Champ188

Bet they could put one on yours.

Wrench is right ... sparks in the bilge can be really bad. One of my favorite features on our new Ranger is a three-way switch in the bilge that (1) You turn to "off" to break the power to everything; (2) you turn to "run" for normal operation; and (3) you turn to "jump" and it jumps your cranking battery off one of your trolling motor batteries with no jumper cables or chance for sparks. Don't know why someone didn't come up with that long ago.

Thanks for the report, Roger. Hope you're able to get you another rig soon.

I've retired from commenting on stripers, as I've retired from fishing Beaver Lake. Makes us all happier ... you guys for not having to endure my comments, and me for not spending another precious moment on a lake I simply don't enjoy fishing.

Unfortunately it'll also help boost the cost of everyone's insurance premiums.

I'm with ya, abkeenan. I pretty much have a $30 shutoff switch myself, and I haven't paid that much for a bait in at least a couple of years. Occasionally, I just have to have a new Megabass Vision 110 or something along those lines, but that's the ceiling for me. My line about buying the 3 swimbaits and having them custom painted was in reference to the little fray we had here the other day over a certain member poo-pooing basically everything that costs more than he thinks is reasonable.

Here we go! I'm gonna buy three and send one each to Fish24/7, Hughesy and Rob at Fall Creek Lures to get them to strip off the factory paint and put custom paint jobs on them.

They are rather fond of Redfins, too. While certaiinly not as pricey as a Megabass, I sure didn't want to lose this one because it's one of those good ones that runs just right. Fortunately, I got it back.

Sure wasn't a banner day for us either by any means, as detailed in Donna's post (Cape Fair).

How will insurance help if you didn't hit anything?

Here's the aforementioned crappie caught on the jerk bait. Also caught 3-4 bass on it on main-lake areas with big rock. I'd say the jerk bait bite is coming soon to a bluff end near you.

Isn't it funny how the smaller the tournament, the bigger the potential for that nonsense? I guess the lower entry fees tend to attract the uneducated wannabes who mistakenly think that's how true tournament pros behave. In fact, although they may fish close enough to each other to flip a lure in a competitors boats, the true pros that I've known over the years go out of their way to avoid crowding or aggravating local anglers.

Hey Dave, good to have you back. Like Hughesy, I appreciate you taking the time to work with our youth. Football is a great teaching tool. Just one question. What's a Ned rig?

I think this is the case just about everywhere with crappie. My grandfather was a true expert crappie guy ... he fished every morning and evening for them in spring and fall on Lake Ouachita near Hot Springs, AR ... and I can remember him and his cronies sitting around talking about how some years were waaaaaaay better than others. Seems like they all had different opinions as to why, although there was never a consensus among them.

Good ones, Scott. Now get back to the business of thinning out those stripers.

Coming up on peak leaf-raking season, too. Given the choice between that and dropshotting, I might just opt for the former.

By gosh, that looks like our suspect. Thanks pavon.

No fish in the Kings. Huge fish kill. They're all dead. Every last one. I swear.

And that is NOT to be underestimated. Fishing is just about as mental a game as golf.

Wind is supposed to blow N/NW around 15 mph today. I'd put the wind at my back and throw spinnerbaits and crank baits up shallow. But that's just me.

Good report, QB. Thanks.

I don't know the validity of this because those who published the research had a vested interest (Color-C-Lector) in it, but I recall there being some very compelling data put out in the 1980s about bass being able to recognize colors. Supposedly, a device with 3 compartments was placed in a large aquarium with some bass. Each compartment had a different-colored door. Food was placed behind one of these doors and only one. When the bass bumped the door with their noses, the door opened and they got the food. After several days, the bass learned to immediately go to the specific door where the food was located. After several days, the food was moved either to the left or right but the door color remained the same. Supposedly, the bass followed that door, recognizing the color of the door more than its location. As I recall, no matter where that particular color of door was moved, the bass went directly to it. Hopefully I'm recalling this accurately. Pretty sure I am.

Hats off to you mixer for sharing your time, boat, etc. to take those fellows fishing. There'll be plenty of other times to bear down and get serious about catching them. Making memories for them and you is a noble pursuit.

Man, that ain't right.

Amen and amen. I don't take exception to anyone sharing their opinion on whether custom colors work better than stock ones, whether one brand of boat is better than another, or who makes the best BBQ in the Ozarks. By gosh, it's still America -- at least for a little bit longer -- and thank the good Lord above we all still have the right to voice our opinion without apology. But when someone starts even suggesting how others should spend their money -- or NOT spend their money on the services of a fellow forum member -- then my opinion is that you are over the line. Perhaps I spoke a bit strongly, and for that I apologize, but I will not back down from my position that how anyone on this forum or beyond spends their money is their own business exclusively. And for the record, I've won my share of money on plain ol' stock baits, including white spinnerbaits. War Eagles, of course.