jwo1124

That reminds me when me and my buddy made a malatov cocktail and threw it off a clif. Kids sure do stupid things. I'm just glad that kid didn;t lose any fingers, I noticed the first thing he did was look down and make sure they were all there. Oh yeah, just for a safety warning, don;t ever mess around with gasoline and fire!!! We were being really stupid, and looking back on it, it wouldn;t have been that funny if the thing went off and covered my friend and I in gasoline and flames. We would have been the ones jumping off the clif into the water to extinguish ourselves. Thi sis one of those times when the saying:"What's the worst that can happen?" should have been mentioned.

I'm looking to know if anyone here is involved in the rastaurant business, preferably a manager. I am in college now for Social Work, and still need 2 years to get my bachelor's degree and four years away from a Master's, which I have been told by many people is pretty much a neccassity these days in order to make a decent living. I'm really not too keen on staying in college for four more years just to get an entry level position in a field where I hear it is extremely stressful and draining. I have been working at a local casual dining restaurant since 2001(sophmore year in high school) This Feb. will mark my seventh year working there. I have learned alot about the business and have worked almost every job there is besides cook. I have held supervising postions in the past over the summer but currently I am a Waiter. I know the Owner very well, he was a childhood friend of my father's, and he treat's me well. I am thinking about straying from Social Work, and getting a 2 year college degree in management(since most places only require a high school diploma some an associate's degree), and starting to work for my boss as a manager for a few years, get some experience and start looking for more money. I have researched the position, and experienced restaurant managers(2-5 years) generally make 40-60k depending on experience. I'm just wondering if anyone hear is or knows of any restaurant managers and could give me some info on how life is like, how the money is, what bonuses are like, and how often they come by. I think this would be a good niche for me to make a decent middle class living for myself, and hopefully by the time I want a family I will have had a promotion or two, and will be making a little bit more money.

It seems more people are giving me information on Social Work than houseboating I have been told that I should get a Master's Degree by several people, and on top of the members here that are telling me...I guess it's the truth. The thing is I am already 2 years behind my graduating high school class('03) I should have graduated this year with my bachelor's, but I'm still two years away from it. I'm 22 now, and that means I will be 26 by the time I get a Master's Degree. I'm sick of school as it is, and really just want to get a job, make some money, and learn from doing instead of reading books and listening to people lecture. I can;t stand being confined inside a classroom. I was also thinking about restaurant management and/or personal training. I have worked in the restaurant biz going on seven years this Feb. and next to fishing, exercise and fitness has been a big passion of mine since high school. I really just don't know if I can do four more years of college. I have looked at job postings online, and most restaurant management positions(NOT FAST FOOD > ) offerr decent middle class salaries around 50,000 a year after a few years of experience. And I don;t even need a college degree, but I would go get an associate's in Management from the local community college just to get that under my belt. That will take me less than 2 years, I can work as a manager at the restaurant I have been working at since High school, get some experience and get a better job with more money. Plus, I know most of the in's and out's of the biz and that will give me an advantage. it's not the most prestigous career, but I'm a simple working class guy that just looks at a job as a way to make money, and 45-55k in my mid-late 20's isn;t bad. Then there are always bonuses, raises and promotions to general manager. Some day I may open my own restaurant or small biz, and that experience of managing one could come in handy.

Yeah thanks man. I still have 2-3 years to think about this. I may be better off renting soemthing in the vacinity of some good fishing areas(lakes, ponds, creeks, steams, river, coast) and purchase a nice fishing boat. As far as it goes now, it looks like a really good option, and I'm sure I will learn a lot more about it before I make a jump into anything. Its just going to take some research and talking to people to really get a feel for it.

I am a young adult in my early 20's, and I have a couple years of college left until I get my degree(you could say I'm on the 6 year plan) After getting my degree, I plan on welcoming the real world, get into my career field(Social Work) and start fending for myself. I figure I can live at home for about a year after graduation, to save up some money and get some capital under my belt, and then I'll either have to get my own one bedroom apartment, or get a room mate or two and rent a 2 or 3 bedroom house or apartment. Since I'm more of a solitary type, I think I would rather have my own place opposed to having roomates, unless they were close friends. I figured for what I will be spending just renting a place to live, why not invest in a living space that you can own? Now right out of college I probably will not have to money to start investing in a house, won;t think about buying a house until marrige or kids are in the picture. I am seriously thinking about investing in a house boat. I just started researching them, but it looks like you can buy a quality new model for under $100,000, that's less than a condo. I love to fish, love the outdoors, and I think I would absolutely love waking up every moring on top of a Lake and look outdoors to find everything I love right there infront of me: mountains, the water, wildlife, nature...it would be heaven. I am looking for any information I can get, links, magizines, and hoepfulyl some first person experiences and knowledge. This is something I am really serious about and would love to spend my bachelor years on a houseboat, fishing every day after work, waking up and taking a swim if I want, meeting people with the same interests as me, and just living a happy simple life on a lake. Looking for some help on planning this sort of life. Like I said, any first hand personal knowledge or experiences will be the most help, but anything will be appreciated. -Joe

Speaking about baitcasters, does anyone do any saltwater fishing with baitcasters? We get a good summer run of bluefish and stripers from may-october and I do alittle saltwater fishing for them, mostly from shore(rocks, piers, any place accessible where I can stand somewhat comfortably and cast) and I was thinking about a casting set up, I've seen guys on TV using baitcasters to catch stripers, msotly from boats though. I know the main stay for saltwater shorefishing, or surf fishing is spinning tackle, but heavy spinning reels and heavy rods can tire you out if your constantly casting out 2 os. plugs for hours on end.

Scrath that BPS reel off the list, I am now thinking about getting an ABU Ambassadeur C3 or C4. I actually had one of these reels when I was 12 am purchased am ABU combo from wal-mart. Not knowing how dificult baitcasters were at the time I bought this with birthday money or something. I forget what happened to it. I think after not being able to use it correctly I got rid of it. I just read about 30 reviews on Bass Pro's site, and it got almost all 5 star reviews. It only has 3 BB's though. Bought like Bill dance said, 3 is a good number of Ball Bearings, definately an upgrade from 1.

I was watching a rerun of Bill Dance Outdoors yesterday and he spoke a little on a topic that informed me, and can probably be some good information for beginner or less experienced anglers. The topic was when to choose a casting tackle and when to opt for spinning tackle. Bill then listed several advantages the casting tackle offers; including more mechanical power therefor more power and advantage when fighting a fish, can hold heavier line, gives better control or the lure, and less fatigue on the arm and wrist when held correctly. Even Bill Dance said you still need spinning tackle, because at time you will need it, and it will be the better choice over casting gear; when smaller lures and smaller line is needed: possibly in clear water, or after a cold front when bass are sluggish and/or bright sunny days when bass' vision is enhanced by the penetrating sunlight. Anyway, to my question, Bill then spoke about the number one concern regarding baitcasters: backlashes > He said that most of the causes of backlashes are inappropriate amount of line, poor casting technique, and inexpensive reels. He said that a sure fire way to help rid backlashes is to get a baitcaster with AT LEAST 3 Ball Bearings. He said it will make a world of difference when casting, meaning casting will be easier and smoother. Bill then said, if your allowance lets you, opt for a casting reel with 5 BB and you will see even more difference. So, what # of BB do you reccommend, and does it really make a big difference? Has anyone gone from a cheap baitcaster to better quality one and seen the increase in quality while casting? I purchased a cheap $35 Shakespeare 1 BB Conventional(rounded not low-profile)casting reel combo'd with a 7' MH lighting rod from Wal Mart to practice with, but I was told to get a better reel to practice with. I am thinking about the Bass pro shops Pro Qualifier reel, it has 6 Ball Bearings, and is low profile, and it's only $80. I think I might combo it with a BPS crankin stick, since I need one, and I'll see how much easier it is to cast with a higher quality reel than a wal mart special.

I have henver had a real problem with mono ever. The only thing you shouldn't do is store your rods and reels in your car or SUV, especially during summer. The heat of the car and sunlight coming through the windows will weaken the line and cause lots of memory. I liked to keep some rods in my truck so if I had some time in between classes or some off time before work I could run to the pond real quick for an hour or two. Its best to store your rods and reels in a tempid dark place when they are not in use. On top of that, try to re spool more often. I have to make a point of doing this more. I have never really had line problems due to this, using the same mono for a year, but just to be safe every few months I'll re spool. Plus it keeps a nice capacity on your reel which helps in casting.

WOW! Great little piece of writing. Did you write that yourself or find it somewhere? I hope you don't have it copy written because I'm definately priting that out. Merry Christmas to all!

I don't know how true that is. I did hear that some crawfish turn a blueish color in the winter, but it makes since that black, no matter how much light penetration or bottom color will probably be the best contrasting color, in other words its the easiest for a bass to see. I think this is prevalent in most color selections, I think the color that best contrasts or stand out in a bass's environment will get the most attention, and hopefully the most strikes.

Yeah those hits on the wake bait are something. By the way, have you ever sen Bill Dance set the hook, he d**n near launches himself backwards off the boat whenever he sets the hook on a bass... I am thinking about getting myself a couple wakebaits because one pond I fish gets a heavy algea bloom which causes large sub surface mats of hairlike algae, it makes it impossible to use most lures like spinnerbaits or cranks. I have the best bet using topwaters(poppers, buzzbaits, frogs) and soft plastics. The wakebait should make a nice improvement in the arsenal since it rides right below the surface.

I was watching re-runs of Bill Dance Outdoors the other day and the episode was the one with Bill throwing the Xcailur wakebait. This episode was the one where he rattled off a lot of facts about the bass and bass fishing. Anyway, he hit on a topic that I have had quesations about and I have seen other questions about. And he noted that many anglers think they need a compostie or fiberglass rod while fishing topwaters due to the slower actions the rods give. But he said that a bass strike is an instant of a second and it just doesn;t make sense that you want a slower rod because you'll miss the fish. Thi sis coming from probably the bass fisherman alive, so... He said that graphite is just so superior to composite or glass rods that if you need to make any adjustment to your rod, just opt for a lighter power rod. He just emphasized how you HAVE TO wait until you feel the fish to set the hook. He also made sure he touched on that when a fish comes up to a topwater, the fish moves or pushes water resulting in moving the bait away in attempt to inhale it in. This is another reason we need to wait to set the hook. What does everyone think? I have always heard you want a moderate action with trebles, but this is coming from Bill Dance.

I never seemed to have a problem with my reels when it started to rain while I was fishing. DO NOT however let your reel go into the pond or lake. This happened to one of my spinning reels, it was a $30 wal mart special, like a shapespeare dimension. I drop the reel in for a couple seconds while wading off the shoreline and the reel never worked the same. It grinds and it real rough when reeling. I took it off my rod and it sits in my room collecting dust. I'm just glad it was a cheap reel.

Yeah I am familiar with Secci Disks as we used them in middle school and high school science classes. I guess the idea was sort of 1/2 @$$ed It's just the ponds I fish seem to be really dirty, I've seen fishing shows up in NH and the water looks crystal clear like you can see down 7'. I don't think you could see bottom if you were sitting in three feet of water at these places. I guess I'll start relying on using the lateral line to attract fish.

The ponds I bass fish in are pretty stained. I'd say I lose sight of the lure after couple feet. I'm sure the fish can see it a little better, but still, it's pretty stained water. Anyway, since a fish needs to se a bait to eat it, what would be the best option of crankbait. I was thinking a larger suspending version with a rattle, in a bright color. I say larger with a rattle to put off more vibration so the fish that may not be able to see the bait from a distance can locate it via lateral line. I say suspending because since the fish doesn;t locate the bait via sight first, it must locate it with the lateral line which may take some extra time or extra searching than just: BAM! I see it go get it. A suspending bait can be kept in the water column or strike zone longer enabling the fish to search and find it for a longer time which may be needed in stained water. Any input?

Just think of a lipless crank sort of like a spinnerbait. The only difference is you shouldn't use a lipless crank around any sort of cover, unless you like trolling over to snags and trying to jiggle them free. Saying that, I think the spinnerbait, and the lipless crank are probably the best search baits in bass fishing. Spinnerbaits cna be used in moderate to light cover around the shore to search for feeding or even holding fish, then when you mover out deeper, tie on a 1/2 or 3/4 ounce rat'l trap and do the same fan casting with the lipless crank. I just started using ratl traps this season, and they are great for covering a lot of water, horizontally and vertically, especially in open water. They let you cover the entire water column, as long as you count them down after the cast. They have great vibration and flash/colors that will atrract fish. To be more specific to your question, the best times are probably when fish are in a more agressive mood. There will be times when a bass will lunge from a distance and chase down a fast moving lipless crank, and there will be times when the bass will want a more natural slower stop and go retrieve of a floating or suspending billed crank. Normally you'd throw a billed crank on a slower 5:1 reel and a lipless crank on a 6:1 or a 7:1 to really get that bait moving, the higher reel speed will pick up line faster. This is good if you work the lipless bait correctly and jerk and twitch it like instead on just reeling it back in. This more erractic action the bait will have will really send off a different vibration than just a steady retrieve. Jerking a bait forward and letting it fall can create a good amount of "slack line" which will result in lost feel. If a bass strikes your bait on the slack line, You may not feel it or get a good hook set. You want a good tight line to always feel your bait, so you can feel any strike you get or any structure or cover your lure may come into contact with. Best bet is to start off fishing a lipless bait once you locate fish on your fish finder, or a spot that you think will be holding fish ( Over grass or weed beds, over deeper structure like humps, drop offs points, even right around shallower cover or structure like parellel to weedlines or lily pads, or docks), and if you aren;t getting any strikes with a lipless bait, switch over to a floating or suspending version of a billed crank and work a stop and go or a twitch retrieve, this should excite the bass into pouncing on your lure. Sometime the bass will already be excited and jacked up ready to kill anything that looks like it could be it's next meal. And other time's a bass will be neutral or negative and really need to be convinced that your lure is weak or slow and easy to catch until it will think about pursuing it. I would say anytime you see a spot that is worthy of crankbait fishing, start off with a lipless bait, it is a great lure to cover the spot with and pick off the aggressive fish with. Then once the bite slows or the bait proves un productive, witch over to a lipped crank and slow down the retieve, or bottom bounce it to attract the fish, this is something you can't do with a lipless bait, you can't really bump things with a lipless bait either, since the bill is what usualyl deflects the bait saving a snag.

Hey bassin', Sorry to hear they're sending you back this close to christmas. Congrats on your son, keep him in your heart, it will give you the strength you'll need over there. Just think about when you get to teach him how to rip some lips. God Bless you and the other soldiers over there. You guys are true fighters and real heros. Merry Christmas to you and yours and everyone else over in the desert this Christmas season.

I thought about this a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure how well this will work, but here it is. All you'll need is a glass goldfish bowl, or small see through aquariumn and a 1 gallon water or milk jug. All you do is take about a gallon of water from the lake or pond you're fishing, and transport it into a fish bowl or aquarium. After doing so you can test the visibility of lures in the water from the side view instead of just looking down at your lure from your boat or the bank. Now, the only flaw I see in this is that the fish will be looking at the lure through many feet of the water that could contain a lot of suspended material like silt, mud, algae, plankton, etc. So this isn't a great test of long distance visibility, but how your lure contrasts or sticks out in the water. I haven't tried this since the ponds round here are frozen, or were last time I drove by, so if one of you southern guys wants to give this a try if you think its worth while I'd like to know how it goes.

Here's one lure I saw someone posting about on another post. http://www.***.com/descpageDEPBAIT-DR.html# That site is great by the way, it has a lot of lures that aren;t mainstream on basspro or cabelas But that one is pretty pricey...happy hunting

I own the Rapala fishing game and the Bass Fisherman Challenge game both for the Playstation 2, and I must say, that although they can be fun to play for 30 minutes, the games just lack the realism of fishing. In one of the games it takes like 5 minutes to reel in a 3 or 4 pound bass on 10# test. The Rapala game is pretty good, graphic wise, the underwater environments are breathtaking and the fish look very realistic, although in that game the cranbaits won;t dive past 2 feet. No video game, this day in age, will ever come close to the excitement of being in the outdoors doing it for real. I like videogames because they allow you to live inside a fantasy world, and participate in things that otherwise would be impossible. But since fishing is very much possible, I don't think the fishing games are compelling. I'd rather play Grand Theft Auto, or Resident Evil, or any other action adventure or shooting games. As someone else put it, I don't think there is much of a demographic for fishing games, so companies don't spend much time effort or money on them. Most serious anglers are adults who would rather spend $50 on new equipment opposed to a video game. I think they can be beneficial to beginner anglers helping them get a feel for what the environment looks like underneath the water, or just to learn the in's and out's of it. But nothing compares to wetting a line in real life.

I use mono for everything. My trout set ups, my bass set ups, and my striper rod. I think it is just because I have never had any problem with mono, or have read any real negatives about mono. The only real negative that could be said is that it stretches, and the only time this wouldn't be good is long hook sets, but a heavier power and faster action rod could make up for the stretch.s Anyway, I have been using mono for ten years since I started fishing in Junior high, and never had problems with it. I have used it in the ocean and in ponds and it seems to hold up well. I don;t want the hassle of braid or fluro to ruin a day fishing. You always see bill dance using stren original, so mono can;t be that bad. The only time I've seen him use something else is int he Pickwick Top Cat episode this season when bottom fishing and drifting bait for catfish. Jimmy Houston is always using Trilene XT. There are two examples of two highly accredited fishing veterans that use mono on a regular basis. Mono has been around for decades and has had decades to be tweaked and upgraded. I trust my old friend mono, and I trust that it will be around in the next few decades.

I have seen many posts here on the site about Ugly Stiks, I have even posted a few of them. Don't get me wrong, Ugly Stiks have a place in fishing, they are a great rod for someone who is new to fishing. I used them to fish for bass, stocked trout, stocked slamon, and stripers. I have caught 2, 3, and 4 # pond bass with a L power Ugly and 6# test. This was within the past couple years. Since regularly posting and browsing this site, I have learned a lot about different rods, and their uses in bass fishing, and the Ugly Stik really doesn't have a place here. If you own an ugly stik, and can;t or don;t want to afford a new rod right now, then by all means use it. But I would go for a $40 rod, 6'6" spinning rod made of IM 6 graphite from Wal-Mart or another sporting good store. This will be a good rod for bass fishign that will allow you to fish plastics lighter jigs 1/4-3/0 oz., lighter spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits. I would then buy an Ugly Stik Lite, which have more graphite in them than the origianly US. This makes them more sensitive. These Lites still have a moderate/Slow action which means they bend a lot. These aren;t good at all for fishing plastics, or jigs, where you really need to set the hook. But they are decent rods for things like crankbaits, topwaters, and jerkbaits because the bend in the rod gives alot more which doesn;t tear the small trebles out of the fishes mouth. But, if you can only get one rod, go for a M power spinning combo to start out with. Buy some spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, a couple jigs, and some soft plastics and you'll be able to catch bass just about everywhere in the lake/pond.

I live in North eastern Massachusetts and would love to find a fishing club near me. Noine of my friends are into fishing as much as I am, I could fish everyday of summer vacation and probably never get bored of it. Post of PM me if anyone knows of one, or would like to start one up. This goes for any kind of fishing, bass, trout, saltwater, etc. -Joe O

Actually after reading someone elses post I remebered catchign a few freshwater clams that clamp down on the hooks. I caught one one a crankbait once. Plus one time these ducks were swimming around grazing off the bottom, and I was casting a Slug Go, and for some reason these ducks loved this thing. I have never had a duck go after any other lure, but they kept chasing the SLug Go. It was pretty funny. Plus I have almost caught a seagull when chunking bait for stripers. Thos things will dive right in after your bait, once I had one grab my bait and fly away with it. I thought he was hooked, but luckily not. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would be trying to un hook a seagull.