OCdockskipper

Not necessarily. A majority of folks who pull those stunts are basically just being rude because they believe they can. They have a bully mentality, and as long as no one stands up to them, they will continue their ways. As soon as someone confronts them, they back down, often cowardly. There are many ways to confront folks without inciting violence. A calm voice, talking about the action & not the person and being gracious if & when they apologize. In a way, it is a bit like parenting a disobedient child, which makes sense because their actions resemble those of a spoiled brat. I agree, although I would substitute the word "etiquette" for "ethics". Many people associate the word etiquette with snooty, high society, but it really means nothing more than the customary code for polite behavior among members of a particular profession or group.

How would a suspending lipless crankbait get to a depth in order to suspend? Jerkbaits have a lip that gets them to the depth, while regular lipless crankbaits sink in order to get to certain depths. Unless it is actually just a slow sinking lipless, I would imagine a suspending version would never get more than a few inches under the surface of the water.

I have found the best way to open a crankbait is to misjudge your casting distance and accidentally bounce if off a stone retaining wall. Opens them up nice & neat...

Again, declaring that all industry or business is inherently unethical is incorrect. There are ethical companies in all industries and there are unethical companies. Ethical companies succeed and ethical companies fail. Unethical companies succeed and unethical companies fail. In the same way there is no magic lure, there is no magic formula in business that requires you to be either ethical or not ethical in order to succeed. To paint all industry as unethical comes across as a way to try and justify or rationalize ones behavior. If you are comfortable lying & cheating customers in order to earn your income, that is fine. Just don't make the excuse that one has to act that way in order to succeed, that is a refusal to take responsibility for your choices on how to conduct yourself.

It's fine that it doesn't bother you, but don't try to rationalize it as being "business". Business does not have to be lying to potential customers, one can be truthful & have ethics. You can run your business however you choose, but how truthful you are with your potential customers is a reflection of your ethics, not of how business's have to operate.

Zona is one of the better teachers out there. He is not tied to a tournament mentality, he seems to realize there are different types of fishermen.

Helicopter Lure, although it must be used with a Popeil Pocket Fisherman for maximum efficiency.

Thanks, I am happy with the way it turned out. I bought the BPS power pedestal during the Spring Classic, it normally is $79 and was on sale for $59. It adjusts between 22" to 29", the butt seat adds about 3 inches in height. I'm 5'11" and I have it at about 25" up. I think if it was a regular seat, 22" might be too high (they make a 16" - 22" model as well). It easier to move about without the seat brackets, but on my first trip out, I found that I would hold the butt seat & pedestal as I walked around it. The raised deck definitely changes the center of gravity, especially if you put all your weight on one side. That might be less of an issue with the PP2, for I noticed they ride higher in the water than the PP1. There are a pair of PP2's on my lake & I noticed both have kept their TM on the transom. I didn't realize the lack of tin for the bow, I would thing that maybe a couple of pieces of flashing would replicate it. If I was forced to put the TM on the stern, I would drive the boat backwards all the time. I did notice the raised areas of the PP2. It is almost like they aren't aiming the boat at bass anglers carrying 4 - 8 rods, but just fisherman with a rod or two. I'm sure there is some kind of modification that could create a deck like surface for the rods. In addition to a spare TM prop, I carry a spare Bigfoot, a spare adapter that plugs into the front receptacle, a spare fuse for back in the battery area, wire crimps & tool, electrical tape & wire nuts. They don't take up much space (now that I have storage) and are handy to have just in case.

It does make it heavier, but I am in the fortunate position that the boat stays in the water all the time, covered. The few times I have pulled it out for yearly maintenance or to take it to another lake, I strip it down to next to nothing. Because I made everything modular (for example, the bottom is 3 pieces - the deck, the mid floor & the battery cover), it is just like putting a puzzle that you know back together. If I were taking it in & out of the lake regularly and in areas that had access to ramps, I'd probably invest in a trailer. If I was taking it to hard to get to places with no trailer launching, I probably would keep it stripped down to limit the weight.

After going through the pros & cons for months, I finally decided to add a deck to the front of my Pond Prowler. I had extra 3/4 Marine grade plywood & carpet left from when I made the original sub-floor a few years back. At the front of the deck, I added 3 lids; one allows access to all of the wiring, the middle has a few items I use every trip and the 3rd stores emergency items like spare electrical parts & TM prop. I added a mount for a stand up butt seat and got a new Garmin depthfinder. I already had the Bigfoot and on-board charger, I just designed the deck around them. I took it out for a quick spin today and liked the stability. The higher center of gravity does change the balance points, but it is still steadier than a canoe. The first picture is how the entire boat looks now. The second is a closeup of the deck, while the third is a look back to how the front used to look for comparison. It was a fun project.

Aaron Martens immediately came to mind. I believe Tom knows what social issues Aaron had growing up and what he has done to overcome them. I heard KVD describe Aaron one time as "a unique dude".

Not to get too tied into the analogy, I was talking about & wrote very short people. Nate Robinson is only short by NBA standards, he isn't Vern Troyer short. If someone of Vern's height had the ability to make 100% of his shots within 15 feet of the basket, he would be considered skillful. However, because the rules allow other (taller) players to block the shot, those skills are negated. A rule would stop such a player from being an NBA talent despite his skill. I believe there is some old guy, an ex doctor or engineer, who holds the world record for most consecutive free throws. Put that talent in an NBA game & he never gets a shot off. If they would just leave him alone & let him shoot, he could be a star ? My point is, the rules are the rules. In most cases, you will go farther if you try to work with the rule (especially the spirit of the rule) than to claim it is unfair and ask to be excused from it.

Don't take this the wrong way, but there is a rule in basketball that allows opponents to block your shot. That rule effectively eliminates very short people from any serious basketball competition. Would that be considered a terrible shame & completely unfair? I would suggest looking at solutions on how you can work within the existing rules as opposed to looking to change them. As an example, any tournament that you know has polygraph testing as a possibility, go to the tournament directors prior to the tournament and explain your condition. When you tell them why a polygraph wouldn't be effective with you, at the same time give them an alternate solution to test you. Get creative with solutions, like a full time GoPro set up filming your every move. Something that makes it obvious you aren't trying to skirt the spirit of the rule, just altering the process to get to the same result (proof of not guilty). Just the fact that you approach them beforehand will go miles and you may find out they have run into this issue before and have a solution themselves. Good Luck!

A Mister Twister red curly tail worm (not the phenom, the longer tail version). Rigged weightless with an open hook, we thought trolling through the weedbeds in our little yellow dingy was the way to catch them. We mostly caught weeds, but did catch a couple of keeper bass.

I would pay that young man $5 if I could hear him say "Hey, Beavis, this fish has a big mouth, uh, huh, huh huh!" ?

Way back in the late 70's, this question came up when a few women wanted to fish the opens. There was an issue of Bassmaster with a woman on the cover & their answer to the relieving question was a full length poncho & a coffee can. When I was a marshal last year at Texas Fest, the question came up in the meeting about relieving yourself when spectator boats are around. Mike Iaconelli's solution was to run full throttle to his next spot spot & then tell his marshal "you have 25 seconds of privacy, have at it". Gerald Swindle waited until he was in a narrow cove where all the spectator boats were behind him and just went facing forward (from more than 20 yards away, it looked like he was just fishing).

We can go to Bluebasser for confirmation, but I believe in this instance, being a billionaire is irrelevant. What he got arrested for is a misdemeanor, all of the other Johns (assuming it is their first offense) will get the same punishment, a basic slap on the wrist. For most offenders, the embarrassment of being publicly revealed is enough to deter them from doing it again. The cops are really after the sex traffickers, arresting the Johns is just a way to cut down on the demand. However, Kraft choosing to proclaim his innocence may end up in a more severe sentence. The cops say they have video evidence, if Kraft tries to pull some "it was just consensual, no money changed hands" defense, the prosecutor may go after him hard. If he (or any guilty party for that matter) just made a public confession, threw himself on the mercy of the court and accepted the consequences of his actions, the legal system and the American public can be very forgiving. I knew he had a 39 year old girlfriend, so I was wondering why he would feel the need to go to some strip mall massage parlor for illegal action. Then when I saw this image of her https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/ricki-noel-lander-net-worth/ and how it looks like she is trying as hard as possible to not be close to him, I figured theirs might be a different kind of arrangement. With his wealth, I don't understand why he just didn't zip over to Nevada and get all the strange he wants legally.

I think an appropriate punishment is forfeiture of this years Lombardi trophy to the Rams... But then the Saints will request the Rams forfeit it to them based on the blown call in the playoffs... But then the Bucs will demand the Saints forfeit it based on the first game of the season... Your Super Bowl LIII champs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!!

Remember he started in the days of 10 fish limits, so a limit of 2lb fish beat six 3lbers.

Hmmmm, I never would have suspected. You go girl!! ?

I started a bass club (actually an official B.A.S.S. affiliate!) way back in the 1970's when I was 15, the Canyon Lake BassMasters. However, I didn't know any of the other guys who fished the lake, so I listed myself as the President, my dad as VP, my mom as Treasurer and my little sister as Secretary. My mom & dad didn't fish, so if there were any allegations of cheating between my sister & I, they would just administer a spanking...

I think each kid is different, it depends on their personality type even at that age. As 3 year olds, our sons never directly disobeyed us or talked back. They had (& still have) easy going personalities and while they got into trouble like any boys do, they always did what we told them to do. Extremely easy kids to keep in line. Our daughter was (& is) different. Very strong willed, if she felt a certain way about something, she would try to make her case. We had to be much more blunt & to the point about things with her, it took a much stronger hand (mentally, not physically) to stop her from disagreeing with us. It is her nature and it was a balance to teach her how to behave properly without extinguishing her independent spirit. The benefit of a daughter like that is I was never worried about her when she began dating. In fact, I kinda felt sorry for some of the teen boys who thought they had any chance of control when on a date with her. ? When my twin sons were about 5, my mom was babysitting them while we were out of town. They had an automatic bubble maker that they used to turn on outside in order to watch our dogs chase & bite the bubbles. They got the great idea that it would be fun to use plastic baseball bats to swing at the bubbles. My mom saw this, went out & told them not to swing the baseball bats at the bubbles. They obeyed her, they put the bats down. A minute later, one of my sons comes in the house with his head bleeding. My mom immediately said "I told you to not swing the baseball bats at the bubbles", to which my other son responded "We weren't, we were swinging the hockey sticks". They got her on a technicality...

@scaleface, I saw your lineup and my initial reaction was "No wonder he is in last place, he is picking guys who left the Elite series for BPT". It took a moment to realize it was the Classic...

Or we could send our lousy neighbors there instead, it sounds like you can get along with anyone . I would wager that a majority of bad neighbors are renters. When you aren't invested in your neighborhood, both financially and emotionally, then not getting along with ones neighbor is probably not a priority.

I would only suggest talking with the neighbor if you already have a good relationship with him. If not, contact the proper authorities and let them handle it. I have found that most people like the one you describe just believe that the rules dont apply to them. I live in the suburbs, in a neighborhood with a HOA & we have guy like that across the street. He rents the house and just basically ignores a lot of the rules everyone else follows. He will go all out with holiday decorating, but then not take it down for weeks. His garage is filled to the hilt with junk and he has an inoperable car that he keeps in his driveway. He has a full sized truck and parks it in front of his driveway (even though there are plenty of spots across the street). Little things, but the annoyances add up. Now here is the topper. I own an A/V business (Tv's & home theaters). When we first met, he asked what I did & said "how cool" (he is/was an engineer). A month later, my wife sees a Facebook post on our city page that this guy & a fellow engineer have started an A/V business. Over the next few months, he comes over a few times, asking who I buy materials from and if he could buy Tv's from me at the same price I get from my wholesaler. I finally decide to take this as a compliment and ask if he wants to do the labor on an installation I had but was going to be out of town when the customer wanted the job done. Huge mistake on my part. He didn't do what I instructed him to do, ended up costing me thousands of dollars in things I had to fix and even tried to get the customer to drop me & use him instead . Come to find out, he & his buddy are not licensed (C7 low voltage) and not insured, so they had put me in a position of great financial exposure. He even asked once to go fishing with me, I am so happy I never took him up on it ?.