Lund Explorer

Little Billy was in class one day when the teacher asked each one of the children to get in front of the class and explain what their father's did for a living. At the very last, Little Billy got up and told the class; "My dad works as a male stripper in a gay bar. He doesn't make much per/hour, but the tips are good. Sometimes he can make extra if someone wants a lap dance." Needless to say, the teacher gets this complete shell shocked look on her face, and all of the other kids just sit there in stunned silence. Fortunately, its about this time that the bell rings, and as the other children leave the room, Little Billy goes back to his desk to get his books. Before he leaves, the teacher comes up to him and says; "I'm so sorry if this humiliated you Little Billy. If I had just known what your father did, I would have never started this whole thing." So Little Billy tells her not to worry about it, and that he really just made up the story. When the teacher asked him why he would come up with such a story, Little Billy answered; "Well, you see my dad actually plays football for the Detroit Lions, but I'm too embarrassed to tell people that!"

There is one main problem with health care insurance. While there are many people who either don't have coverage, or who are forced to buy their own, there are way more people who get there coverage "free of charge". Not really free, but at least the vast majority is picked up as a tax free benefit of employment. Then of course when you add in the existing medicare and medicaid folks. I think the majority of us are sheltered from the problems of the minority. Imagine if your home or auto insurance was covered by your employer. Would you care what it costs?

Sounds to me like there's way too many bass in that pond. If you want to go broke feeding those fish, stocking minnows is just the ticket, just don't expect any of them to survive very long. Michigan and it's neighbors used to have the same problem with the alewives in the great lakes. They started planting salmon back in the 1960's and for quite a number of years 30+ lb fish were common place. But they finally got to the point were the number of salmon was more than the supply of alewives could handle, and weights started to drop. The cure for this problem was to stock less fish. Your cure should be to take out a bunch of these fish to try to balance their population to the available forage.

Aside from that 5 hour drive, I used to have the same issues and I usually never traveled for more than two hours. I never completely cured the problem, but after awhile, I did figure out a couple of things that helped. First, you need to do all of your prep work on the boat, rods, and tackle on another weekday. I made it a habit of getting everything setup on Monday nights. It gave me the chance to have a couple of days to pickup anything I thought I'd need for the coming weekend as well. Second, you need to go through your day of sleep deprivation on Friday rather than on Saturday. Try getting to bed a little bit earlier on Thursday night so you can get up during the wee hours of the morning on Friday. By 7pm on Friday night, you will be able to zonk out for a good five/six hours. Hey, these things worked for me. Good Luck, and remember there's always the Wal*Mart parking lot where the retirees camp out.

Rates and coverages vary from state to state, Florida blue cross is higher than in most other states. The online quote is a starting point, once dialogue is established your background will be checked and at that point the rate may be adjusted upwards. My Mich.B/X rate is about half of what it would be in Florida for a similar plan (still not as good) but they will not write us due to pre existing condition. My wife had a stroke in 97 and presently takes heart and cholesterol medication and I have acid reflux (gerd) and they don't want me either. My last group rate for 2 people in Michigan about 6 years ago was $1140 per month, can't imagine what it would be now. It sure hasn't gone down! The wife just came off of a three month layoff and the COBRA payment was $550 per/month. Thankfully the new rules only required us to pay 1/3 of the premium.

x 10k! But they're perfect in the preseason... 1-0, better get those season tickets before they're all gone.

Several weeks ago, I created an account with the screen name of "Bass-Ackwards". Now I see that there is a full member who is actively using that same name (dask -vs- underscore). Being that I think that seniority should reign supreme, I've decided to change mine to Lund Explorer. Just trying to keep confusion to a minimum or from stealing anyone's thunder. Sorry if any toes were stepped on.

From the bank, as in fishing from the shore? Or did you mean fishing IN the bank?

The Irish have a slightly different way of testing you!

Only thing I could think of would be an old copy of Bassmaster that covered the 2000 Classic. I'm sure a few of the boats fished it.

That's a great way to get a ticket and possibly get someone killed. : x2!

You've got some really good tips to get you started. Now just remember that if you're throwing topwaters, to wait until you feel the fish before you set the hook. Nothing more fun than jerking the rod and not feeling a thing. You just know that lure is flying right back at you in the dark. When (not if) that happens, turn your back to it! And make sure your partner understands how to warn you when it happens to him/her.

Good luck with your plan Benito. From my experience in marketing a product, I can tell you that you better have some really deep pockets. Pricing? Shipping? Terms? They're all based on volume.

Boot Scootin' Boogie will always remind me of the Wednesday morning that I got my first chance to fish Lake Fork. It was in April of 1993 when a group of us "Yankees" traveled down to Longview Texas to compete in the KYKX Big Bass Bonanza. We stayed with a brother-in-law of one of my buddies, a real dyed in the wool Texan. He was so much the Texan, that he refused to come up to Michigan because the Dairy Queen's up here didn't have BBQ and a Dr. Pepper on the lunch menu. Anyhow, on the Wednesday that we decided to fish Lake Fork, I got to travel and fish with him. His favorite song was Brooks and Dunn belting out Boot Scootin' Boogie..... And he had a cassette tape loading with something like ten versions of that darn song. From Longview, through Gilmer, through Quitman, and right up to the shore where the 154 bridge crosses the lake, we listened to the same song, over and over again. Thank God he didn't have a cassette player in his boat! BTW - PB on LM that day 9lbs 9oz.

Sounds like a great trip. I think you've made a lifetime of memories for both of you.

Good Story! Now for a true story on how to get away with speeding. Back many years ago, 1974 to be exact, we had a new 55mph speed limit that the then President Nixon had signed into law. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of happy people with that speed law, and many people, including my father broke that law every day they hit the expressway. Anyhow, shortly after President Nixon had resigned my dad and I were headed to Lansing from Grand Rapids down I-96. Pops as usual was cruising along at around 70mph when the state trooper pulled him over. "Excuse me sir" the cop said "Do you know how fast you were going?" "70mph officer" my dad replied. So the cop says "Don't you know that the speed limit is only 55mph?" And without missing a beat, dad said "Didn't that go out with the president?" The cop got this little smirk on his face, chuckled a little bit, and then started into a full and complete belly laugh. He walked back to his patrol car, got in, and drove away. He was still laughing as he went by us, and just waved. True Story!

Save yourself a bunch of money by buying the 12v and just getting a pair of small drift anchors for when you want to troll. I use my 60hp for walleye by using two bags, one on each side amidships in front of the console. W/O the bags I can't get down below 2.4mph, with them, I get right down to 0.8mph. Its a lot easier using the wheel to steer while trolling, especially in a chop.

Here's a place to start, the MI-DNR guide for boater access sites. http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/MRBIS/matchcounty.asp?Cnty=81 You might also want to see what you can find out about the Huron River. The Pinckney State Game Area has a bunch of lakes including shore fishing and boat rentals http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/FeatureList.aspx?id=484&type=SPRK

Yup, Woo fished for smallies the whole tournament around a breakwall just offshore of Chicago. Most of the guys that caught LM did so by running in the Chicago River or the Ship Canal. I'd sure like to see a classic held in Detroit some year.

Ditto on the location..... Give us something to work with.

I moved from a glass bass boat into a Lund Deep-V. Its a 1675 Explorer SS with a 60hp 4-Stroke Mercury. Not a bad boat by any means, but it is under-horsed (BIA plate says 90hp), and you can catch quite a bit of spray at times. I think the wet ride comes from the fact that this boat has fairly straight sidewalls. If I had to do it all over, I might look at a boat with sloped sidewalls to keep the spray issue down (maybe Polar Craft?), and I would max out on motor size.

These days, I'll give just about anybody the GPS numbers to everything I've ever found. Of course I wouldn't mind a few tips on a good morel mushroom spot or two in exchange.

Catchy, but has a negative connotation. how about Cast for Hope, or something like that.... Now you're getting close. How about Cast 4A Cure?

I'll try to remember that. Good thing about my accounting courses my professors are CPA's. So hopefully since my school small, and it easy get professor help and could get recommendation from them to other CPA's or if a CFP they might know could use my help. My economic professor a CFP and he told me he work with CPA's, and the CPA will steer clients to him for more advice on investment and CPA will take care of taxes. He told me if I become CPA it be wise to partner up with stockbrokers, CFP, etc and they will help steer clients my way or pay for some of my service for their clients if I promise do same to them. You'll also want to get on good terms with the local commercial loan officers at the banks, real estate agents that deal in commercial properties, as well as attorneys that specialize in corporations, partnerships and LLC's. Lots of folks that can enter into a mutually beneficial relationships.

Rhino, I could write you a book about why, but on a busy day for me I'll give you a short two word answer to your question..... Human Nature.