I spent 4 years, cold, wet, tired, and hungry or hot, sweaty, tired, and hungry with the 2nd Ranger Battalion (US Army). Got to see the world and came to the conclusion that the rest of the world SUCKS . Now I'm a father of two (4 & 8yrs), husband, and a little league coach.  Those jobs don't pay much, monetarily, so I earn a county paycheck putting bad guys on time out.

Built one a couple of weeks back. It works pretty good for under $20.00.

I have every intention of attending BAM this year, I really look forward to putting some faces to all these interesting names.

"Going Mad" is a pretty accurate term for I am experiencing. Recently purchased Jellyfish's old Cobra Tourer for my wife. She's not too big on fishing, but she likes the outdoors, sun, and the exercise.

MattS, I hear you brother! I was raised in a L.E. family and still recall the respect that people had for the cops. Of course the cops were able to handle things a little different back then and had A LOT more discretion. My current postion is like any other job, you have your good days and you have your bad days. The key is leaving the bad things at the job and not bringing it home. A hobbie like this will keep you sane and keep the blood pressure down.

Just purchased my first Kayak 2-weeks ago, but I have been Lurking on this forum for the past 6-months. Have read a lot of good posts and have taken a little bit of knowledge from everyone here. With that said, took the kids out fishing Lake Mendocino last night and again today. Trolled live minnows last night with no success . Returned this morning, kids still aboard, and caught a Large mouth in a cove near the dam (using a Creme worm).

Continued trolling live minnows most of the morning, again without success. Put on a Storm swimbait, shad color, and trolled 20' along the buoy line of the dam and finally hooked up my 1st Stripper! Kids and I were both pretty excited. The LMB was about 12" and the Stripper measured in at 26.5". The experience is something i will never forget. I hope my kids feel the same. Once I got home my wife was just happy to see that I finally caught something, justifying the money recently spent . Will post photos when I figure out how.