Priority1

^5s Hunter. Hunter and and Wyatt will always be the cabin boys to me. Those two boys are no trouble at all on the boat. Mike, you are making a lot of good memories for those boys.

Cool video.

GJ Mike and crew.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting Prof. I was near Mt. Pleasant helping a friend do some boat rigging. I had some Makita batteries that John wanted, and Mt Pleasant was as close as we were going to be to one another. We did get a few minutes to talk fishing and boats. Maybe we can fish together sometime. It's always good to be able to put a face with a name. John is a Professor at Ferris State. They must have a liberal dress code for profs @ Ferris, because John was between classes, and he looked like he came to go fishing. LOL Not that he wasn't dressed neat and clean, but I was expecting a suit. Tight Lines John, and let us know if you need any help.

Parts for the old OMCs are getting scarce. Some shops, and bone yards may have parts. Check with Terry (Dirty Dog) he may have a handle on some OMC stuff. A warm welcome to the site Tim. If you get a chance go to the welcome forum and introduce yourself.

Way to hammer em Jason.

What most people don't even think about is the misc. prep time and $. I spend between one and two hrs, checking rigs, re-tying, checking rods, and getting bait together. As far as physical help, unless the person has fished with you almost exclusively, most stuff is better done by yourself. Some things will take you an hour to do yourself, and two if you have help. When I'm hitching up, and doing the last minute checks, I'd rather no one interrupt me. On the other hand, once you have things lined out, it's nice to have that hand handing things up on the boat, and running for last minute stuff. This only amounts to about 5 minutes tops, but with out the help it will take longer. I used to fish alone sometimes, but for safety reasons I don't do it anymore. I will not leave port with out at least one other adult onboard.

Robert, Good Job in tough conditions.

They look good Mike. The storage factor is always a concern on the boat.

When I used to run Slide Divers I always run them as High Divers set on 3 or 3-1/2. I always set the high divers first. When the high diver takes a fish, I keep plenty of tension on it as I let it back out. If you don't keep the tension on it, it will almost certainly get into the low diver. I keep the high diver rod forward of the low diver.

Jarod, That pork and beans, sure looks delicious.

Even the smaller sizes of Line Counter Reels will hold a few hundred yards of 10# mono. What I do is spool the reel about 3/4 full of 20# splice 10# to that and finish spooling. It's nice to use different colors so you can tell when the 10# starts getting scarce. This accomplishes a couple of things. Lets just say you spool your reel completely full of 10#. At the end of the season your down half way on the reel because of line striping etc. Your counter compared to full reels is not accurate. 200-300 ft of 10# is plenty for walleye. When you start seeing a lot of the backers color it's time to splice some 10# on. The 20# backer will last a quite a few seasons. You will always have fresh 10# mono and close to a full reel so your counters are accurate. The red lines and clear are my favorite opposing colors. It works for me.

Don, When you invite other boat owners and fishermen, they know what it takes in prep time and $ to put a trip together.

GJ Capt. Bill.

Chris, She's a dandy.

Congrats to Ed and Rigel. Look at that smile. It's great to share your sport with a kid. He will remember that hunting trip for the rest of his life. Maybe he will help you into the woods for your last few hunts. It's a pay it forward kind of thing.

Scents do help. I put crawlers in my armpits for a few minutes, before hooking them up. Don't use any deodorant if you are going to try this. The deodorant will turn the fish off.

Mike, you are not alone in lumping the three automakers together. Ford has not asked for or received any federal loans. Ford still seems to be effected by what is happening with GM and Chrysler. I think what has helped Ford is the fact that their is still family running the business. When your name is on something, your attitude changes. Ford has taken steps to get profitable. Ford doesn't want the Government into their business. Ford lost money this last quarter but beat the analyst by almost 50 cents a share. Another thing that has helped F, is they are getting breaks because of the concessions being granted by workers at GM and Chrysler. My money is where my mouth is. I guess this is why I get defensive when Ford is lumped with GM and Chrysler. I move my Roth IRA out of a mutual fund account, into a self directed Roth IRA. My IRAs were about half of what they once were. I bought some Ford @ $1.75 and recently sold most of it. I also bought some other Michigan Stocks like Dow. I spread my buys over 6 0r 7 dividend paying companies. Ford was my only buy that did not pay a dividend. Overall I'm up 80+% in less than 2 months. I still need to recoup some to be back where I was, but Ford, GE, and Dow are big reasons why my pension is a little more secure than it was two months ago. I'm still in the game so this could evaporate, but acting bold while others cower is the way to win. Of course acting bold could backfire. Taking control of my finances has put me slightly behind my other Spring Chores. At least I can afford to run Priority1 one more season.

GJ Jim.

Captain Phil, Thanks for the perch report.

I'm glad the water is warming. Too bad the fish didn't cooperate. At least you took a couple. GJ Jay.

A very warm welcome to you Bud. Let us know if you need any help.

Nice day to be out even if the fishing was slow. GJ Mike and Roger.

Some cars in the 60s had left hand lug nuts on the drivers side. I had a Dodge that did.

Good job.