not at all what I was expecting. A great guy, very soft spoken, and a hoot to talk to. Look forward to more BS'ing on the next trip. Ghoti and Mary, a great cook and even better friend. Thanks for the brews and look forward to more info on that trip. MassholeMike, dude what can I say. I felt almost as good as you did when you caught that hawg. Let it be known from this day forward that a Yankee fan can get along with a Redsox fan when it comes to fishing. Hope to see you on the next one. C.J., it was great getting to meet you and listen to all the knowledge you shared so freely to the group. Looking forward to Kentucky. Senko77, this guy has it going on. I wish you the best this year Ryan in your tournaments. You deserve it all dude! Electrikal, it was good to meet you and finally put a face behind the name. Enjoy those new Dobyn's rods man. Shadcranker, glad we got to meet even though it was very brief. And last but certainly not least, AJ and Dawn, you guys are great fishing buddies and I can't wait until we do it again. I apologize if I forgot anybody. I will post pics of the trip after Glenn releases the video. Blaine 8-)

Is that a Pacer? Party on Wayne! Party on Garth!

Whatever you all did, it's running faster now for me. Thanks!!

I'ze Factory, Yumeya, ZPI, Avail, Bassart, RCS, Fujiyama. These should cover what you need. I have seen many other companies but until I learn to speak Japanese, I am clueless what the names are.

Welcome Aboard!

Re-welcome aboard It's funny, but I recognized your avatar and was looking for the explanation Roger Same here.

Don't worry with the Ranger. Just bring yourself and Gidget. I think they even rent boats there. I hope you can make it.

Clint Eastwood

JDM tackle and Chocolate.

Here is a man with his priorities in order. The stooges are still funny after all these years. I never get tired of the slaps and hair ripping. ;D

I can't figure out why kids today would rather sit in front of a TV screen for hours on end instead of being outdoors. I was never inside the house. I think a lot has to do with the parents not setting examples and letting the TV be the baby sitter.

Heck yeah man. I would love to fish the delta. Great photos!