BigSmallie

Terry, he's not long term, I agree but he made a bad choice and is down so why sell out at the bottom. I agree if it was brand new money and he needed it a year from now then keep it safe but he's not going to have enough to accomplish his goal if he sells out. If he stays invested he may have gained back 2000, 5000, 10000 by next July and he can then make the exact same decision he has today but potentially gained back some money. I'd be willing to bet the market next July will be higher than what it is today. Selling today guarntees that he will have to pay $10K out of pocket. Do you go with the sure thing of knowing your 10K out of pocket or ride it out and potentially be out of pocket a lot less or not at all. I think that is the logic your wife is trying to follow.

If you sell out now, magic or no magic you'll never make back the lost $10K and yes you will be out of pocket no matter what. The reality is exactly as you said the 10K is lost as of right now but what is the best way to gain it back? You can either save it out of your pocket or let the investments potentially earn it back. All indications are the we will recover from this recession as we have done many times in the past and the market will continue upwards. If you've given up all hope that is a great sign that we are at the bottom and recovery is just around the corner. These financial decisions should be about the numbers and emotion should not help you make decisions. As Rizzo said it's a great buying opportunity. You should be borrowing $50,000 more and investing it in the market and you may have new boat in the driveway in a couple of years........

You still have a year to wait. Hold tight and reasses at that time. With a mortgage that small if your rate is 3, 4 or 5% it won't make that big of difference in interest costs. 3% of 30,000 is $900 in interest for the whole year. 5% is $1500 for the year. Thats only a $600 difference(probably a lot less than most spend on fishing gear in a year) Even if it took 3 years to gain back the 30% you lost, that is a $10,000 gain over three years and $4500 in mortgage carrying costs for the same period(actually less because you will be paying down the debt over that period). The math says leave it where it is. This low interest rate environment isn't going to disappear quickly. I do this all the time when clients are haggling over a .10% rate difference, it you actually calculate the dollar difference it's usually not the end of the world.

If you got a 2 year time horizon I would leave it. The markets will recover and when everyone is panicking the most thats usually when we are at the bottom. If you sell you lock in your losses. The chance of it dropping another 30% is much less than the chance of it gaining back 30%. It was probably a bad investment decision at the time to go into the markets with a 3 year time horizon but don't make another bad decision by getting out. Average bear markets last 13 months, this one is going on 13 months now but will take a while longer to correct itself. I could go on and on....... I hate to say this in public but LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE..... just once...... hope my wife doesn't read this.

Aaron, can we help with an e-mail campaign to get them to air the show? Much better than watching the Tarpon tour over and over again.......

Very romantic! Make sure to get her some of those pepperoni sticks too!

I've found the opposite, I find the minnows/leeches in the containers are very durable and will last for quite a few fish. I end up putting them back in the juice after a fish or two and recharge the scent. I'm fishing them mostly drop shotting so the smaller hook may have something to do with it. I've mixed in the regular gulp gobies with the gulp alive stuff without any problems so far.

I looked into the G3 boats and the Triton tin bassboat a couple years ago. This is just my take on them. They are lighter than a comparable glass boat thus the speed is similar but the hull is not as effecient as glass, lighter can make for a slighter rougher ride in rough conditions but they can handle the big water, lighter is better for towing. Price was a lot cheaper than Glass. If your fishing those stump filled lakes or really shallow water the boat can take more abuse without worrying about damaging expensive to repair gel coat.Less storage area was the only real downside that I was able to uncover due to the construction of aluminum.

State Farm is the only one that I know of that is year round, it's more expensive and does have some limitations such as no coverage for guiding. I'm with Premier Marine and it is a Dec 1st to March 31st layup period.

You should also be flipping the bail back by hand instead of turning the handle to avoid line twists.

Holdfast, baitcasters are a necessity if your casting to targets(docks, rocks, holes in the weeds, trees, stumps) If your working open water or a big flat you can get away with a spinning rod but if you want precision casting a bait caster is a must. The only exception would be for skipping under docks, a spinning reel works better. Baitcasters can also handle the heavy line better than a spinning reel which allows you to horse a fish out of the thick stuff. Baitcasters also have quicker line intake per crank of the handle. Definitely a lot of plus's to a baitcaster.

Try picking up a good used baitcaster if a decent new one is out of the budget. Lots of guys with some older models sitting around but they are still better than a new cheap one.

I just got a raincheck for one in St.Catharines today, the guy in sporting goods department was really good. He said they should get them in in 7-10 days and they would call and leave a message. He said these sleds have been in the flyer for a few years but the old ones were really wide and they never sold well. He said the new ones are much smaller and generating alot of interest so they will be adjusting going forward. He said they let the stores know what will be in the flyer but it's up to the store if they want to stock the item or not. On a side note also said they have sold more icefishing rods this year then they ever have so it's hard to predict demand....I'll let you know if I get it as promised or will it be next year......

They just opened a new Pilot project store in Welland. It's supposed to have groceries as well. I think they will end up looking just like Walmart. I've noticed the plumbing, electrical, screws, etc sections have shrunk over the years, have been moved to the back of the store and doesn't have a wide selection. The fishing deals in the flyers have always been hard to get.......

Thanks Bowslayer for the info. Is there a decent ramp? How's the panfish fishing for the kids? Thanks in advance!

We are looking at Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park for a family camping trip this summer. Anyone been there? Good or bad? Hows the fishing?

That's true GCD. I used to go through 10-20 tubes a day on Erie with mono. I now fish braid with a Floro leader and I'm down to 1 or 2 lost per day.

How much line you may use is the key. For bass fishing most of the spool never sees the light of day so why have expensive braid on the whole spool. I can spool more rods and save some money by filling half the spool with mono. I still use a quality line for backing just in case. Many manufacturers are starting to put a line tie on the spools to prevent the slipping when using full braid.

I was there in the spring. Didn't do any fishing but scouted it out. I can't for life of me remember my resorts name but it was right at the end of the causeway, huge place, took up all 2km of it's island. There were some small bass/flats boats launching where the catamaran tours ran from. Saw a couple boats chucking spoons and jerkbaits on the flats when we went by on the catamaran but didn't see any hook ups. There were some good current spots at the end of my island, similar to probably what flows under all those bridges that the locals fish. Saw a couple fish there. There were two guys at my resort with rods and they caught a few little ones. It was really windy the week I was there so didn't see many fish on the beach flats but saw a monster cuda when we went snorkeling. Take some gear and lures along that you don't use and you'll make a lot of friends with the locals.

Site worked for me. Try cutting his link and pasting it. You may have your pop up blocker on.....

I'm usually changing it because it's running low. You can also take the line off and put it on backwards. The line inside barely sees the light of day so that would put the frsh stuff on the outside. I'm figuring it should be good for 3 or 4 years(probably longer)

Thanks, hopefully he reads this and gives some input. Great Pics!

Is there any issues in taking a good camera out in the winter? I'm thinking a getting a decent starter SLR after Christmas and a client of mine said he was told not to take his camera out in the winter due to the extreme temp changes going from car to outside that could wreck the electronics and cause condensation issues. Thanks. Sorry didn't mean to highjack your thread.....

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like I might wait for the next generation of fishing games from those reviews. I'll have to see if Mario Cart has one that looks like a boat.......

Little guys is getting a Wii for christmas, the big guy's looking at fishing games...any suggestions, comments? Thanks