Lund Explorer

I sure am happy to live in the State of Michigan. The only people who have lost their rights to hunt or fish are ones that have been convicted of breaking one or more of the existing hunting/fishing regulations. It's a simple process. License fees pay for DNR officers to patrol and do random checks of fishermen/hunters, and those found in violation of the law will get a ticket, or a ride to the gray bar motel. Others are turned in by concerned residents through the "RAP" Report All Poaching program which can lead officers to your home if the initial investigation warrants the effort to continue to that stage, and those people can get a ticket or might be arrested. The violators get their day in court where they either plead guilty or go through a trial. All of the guilty are subject to the same penalties. Reading the ON PATROL section of Michigan Out of Doors magazine offers a fairly good idea of what these dedicated officers face everyday they're on the job. These men and women are on the front lines of protecting our natural resources from the violators who don't think the rules apply to them. The only problem I see is that there aren't enough officers to cover all of the woods or waters. I would suggest that if any of you are serious about seeing that your hunting or fishing opportunities aren't diminished by these poachers, that you spend time getting to know your local officers. Turn the visit they make with you into a proactive experience. I have NEVER had a negative experience with a DNR officer. I smile, and immediately offer them my license, or to check my gear, or any fish I have in the boat. If they want anything else, I gladly comply. The same thing goes whenever I come across fisheries employees are doing a survey, or a campground employee stops at my campsite. The bottom line is that I'm one of those guys who helped fund their paycheck, and I'm glad that they are doing the jobs I hired them to do.

Just my opinion, but the hi-lited part of your post is what will move you into a higher position at the cube farm. Unfortunately, arguments between co-workers can be quite common. The first time you do it may lead to shock from the crowd, but the more it happens, they'll learn to ignore you. In a well managed company, you would most likely never see a boss dress down an employee. This is because it isn't anyone else's business, and it is best done behind closed doors for that reason. A good boss will praise in public and reprimand in private.

Left out of the conversation so far is the sad fact that some of the most desirable weapons can be purchased with absolutely no need for any paper work at all. Aside from the paper called cash used to purchase it!

The only good news in all of this is that winter kills have happened many times in the past, and if your pond or lake suffered this year, it has probably done so before. If that place was good last year, it means that it will be good again. Hopefully, we can take this as an opportunity to discover new waters which will expand our choices in the future. If anyone is thinking about helping mother nature along by doing your own restocking plan, make sure to follow your state's regulations. A ticket from the fish cop could be the least of your worries if you somehow introduce the wrong fish from the wrong lake. I do know of one person who transplanted VHS infected bass into his pond a few years ago, and he still has problems.

If the thought of someone catching a bigger fish, shooting a bigger buck, or having a better paying job bothers anyone, there is only one thing you can do. Adopt Apathy! If I am competing in a tournament against others where there is a level playing field, and you catch more fish or bigger ones, then I will give you all the credit that you're due. On that day, that person did better than me and I will acknowledge that fact. Outside of that, the only thing I'll do is to congratulate the person for attaining whatever personal goal they have set for themselves and finally reached. However, as I was not personally involved in that effort, I could care less. I wasn't alive when Mr. Perry caught his record LMB, and the only time I was in Japan was a two hour layover at Kadena AFB long before those fish were stocked in that country. I don't live in Florida, Texas, or California, and it doesn't bother me in the least that the people who do live there have fish that are bigger than the ones swimming up here in the frozen north. I'm not depressed because Flukemaster gets to fish a private lake with giant bass all the time, because if I did get to fish that lake as much as he did, I'd be the guy with a 5wt flyrod chasing those bluegills. If this guy, or someone else figures out a way to raise a bass to world record dimensions, it doesn't mean I'm any less of a person. I am who I am, and the only persons who I have to answer to on this crazy little planet, is my Mother and my Wife, and they can fight it out over who gets top priority in that department. There's a book of world records that they publish every year and its full of people feel the need to be the best at something, no matter how crazy some of those records are. Good for them!

As there is no possibility that there will be any real effort made to stop such attacks from happening over and over again in the future. Thoughts and Prayers to Everyone!

That was one of the most painful videos I've ever seen. The operator of that camera needs a tri-pod, or if its one of those head mounted Go-Pro's, would someone PLEASE duct tape his head to a tree!

3rd Floor - Ladies Lingerie! Sorry Sam, I used to really like the original song but every time I hear it now, the only thing I can thing about is why Demi Moore wore such a butch haircut!

More and more sportsmen are looking for the ultimate fishing experience where everything but the budget has to be compressed. Every serious bass fisherman has been on a decades long quest to cut down the odds to catching more or bigger fish. The truth of the matter is that the deeper the wallet, the more willing you are to spend that cash, the better the chance that those odds are getting cut. The only question is what constitutes fair chase. That and how many of these ( * ) you want to see in the record books!

Yup, same thing going on here in Michigan. Ice came early and is going to leave late. Throw on way more than normal snow cover and its perfect conditions for winter kill on shallow lakes and ponds. The guys I have talked to that ice fish quite a bit told me that bluegills and crappie were right under the ice (colder water but more oxygen) by the middle of February. When the ice finally goes away sometime near the end of April we'll see how bad it got.

I've read a lot of your posts the last couple of years, so pardon me for replying here using the "Glass Half Full" train of thought. Is it possible that one of your biggest regrets just may have provided you with the two sons that you would never regret? Kinda balances things out huh?

People with money? Just Kidding! I actually know quite a few people who write checks for most of their bills. I also know quite a few business owners that hate customers who use the debit or credit cards for every small purchase they make. It's hard to swallow paying the convenience fee just so somebody can swipe their card for a $1 cup of coffee!

Fishing History -vs- Memories My best friend and long time tournament partner had his own problems too. One of his sisters had married a guy who moved her to Michigan's UP and as luck would have it, right next to Little Bay DeNoc. That place was a smallmouth dream factory. The first time he made a spring trip to visit and get in a little fishing, Mike whacked a boatload of fish on what became his favorite spinnerbait. And every year after that, the second weekend in June became the time to head north to relive that day. When I made the pilgrimage the first time, all I heard for the six hour drive was that the only lure I needed was this one spinnerbait. Well the drive home was a little different. We'd caught a bunch of smallies that weekend, but it wasn't what Mike had planned on enjoying. The vast majority came on suspending jerkbaits. It took almost the whole first day for him to change to the lure that was working, because he just knew that they were going to turn on to that spinnerbait. The next year when we headed out for our trip north, Mike had the plan all figured out. Can you guess what his lure of choice was? If not, you need to reread the post!

Fishing History -vs- Memories Many years ago I was entered into a draw tournament on Hamlin Lake here in Michigan. The tournament was held during the middle of August. Back in those days, the nonboater was given control of the front for half the fishing day. The boaters always had the choice of which part of the day they wanted to control the boat and his nonboater got the other half. The nonboater I drew that day was one of those guys that fished based on memories! Prior to blast off, we had discussed our plans and this guy said that all he wanted was to fish the North Bayou. If you look at a lake map, you'd see that this bayou was 3' - 5' deep, muddy bottom, and with no real fish holding cover. I decided at that point that I would take the prime time slot of the first four hours of the day. We fished deep weed lines and a few select docks during my time period, and as he wished, we headed for his choice as soon as his time arrived. For the next four hours, we plodded along on dead water. All the while this guy is confused and whines about where all of these great smallies he'd been catching had gone to. I finally couldn't resist, so I asked him when he had been there catching all of these fish. His answer? In April! At least he got a month that started with the same letter.

I've told this story before, but I'll repeat it. I used to fish a Tuesday Night team tournament where most of the teams were hooked on GYBC Hula Grubs, and dock talk always was shortened to only using the color number. After one tournament where my partner and I almost lapped the field for fish/weight, the question was "What Color?" Without missed a beat, my partner Tony replied "409 - Really Cleaned Up On Them!" The next week, one of the members came up to us laughing like crazy. He owned the local tackle store where most of the guys shopped. Seems almost everyone had come in looking for the color number that didn't exist!

Don't forget the fraction. Proper way to write a check is $550.00 = Five Hundred Fifty and 00/100 Dollars, or $500.50 = Five Hundred and 50/100 Dollars. In legal documents it is reversed. $550.00 becomes = Five Hundred Fifty and 00/100 ($550.00) Dollars.

My Air Force recruiter told me that the skills they would teach me would help in my civilian life. I still haven't found any civilians with their own ICBM's!

It's too bad that Glenn hasn't been able to figure out how to let every member start their own threads yet. Then we could read them and provide critical observations whenever we disagreed with them. Then again, that effort might be beyond some!

Gary, I'm sorry to hear about your recent loss. His struggles are beyond him now, and I hope that all of you will be able to remember and celebrate the happier days in his life. Roger, thank you once again for starting a discussion on this subject. I can see by some of the others posting, that none of us are alone in having to deal with this dilemma. We may all be facing this disease at different levels today, but we will all end up at the same place in the end. Until they find a cure for this, the best any of us can hope for is continued support, and the sharing of what we learn along the way. Unfortunately, there are going to be many more of us facing this in the future. With that in mind, I'd like to share a little of what has been going on up here. My story starts way back in 1974 when my paternal grandmother was fighting a form of dementia before the word Alzheimer's was used. I can still remember the day I visited her before going into the Air Force. We had talked for several hours when she said to me "You're a nice young man, who are you?". That really struck home! For years after, I listened to stories my mother told me about how much Grandma hated that nursing home and how she never wanted to go through that herself. When Jackie and I got home from the 2011 BR road trip, we already knew that Mom was going to need ever increasing care. We had started with weekly visits several years before, and the visits had been increasing to daily by the time we had left for that vacation. By October of 2011, I knew that she couldn't be left at home alone any longer, and she knew it as well. When I would visit her, she kept making the same comment of "put me in a home and forget me". When Jackie would go there by herself, the comment changed to "Mr. Jensen wants to put me in a home, and I don't want to go!". What's left for a son to do? At that time, I made a promise that I would keep her in her home until the day came where she didn't know where she was or who was staying there with her. We had to do lots of repairs and modifications to the home she lived in since 1961, and many of those project were done on weekends when she would "go to visit" with Jackie at our home in Rodney. Can you imagine gutting an entire bathroom down to the studs and rebuilding a handicap accessible one it two days? It wasn't fun. We put on a whole new roof on in three days. All new windows in two, and siding the next weekend after that. Every interior project entailed replacing old with new in somewhat the same colors and hanging every picture or knick-knack in the same place it had been for years. It's been over two years now, but Mom stills knows that she is in the home she has lived in for over 50 years. There are some bad days, but the good ones still outnumber the bad ones. She spent a month last winter living back in Norfolk VA where my Dad had served in the Navy during the Korean War, but she came home again. There's been a few times when Jackie will get there after work and is told that us boys should be home from school anytime now, even when I'm just in the other room. We've found it is easier to just agree with her than correct her. One final thing is that I started writing a daily journal after we moved in. I've gone back for the years previous to the move as I remember events that took place, and tried to mark every occasion since. I'd like to think that maybe some writer much better than I am may see a book in all my rambling. Perhaps it could be used as a learning experience for those people who are going to face this problem in the future. I'm seriously thinking of titling it: How Old Is That Dog? It's a question I hear at least 20 times a day.

I couldn't have said it better. Tom is one of a handful of members here that should be on everyone's must read list whenever he starts a thread or chimes in on a subject. Sadly, this topic wouldn't have become so caustic had a few people simply asked him to clarify his opinion rather than disagreeing with it immediately because it didn't fit within a preconceived line of thought. On Topic. My take on it was to quit relying on the same "magic bait" we hear of so often. I cringe every time I read a thread where one angler asks for an opinion on what to do on Lake X, and they get a dozen replies from all over the country listing specific baits in specific colors. How anyone can make such a suggestion without ever seeing the body of water or the conditions is beyond me. It's that kind of advice that proves that what Tom was trying to teach all of us is sorely needed.

Taking the question literally, a PFD.

In other words, the guy who is handing us that hat is ourselves? Agreed!

Could I suggest that the next time any of you come into contact with a LEO, even if his little red light is blinking in your mirrors, that you thank him for doing many of things we shouldn't or couldn't do?

I've got to feel bad for Robert as well, but I do think there's still one or two Eloises around. They're just as rare as hen's teeth. In all of my years, I was lucky enough to have had her twin sister walk into my office. Marilyn couldn't have done a tax return to save herself, but every client we had completely trusted her. She knew everyone of them, their kids names, and could recognize many of their voices over the phone. The day she retired was one of the worst days of my life. The others I was blessed(?) with ran the whole spectrum from the ones hooked on playing computer solitaire, to the one who got mad when I told her she couldn't use my computer, printer, paper and postage to send out her resumes! Good luck Robert, do you want me to ask Marilyn what her two daughters are up to these days?

I've got to agree with you, even if this does turn into a Team Depends -vs- Team Pampers thread! Maybe it was that way because we were raised by the greatest generation, and we ended up raising the kids that we now shake our heads about.