Paxton44

Over here it means you stayed awake at Cabelas for 8 hours and paid enough attention that you could get the right answer on your test, or at least that your mom or dad paid enough attention and were sitting there pointing out the right answers while the instructor turned a blind eye. It just costs the user more than your system but they're essentially the same

There's this part of Lake Champlain in Crown Point where there are four giant cement foundation blocks sticking out of the water. I guess they used to support telephone lines or something. Anyway I'm fishing over there one day with a few boats as this is a community hole and I overhear this other boat's driver complaining loudly about how these things are hard to see early in the morning and he almost crashed into them. He went on to say "They really oughta warn people about those!" Now mind you this same guy is practically anchored to the blinking red navigation buoy that's perhaps 20 yards away from these things when he says that. I think it is too easy to get a boating license...

I don't know how heavy or what type of "slop" you are talking about, but I find a small swim jig tied with braid can often get through stuff better than a spinnerbait just because it has less stuff to catch the weeds. It's not going to work that great if you're talking completely matted stuff but if you you enough water to make it dance around to it would. You can also pause it in pockets just like the spoon to have the same effect. I'd say just get a weedless spoon. Timberkings (now out of production, but basically a weedless spoon with a skirt you could probably create on your own) were a mainstay 25 years or so ago. Now you rarely hear people talk about them. They still work!

I'm about to wrap up my 2nd season with my 2012 Lund Impact 1875. I'm at the point in my life where I'm going to be a father soon and wanted a boat I could bring my kids in safely. My dad is unfortunately at the point in his life where it is harder for him to get in and out of boats or keep his balance in them so I was looking for something large, comfortable, and safe. The goal was a boat that could fit mom, dad, grandpa, two kids and a dog. My boat was a late fall leftover that I was able to get a good deal on, however I wasn't able to choose any options other than trolling motor and electronics of course. It did luckily have all of the options I was looking for: - Rivets. Although I'm sure welds are just fine and craftsmanship is going to be good with either on most brands, I figure if I ever bust a rivet while I'm on vacation I can put on some JB Weld and get through a few days. If a weld cracks I'm screwed. - An aft casting deck/jump seat combo. Basically two seats which fold down to extend the casting deck. I wanted this so my wife could have a tanning platform and so that friends could have a good place to stand and fish. At the time, Lund was the only riveted boat that I knew of that offered this (Alumacraft came out with it the next year) - A deep v hull as this boat lives on Lake Champlain and these waters can be treacherous (the most recent bassmaster magazine has it as the #10 "adventure lake" because of how dangerous it can become. This proved its worth last week when the wife and I launched from Westport and ran across the lake to Otter Creek. The wind picked up quite a bit while we were out and there were a few waves taller than the boat! Good for the young and elderly too. - Vinyl flooring for easy cleaning. - A walk through windshield again because this is a Lake Champlain boat and you can't mess around. - Storage nets along the bow and also under the consoles. Handy for holding bags of plastics, rain gear, and also a handy way to secure trash and keep it in one space. - A boat large enough to be rated for 6 people and actually have a place to seat them. The 1875 model allows three rows of seating and will let you keep four chairs in WITH the casting deck deployed. The 1775 and below require you to keep the casting deck up and in jump seat mode when you have four chairs deployed. I ended up getting a Minnkota Terrova for the boat and have no issues keeping it where I want it even in heavy wind. It "only" came with a 115 hp motor while it is rated for 150 but I'm getting 38-40 mph consistently and 42 in good conditions with a standard aluminum prop. This is a take the family fishing and get them back alive boat, not a tournament boat, so 40 is just fine for me. I've had 4 adults and a child in the boat so far and didn't see a noticeable drop in performance. I'd recommend this boat to others.

I have a Lund Impact 1875. I really enjoy fishing from it and love being able to take my wife, our friends, and their 3-year-old daughter out fishing. She just caught her first bass last weekend. I wouldn't be able to put all of them safely or comfortably on a bass boat. The trade off is it probably goes half as fast. I don't fish tournaments so I don't miss that.

One of these years I need to join. That team trail looks like a lot of fun.

I'm from central CT and mostly fish small ponds around here (Batterson Park, Spring Pond, Farmington Reservoir). I spend most of my fishing budget heading to Lake Champlain every chance I can, but the stuff around here is pretty good too. I didn't know that about the power company at Saltonstall. Do you know about how many boats they have? Can you call ahead? It would be quite the hike to get there and be out of luck.