Lund Explorer

Old bartender's trick. Ice first, then pop or mix, shot on top. First sip means a good tip.

I'm going to try my level best to NOT follow the family tradition. Both Grandfather & Father developed bladder cancer (both age 60) and later died due to blood clots (both age 62). Here's a guy that is fully tuned in to both issues along with my doctor. The fact that the men in our family have had nothing to do with social security going bankrupt scares the hell out of me!

Having had the luck to live in Marilyn's hometown for over three years, I can honestly say I wasn't surprised at her write up. The old saying up there back in those days was that Grand Forks was not the end of the world, you could just see it from there. I found it refreshing to see that she took what she found and reported it as such. I am only left to wonder if she sees any humor when she reads reports of snow storms written by someone hillbilly in the southern part of the country, or the news about a rare day of fresh air in some of the more, shall we say, urban parts of our country. One of the national news organizations had shown her article a few days ago. It also said that she was traveling to NYC soon and would be filing a story on the restaurants she would be visiting. I hope they are ready for her!

Stupid isn't limited to geography. Years ago one of these dolts here in Michigan had caught a huge smallmouth, probably pushing the magic 7lb mark. He was bound and determined to have it mounted even though he caught the thing almost three weeks before season. Not the greatest plan to freeze it and then show up to the taxidermist with it on openning day!

Solar Storm? This last flare up is supposed to go until early Friday. For your sake, let's hope REAL early.

Sounds very encouraging indeed, and she is lucky to have Doug as her rock through all of this. When I first looked for an update this morning, I also thought that this type of thing was going to require more than a single day of prayer. Maybe we need to think about creating a prayer chain to support all of those members in the BR family needing help.

No harm - No foul Just figured I'd help out.

Solid Gold! Digesting what Rolo is trying to explain, I can sit here with my eyes closed and see exactly what he is talking about on any of the many natural lakes I fish up here. The man has the gift.

This will be the second quote from Rolo I've seen today: "Roe is Overrated Most anglers agree that the growth rate of fish is influenced by water temperatures. On the other hand, anglers are sharply divided as to the seasonal period when bass attain their peak annual weight. Fish eggs (roe) add an average of 8% to the bodyweight of a cow bass, reportedly ranging between 5 and 11%. For all practical purposes, cow bass fast during the bedding season, and the 8% weight gain due to roe, amounts to about 10 ounces for an 8-lb bass. Solar energy peaks during the summertime, when weed growth is full-blown, feeding is in high gear and baitfish are large and plentiful. The same 8-lb cow that gained 10 ounces during the spawn is very likely to lay-up a pound during the summertime, while toting a 1/2 lb minnow in her gut." Roger Simple search got me this from the following thread. Quite easy as the subject comes up every year. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/81035-eggs/page__p__921344__hl__bass%20weight%20with%20eggs__fromsearch__1#entry921344

I'll agree with Marty. Look into the Boat Trader website and you should find a number of boats for sale from owners and dealers. Dealer names will either link directly to or give you a name to search for their own websites to see everything they have for sale.

Define a "long way". I had a 130hp Yamaha that drank oil like a lush. Either that or I just drove a lot of miles with it. I'd be interested in know how much oil per gallon the optimax uses and then the fuel mileage for that motor on that boat. The next question would be how much throttle time the OP plans on an average trip. Bigger lakes and rivers can drink up a lot of gas if you want to cover a lot of water.

"Swebow" Sounds like the name of a lure banned in many states for its deadly effectiveness. Hopefully on something besides suckers!

By all means, Prayers sent.

It's all about the "-vs-" Cost of 4-Stroke -vs- Optimax. Boat Speed and Operation - Weight of 4-Stroke -vs- Optimax & Oil Reserve. Cost to Operate - Fuel Mileage & Annual Oil Change for a 4-Stroke -vs- Fuel mileage of Optimax and 2 Cycle Oil. Both are good motors so it depends on what you are looking for as far as cost, speed, and operation.

The true call of spring!

Count me in. Sadly this will probably be the only time I'm ahead of Dwight!

So this end of the world thing, what day are we talking about? Mayan Calendar of December whatever? If so, does anybody know what time this happens? Midnight, Sunrise, Noon? Local bar is holding an end of the world party the night before and I figure it's the perfect time to get completely wasted. The only thing is when to start. If the end comes at midnight, I should really start early. If the world doesn't blow up until noon, then I need to pace myself as I'd hate to wake up and suffer the hangover. BTW, I've decided my best option was to write a check for the bar tab as it will never have the chance to bounce!

Sounds like the whole thing boils down to a possible $53 -vs- time for fishing, girlfriend, and chilling. Question comes down to whether you think the fishing, girlfriend, and chilling is worth the lost money which only you can answer. Can you make it on $128 per/week?

The punishment can start with Gregg Williams, and then proceed directly to the actual players who decided that it made perfect sense to go onto the field with the intention of ending another player's career. There's many levels of stupdity in this, and they all deserve recognition.

If those in charge at ESPN and/or BASS think that airing an hour long recap of an eight hour event makes for edge of your seat viewing, I would expect that the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500 would both be better served using the same logic. I refuse to help ESPN's ratings by tuning into a show that took over 1,000 manhours of fishing effort and tried to boil it down into less than 20 minutes of action. I'd be better off watching a rerun of the movie Apollo 13 to see if those astronauts make it home yet again. IMHO, It's not just Houston that has a problem!

I wanna hear from the first guy that lips a bass with one of these things!

Riddle me this. How deep were you fishing last year while you were kicking keister? If you did well on a chunk rock "bank", that is now 5-10 underwater, what has changed? So how deep are you fishing this year? My guess is that your fish have reacted to rising water by moving to stay in the same depth of water they were in last year. You most likely have to do the same thing. Just tell us that you took a lot of pictures during all of this record low water as it is going to give you a whole bunch of place you should be targeting now.

Before this gets too far along, I'd like to be the first to say that I'm thankful that my fishing partners DO NOT post here!

Here's a link that describes some of those duties. An Air Force recruiter is going to give you a pretty rosy picture if you walk into their office blindly, so I'd start by studying this. Many CE duties cover what you're thinking about in a civilian career. Decent pay and benefits while the economy is slow, and after a tour you'll have on the job experience others won't. Notice that the CE's work on plumbing, electrical, HVAC, which could all be good trades in your future. For God's sake though, don't tell your folks I'm suggesting EOD because I can get in enough trouble on my own. http://usmilitary.about.com/od/airforceenlistedjobs/a/afjobce.htm

You're only about 5-6 years too late for Michigan and quite a few other places as well. Look into new housing permits issued in your area and if possible see if you can get those numbers for the same time period. With housing starts down so far, all of the related subcontractors (plumbing, electrical, etc..) went down right along with the builders. Best bet would be to look at areas that are either booming like Minot ND or the whole bunch of towns rebuilding from last year's storms. My clients say they aren't looking for any kind of rebound for several more years. Most are trying to scrape by with remodel or repair work, and then that isn't constant work. Have you considered a few years of "Civil Engineer" training that the military might have?