Lund Explorer

If anyone is interested, there will be a memorial service on the news channels here in a few minutes. Also, for Flechero or anyone else.... Here is a report from MSNBC that gives a brief profile of the victims. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33693222/ns/us_news

Seyone, I think that reason was because it could turn into such an explosive subject. I know from cruising a few of the other forums, it already has on some. Maybe it is a credit to our group that we've been able to control those emotions here. And I'm sure that many of us have also stopped to pray for all of the families that have been swept into this tragedy.

Tin brings up an interesting point. What happens if some dude from California catches the next record smallie? Being outside of its native range, can we dump on him like everyone did to the Japanese guy? Just Kidding!

Thanks for the sprinkling of salt in that wound Glenn! But Detroit is #1..... On Draft Day!

I have an almost complete collection of Clint's westerns on DVD, but I still watch them on TV whenever I stumble upon them. High Plains Drifter is my favorite one, but they're all pretty good...well, except for Paint Your Wagons. Clint shouldn't sing. Pssst! It was only one wagon. And Clint sounded a lot better than Lee Marvin! ;D

I've got a suggestion for head coach..... You need a person who is new to the professional level. Say a college level coach. Someone who can come in and make a change to to your team. I nominate "Rich-Rod"...... For the love of Christ..... PLEASE!

This topic seems to have broken off into a couple of different directions. However, they might be more interrelated in the long run. I don't really think that the introduction of alewives into Dale Hollow or anywhere else in your river systems down there is really going to help in the long run. Just like every invasive that has come into the Great Lakes has shown, they will disrupt what once was a balanced fishery. Alewives don't sterilize your local walleye population. What they do is compete for the food source that the walleye fry need to grow to their fingerling stage. A lack of suitable feed simply starves out the majority of them out. Invasives that have been introduced into the Great Lakes have thrown the ecological balance out of whack up here as well. And the list is a lot longer than what you folks down there have to put up with. Zebra mussels have indeed caused the waters to clear up, but in the long run this will bring on an increase in weed growth. We have already started to see this in the Lake Michigan shoreline's connecting waters. White Lake for instance used to support a fantastic smallmouth fishery. They have been experiencing a huge weed problem the last few years. While it has driven off the smallies, the largemouth have moved in. The only thing the area residents have done is spend extra money spraying these weedbeds to kill them off. The introduction of gobies have started to force out the alewives in the Lake Huron basin. With the loss of one invasive, the salmon population is suffering. On the other side of the coin, walleye and perch populations seem to be rebounding. They would probably be doing a good deal better if it wasn't for another unwelcome addition, the spiny water flea. Just another example of an invasive that disrupts the natural food chain, the spiny water flea has been a detriment to other native zooplankton that young of the year fish feed on. All of this leads to my thoughts on the original topic at hand. Given a purely natural environment in which to grow, I'd have to say that the best chance for a new world record smallmouth would come from it's southern range. If for no other reason than an extended growing season. But this constant juggling of their habitat by the addition of non-natural species may change that. My only hope is that we can figure out how to stop these invasions. The next one knocking on the door up here is the asian grass carp. I'll leave that subject up to some of our Illinois members to discuss.

My Uncle worked for CCC for a number of years before going to work for MI-DNR. If you ever get a weekend to go camping up this ways, try North Higgins Lake SP. http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=478&type=SPRK Right across the road from the park entrance is the CCC Museum. Here's the write up from the above web page: The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum documents the efforts to "put Americans back to work" during the Great Depression. The CCC enrolled more than 100,000 young Michigan men to perform a variety of a conservation and reforestation efforts. Between 1933 and 1942, the Michigan CCC planted 484 million trees, spend 140,000 days fighting forest fires and constructed 7,000 miles of truck trails, 504 bridges and 222 buildings. The DNR state park system still carries many examples of their work still in use today.Please check the DNR Calendar for upcoming events at this location and at all state parks and recreation areas. On a final sad note, many of the bath-houses in our state's parks are being torn down a replaced with "green-technology" buildings. Nice, but not very historic.

X2...And don't forget about the other Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The round gobie is the wildcard in this whole deal. The average overall size of fish is getting noticably bigger each year since the introduction of gobies. Time will tell! The round gobie is the <insert the word latest> wildcard in this whole deal. Until Canada and the Great Lakes States can figure out how to stop invasives from coming here in bilge water, nothing is certain for too long.

Way back in the 1960's, I knew an old guy who would do the same thing, but he was using a 10' cane pole with no reel. For the life of me, I can't remember what he called it. He would have about 18" of line off the end of the cane pole, and would fish a variety of baits. Topwater to Jigs, he would work the edge of the lily pads and small holes in the middle of the pad field. This old guy had a wooden row boat that was just about the same age he was. From watching the wrestling match he'd go through when he hooked one, I'm amazed that the guy in that kayak doesn't drown when he hooks into a big one!

Simple remedy........get a job ! I worked at the A&P stocking shelves at midnight while attending the Univ of Mich. Hmmm, I worked as an "MP" watching other people stock missile silos while attending the University of North Dakota.

The following link is to the Small Business Administration (SBA) website page that describes the various free training programs available for anyone thinking about starting a new business. The reason I suggested writing out a business plan, is because it makes a person think of so many easily forgotten parts of starting and operating a business. It provides a person the chance to put into words, their ideas so that others can see how you intend to run it. It also allows the business owner to stay on track by consistantly reviewing and updating the plan. The inclusion of a cash flow projection is also important. In this case, where the business may be seasonal in nature, the plan needs to show how enough cash can be retained during the 7-8 months of operations, to provide for expenses during the balance of the year. Anyhow, here is the link below: http://www.sba.gov/training/index.html

** No warning, simply deleted ** -Kent a.k.a. roadwarrior Global Moderator

I think regardless of what form of accounting you are using, the first is "Investment". Investment should initially come from the shareholders, with additional amounts that could come from financing. Prior to a business starting actual operations, all expenses should be capitalized to be amortized upon start up. Furthermore, expenditures for inventories, or raw materials (in the event that the business is a manufacturer) are also capitalized. Theoretically, revenue should come prior to expense, but that may not actually be the case. Internal Revenue Code (as well as GAAS/GAAP) determines that expenses begin to be incurred upon the start of the actual operation of the business. Therefore, you can have the possibility that a business may be operating for any certain amount of time before actually generating any sales/revenue. So, from the way I see it, either could come first. I'm not saying that I'm disagreeing with your prof., just putting a slightly different spin on the question.

Hey! I was still typing mine before I knew you were talking about me!

That's just about right Root Beer. To them, there's always 30 days in each month....... If you really want to mess with someone someday, wait until you have a tax client who can't afford to pay their taxes by the due date. The IRS has a Form 9465 Installment Agreement Request. The form is pretty easy in that the taxpayer chooses how much they want to pay, and what day the payment is due. Except when you read line #12..... "Enter the day you want to make your payment each month. Do not enter a day later than the 28th." Even the IRS computers can't figure out when February 30th is! ;D

So you are looking forward to the feedback? I'm not sure where I should start, either as the fisherman or the accountant. I guess enough folks will chime in here that are fishermen, so maybe I'll stick to the Bean Counter side of your venture. So to start with, here's a few questions..... 1. Have you looked into writing up a business plan? 2. Have you worked up a cash flow projection? 3. What type of fish will you be chartering out for? 4. How many clients will you take each trip, and how long will a trip last? 5. Is there a market, or a demand for this service? 6. How much cash have you got to start this venture? Now I don't expect that you have the answers to these questions right now, and I don't even think you need to answer them here on a public forum. But before you spend too much time and money I really think you need to answer these questions to yourself. I am very good friends with several charter captains that work on Lake Michigan. From what i know of their businesses, your estimation of income the first few years is going to be closer if you drop one of those zeros. Simple math says that if you work 7 months for $30k, you are going to have to net almost $150 per/day, 7 days a week to make that amount. And that is after paying for the boat, gas, tackle, insurances, and all of the other expenses you'll be faced with. Also, you'll need to think of those bad weather days that forces you to cancel trips. Have you thought about maybe starting this out either on a part time basis like weekends? Or if the lake you are looking at has charters already, you may consider working as a mate for a summer or two. Anyhow, I can probably pm you a couple of links to help you with a few websites that discuss business plans and cash flow projections. But somewhere along the line, you will want to hire an accountant (and most likely an attorney) somewhere closer than me. If you're interested, pm me. Good Luck!

For the boat you're using, I think I'd buy another aluminum prop, and use the damaged one as an emergency backup. As long as the blade isn't causing vibration issues, it should at least idle you back to the dock in an emergency. SS Props? Hey they're great if you plan on ripping down the lake with 9/10th's of the boat sitting out of the water. But I'm not sure if yours could do that regardless of the prop. Besides the fact of cost, a SS prop isn't immune to damage. From first hand experience, I can tell you what it feels like to have a brand new SS prop whack a rock where you knocks the cup off a blade. $500+ shot in the keister. And I have never gotten one repaired that ran anywhere near as good once they got re-cupped. Save the money and buy bait, the monkey will love ya for it!

After a number of years of fishing in tournaments, I got a system down that seemed to work. The final fishing log included the normal stuff such as weather and water conditions, season, what stage the fish were in, along with the results of the tournament. But, I also took it step further. Prior to either a pre-fishing or tournament day, I would write out a milk run plan for the body of water, and then transfer it to a copy of the lake map. After I got home from fishing, I would write down how the day went, and I would also mark a "master map" with the location of each keeper that I had caught. I kept a file for each different lake that held all of the logs for that lake. My trip log for a lake such as White Lake might have started with something like this: Plan to start on slab wood pile in front of "A-Dock". Baby Spook, Tandem Spinner, Black/Chart. Power Craw, Avacado/Christmas Kalin's Grub. If I'm catching, work onto "B & C Docks". If not, work shoreline to leather plant. Remember to work Power Craw along this shoreline. Next move over to Nellie's dock if boat is still there. If not, head up to ring the bell. This plan would continue on until it covered a full days worth of spots to hit. When I got home, I would write something along the lines of this: Started on the "A-Dock" and caught two dink SM's. Moved onto the shoreline heading towards the leather plant. Picked up one good LM (15") on Power Craw. Picked up a keeper SM (14") on grub in front of water release at the plant. Moved over to Nellie's dock and picked off a nice keeper LM (19") with craw. Moved up the lake to ring the bell and caught a SM (15") and two dinks. Using this story type fishing log along with a marked map allowed me to visualize my day on the lake. After a number of trips to White Lake, I could also see the spots where I caught most of my fish. It also showed me the places I hadn't even tried, and that might be worth some time spent during a future pre-fishing trip. With today's technology, I would probably switch out the lake map for a GPS unit that showed numbered waypoints. But I think the "story" is still an important consideration because you can think out the types of lures, and the results.

X2! You took the words right out of my mouth ( er, keyboard). First, for those posters with 4-5 stars under their name, they've probably figured out that there is an edit feature on posts and/or the title. But being somewhat of a newbie myself it took a little time to figure out some of the bells and whistles Glenn offers us. I wonder why everybody is so quick to help out on a fishing problem, but it seems to end there. Secondly, your spot on in your description of the how and what with. The only thing I could add to that would be to fish a little shallower. Muddy water always seems to keep them closer to shore in this neck of the woods.

Nobody should expect a store clerk who gets paid minimum wage to be able to handle a pricing issue. That's what the managers are for. If you are going to want an on-line deal when you plan to visit any store, just make a habit of printing out the web page and bringing it along. It saves a lot of hassles, and it is a good reminder to you that what you have in your hands is what you saw to begin with.

What do they do when the current is missing? Think back (or maybe forward) to Thanksgiving Day at Grandma's house. Grandma and all the other women folk have just cleared the table, and its not safe to try to sneak into the kitchen for one last bite. What are you going to do? You're going to retreat to the living room where you can rest up on the couch and watch the Detroit Lions loss their traditional game, until its time for a late afternoon snack. It's the same thing the bass are going to do, with the exception that they don't have to suffer through the Lions game. I would suggest that if you find yourself on the water when they quit pulling water through the turbines to move upstream. You'll find natural current up in the headwaters, and those bass will most likely stay in the same positions regardless of their feeding mode. They may not be actively biting, but at least you'll have a definitive target to throw at.

In mine, they're all tasty! ;D

Great vent BB, There's a whole new way credit is being managed by the banks, and we're all going to be affected. I'm sure that knowing that you're not alone doesn't help, it is a fact. Lower credit limits, higher interest rates, and in my case a new annual fee for my card, is something we'll all have to endure. If you haven't already, now is the time to get to know your credit score and to learn what things you can do to either maintain it, or to improve it. All of these new things are a reaction to our nations former habit of quick cheap credit. And, like most things, the pendulum is swinging wildly the other way. Sooner or later, I think we'll see a return to a more normal middle ground. I'm surprised that none of the other grey-haired members here haven't brought up how it was worse back in the late 1970's to early 1980's. Back then you could borrow money, but home mortgage rates were running in the neighborhood of 16%. But we somehow survived that time period. Until things return to a more middle ground, we can only grin and bare it.

Should be under the driver's (tow vehicle) side tail light. Look to see if there is a clear lens underneath that provides light onto the plate at night. Many taillights have a hanger built into them. If not, bolt it to the frame where it is visible to the local constabulatory to save on all those late night traffic stops.