mixermarkb

Yeah, it is fun to open it up right before sunset, and it's nice to have some speed when you are running around storm cells in the spring. I used to be a WFO or stop guy, but I can't afford that anymore.

I still think finding common ground for the common good is a worthy goal for our elected representation. Like it or not, our government has business it should be doing in a timely manner, and all the posturing from BOTH sides doesn't help our citizens in any way. Our elected officials should be trying to make government better. If that means that it should be smaller in some areas, then by all means let's figure out where we can agree that the axe needs to fall and proceed to cutting. Standing up for principle is fine in theory, but denies the fact that at any given time 48% of the country has totally opposite principles. Finding common ground and working together is a must, unless whichever side is in power plans on deporting the other 48% until the next election cycle and it flip flops again. Yeah, I'm a liberal, and I like to give folks a little crap from time to time. The Hillary jersey was just an attempt at humor. I don't find humor in the fact that our elected officials can't act like grownups and find some ways to do government better and cheaper than we do it now. I find that very sad.

I was just gonna put Hillary's face on the front and a giant BPS logo on the back...

Yep. It's all not about top end. 72 is plenty, and even with the cheaper gas right now, it's still expensive to mash the ol hotfoot down all day. I haven't converted to all Ned fishing yet, so I still like to have a few bucks for a megabass from time to time..

I'm gonna get me a "Hillary in 2016" sublimated jersey with all my "pro staff" fishing logos added, enter every derby Champ fishes this year, and follow him around like those spectator boats at the Bassmaster classic, just because.

Ham- the slip calculator shows your theoretical max at 82, and 12 percent slip at 72mph gps, using 26 for the prop pitch and adding nothing for any cup. That's not too bad, but there is probably some room in those numbers for improvement. Maybe a jack plate adjustment up or down a little, playing with where the load is in the storage compartments, or a little prop blueprinting. I'd say 74-76 is a pretty attainable speed for your rig, much above that is likely a BS number with an empty boat and a splash of gas.

Ham- http://www.go-fast.com/Prop_Slip_Calculator.htm Ad an inch for a cupped prop

Dude. Those performances, were paid gigs. It's what musicians do. Just because Chris Young played Fourth of July at Ft. Wood last year didn't mean he or any other musician donated his time. I know, I was audio crew chief on that show. USO tours, millitary base concerts, etc etc are all paid gigs, from a combination of tax dollars and corporate sponsors. It's great that tickets were donated, but be aware that donated tickets are a direct tax write off for the artist. I'm not just commenting about Uncle Ted. Musicians that talk about all they do for the millitary when in fact they are getting paid the same rate as any other of their gigs, just sort of personally rubs me the wrong way, no matter their political views.

A true gps 80 is a tall order for a bass boat. Only a few hulls get there on any sort of regular basis with a fishing load- and they are pretty much your gambler/Stroker/bullet/allison types. Bass Cat Erya is probably on that list, but most of the others top out mid/high 70's. A 25 pitch prop, turning 5800 through 1.75 gears has a theoretical max speed of 78. Add in an average bass boat slip of 10 percent, and that drops to 70mph. Lower slip percentages than 10 percent are very tough to attain with a bass boat, so if you are there, your setup is truly dialed in.

Hey Mr. Morris- You now own the pile of ashes that was Champion boats- maybe when you are done sticking a triton hull under a nitro, you could pull out an old Champ hull and play with that??? As far as looks go, that's the best looking nitro I've ever seen. Seats are still too high for me, I like to feel like I'm sitting in a boat rather than on it, but the consoles and lines of the hull look MUCH better than the Z boats IMO.

Personally, I think blowhards like Nuge and Moore, and the rest of their buddies on the hard right and hard left are a big part of what's wrong with this country. They blabber on, all day, every day, each trying to say something more obnoxious than the other in a battle for ratings and advertising dollars. I don't think they even believe their own spew. They believe in money and a career without actually having to hold down a real job and contribute in a positive way to society. Their blabber makes it near impossible for the overly image concious knuckleheads in DC to make any compromises with each other at all, leaving our government frozen in the sad state it's been in the last 15 or so years. If all of these "media patriots" gave a crap about our country, or people, they would be actually doing something productive rather than talking all day.

Nugent would get drunk on a tour bus with the rest of his rock and roll buddies until he stopped selling records and the music industry died, and then he would find a new career as a loudmouth talking head... No one in the public eye is lining up to fight and die for this country. That's up to the poor kids signing up on the GI bill and then coming home missing limbs and having to fight the country they fought for to get decent healthcare out of the VA.

That's a page from the ranger/genmar/platinum equity book Champ- take a look at the ranger Z boats, especially the "C" models and look at how many Champion hull design features are in there..

I'm pulling for E2, but I do think he has had some demons to chase out of his head after losing AOY in such a dramatic way. He also has young kids at home, and I know how that has affected my bass fishing, I could see that being part of his "running out of gas" Shame, cause I do like his persona and he was on such an awesome roll of consistent finishes a while back- very versatile angler...

Oh and here is a link with the lews tournament reel on sale for $109- http://tackletrap.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=75_117_1445&zenid=a7e77aaaf3d74188cd9a1442fb543618

To be fair Champ, and I'm a fan of the lews reels, the new lews rods have nothing to do with the lews of the 1970's. There really isn't any design lineage with any of the new lews products to those of the old company. New owners, new designs-

One of the biggest Smallies I've ever caught on Bull came off a flooded porta-potty.

Warmer water is a good sign- hopefully we don't get super cold again!

Wish I could get down, but with a 2 week old baby boy and a wife recovering from an emergency C section, it's gonna be a while til I go fishing... My last trip sucked anyway lol

I know it's self serving, but my wife has a business called Mrs. B's handmade soaps. She has a cracked hand and foot repair salve that works wonders ,http://mrsbsoap.com/products/cracked-foot-hand-repair-salve as well as what she calls hard lotion bars. It's a small bar in a tin, you pop it out, rub it on your hands, pop it back in the tin. Works wonders on dry skin. Her lip balms are really great as well. I know it's a commercial, but I'm proud of her. She really has spent hours working out the science behind her products and they work well. http://mrsbsoap.comor look for mrs's b's soap products on country outfitter.com

I'm not sure about China, Old Plug, shipping seems like it would get expensive. Mexico seems like an idea though, for someone more concerned about profit then people. If he could sell a loaded tourney boat with all the toys for $35K would people bite on it, even if it wasn't made in the USA?

I'll be adding a report tomorow night, coming down to fish for the last time before my wife has our baby- I'm hoping they are biting!

Which in 2005 would not be the case. Still a solid boat though-

If he's looking at a Stratos Elite..

The funny thing is, aside from the matte color paint jobs on most of the new warts, they sound very different. Of course, there are at least 3 different sounding rattles in the "pre rapala" warts I have, so who knows if it makes any difference at all. I'm just happy I caught a bass on one when I was about 13, and managed to talk my dad out of a few pretty much every time I went with him to Grandpa Piegon's for a while there. Soooo, I'm 40 now and still have some of that stock left!