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Lew, if you could modify a pair of those $58.00 glasses into a musky bait you'd be way ahead of the game

I'm glad he got his boat back, but I don't care where this took place to let the thief off is wrong. There's right and there is wrong, it really isn't that difficult be it Hamilton Ontario or any other place.

I find it amazing that the corporate intelligence of Cabelas is completely ignorant as to what made Cabelas, well....... Cabelas. Instead of understanding their customer they seem fixated on the one thing they understand, the bottom line, and doing so at the peril of killing the golden goose. I've been to 6 different stores in the US, and while I've enjoyed the experience each time, I'd say my combined spending of all those visits is considerably less than $500.00. Store prices are simply too expensive. I, like most of you, are looking for a complete line of whatever it is I'm looking to buy. For instance, if it's a rod, I want to be able to look at a variety of similar rods, including brands I know, before making my decision. I want to look at customer reviews, I want to feel like I'm getting a deal (I almost never buy unless it's a sale), I want it delivered promptly, and I want excellent customer service if I have a question or problem. In fairness to Cabelas, through their on-line shopping they deliver on most of the above quite regularly, certainly better than most of their competitors, albeit not as well as they did a few years ago. I don't need 200 catalogs delivered to my house every year, and that may actually be understated, and I definitely don't need or want a hard bound catalog. I honestly don't think one of those catalogs has ever influenced a buying decision for me, and I have tried to opt out of the catalogs before, it doesn't seem to work. Cabelas, if you want to save money, stop printing catalogs and start printing rebates based on each customer's buying history.

I've been there once. I don't think that strip between the dam and lake would be very good. I did fish the lake end of it and we didn't do any good. the water is pretty deep. In the spring the far end of the lake seems to hold more fish.

I came across this site yesterday and they have a number of leftover small Yammies on sale. Thought maybe someone would be interested as I think they are in or around Buffalo. http://www.ballantynerv.com/inventory.php?vehicletype=RV&condition=New

They have a way of getting right into your heart. My sincerest condolences.

The post yesterday about losing baits and Lew's comment on Pikie Minnows got me thinking about my own tackle as a kid. It was pretty limited, but when I was about 10 (1962) I was a pike assassin on the Nip and I carried out my dirty work with only two lures, a red/white daredevil and a small green Creek Chub Minnow. It was nothing to catch 20-30 hammer handles a day, but it was a blast for a 10 year old on spinning tackle. I bought the Pikie Minnow at Lakair, where between fishing trips, I was prone to hang out, ice cream cone in hand, checking out the various lures and assorted fishing gear that were displayed on the wall. Dad was a walleye and musky fisherman, but while he trolled for musky I trolled for pike. Somebody had to. The west arm was a little different then, Deer Bay was absolutely loaded with pike. Mind you a good one was only 20", but I was more into quantity. It was at the mouth of Deer bay where the water drops to over 20 feet that Dad slammed the biggest fish I ever saw, and have ever seen to this day, but that's a whole other story. We would head east to the Muskrats or down to Merganser when the forecast allowed. My job was to sit up front and look for rocks, a job at which I was only mildly successful. Even down there we fished it a little different than today as we would head back into the bays rather than out in the main channel. Those were great days for a kid.

Lew, surprisingly one can purchase these lures at pretty reasonable prices on Ebay. The other one I really like is the old Cisco Kid and I have quite a few of those from Ebay.

That's a good story Lew. I also have an affinity to the old Pikie Minnows, and have two jointed ones, one perch like yours and a brown colored one. My favorite as a youngster though was a 1 piece pikie, somewhat smaller than the jointed ones, and it was light green. I still have it, it's been disassembled and ready for a paint job for quite awhile. It was an absolute pike killer back in the day. I think I'll paint her and bring her to Memquisit.

Silly boys arguing about E-Tecs and Yammies, especially when we all know Merc rules. Why just the other day I blew by an Etec with my 200 Verado like he was standing still, wait............., maybe he was standing still............. anyhooo, they're all good these days, just pick one you like and go fishing.

I would say that a commercial knife blank is roughly the same hardness throughout, albeit some work hardening takes place during grinding.

If you're boat fishing you may want to consider a rod in the 6' to 6'6" length.

Been running 4 strokes since 1997. Never had any problems with any of them and I do all my own winterizing. I would never go back.

Let me tell you, many a Ranger owner is very concerned.

I'm 2 years from retirement. I've been fortunate in my career, made a boat load of money, but also found my share of adversity. Lost one pension plan due to my company going bankrupt, lost another small fortune in a divorce. Still, I'm going to be okay, not abundantly wealthy, but certainly okay. The key for my wife and I was to have a goal, even though we've done well we spent money nearly as quickly as we made it, so 5 years ago we created a spreadsheet with all our monthly income, expenses, and planned savings. Don't get me wrong, we had been saving all along, but we didn't really have a plan and couldn't really see the end. As we developed our spreadsheet we were kinda forced to answer some questions. Did we want to pay off everything we owe or squirrel more money away, and how much savings did we need before we retired given our other income streams just to name two. We decided we wanted to retire debt free. We determined an amount the cash and savings we needed for our planned lifestyle and then we calculated how much we had to save to achieve these goals. Now, each month we review how we're doing. This has really helped us stay focused and avoid things we'd like to have but don't need. It also has forced us to seek answers to questions for which we had little understanding, so anyhow we think it's been a savior for us, and I would recommend this process to anyone, no matter how old. You won't have all the answers at first and that's okay, but if you keep at it your spreadsheet will get more detailed and accurate.

This is my guess given your comments on tire maintenance.

We're thankfully about 30 miles to the south of the snowbelt Lew, and in the case of this event we're quite a ways south. Received notice that it's time for our cabin deposit this week. It's one bill I look forward to every year.

Happy belated birthday my friend!!!

As is written, it's often darkest before the dawn. Best wishes.

If the winterization includes engine oil, filter, lower unit lube (actually changing it), prop maintenance, grease, gas treatment, and treating plumbing, all things typically associated with winterization, then a typical cost for a 4 stroke would be around $250.00. If they dropped the lower unit things can get pricey in a hurry, and the $650 is not completely unreasonable. As a customer I would have an expectation that i approve anything additional, such as dropping the lower unit, before the work is completed.

A very sad day. Wish there were answers, I'm afraid there are none. The only thing we can all count on is there will be more terrorist events in the future.

Rich, it's on WFN, I get it on Dish

Whenever I'm not sure on the Nip I drop my bow mount down all the way and run the kicker. The bow mount runs deeper than the kicker so if it clears I know the kicker will. The bow mount unit is a plastic shaft with a guarantee. I've hit reefs with it but never broke it.

There are too many variables to give you anything more than general guidance. Walleye movement is typically predicated on food and barometric pressure. Your best bet for the mid day is to cover some ground, and assuming you have decent electronics, trust them. Speed is your friend this time of year, so whereas in June you may have trolled a harness at .8-1mph, try varying speed up to 2.5 mph but stay in the zone. Also, spend some time probing the deep ledges and submerged reefs.

It all depends on the speed you want to run. I have a 1900 Pro-v and my 200 Verado will troll down to around 2.3-2.5 mph. I also have a 9.9 Big foot kicker which will troll under .8 mph. The only benefit of trolling the Verado is it is quieter than the kicker.