Who Is GLF

[GLF]

There are a lot of you who do not know me personally or what my back ground is. For personal reasons, I have chosen not disclose what my full back ground is. There has been a lot of "talk" outside the site about me and my responses on threads. Someone had the audacity to ask me what a "ride beggar"(exact quote) is doing answering questions related to salmon fishing. This was on a 2-way conversation and my wife was sitting beside me.

Due to personal differences, I have not spoken with my father in over 6 years. I block out this part of my fishing experience because it all involves him. Apparently I need to disclose my full back ground to entertain a "certain group".

My father started me salmon fishing in 1975. I was 8 years old. We had a 15' boat(named Lazy Days) and our first year was a huge learning curve. We managed to catch a few salmon our first year out. On a trip out of Ludington, we were just South of the point when we took a wave over the back of the boat. That was the last time we took that boat out. See my thread about the worst day on the pond in another thread.

The following spring my father purchased a new 18' boat. The name of this boat was the Whopper Stopper. It was not long after that that the lure company Whopper Stopper was created. No connection between the two. We fished on Lake Michigan a lot over the next 3 years and had a great deal of success. In 1979, my parents got divorced and the boat was sold.

In the winter of 1982 my father remarried and purchased a 31' Trojan. He named the boat Glory Daze and fished out of Saugatuck. It was a long wait the following spring, waiting for the ice to melt and put the boat in. In 1985 my father took a Captain's course. In 1986 he quit his job, moved the boat up to Manistee and began chartering full time. We did not use leadcore nor inline planer boards then. The boat was equipped with out riggers.

In the Dec 1985, I joined the USN. When I returned home on leave during the summers, I would run charters with my father. In 1988 my father was divorced again. In the divorce, the boat was sold. This was the end of my salmon fishing for a while. I received an honorable discharge from the USN in Dec 1989.

In 1994, I purchased a bass boat and started bass fishing. Every spring following, before the ice melted off the lakes, I was trolling my bass boat for salmon in St. Joe. It was a 15' Astro(black with a blue metal flake stripe) incase any of you may have saw me out there. I did not have rod holders so I would sit in the center(if I was by myself) on top of two rod handles. One rod on each side of the boat. If I was with a friend, we each hung onto one rod over the side and put one straight out the back. I actually made a down rigger board to put on the back of it, but never put it on it.

In 1998, I purchased my second bass boat. This was a 19' Basscat(white with a maroon metal flake stripe) incase any of you may have saw me out there. Every spring before the lakes thawed, you would see me down to St. Joe fishing for salmon. My best trip was a trip out of South Haven one spring. I boated my limit in 20 minutes by myself.

All of my trips salmon fishing out of my bass boats were with bass fishing gearing using 12-14lb test line. I was only catching jacks, but they were a lot of fun on light line.

I started fishing bass tournaments in 1993. My partner and I fished Tri-State Bass. This was a 5 tournament series and the top 25 teams got to fish in the classic for a new boat. We did not qualify in the 25 that year. Into the books I dove. In 1994 my partner and I qualified for the classic. We qualified for the next 5 classics in a row. In 1998 we had our best year and finished 2nd in points. We had placed in the top 10 in each of the 4 previous tournaments. We were the #1 team in points heading into the last tournament, with a 16 point lead. That year we had taken 2 days off work before every tournament to prefish. We took an extra day off work to prefish for the last tourney. After a dismal day of prefishing, we put the boat on the trailer and were headed home. I looked in the mirror and saw smoke coming out of the boat. I stopped the truck, we grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. The steering cable had rubbed against the positive terminal of the battery and caused the fire. I spent all day Thursday at my sponsors marina replacing the steering cable and bad battery. Luckily there was no other damage. While I was repairing the boat, my partner took his boat up to prefish for us. After speaking with him Thursday night, we decided not to prefish on Friday. Tournament day Saturday, we had a good feeling and heading for my partners waters. Things did not turn out the way we had hoped, and ended up blanking that day. In 1999 I switched partners and qualified for the classic again.

I believe everyone who posts a fishing report deserves at least a "Thanks". In the beginning, I was answering all posts with a "Thanks for the report"! This was brought to my attention and I changed the way I was replying. I helped fishingmachine make his first report on the board. It has been viewed 63 times, and there is not one reply. If you read this bob(fishingmachine), I appreciate you taking the time and posting a report. I bet he will be posting another reply soon.

This is a discussion forums. This is a place for members to share their ideas and thoughts. It should not matter if someone has a boat or not. If you feel that something that is said is not correct, then share your imput.

Its a shame when someone calls someone a "ride beggar", or say's someone is "only making posts to get a ride". If you think everyone who does not own a boat is a "ride beggar", you need to move on to another site.

[caznik]

Your not a ride begger Mike. Why there is alot of members that want to get on a boat in these fishing events to fish with someone and I dont think they are a ride begger. I think it is great to have fishermen on this site get together and want to fish with someone. I have taken alot of fishermen on this site to go with me because they happen to ask if they can go with someone and I had a great time fishing with them to. Someday we will have to fish together to and see what will happen. I maybe looking for someone to go with me at the manistee fun tournament.

Maybe you can go with me than,

Rich

[tgafish]

Boy I'm glad you cleared that up! To think I almost wasted time frequenting a site by someone who doesn't own a boat!!!!! ;)

As a matter of fact the BEST big lake fisherman I know doesn't own a boat. And no it's not you GLF LOL:D

[tgafish]

btw

Thanks for your service to our country!

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

This is a great site for people of all different backgrounds and expertise. I've really enjoyed meeting everybody and personally have not met anyone who was not fun and courteous to be around. On top of that, most of them know more about great lakes fishing than I do regardless of who owns a boat and who doesn't. That'd include you, Mike.

Besides that, ride begger??!!??!! Geesh, I wouldn't even take that as an insult. Is that the best they can do? I've been called much worse by much better

On top of that, those who feel the need to put others down in order to make themselves feel better are often very narrow minded and trying to make up for thier own insecurities. I hope you(and anyone else) don't take it too much to heart.

[Severus]

As a matter of fact the BEST big lake fisherman I know doesn't own a boat. And no it's not you GLF LOL:D

OK Cap'n Chaos, now you gotta reveal the identity of said angler. Can't be General Disarray, unless he sold his boat. Does his name rhyme with "Line"?

[Butch]

How did Gen. Disarray end up in a discussion about GLF's boat status? Or in the same post as a comment on the best fisherman:D I've been gone for a couple weeks and decorum breaks down, or so it seems:cool:

[LongLine]

Don't know why someone would make a comment like that or even feel that's important. As far as I see, you have put a lot of work into the site, written some outstanding articles that demonstrate knowledge & passion for the sport. From NY, I rate it in the top 3 around all the Gr lakes. I give ya a big

As to the comment maker...I can't put that picture up. (...family site)

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[muskybob]

Ditto what Longline said. This is a great site and shows the hard work you've put into it. Coupled with the great bunch of folks that post here, makes this site one of my favorites. Thanks!!!

[tgafish]

OK Cap'n Chaos, now you gotta reveal the identity of said angler. Can't be General Disarray, unless he sold his boat. Does his name rhyme with "Line"?

Yup rhymes with line:D I fished with quite a few guys from the other site. Pretty much everyone of them a better fisherman than me. But when you're fishing with that guy, by the end of the day you can truly say "We did everything we could to catch fish"

The General holds the title as the funnest guy to fish with. Just seems that strange circumstances always follow us in a boat LOL

[Severus]

But when you're fishing with that guy, by the end of the day you can truly say "We did everything we could to catch fish"

No Tom, what you mean is - HE did everything he could to catch fish. Especially if doobage was part of his program. Just the thought of his frenetic gyrations makes me smile. He's intense. I once even saw him throw a penny at another boat that cut behind us.

The General holds the title as the funnest guy to fish with. Just seems that strange circumstances always follow us in a boat LOL

Yep. I remember once while fishing with Matt and Six I caught him with hands in pockets, so I had the pleasure of telling him the old "It was so cold this morning that I saw my lawyer with his hands in his own pockets" joke. He kind of ignored it. Might have been the toddie, though.

[tgafish]

Yeah and then you have buddies like Ken who tell you the nets are in 100fow and then you find yourself buried in them at 75fow. I'm glad you're in Reno. You were a menace to the Michigan fishing community:D :D

[Severus]

Yeah and then you have buddies like Ken who tell you the nets are in 100fow and then you find yourself buried in them at 75fow. I'm glad you're in Reno. You were a menace to the Michigan fishing community:D :D

Wait a minute, Tom. All I did was wish your boat would find the Indian nets or something. You probably wished mine would spin a prop - which it did.

[Bob's Outdoors]

:cpox: Nice Smilies BTW

I guess you get jerks in any sport or activity. "Ride Beggar" is a new one on me. The funny thing about the internet is, if they don't like it, they don't have to go to your site, so what's the problem?

And don't worry, if you get a boat there will always be someone who wants to look down on you if it's not a Tiara or if you are not a Charter or a pro or didn't win this or that tournament or whatever.

I figure guys like that are just trying to compensate for a certain "smallness" in their life. It makes them easier to take.

Worry about the 95% of guys out there who aren't like that, who are looking to learn from anybody and just want to get out there and catch a few fish.

Personally, I am almost always in need of another guy or two to go fishing, so if any "currently without a boat" (I like that better) fishermen ever need a ride in Ludington they can let me know. If they can teach me something even better.