Lund Explorer

Was that the day that Harry & Charlie left?

The key to a happier life is to concentrate on the things that you have control over, and not to worry about things which you don't! In the 35+ years that I was doing tax returns for a living, I saw abuse of the system from single parents to corporate CEO's. Too many to count on my fingers and toes, plus the digits of everyone who has posted on this topic so far. So you tell me who is the worst. 1. The welfare mom who lives with her boyfriend that makes enough money that she doesn't need the support she is getting, or the business owner who walks in my door to discuss an amnesty program run by the IRS because he hasn't filed a tax return for 35 years! 2. Or take these two pregnant girls. One is the child of a single mother who has lived on welfare since this new mother was born, or the girl whose parents make well north of $100k per/year. The first baby daddy is terminally unemployed and always will be, while the second one is a year shy of a full college degree where he will be making as much or more than his future in-laws make. But neither girl is getting married until after that baby pops out into the world, and both qualify for gov't assistance and MEDICAID is picking up the tab for the medical costs for both. 3. The guy on unemployment working a side job for cash when he gets caught and has to pay that money back, or the store owner who gets audited for a three year period and ends up owing an extra $95k in sales taxes only. That's $1.5 million in unreported income! 4. Finally one that hits close to home. How about the guy that buys his fishing tackle over the internet and doesn't pay any sales/use tax to the state they reside in. Not like that excuse hasn't been crowed about by some members on this very site! One thing I have heard from everyone I know that has gamed the system, they all use the same excuse. "The Other Guy Does IT!"

Until such time as someone can provide a credible source that says that the "urban lawn" is the main problem with the degradation of our waters, I will stick by my original statement that there are many sources. A person simply needs to look at the regulations of the Clean Water Act to see what human activities can cause this problem, and it includes everything I mentioned. The act includes regulations on Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural sources. Sorry if anyone thinks that their ox is getting gored, but the facts are the facts.

In Michigan, we call these people "Seagulls". It doesn't matter where you are fishing, on shore, pier, ice fishing, or a boat, some people just need to crowd in on the so called action. Several times we have gone to a Rustic Campground with no one else around and the very next camper to arrive will setup at the site right next door. Most of the time, I see it as an opportunity to meet someone new, and most of them will give you a little more room if you ask them in a nice way. A lot of them just don't know any better, are new to the area, or are so hard up to catch something that common sense takes a backseat. However, one of the best ways to deal with the completely ignorant is to beat them to the punch. Cast over their lines first. If that doesn't work, remember to bring along a stick on your next trip. As soon as they appear to be thinking about crowding in, take the stick and start beating the water next to shore. In loud voice, curse the invisible snake and explain to them that this viper keeps crowding in on you. Ask them if they have snake bite kit because you left yours in the truck!

Congratulations on what sounds like a very successful trip. You've created memories that will last a lifetime for both of you.

So does this mean that once you're kicked off of that forum that you'll have more time to post here? Thoughts and Prayers to all the Mods!

Sorry for the confusion. Reading many of your posts it sounded like you didn't know what the "Right Thing To Do" was. It just seemed to me that a fully trained union steward would have already been taught how to treat a situation dealing with alcoholics causing problems on the job. If not that issue, then workplace safety surely should have been covered in that training. Every company I have ever been associated with has training for it's employees. I'm sure that your employer has a training period for all of it's employees, and I highly doubt that operating an overhead crane doesn't have it's own training. I know that the Local at my wife's shop has weeklong seminars/retreats for the purpose of provided leadership training for it's union officers/stewards. This training is put on by state and national level union leadership. If your union provides training, but it doesn't cover issues as common as alcoholism or safety, I would suggest that you demand that they upgrade their system.

#1 lure for me is a Hali Jig. You can use them with livebait or one of Gulp's lineup of artificials.

I thought Bombingham was made famous for it's explosive sounds.

Sadly, the second biggest problem with this whole story is that the upper level of this union has really dropped the ball in training it's worker level representatives. This isn't a slam against the OP, but it looks like he could use a week of leadership training!

The eutrophication of our waters is caused by a whole lot more than a few lawns being fertilized next to the lakeshore. You can add septic systems that don't work to that list. As mentioned before, golf courses add to the problem. Then we can include combined sewer/runoff systems that get overwhelmed when there is too much rain. Farms are another source. It all boils down to the fact that the biggest problem is the hardest one to cure. Mankind! Didn't we already have this discussion back on Earth Day?

Sounds like a great way to make a bucket list. Best source for Michigan that I can think of is linked below. http://www.michigan.org/campgrounds-rv-parks/#&&page=0&sort=&miles=20&ips=B511&dt=2014-05-04&dte=2014-05-11&rpp=0 One campground I can recommend that is located on a Top 100 lake (Mullett Lake) and connected to a second one (Burt Lake) is Aloha State Park. Later half of September, into most of October puts you right on the fall smallmouth bite. The campground has sites right on the boat basin where you can slide right up on shore behind your campsite. Here's the link to that campground. http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/details.aspx?id=434&type=SPRK

According to the article, the Elites weren't the first or even the second source for this year's list.

Not really. More like a flat out lie! Gladly, they didn't mention several of my favorites spots along Lake Michigan.

Let's go through all of this again. Question #1 - Are you a steward for your shift/area, or are you the head Shop Steward? Question #2 - The guy drops 4,000lbs from an overhead and nobody from management heard it or asked about it? Question #3 - Even though the guy doesn't work in your part of the shop anymore, people are still coming to you about the situation? I may be wrong, but this is what I would do if I were in your shoes. First, tell these other employees who are coming to you that they should g o to management instead. When he gets called onto the carpet, that is when you should be there to help him out. Not just to save his job, but to make him see that he needs to make a choice of where he is going with his life. Here's the bottom line. This guy is NOT a drunk. He is an alcoholic, and alcoholism is a disease. The sad truth is that most alcoholics won't face reality until they have hit bottom, and it just may be that the possibility of losing his job could get him to the point where he is willing to change. I would think that if your contract discusses drug abuse, then it should have been clear that alcohol is a drug. Therefore, the company should be willing to help like it was any other drug that was being abused. If as you say this isn't the first time, you can rest assured that it won't be the last. Sooner or later, management will catch on to what is going on and do it's job. Sooner or later, the employees who are complaining to you will realize you aren't.

Don't blame me. All I did was "Like" it!

I wish I could say that I'm strictly a bottom feeder, but the siren call of that darn Pop-R gets me to waste a couple of hours every morning. Once the big fireball gets high enough in the sky, then I finally settle down to the bottom where I'll stay for the rest of the day. I've always felt that by fishing a vertical bait that I can not only catch those active biters, but also entice those neutral fish as well. Of course it also helps to know the water you're on so that you know the high percentage spots to target. That's much easier than having to cover lots of water looking for the places that the fish call home. BTW, I always palm my baitcaster, and the line is always running over the top of my index finger.

Your mother-in-law is Bigfoot?

I can't imagine why anyone would want their favorite lake on this or any other "Top Whatever" list. For what it's worth, all those Michigan lakes listed there are swamps with nothing more than dink walleyes and hammer handle pike in them. Smallmouth? Never heard of them unless its 10" bass with small mouths! Change your vacation plans and travel somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line where the real fish are.

There's the answer!

Boat ramps are fun, what with the people trying to launch or load. We watched a couple drop their 24-26' fishing boat onto the ramp three feet shy of the water one morning. Lesson learned for those with rollers instead of bunks to not unhook the bow eye until the boat is floating. I've seen more than one drain plug issue, and can proudly say two of them involved yours truly. But for excitement, you can't beat the trusty pontoon boat. There was the day my long time tournament partner and I were fishing docks and Mike skipped a 1/8oz sinker right into the back end of the float. Sounded like a rifle shot. We didn't have any idea that the owner's wife was sunbathing on the back bench seat that day, or that she was trying to get a tan without the strap line, if you know what I mean. Needless to say, Mike and I could never return to that lake without fishing that dock! The second time was a tournament when we noticed a pontoon boat drifting across the lake with apparently no one onboard. Thinking that someone's boat had blown away from their dock, we went over to investigate. We were almost there when the gentleman on the boat lifted up off the floor where he and his significant other were testing the "motion of the ocean" effect. I guess he didn't need any help because he waved us off quite frantically. Yup, you gotta love those pontoon boats.

Sorry about that first part, I should have added an LOL smiley to it. As far at what is admissible or not with regards to the taped conversation, I'm not a lawyer, so who knows. I know a wire tap isn't legal in a criminal trial unless a search warrant allowed for it. This is a civil matter so it may or may not be different. I held off commenting here because to be quite honest, I think it's a complete joke. An 80 year old feeling his oats hires a 30 year old, gives her a one million dollar home, all other kinds of perks and benefits cash wise. Then the old guy's family, probably fearing the loss of inheritance, takes her to court on embezzlement charges. The wife and half the team's office swear nothing is going on. Then the gold digger in question then releases taped conversations where the old coot is threatening her because of who she is hanging out with. Fans, media, athletes, and more than a few advertisers are all up in arms, and the other NBA owners, through their hired commissioner decides the side show is a drag on their product and wants to give him the heave-ho. Nobody in this whole situation is going to scream winner at the end of this, if it ever ends. The entire family and the bimbo are getting their dirty laundry drug out in the streets. 35% of the public thinks the NBA doesn't have the right to kick this guy out, and the other 65% know that this won't cure the problem of racism in either the NBA or in life in general no matter how it ends. Even if the old man does get the NBA to halt a forced sale, I can't imagine that some of his heirs aren't going to be back in court trying to take control of his assets. At the end of the day, I'll bet most of us have problems of our own to deal with. I know I do. The only possible plus out of this story is that it gives us the chance to be thankful we aren't personally involved in this circus!

I seldom use nightcrawlers for bluegill in preference to leaf worms. Use a #8 light wire Aberdeen hook like a Tru-Turn, pinch a small split shot 6" up the line from the hook, and set the bobber (I use a Thill brand stick bobber) at the appropriate depth. If I have to fish deeper than about three feet, I use a slip bobber with a bobber stop/bead. You can adjust depth by simply moving the bobber stop. Remember to take a pair of small hemostats to help removing deeply hooked fish. Also remember to keep a few for dinner.

I don't see his lawyers using the "Bought and Paid For" defense. Besides the fact that owning another person has been slightly frowned on for the last 150 years in most of the country, Sterling's family has already taken her to court. It seems that they think the woman embezzled a million or so dollars (including a home) from the doddering old geezer. Kind of like he was thinking with the wrong head!

Black on Black, I love it. Time to get yourself a Johnny Cash outfit to wear while you're driving it!