Introduction

[Kirk Bonanny]

   Howdy! I am Kirk Bonanny and live in north-eastern Pennsylvania in the greater Pittston area (Jenkins Twp). I grew up in Exeter, Pa which is just across the Susquehanna River from Pittston. I am a die-hard Susquehanna River rat, and have been fishing the same 5 mile stretch since I was 11. I first went fishing when I was a young child, most likely around age 6 or so with my dad. I used to fish the river around 125-150 days per year, but other responsibilities and health problems have curtailed that number significantly. I am 42, married and have 2 sons. Chris is 15 and Harrison is 12.

   Aside from fishing the river I fish numerous lakes, and I am on lakes more often than the river these days. I joined a small bass club in the mid 90's and met a lot of great people there. The club disbanded 5 years ago, but we're trying to fire it up again this year with the tournaments closer to home.

   I primarily am a bass fisherman, though I will go out for Walleye down the river when the mood catches me right. I make a lot of my own jigs & jig heads. I think I have close to 3 dozen lead molds. I also tie a lot of hair jigs, treble hooks, etc... have built a couple of rods and maintain & repair reels for just about everyone I know that fishes.

   I love the competitive nature of tournaments, though due to my health can not fish them as often as I'd like to . I was diagnosed with Adult Onset Stills Disease in 2004, and that wrecked my body that I spent years bulking up by lifting & running... these days I am happy when I can stand up straight.

   My personal best fish to date are: Largemouth Bass, 25.5" (estimated between 8-10 lbs... camera was in the boat but battery was dead as my friend left it on all day... biggest that I have a photo of is 23" and on a Berkley digital scale weighed 7 lbs, 11 ounces. Smallmouth Bass, 21" @ 4.01 lbs.. that one won me lunker on a Susquehanna River tournament. Walleye, 34", not weighed.

   My main lures are topwater (buzzbaits, Zara Spooks, Lucky Craft Sammies), jigs (hair jigs, tubes, skirted jigs, grubs etc..) rubber worms (zoom trick worms, Berkley power worms, many others).. Depending where I am I will also throw crankbaits, spoons (mainly on the Susquehanna), twitch baits and a host of others, though I am throwing topwater, worms or jigs 90% of the time. 

   I have a 17' Sylvan aluminum V-hull. I primarily run the 50/35 Evinrude jet outboard, but have the same year Evinrude 50 prop motor as well. When I was heavily into tournaments I'd switch the outboards depending where we were fishing, and I used to be able to swap them out by myself in under an hour.

   I am an ASE Certified Master Auto Technician, owned an auto service garage for years but due to health can no longer reliably function. I still love to do anything related to mechanical, electrical & paint work to this day, but it takes me a lot longer than it used to.

   Oh well, enough for now. Hope to hear from some good people here, and thanks for having me.

[bmac31]

Welcome. Great to have you here. Sounds like youll bring alot of knowledge and good stories to the BR world.

Brian

[A-Jay]

Hello Kirk and Welcome to BR ~

 

That was a Great Introduction.

 

A-Jay

[lanzbass]

Greetings Kirk and Welcome to the forums

[00 mod]

Welcome to the forums!

 

Jeff

[Darren.]

Welcome aboard, Kirk!

[F14A-B]

Enjoy the forums ! It's all fun!

Happy fishing....

[whitwolf]

Welcome............

[bassfisherjk]

Welcome!

[Glenn]

Welcome Home!