vernon

I picked up one of the St. Croix Eyecon's that Dave recommended and really like it for the Ned. About $120. Has great feel and casts longer than anything else I've tried with the Ned. Also, add my name to the considerable list that thinks his heads are "head" and shoulders above all the others. I have a pretty large collection of other makes and brands that will never get used since latching on to the Ozark Finesse heads. To complete the setup I went with the Dave endorsed Daiwa Lexa spinning reel and spooled it with 6 lb. Invisx line (also suggested by Dave). It all fits together remarkably well and I'm not much interested in experimenting any further. Dave's already done all the heavy lifting when it comes to this style of fishing so I don't figure there's much sense in me wasting time (and lots of money) trying to one up the "godfather". I assume Ned is already the "king" so godfather seemed appropriate for Dave! Although I still have 7 or 8 rods laying on the deck I'm not too sure why. The only reason I pick one of them up anymore is to shake the dust/cobwebs off or to put them back in the rod box! Thanks for all of your help by the way.

Those were the two that I thought looked the most practical but wasn't sure what I'd find when I got there. Driving's not really an issue but then again didn't want to drive past good areas just because I didn't know any better. I'm pretty sure that Lead Hill is the farthest up the lake that I've been previously. Thanks for the input.

Absolutely! Thanks for the reminder.

Heading down on Saturday for two weeks and will be staying near Indian Point. We would like to run over to Bull Shoals for a day or maybe two while there. We haven't fished Bull in probably close to ten years now and when we did we always stayed down on the dam end. Only place near the upper end that we've been was Diamond City and, again, was a long time ago. If anyone could provide some recommendations/directions on where the best places to put in might be we'd be most appreciative!

Man, I continue to be amazed by how low the water temps still are. We went to Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Ks. on Thursday and the temps were 66.8 at the ramp at noon and got as high as 71 on the north banks in the afternoon. Doesn't seem like a lake four hours north should be that much warmer. At any rate, way to go Dave and thanks for the updates. We're heading down next Saturday for two weeks and the reports and photos sure aren't doing my blood pressure any favors!

You should see his basement! I called it the Smithsonian of fishing. He'd need a Carnival cruise ship to tote all that stuff on the water! Felt kind of sheepish walking out with a hundred Ned heads in one hand.

I couldn't agree more. Back in the early 80's I was told over and over by folks who were supposed to be local "experts" that a spinnerbait on Bull Shoals or Table Rock was pretty much worthless unless there was wind pounding the bank and, even then, there were many better ways to catch em' in the clear water. Well, being "bullheaded" as Champ says, my brother and I completely ignored the advice and continue to do so to this day. Double willow spinnerbait is what I start out throwing every trip regardless of conditions and, more often than not, can catch a few that way. And if it turns out that they're eating it, a guy can cover tons of water and catch the heck out of them. Most of my biggest fish have come on a spinnerbait including an 8 lb. 10 oz. largemouth on Beaver in 1979. I'll never believe that a couple can't be caught that way if you're willing to stick with it. Usually throw it up to the bank or in deep tree tops and fast crank it back about a foot under the surface, killing it every eight to ten feet, letting it flutter down for about two second and then start cranking again repeating the process all the way to the boat. Have had numerous fish grab it just as I'm pulling it out of the water right at the boat. Now THAT'S exciting! I've also been flat out called a liar on numerous occasions when guys ask me how I'm catching them and I tell them the honest truth.

A few years ago my niece (who was 22 at the time) her boyfriend and four other couples decided to go to the lake "camping". She called my brother four different times asking how to start a charcoal fire so they could grill hot dogs. Not a one out of the ten of em' had a clue how to do it. Needless to say, they were home not long after dark! Fortunately, she's now found an ol' western Kansas boy who grew up on a farm and now has a great job out of KC in sales. Polite, respectful and pretty dang smart. There still are a few of them out there but the majority make me glad I'm old and gonna be dead soon!

Or never fired Frank Solich. That one made as much sense as the firing that led to the game's modern college football abyss - Mangino and Kansas. Each has led to many millions wasted in subsequent buyout dollars for incompetent (or deemed unacceptable at Nebraska) replacements and still have no positive result. Pretty sure that I could win zero games and do it a lot cheaper. Talk about throwing stuff from a glass house! We don't even HAVE a house! Or anything to throw!

Thanks Dave - I'll do some more research. Used many Daiwa bait casters over the years but never really cared for their spinning reels. Haven't given them much thought for probably 15-20 years since. For what it's worth, I've yet to have a serious problem with any of my Stradic's and been using them pretty much exclusively for that same 15-20 years. They've become rather pricey the last couple of years though so willing to consider alternatives. Bought two of the Tournament Pro's Lew's bait casters last year and absolutely love em'. Just picked up another one of the 2016 Tournament Pro "G's" on eBay yesterday new, in the box for $150. Not sure if they changed it much but I hope not. Over the last 45 years I've had a few of about everything (including the original Speed Spools) and think the new Tournament Pro's are the best yet. Thanks again!

Curious if anyone has an opinion on last year's model vs. the 2016 version? My brother bought a couple of the 2000's last year and loves em'. I was considering one of the 2016's since he likes his so well but now y'all got me second guessing that idea. All my other spinning reels are Shimano Stradic's and and a couple of Shimano Sarro's for lighter weight applications. This was to be more of an experiment (and an excuse to buy something new to welcome the season!) and had planned to pair it with one of the Eyecon's that Dave recommended (see previous excuse) than a need for something specific.

As I understand it, it's kind of like grass coming out of dormancy and trees budding. Regardless of the weather in any given season, the cool season grass (fescue, bluegrass, ryegrass) around Kansas City usually starts greening up by St. Patrick's day. Again, this is supposed to be due to additional sun and/or light of day. I guess a foot of snow would pretty effectively cancel out the exposure to the light though. Kind of like if a lake was iced over for an extended period of time in the spring. Otherwise, the photo-day is the single most significant factor. The Old Farmer's Almanac alludes to this frequently as well. But then, what do I know? Like Mr. Babler, I'm better at forecasting the weather than explaining such biological phenomena.

Man, that is awful. I can't even imagine.

My wife got this from a friend a few minutes ago. Near Lebanon. Wow. Best of luck to all of you. All this snow doesn't look nearly as bad now.

Ain't that the truth. All is well. Trust me. I got this.

Home | Multimedia | Advertise | Subscribe Login / Register Home | Archive | Guest Columns | Video | Best Practices | Contact us | Links Bass Pro Shops Updates Dealers on Management Issue Ranger's Z520C bass boat is just one of the company's models that qualifies for the promotion. Dec 08, 2015 - 2:12 pm In a letter to its dealer network, Bass Pro Shops Founder, Johnny Morris, reassured dealers that the company's future is “unchanged” after three senior staff members resigned. In late November, Fishing Holdings' management team, consisting of President, Randy Hopper; Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Keith Daffron; and CFO, Mendel Hughes; has resigned from the company. Fishing Holdings, owned by Bass Pro Shops since late 2014, is the maker of Ranger, Stratos and Triton boats. The letter contained the following: This was a very sad day for me personally and I know it has to be deeply concerning for many of you as well. There can be no doubt that each of these very fine and most capable men will be sorely missed – we sincerely wish for them the very best. This development has no doubt caused many of you to have questions and concerns. While we have not fully developed a detailed go forward plan, there are several key points I feel it is important for us to share with you. • Our deep commitment to the company's future is unchanged. • There remains in place a fantastic team of committed associates in Flippin, Arkansas that have our full support. • Recruiting the most talented leaders possible to fill these vacated positions is a top priority. • We plan to align significant additional resources to further strengthen product offerings and dealer and customer support. • We will maintain separate new product development teams to ensure unique, differentiated product offerings. • Maintaining the extraordinarily high-quality product standards of the legendary Ranger brand, developed by Forrest Wood, is considered an absolute top priority. • We are contemplating moving the production of Triton and Stratos boats from Flippin to increase capacity and enable us to better serve Triton and Stratos dealers and their customers. We believe this action will also free up space for increased production of Ranger brand fresh and saltwater boats and accessories in Flippin. We want to get you and your customers boats, parts and accessories in a timely and efficient manner. • A strong independent dealer network is vitally important for the success of the Ranger brand. Supporting your efforts to meet and exceed the high expectations customers have come to expect from Ranger remains our primary focus. With that goal in mind, we plan to appoint and convene a dealer council in the very near future. • To be clear, when we invested in Fishing Holdings one of our primary motivations was investing in the opportunity to work alongside you, the absolute best fishing boat dealers in the world. We remain steadfast in this commitment. • At this time, we are pursuing renaming Tracker Marine Group and Fishing Holdings to a new, more united “White River Marine Group.” In this regard, we are eager to share and to make available as appropriate many of the significant resources available from Bass Pro Shops and Tracker to help strengthen the Ranger brand and your business. At the same time we respect the need to maintain independence and brand integrity, and in that regard, we have no plans to sell Fishing Holdings brands through Bass Pro Shops stores. We are excited to share a bright future together and are most grateful for your support. As Morris mentioned, the production of Triton and Stratos boats could possibly be leaving Flippin, Arkansas plant. This now begs the question of where it would be moved to and what impact it would have on the employs involved in the construction of those lines. Comments Be the first to comment on this story!

Champ, you bet and thanks for the kind words. I honestly feel like I have some sort of personal stake in this deal although I realize that's pretty far fetched and probably pretty self serving. However, I don't attach myself emotionally to very many (read none) companies, businesses, manufacturers, etc. but over the past 40 years I have done just that with Ranger. As crazy and downright frightening as so much of life in today's world can sometimes be, I have always found considerable solace in my fantasy world in little ol' Flippin, Arkansas. I love that place and all of the people that I've met there. As such, I'm most reluctant to surrender any parts of that comfort zone - regardless. Even grownups need a place to hide every now and then I guess. Thanks.

Wow Bill. As always, very insightful and a pretty unique perspective. Personally, and as a longtime Ranger guy, I hope everything regarding the future of Ranger that you gleaned from this event is true. Like most long time Ranger owners, I've been on the receiving end of considerable criticism for "running one of those overpriced, high dollar Rangers." I've also been told over and over that I'm paying extra for the Ranger name and that my boat(s) is no better than any of the others out there that can be had for considerably less. Obviously much of what you've said would support that notion. Be that as it may, I've never regretted buying any of my nine new Rangers over the years and have always believed that I got what I paid for. Still do today. Nonetheless, if what you heard means that I can continue to purchase what I believe to be a superior product at a lesser price I'm obviously all in. As much as I like Randy Hopper and many of the other fine folks at Ranger, I am selfish enough to admit that I care more about the financial impact on me than I do them as I'm pretty sure they'll be just fine. While I also have great admiration and respect for Forrest Wood, I do in fact realize that he didn't build Ranger into the company that it became by being just another nice guy. While I personally believe him to be one of the finest people I've had the privilege to know, I'm sure he placed the bottom line above other considerations on numerous occasions. I suppose pretty much all successful business men do. While I have no idea how the rewards of that success were shared or distributed among the employees at Ranger it sounds as if he might have been generous to a fault. Or, if not him, someone somewhere along the line established a business model of grossly overpaying at least certain members of the Ranger "family". If by eliminating certain areas of less than judicious spending Ranger can offer the same quality product at a more competitive price then everybody wins. However, if a more prudent business model only results in the extra dollars being funneled into the coffers of Johnny Morris then who really cares? Again, I'm fully aware that Johnny Morris and the rest of the world doesn't much care what I think. I guess that's why I sometimes prefer my own concept that Forrest Wood, Randy Hopper, et al. were the "good guys" that really did care. At least that's how they always came across to me whenever I had dealings with them. Perception being 90% of reality and all. As for the Ray Scott reference, I've always thought of him as a snake oil salesman of sorts so the story about the BASS - Ranger spilt fed into how I preferred to look upon that situation as well. Naive as it may be I guess I'm more comfortable siding with the guy who treated me like someone special even if the facts might be somewhat contrary to that perception. When pertinent, I guess most of us end up judging others primarily on how they've treated us. Thanks as always for your comments and for sharing what you learned at the meeting. Sometimes the truth hurts but it does in fact almost always seem to lie somewhere in the middle.

All that being said, (and I don't really disagree with any of it) I still can't help but wax nostalgic at times and naively "wish" that things could be more the way they at least seemed to be. For those of us that are products of the 50's and 60's or I would bet even more so the 40's, today's way of life, business and morality can seem confusing and quite contradictory. Most of us were taught to be honest and trustworthy and we expected it of others as well (although we all pretty much learned along the way that that concept was full of holes.) I realize that to an extent things really were pretty much the same then as they are today. Money, technology and media have dramatically altered the playing field and probably more importantly our perception of reality. Corporate takeovers, greed, piracy and lack of respect for ones fellow man and the law didn't just get started in 2010 or whenever. But I do think that for some of us at least the constant awareness and daily reminders of societies lack of respect for truth and honesty is disconcerting. It also seems to have fostered a considerable amount of bitterness and a "what about me" attitude that has become most divisive throughout our culture. You don't have to be all that smart to know when someone in a position of considerable power and influence is flat out lying to you these days. Just watch TV and they'll show you volumes of video evidence of them doing just that. Most importantly to some of us though is the fact that they know that we know they're lying but just don't care. And they suffer no consequences for their dishonesty and arrogance. I guess I'd ask that they at least show me the courtesy of making the effort to be discreet while screwing me over. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not so stupid as to think that Johnny Morris or anyone else in the world cares what I think. It's beyond evident that they don't. But a part of me is stupid enough to wish that more of those fortunate enough to wield the power of finance and politics were more like Forrest Wood. Bass boats be danged, I don't think too many could argue that the world would be a better place.

Unfortunately, I don't think you could be more right. It's very hard to be even a little optimistic about the future of Ranger Boats when a message as strong as this one has been sent. Can't imagine what it must have been like for Randy to break the news to Mr. Wood. I remember many years ago when Dewey (another legend at Ranger) was telling me about how heartbroken Mr. Wood was and how betrayed he felt when Ray Scott abandoned Ranger and hooked up with Triton to provide boats for the Classic. That had to be peanuts compared to this. I've never met a man that I considered to be more honest, sincere and just downright good as Forrest Wood. It's too bad that he had to see this happen in his lifetime.

I had noticed on Steve Clark's (IT guy at Ranger) and Larry Nixon's Facebook pages earlier in the week that something very disturbing was going on. Neither was forthcoming with details but Larry stated that he "wasn't happy" and Steve alluded to it being one of the worst days of his life. Also noticed that he put his house on the market. I was hoping to buy my tenth and likely last new Ranger (at 63 years old it's not as easy to justify such expenses these days) this spring but now who knows? Ranger Boats was one of the things in life that I always felt could be counted on to be there. They presented a level of customer service and family atmosphere like I've never experienced anywhere in my life as a consumer. Had the privilege and good fortune to spend several hours on a couple of occasions visiting with Forrest and Nina Wood in his office at Ranger and it's an experience that my wife and me will never forget. It was an opportunity that came about only because a couple of folks at Ranger knew that Mr. and Mrs. Wood would like to meet someone who had been such a loyal customer. One of the times their daughter Donna called them from the museum to tell them we were there and they came in covered in mud as they'd been out "chasing that dad gummed ol' bull". Randy Hopper, Connie Hill and many more too numerous to name felt like best friends if not family over the years. Sad news indeed.

Yep. I was a city firefighter back in the 70's and 80's and always used to swap out holidays with guys who had family and or young kids. I wasn't married (which back then usually also meant no kids!) and there was just my mom and dad and my brother and me so we could get together pretty much anytime and do our holiday thing. The family guys always appreciated it and I enjoyed the extra money that came with working the holidays. That being said, I also appreciate and agree with the folks who think everything (retail anyways) should be shut down so everyone at least has the chance to do the family thing if they want. But then again sometimes it's hard to remember that for all the traditional, holiday loving folks in the world there's also a ton of poor people who dread the holidays cause of the depression, loneliness and sadness that it brings. Tuff world sometimes.

Now, I would never COMPARE you to woodpecker lips! Just employing the analogy in a most complimentary way regarding y'all's (that's plural for y'all by the way) ability to overcome circumstances and conditions that most would never take on. I've become so soft in my later years that I use a cart cover and a propane heater whenever I play on days that are much under 50 - at least if the winds blowin'. Talk about anti-tuff. Just don't handle the cold like I used to. Need to check out the Under Armour infrared gear it sounds like!

You guys played golf yesterday?!?!? Under Armour be danged, you're both tuffer than woodpecker lips!! I bet it wasn't too crowded on the first tee!

Dang, Dave, where you eating out that $5 a month makes a difference?!?! A side of fries will cost that most places!