White77

so it seems i will be getting enough academy gift cards for x-mas to get me a trolling motor. i am wondering if the 30lb is enough for this boat? or should i step up to the next size? any info will be much appreciated!! Cliff

i say go for it if you really like her, but it might be a good idea to talk to your friend about it. i dont know about dating the friends sister, but i do know that dating your friends girlfriend is not recommended, especially if you want to keep the friend!! ;D

now all ineed is a garage, spare room, so i dont have to work off my floor!!

this is great! when i was in the army, a sergeant once gave a new private a piece of chalk and a hammer. told him to tap the armor on the tanks and circle and "soft" spots(there is no soft spots in DU). few hours later every tank had little white circles all over it!! another good one, was to ask someone to get you a spare box of reticules, this is the little red digital cross hair when you look through the sites.

doing good here, 45 hours a week is the norm, in the summer jump to 50-60 a week. sounds kinda weird, but the press box business is great!!

i have only just started out with rodbuilding. i have ordered from fishsticks4u and acid rod. other than cork i think acid rod has better prices and they only charge you what it costs them to ship. most of my tools and "jigs" and such i have made myself

had to run to home depot for something so while i was there i got the tensioners taken care of. i got some 1/4 inch bolts, pan washers, wing nuts, regular nuts and a box of assorted small springs. put the bolt in and secured with ordinary nut, then pan washer, thread, pan washer, spring and wing nut. it is very similar to ej's set up minus the clips. it seems that it will work just fine. i put three of them on just cuz the little packs came with three of each. thanks for y'all's help!! Cliff

well i made me a new wrapper this week, cuz my old one sucked!! this one works great, made it from scrap wood at work, didnt cost me a nickel! i used some old crappy guides glued in place to run the thread through. all i need now is to go get the stuff for a tension device, then i will be set!! the v-block laying down is just to show the small block on the bottom that fits snugly in between the two main rails, so they can be placed anywhere along it, this was especially helpful for wrapping the guides near the tip. i used the soft side of some velcro tape to line the V's with. thanks Cliff

underwear? you wear those? weird!

thanks, i will keep trowing my traps then. hopefully things will get better soon.

the 8' will be more than enough room for me and my gear, however it might be a bit cramped with two adults, but 90% of the time i will be alone anyway. i dont know about the motor yet, i will let ya know what size i end up with and how it works. i have seen several of these on lake meridian and all of them were using the front mount. Cliff

well i need a bit of help if possible. first off i fish from shore and in golf course tanks that range from less than an acre to maybe 10-15 acres. depending on what tank i am on, there is all kinds of cover but mostly flooded timber and concrete retaining walls. i havent caught a fish since november 16th. and i bet a couple weeks before that were skunks too. the weather has been a bit crazy, cold mornings and maybe in the 50-60's in the afternoons. some tanks are blocked from the wind and others get the full effect. the tanks range from almost perfectly round, one is a big "U" shape, others are just irregular. the deepest water (guess) that i can get in is around 10-15 feet deep. i have tried to take everything i have read and learned from here and put it to use. i have mostly been using t-rigged worms, jigs and cranks. i work my baits in the deepest water i can access from shore and i work them slow, slower than i have before. how much does color factor in this time of year? or the weight of t-rigs and jigs? size of jig trailer? i have also tried fishing in the shallower areas, but mainly stick to the deeper water. if it helps, i mostly have been using jewel eakins jigs, 3/8 in missouri craw with watermelon red paca chunks. chrome/blue rattle trap or sexy shad cranks, and t-rigged power worms or culprit worms in red shad or blue fleck, with a 1/8 bullet. maybe i am not putting in enough time with each bait, i try to give at least 15-20 casts before i switch baits or locations, sometimes more if using a crank or the like. i am not asking to catch ten pounders every cast, i just want to catch A fish! i know that fishing in small tanks is probably alot different than a lake like lake Waco (which i do fsih sometimes still with no luck) some guys at academy told me they killed them on lake waco yesterday, over 30 fish a piece. any help that y'all can give me will be put to use and much appreciated!! ;D thanks Cliff P.S. i usually fish for only about 8-10 hours a week, and, i have only been at this for around two years, been in texas for three.

thanks. i do need to get a trolling motor and battery, plus all the other stuff, life vests etc etc. i dont know much about TM, but they have one at academy for $100, it is a 30lb thrust, i figured that would be enough for this little boat. i also want to get a depth finder for it. but right now i just have to get all these things as i can afford them, so it might be a few weeks until i actually get it on the water. i will contact you after the first of the year and see about coming down to conroe. i am still not having any luck here, my buddy today caught two, one went just shy of 5lbs and the other was around 2lbs. i looked through the pics on my camera, the last time i caught a fish was november 16th, and i bet i went 2-3 weeks prior to that with nothing. dont know what i am doing wrong, this is the longest skunk i have had since i started LMB fishing about two years ago. thanks Cliff

i think it was the first x-mas being married to my wife, and we spent it with my folks. she got me a new pillow, hair gel and a brush!! man she learned a good lesson that year and hasnt screwed it up again yet. i guess she just didnt know what to get me. now she buys me Revo's and daiwas and cranks and jigs and stuff. way better!!

i bought this today with my profit sharing check from work. it is an 8 footer. super light too. still need to get a trolling motor and battery, plus a few other things, cant wait to get it on the water!! thanks for lookin Cliff

i have only been using jewel bait company eakins jig for over a year now. i have caught a bunch of fish on them. missouri craw is my best color with a watermelon craw colored net bait paca chunk

i cant say much about the economy, cuz honestly, i dont pay much attention to it, i just go with the flow. at my companies x-mas party friday, the owners said that we(my company) isnt in that situation(bad economy). he said this is the biggest backlog of work in the companies history for 2009. we have work booked for almost the entire year already. and the x-mas party gifts and profit sharing was much more generous than last year. i personally got a $100 cabelas gift card with a set of really nice binoculars, plus a check for almost $500. not bad i say, for a guy who hasent even been on their payroll for a year yet. but that is just one small little business. in case your interested, my company builds stadium seating, bleachers, and press boxes for schools all over the country. i work in the press box dept. it is a pretty good job and i plan to stick around for as long as they will keep payin me! Cliff

these guys are pretty awesome, check it out, this one is of the 12 days of christmas, but they have many other ones they did as well. enjoy! Cliff

dewalt is junk in my opinion, for the price anyway, for that kind of money i would go with makita or bosch.

lets see what you guys use. i have one i made, but i dont like it, i cant always get the rod right where i want it, it makes it kinda hard when i get to the tip of the rod. so i would like to make another one before my next build. another thing i really could use is a thread tensioning device of some sort, running the thread under my light is ok, but sometimes it get hung and tips the light over, in turn wrecking my wrap. any tips or ideas are much appreciated!! thanks Cliff

thanks! i look forward to that trip! the rods are complete now, other than the next couple hours of turning, they are done. i am very pleased with the turnout and cant wait to fish them. i sure hope i get a reel or two for x-mas to put on them!! thanks for all the help and tips too everyone. and special thanks to keith for taking the time earlier this year to show me how to do all this!! i am looking forward to my next build! Cliff

got a wild hair tonight while working on the area in front of the seat. so i searched around and found a "how to" on inlays. back when i was building my first rod with keith, he sent me home with some orange and yellow thread he said he would never use to use as a pull loop. well i used it tonight, and i am going to keep it, it came out pretty good i think. i did a three wrap single one on the 784 and i did two three wraps ones on the crankin stick. what do ya think? thanks for lookin!! Cliff

i live in Waco. there is lots of surrounding lakes to fish, plus Lake Waco right here in Waco. if you have a boat you will be much better off, if not, send me a PM and i will tell you where i fish from shore. Cliff

well originally that was my plan, to drill a hole in the far block for the mandrel to spin. but until the time comes i need to make a full length grip, i am not worried about it. but if you need one, here is a place to get them. http://www.fishsticks4u.com/ look under the "tools" section

here is my lathe set up. that is my gramps' old drill, i got it when he died. it only has a 1/4 chuck, so it is useless for most stuff, but works for this. i just used it for the first time this past weekend, it worked great. i used a "paddle" bit as a mandrel, i just taped it up to fit the grip material. but i would say if your making full length grips you would want a longer mandrel, but for the small grips in a split grip, it was perfect. it didnt cost me anything, i used all scrap from work.