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Early this past spring, after spending the winter outfitting a new kayak and preparing my gear for another season, the love of my life and wife of many years was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had paid my fees for a kayak bass tournament back in January, so my wife told me to go ahead and fish it. I drove the six and half hours to the tournament, launched my yak, but returned to the ramp after just a few minutes. My heart just wasn’t into it. Time passed and the day of her surgery arrived. I was able to bring her home after three days and spent several days empting her drainage bottles and tending to her other needs. I spent the rest of the summer helping her recover both physically and emotionally. During those many days while she slept, I played with lures and other equipment, sat in the garage and looked at my yaks, and kept abreast of everyone’s exploits here on the forum. Every day, when one of you posted a picture of a new PB, I was there with you, in spirit at least. September came and my wife is back on her feet and is again her ole self. She encouraged me to get out and do some fishing. I made a short trip to my favorite wildlife refuge, but I didn’t get much fishing done. It did feel good to get out and paddle around the lake and take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the outdoors. I’ll probably get out one more time, but then I’ll call it a year as the old bones don’t handle the cold like they use to. The doctors have given my wife a clean bill of health and we are looking forward to her next checkup this coming January. If that goes well, and I think it will, I plan on hitting those lakes like there’s no tomorrow. I might even pull the trigger on that new Big Game II…it looks like one mean fishing machine. Twenty plus years in the military, watching kids grow into adults, and growing old with the woman I love has taught me a valuable lesson; life is short and it will on occasion throw you a curve ball. If I could share just one thing with all of you, it would be to never take life, or the people you care for, both family and friends for granted. Although we think there is no end when we’re young, time is fleeting and there is an end. This season is ending and those hawgs got a pass this year, but look out…I’m starting spring training right now!

Old School meets New School ~ A-Jay

We came in 1st out of 33 teams at the qualifying tournament, then 4th at the championship... Not too bad

A few hair jigs I tied up

Took my friend on a surprise birthday fishing trip that his wife planned, I was the assigned guide for the trip. He'd never caught a muskie so that was our objective. Unfortunately, he didn't catch one, although he had a very close call when one clamped down on his Zman Zinker he was pitching for bass. Anyone that's fished any Zman baits knows that bass can't make a brand new Zman look like this. The second day we saw a bunch and I missed one fish twice on a bucktail. Mid afternoon I finally caught a little guy on a squarebill, which was muskie number 10 of my fishing career, all from Missouri Towards the end of the second day I was switching back and forth between tossing a bucktail and pitching a YUM Woolly Bug in and around standing timber. I pitched the Woolly Bug next to a standing tree and got a sharp "tap, tap" and set into what I thought was going to be one of the big bass the lake is so well known for. I can't say I was completely shocked when a solid muskie launched itself next to the boat, surely not disappointed, except for the fact that I didn't have a leader. It was a fight that had me on edge in the heavy timber and no leader. Thankfully I was using 50lb braid and able to put a little more heat on her than I would have been able to with fluoro. Once my buddy was finally able to dig the net out I had her almost worn out and she slid into the net before once again thrashing around wildly and cutting my line like it was sewing thread. Quickly got the fish grips clamped on her and weighed, 17 pounds even. I was holding her at boatside while he dug for the tape when she decided she'd had enough of our antics and bolted, nearly taking the fish grips with her, so no length on her. We ended up seeing 13 muskie that day with my fish being the biggest one we saw. Another guy was targeting them all day and said he'd landed a 38.5" fish, so they must have been pretty active that day.

Got a full breach on camera. I think she wanted it.

Yeah you, the lowly fisherman. We spend our life preying on fish but aren't we really the prey? We have to have every gizmo and do dad with the hopes it will make us fishing gods. We've got to have that fancy boat that goes a jillion mph. The G Loomis rods because, let's face it, they have the coolest logo. Shimano reels because the Shimano army won't have it any other way. Japanese lures, lures designed by Dahlberg, because they attract more fish. $12 frogs because they are 4x better than the $3 frogs. Hooks with laser sharp points to increase our hook up rate. SI/DI technology and underwater cameras so we can see what the fish are looking at. If we can't have these things, we dream about the day we will be able to afford them. Were we not content as children spending the day at the lake with our fathers and grandfathers? Fishing with a closed face Zebco and a $10 fishing rod and hanging a nightcrawler or minnow under a bobber? I know I was. I wonder what happened. What made me the fiend I am today? I went to Cabelas today to get some walleye jigs and left with $60 of crap I surely don't need and possibly will never use. The reason for this rant: Anybody price balsa bobbers lately? I'd be a wealthy man if I never learned to fish.

You beat me to it! But thanks for breaking the ice! Gene (Flukemaster) and I felt it best for Gene and his goals if he were to retire from moderating here at BassResource. We're going to miss him in that role. However, he's not gone. Far from it! Gene will still be an active member here and will continue to contribute to the forums. So it's not "goodbye". As Gene transitions to his new role, I'd like to welcome our newest moderator, Bluebasser86 (Clayton)! Clayton has been a terrific member here for several years, and is passionate about bass fishing. He's a police officer too - what better than to have him as a moderator? Please help me give Clayton a big welcome, and a huge thanks to Gene! Glenn

Very Nice ~ Me Too. A-Jay

6 figures before or after she takes half?

The feed bag is on! Oct 2014

DON'T GET HER PREGNANT!

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.

We are navigating a similar course. Many hard lessons have been learned here as well. We Live for Today, As Tomorrow might only be a Dream. Best of Luck & Continued Good Heath to you Both. A-Jay

Guess who the new moderator is? Bluebasser86

Congratulations Bluebasser86.

Had a great morning and weighed in 2 fish today. 4.09 (.09 cost me a $500 exact weight check) and a 4.24. Both fish were beat. Afternoon was rough. Had 4.5 foot whitecaps on the main lake making runs very hard (kidneys still hurt). Big fish is 6.7 so far. I went out and idled the backs of coves with feeder creeks and found big schools of gizzard shad. Will be starting there tomorrow morning.

That's all right I accept your apology, lol.

You're the man! Way to have your priorities right.

I worked FT and went to college FT, and at one point, also interned and freelanced (ya, who needs sleep?). Didn't have much of a social life as a result, and drove a 20 year old car (when it was running). After college, I held 2 jobs for years in order to pay off the bills. My story isn't unique. The sacrifices paid off very well. Definitely worth it.

Glad everything worked out, thanks for posting that. Now go catch some hawgs!

C'mon ask about relationship advice me and raider got great advice to give.

I'm glad to hear your wife is doing well. Cancer is a SOB. Thank you for posting and continued good health to you both.

Thanks you very much for the story and for your service as well. I pray tbhings continue to go well for you and your wife.

Should work better in the snow

Glad to hear everything worked out good for your wife. Best of luck to you and your very fortunate wife.

Well written. Hope it continues to work out for you both.

They aren't legal on odd Thursdays, and cannot be used with a tungsten weight less than 7 milliliters, unless it displaces one ounce of water during the second full moon of a given month.

I should pay better attention........at the boat ramp. Apparently someone hit my boat trailer fender while we were out on the lake last week and turned the edge of one fender down .....didn't notice.....hear a 'sound' while running to gas up the boat today.....got home and started looking around and discovered I will need to buy a new tire. Pay close attention everyone.......might save you some dough. I had already bent it back out before I thought to take picture. Notice the 'extra' groove I have added to the tread.

Hey all! Just bought a 1997 Sea Nymph 175. 10 hp outboard, 70 lb thrust Minn Kota that is only 3 years old. Motor starts up quick and the pumps and livewells all work. Should be awesome for all the lakes with a horsepower limit and electric only lakes! I am pretty excited to use this. 70 lb thrust electric on that should fly!

Just don't get a Livetarget...

National infantry museum, in Colombus Georgia. I believe the statue is called 'Follow Me'. EDIT: Rangerphil's post just appeared. Curse you slow internet!

National infantry museum Columbus Georgia

Based on the price of the PQ, you might wait to until Spring and trade it in at BPS's big sale. I would venture a guess that shipping, a professional cleaning, and the replacement parts would be quite expensive. Below is a review from BPS's website to drive home my point...... "I bought 6 of these reels over the past 3 years. I bought these reels with the hopes that they could be used for years and years but that has not turned out to be the case. I have purchased two of these reels every year for the past 3 years and if you lined them up you couldn’t tell which ones are new. The reel cap are discolored, not a big deal but they look like antiques versus reels that are newer style. Another issue is that all 6 reels went to BPS reel repair and all came back with parts that need to be replaced. Not a big deal but 2 reels were 9 months old. I don’t know which ones but regardless the bill was $198.00 for 5 reels to be repaired. So my point is expect that 25-30% repair expense per reel to keep these going. I attached a picture of one of the "newer" ones but they all look like this."

Come on shimmy ~ you know you want to . . . . A-Jay

God Bless you & you're family... From a fellow veteran, family man & fisherman...

Try a semester and see how hard it is. I work full time during the day and do online classes at night. Don't go into a degree that's to vague. Like business. Also don't go into a field that's extinct ex journalism. Technology and anything medical is not going away any time soon.

Headed to dreamstrike in the morning. Hope the lunker bite is on. A lot of dinks the past few months. Looking forward to it.

I kind of like what was said above as it makes alot of sense....Fish any pond or lake similiar to how you would fish it during the day. If you never fish jigs, or large plastic worms, then trying them for the first time at night may not be the best approach. However, A dark shade like black and blue, black, black/red flake in any style worm usually is effective any time, and a ribbon tail is a good choice for night fishing since they can be fished multiple ways and the swimming tail helps if they are having trouble finding your bait. I almost always use a red bead between my bullet weight to protect my knot when using lighter line and sliding weights in the 1/8-3/8 oz as I often get bit as the worm hits bottom due to the sound, and also while twitching the sound often helps. Bass Roam at night especially during the summer time,so I usually pick a few spots in a pond that would be good ambush points and I usually look for overhead trees or slopes on a bank to find a spot that I can work thouroughly and Bass will keep replenishing. I went fishing last night when the rain stopped for a few hours and I had a 6" Green Pumpkin/Blue flake Kut Tail worm rigged on a 1/4 oz. round jig head and 8lb test Fluoro, and I caught fish at a good clip, and my buddy who only had his baitcasting Med Heavy rod with 30lb green braid started out with a similar set up only a Trick worm which is a fav. of many of us, but he was not getting bit since his weight was heavier, fell faster, and even with a leader he was not doing as well. Once he grabbed a rod with 8lb trilene mono, he started doing better using a 6" trick worm which was a baby bass color so color can vary....My point is I have always believed 100% that a translucent line at night is most important and so is a lighter line which matters as they are using the lateral line more than just sight too feed at night. Dark Green Line is very easy for them to see imo.

When you can walk on the water . . . . . . A-Jay

It depends on what kind of cranks you are going to use, if you are running square bills and other shallow cranks like the DT-6 and the DT-10 then the 7'MHM graphite rod will be a better option as the added feel will help when banging into cover. If you are going to run primarily DT-6 down to a DT-14 with little or no shallow diving baits then the glass rod will be better. The glass rod is longer with a longer handle that is designed to give you a longer cast, a factor when running deeper diving baits. You don't need to be running DT baits either, I use those to demonstrate depth so it gives you perspective on the baits you want to run. The graphite model is shorter, weighs less and has a shorter handle which will be good for one handed roll cast if using square bills or other shallow divers and you are casting to a spot versus an area, and the graphite model is also going to let you feel the bait better allowing you to walk a bait through cover a little better. So decide what kind of cranks you are going to use primarily, the graphite model can handle 14' to 16' diving baits but not as easily so if those are going to be used most of the time then go for glass, if you are going to use those baits once in awhile and primarily use shallow stuff then go for graphite, that is what I would do.

You can read and watch videos all you want but you ain't gonna get better at fishing unless you go fish.

Literally, the ONLY night bait I use is a 1/4oz shakey head w/ candy bug trick worm. It produces everytime, on every lake.

I would also say it is the breaks, my suggestion would be to put a very light coat of oil on the break race ( the metal ring on the inside of the palm side of the reel) then use a Q-tip to remove most of it. I have seen this issue most often in my quantums, and the light oil seems to do the trick... Mitch

Well, seems like the general concensus is that Abu rods suck. Send them to me for proper disposal.

Wipe some Megastrike around the weep hole. You don't want it totally sealed.

If I was in your situation, I would experiment with mono leaders first. Practice the different knots associated with tying leaders and do some fishing. If you are satisfied with the results you can continue using the mono, step up to fluorocarbon, or just go back to straight braid.

So I just wanted to update and say that while I wasn't planning buying a rod this soon I found a deal on another forum I just couldn't pass up. I ending up buying a practically brand new NRX 893C. She hasn't been put to work yet - but soon enough. I think I am going to pair her with a Core 50MG7. ​Thanks for everyone's input. I like it when people that ask for suggestions give updates on what they decided.

I think what he wants to know if he has 50 pics up, all numbered sequentially, and he takes out the first ten, does number eleven then become number one, thereby messing up every post with pics numbered from 11-50?? I dont know the answer, I could only speculate and say probably not.

find an old bar stool to put in the middle of the boat