Lund Explorer

Good job Matt! I take it that a lot of this brush was flooded stuff? Makes me wonder if besides being green, if there were other things about that certain type of bush that attracted the better fish. This might be one of those times when having an underwater camera might have shown something interesting to add to the story.

It's all part of the game, and KVD isn't the only one to do it. You see it in all kinds of competitive sports. Right now, Kevin can walk the walk. I will give credit to Martens though for one of the better quotes I heard. Roughly by memory "We have started to call him Kevin VanDam Him!" If you are going to get your butt kicked, you might as well have a sense of humor about it.

Count my vote as being for two Mike.

Better to goof up on a test than to do it once you've graduated! It does happen. When I sold my building a few years ago, the buyer's banker who happened to be the local VP, had a number of mistakes typed into the paperwork. Had I not insisted in seeing these papers prior to the closing, the buyer would have had to spend close to $5k more! And yes, I did enjoy pointing out those errors to the buyer.

I guess asking if you got room is out of the question haha. Trust me the worse thing that could happen would me falling in the lake with all my gear or braking all my gear. My curse doesn't rub off on others, that make things alot worse haha. If you promise to wear a Red Wings hat I can probably handle it. Of course if you break one of my rods, you'll have to spend the rest of the day in the wife's half of the boat. BTW, my half is the top!

A-Jay, that's only two of the puppies. Do you want me to come up and hold the other one? Please! It's really not fair that this old woman that I'm married to only allows me to have one dog while you guys have a whole pack. What kind of crazy thinking is that? If it was up to me, I'd have at least three or four more myself. Just this morning, the local paper included a copy of American Profile magazine. The main story is about the Seavey family and their dogs. Here's to hoping that you can catch up to them!

If you show up to the Roadtrip, please just don't touch the green Lund! ;D

You used a left handed bat? Sounds like me with my left handed metric crescent wrench! ;D

All good advice. The only thing I would add is that you should arrainge for that loan prior to shopping for the boat. This way, you'll have the chance to know what the loan will cost you monthly, and you can shop according to how much you can borrow. Watch out for any loan that forces you to purchase credit insurance!

WOW, that takes me back! I used to fish in a Tuesday night league where all the guys used to talk color numbers. You didn't even need to mention Yamamoto, just the number. After one night when my partner and I had whacked a big old limit, all the guys wanted to know what we caught them on. "409!" my partner Tony announced, "Really cleaned up on them." The next week, there must have been a half-dozen guys come over to our boat to explain to us that there was NO number 409 other than a cleaning product. The owner of the local baitshop laughed almost as hard as we did! ;D

I can relate Chris. I think everyone who is naturally left handed or ambidextrous can attest to the fact that many things in life require an adjustment. My handwriting is so bad the mailman complains. I end up printing (in all caps) or typing almost everything. I'm also an over-the-top writer so no pencil for me. Sure was a lot of fun taking test with the old fill in the blank answer sheets. But I can do many things either left/right. I could switch hit for average in baseball/softball. I play golf primarily right but can also play left. I kick with either foot but the right is stronger. I got drunk once and tried bowling from the right side and will never get that drunk again. For fishing, I cast everything with my left hand simply because I'm more accurate but can use my right hand when needed. I reel baitcasters with the right hand, and spinning reels with the left. The only place where I was lucky in all of this was having a Mother who insisted that the teachers allow me to use the hand I wanted to, and not the one they wanted me to use.

Having walked on both sides of this path, I think it is safe to say that non-tourament anglers don't look down on the "cast for cash" crowd any more than tournament anglers look down on the "stringer fishermen".

No, you don't have to leave them at home, just give them to your wife. Tell her that every time you ask for one of them, she can get another puppy! ;D ;D

I have a 14 year old granddaughter that will agree with that. Even if the emotional scars were to heal, she'll always be reminded of her encounter when she wears shorts or a swimsuit. I'd mention how much she stands to get from her settlement when she turns 21, but I'm afraid half of team pampers would be asking me for her address!

Pass on my congrats too! That should go a long ways on the puppy chow bill.

To begin with, I never go fishing with just one lure. You can reduce the need to worry about any specific bait not performing by starting each day with several different types of baits, and rotating through your selection consistently. Most days, I find myself with at least two horizontal searching style baits, and two more that are more vertical in nature. I will usually start out working an area with a spinnerbait, crankbait, or topwater to see if I can catch any active fish. If that doesn't work, or if the bite slows down, then I will switch to a vertical presentation with a T-Rig worm or jig. these baits will not only catch active fish, but can also trigger neutral or inactive fish if it is placed within their reduced sized strike zone. With regards to colors, I mostly stay with something that closely resembles the predominate forage for the body of water that I'm fishing. This means bluegill or baby bass colors on some lakes, and shad colors on others. Jigs colors will be close to the crawdads in that lake, and plastic worms are based on water clarity. And just for giggles, there is always that darn bubblegum color that works for no apparent reason.

Is he going to take one of the two spots you have on that list?

From that article: "Prosecutors say he spent much of the $107,000 he stole at strip clubs, restaurants and on sports memorabilia. Almost $11,000 was recovered from his bus when he was arrested." Happy to see he didn't waste it all!

I'll second the waxworms. When they are biting good I go with plastics just to keep from rebaiting every 15 seconds. But if the bite is slow bluegills can not pass up a waxworm. I know alot of guys like spikes, but I don't. I have yet to find a time where they bite spikes better, or that they prefer them over waxies. There are times when a couple of red spikes will out fish waxworms, but you can do just as well at those times by tail hooking a wiggler to you teardrop. It's the lively movement that seems to make the difference. If it ain't alive, put on a new one!

Hey Goose, I don't want to say that I hate coming to this section of the forum during the dead of winter, but I really do try to avoid it. Couldn't miss you mentioning your new PB elsewhere though, so I better suck it up and offer my congrats as well. What's the fish count year-to-date? You are getting quite the head start on me. My first real chance is still over a month away. :'(

I hope this doesn't break any of the rules for this forum, but perhaps you could start here: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/lawsconstitution/consearch.asp The proper way to change how government works is through the voters. Either by electing officials who share your views, or by specific legislation supported by the majority of the people. Of course the idea of restricting access to these waters to anyone who owns a jetski, pleasure boat, or any other boat with a motor larger than 9.9hp is going to make it harder to reach a consensus. Probably since your new legislation to lift the current restrictions, simply keeps those restrictions on almost everyone but you.

Ain't it great! I just winter!

In my opinion, the greatest thing about sports is the memories it makes for it's competitors and it's fans. So when we all gather here later this evening or on Monday morning to talk about the winner of this year's event, let's not forget that the first victory claimed belonged to a Kevin. The second came to a man named Gerald who helped bring him into our lives. Kevin Oldham lived up to every requirement that makes the mark of a champion on Saturday. The story of his fight with cancer, the support of his fellow firefighters, and the ability of a guy named Swindle to set aside his own time in the spotlight, should etch an evening into our memories. There were a lot of champions on display last night. Here's the rest of story for one of them: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/columns/story?columnist=barone_don&page=g_col_Barone_Classic_Angels

Agreed! Reminds me of an upsized Stingray Grub with a tail that has some thump to it. Not sure what it will do for green fish, but the smallies should go for it.

How'd I miss this thread? I posted something else in the general area just a few minutes ago. Bottom line? Somebody is going to get hurt if they think they can run a plane through a blinding fog.