Lund Explorer

AMEN! I would rather ask my wife how her day at work went than sit glued to a TV just to find out what the "river" card is.

That's not the word I would have used. The sad part is that this person is not alone. The piers at both Manistee and Ludington gather up more than their share of them each year. But hey, it's a great big lake, so they'll run full throttle at night, in the fog, in just about any conditions. The worst part is that people simply need to go to the marina, check in hand, and they're handed the keys to a boat (and technologies) that are more than they can honestly handle. You said it perfectly "qualified operator". There's many of us up here that think its long beyond the time that all boat operators should be required to become educated and pass a test before being allowed to operate a watercraft.

NO! But I'm pretty sure it will be showing up on craigslist soon. Did you want me to "pm" you with the listing if I find it?

Not sure about you guys, but everytime I turn on my Lowrance GPS, I get a little message, most likely thought of by a lawyer, that says something along the lines of "Don't use this GPS for navigation!". Of course you have to click OK to proceed. Well, we just might be getting a second little warning soon if these guys are any indication. Tip #2? "If you decide to ignore warning #1, you may set a waypoint to mark the boat launch. We recommend you also mark another waypoint 1/4 mile in front of the harbor!" It seems that when you are running full throttle, at night and in the fog, you really don't want to travel directly to the boat launch. As evidenced by the picture below taken Sunday Morning @ Manistee MI.

Usually, you'll see a bigger temp difference than just the couple of degrees you're seeing, but it is possible as so many thing determine the depth where a thermocline forms, if at all. It may have to do the the length of time you left the probes down. Or, you may have to drop them deeper as 30' seems rather shallow. Not bass fishing related, but the thermocline in parts of Lake Michigan (for salmon fishing) is approach 90'-120' this summer.

If you're looking at a school of "fish symbols" on your screen, there's a pretty good chance that they really aren't fish. Go through the menu on your unit and see if you can turn off that function. Then start reading the source material you can find about operating fish finders. This site has some good information, and I'm sure that Eagle's website or your owners manual will too. Another good source could be looking through youtube on how to videos. I've been using a number of different depth finders over the years, and I don't ever think I caught a bass that showed up on the screen.

Seagulls, we call them "Dump Chickens", are the number one reason you should always carry a pair of leather gloves in your boat or tackle box.

I've been fishing the great lakes (Michigan and Huron) for a number of years and for all types of species. These lakes always seem to be going through changes year to year. This year just happens to be on the extreme side of warm. It probably provides the perfect reason why you should be keeping a detailed fishing log. At some point in the future, we'll see this type of thing happen again.

And how is your's going?

Write out the checks in a foreign language. Nothing easy like French or Spanish. Maybe one month write it in Latin. Can you see the landlord having to pay an attorney or doctor to read it! The next month in Swahili! ;D

By a certain age, picking only five movies is like going to a bar with an unlimited choice in beers and deciding on a 3.2. So here's my choices... 1. Any One Movie Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 2. Any One Western Movie Directed by John Ford with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in it. 3. Any One Movie with Jimmy Stewart, probably the actor with the best ability to span all types of characters. 4. Something with Tom Hanks(today's version of Jimmy Stewart)... Gotta be Forest Gump. 5. Grumpy Old Men.

If I understand it correctly, paying online requires that you use a debit or credit card. Such payments are normally subject to a handling charge by the processing companies. It's probably a fairly good bet that this $12.95 charge is somewhere around that same amount, and isn't really a convenience so much as a surcharge. In the State of Michigan, it is illegal to charge more for a product or service when the customer uses either type of card. Some businesses with very small profit margins such a gas stations have started to refuse the use of debit/credit cards for purchasing fuel. Others offer a discount for cash. Next month, pay them with one dollar bills. The old crinkled up ones that hopefully are hard to count! :

West Central Michigan (45 minutes north of Grand Rapids). Lot less dinks, many more keepers. No real hawgs yet, but a lot of solid 16"-18" fish, both SM and LM. Reasons - Many. In order to me at least... 1 - Weather. This year has been warmer with no real severe cold fronts so far. Water temps right now in the low 80's where last year it was lucky to get into the mid 70's for only a short time. 2 - Attitude. Our youngest son is single again, and has become an almost fulltime fishing partner. I find it's easier to stay on the water longer with him than it was the last few years fishing solo or with the wife, and in cold windy weather. 3 - Location. Plain and simple, I've made a real concerted effort to stay deeper. The docks have been safe almost all year. 4 - Baits. Nothing new. Topwaters in the morning followed by slower baits after the sun comes up. T-Rig Worms, Jig n Pig, and Dropshotting.

"Locked" came really close to one of my favorite setups...... until he got to the rod length. Tendinitis can play havoc on you when using a baitcasting rig. They also aren't much good with lighter line. I have used a spinning rod for a lot of my worm fishing the last few years. 6'6" Medium Fast Action, 8lb Trilene XL, Gammy 2/0 EWG, with assorted weights. This outfit fishes T-Rigged 7" power worms, 5" craw worms, and 5" grubs. Adding a foot of rod length would help a lot.

The chair was probably bought by someone who sells $18 - $40 crankbaits... ;D

Wow, looks like this record didn't last very long. And the new winner is coming right across the same lake! http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700049921/Wisconsin-angler-hooks-huge-41--pound-trout-may-have-world-record.html

Agreed it is niche, however. Kids do not have money, yet go to summer camps and so forth. Also, a newbie will spend a tremendous amount of money on all sorts of tackle, if the price is right it could also apply to shore fisherman that would like a chance to get out. I think the model is usable, but the profits could be so low you may want to do it for fun and not a 1099 Right here is the best idea. Instead of trying the guide type of summer job, why not employment with a local summer camp. You've got the background (teaching and fishing), the background check shouldn't be a problem, overhead should be covered by the camp, and best of all you have a captive audience! If you read through the thread on "How Long Have You Been Fishing", the vast majority have stated their entire lives. But I'm sure that you know that many children have never been exposed to fishing. A summer camp is a great place to find kids just like that. I'm sure as a teacher, there is a drive to spread the knowledge of fishing, while trying to pick up some extra income. I can't think of a better way to reach both goals.

There's two kinds of schools. The ones one probation, and the ones that haven't been caught yet.

Not a problem. One last thing. If you are going up via US-131, make sure to stop at Jack's Sport Shop in Kalkaska. Great place to pick up info on what's currently going on there. It's on the left hand side of the street at the north end of "downtown". These are the guys that used to help the bait monkey keep me overstocked in Kalin's grubs. They don't carry as many as they used to, but do have quite a few things stocked that work on those lakes. Also, might want to consider getting a trout stamp if you decide to fish deep while you're there. Elk & Torch have fairly good populations of Lake Trout, Steelhead, and Atlantics too.

Okay, that saves me typing a bunch of numbers!! ;D Torch Lake, Elk Lake, & Lake Skegomog make up the main part of the Chain of Lakes. We used to fish this with the Michigan BASS Federation. Given the choice, I would concentrate on Skegemog. Quite a bit smaller (2,700 acres) than either of the other two, and holds a combination of LM & SM Bass. If I was there this month, I would start in the narrows between Skegemog & Elk lakes. Nice saddle back and with any kind of westerly wind, you'll get quite a bit of current moving through there. After that, I'd work the deep weedlines in 16'-18' range. If you are going to stay on Torch Lake, it isn't that hard to fish. While it is approx 18,770 acres in size, the average depth is something crazy like over 100'. That pretty much leaves you to working the shoreline drops or weedbeds. You may want to have a drift anchor if the wind kicks up out of the North or South. Just keep covering water until you hit a fish or two and then slow down. Lures? Pop-R's in the morning, followed by crankbaits (shad or perch), then soft plastics. My top choices for soft plastics include 3"-5" Kalins Grubs, Tubes, Yamamoto Grubs, and ribbon tail worms of course. Top colors have always leaned towards light colors like Avacado, Sand, or Motor Oil. Good Luck!

Have you got a GPS unit with lake maps?

When you get to the fly shop, pick up a couple of Muddler Minnows. My favorite for browns is a #6 size.

Well then thank god it's not your house I feel like I go from wanting advice to having to defend myself. You are way off on the testosterone thing that it actually does not even make sense. What group exactly are boys producing more testosterone then? It peaks in your mid 20's and starts to decline after that. And more testosterone does not mean more sex drive. That's because you actually got advice and you didn't want to hear it. If you were looking for encouragement and high fives, you should have polled a group of other teenage boys.

X2 Can't believe I used to have to deal with measuring the adding oil each time I wanted to go fishing. Don't even get me started about the gas mileage. My old boat had a 1978 35hp Evinrude and the new boat has a 2004 30hp 4-stroke and the gas mileage is ridiculous. I probably ran about 20 miles total during the last tournament and probably only burned maybe 2 gallons. Same Here! With my 50hp 4-stroke, I need to use Stabil during the summer just to keep the fuel from degrading.

Hmmm, no reply from Other. yet. I sure hope he didn't use the defense of: "Anna Nicole Smith started that way".