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Hi Guys, my post was made mainly in jest. Thats the bad thing about attempts at internet humor sometimes, ya can't read the persons face. A Ranger is one of the most seaworthy boats one could find in something that is mobile. I fished some last summer out of an 18' Reatta and was very impressed. I do fish the east side of Lk Michigan during August. I move my boat to Manistee for 6 weeks or so. Last year the varying weather made the fishing very interesting. Cold water came in early and the lake never really settled out causing the fish to stay scattered. The decline of baitfish is a concern for the salmonoid fishery in the future, we may be on the brink of a crash. Bright side is walleyes have never been better. I live on the Saginaw Bay here and it really has to be experienced to be believed right now as far as numbers. Last summer the average catch for us was probably 20 per hour of actual fishing time. Anyway I'm getting long winded here. Fantastic thread!

Scott

Scott, I knew you were messin' with us. I went fishing last year out of Kewanee, and the boats in the harbor there were impressive to say the least.

It was the first time I've salmon fished out there, but I have been walleye fishing a few dozen times. Those salmon are somthing else, quite addicting. It made me almost want to change the set up on my rig...:) almost. Fun, but for as much as I get out there, I'll stick to fishing with my salmon buddies.

Tom

Don't worry about coming across the wrong way Scott, I read it as A joke.

Still waiting to see pics of ND and his families new boat hooked up to the back of Weezys new truck.
Obligatory trip reports , stories , tall tales , and expedition pics will also be required

No worries about how I came across . I wanna see Weezy , the new truck , the new boat , Mrs ND , assorted young ins all out having a great time and smiling like heck.

Usually manage to do some fall Salmon fishing in Oregon when we go out to see our son and his family. Those big Kings are something else.

Like you said Tom, "addicting".

Tom and Dave, I was bit by the salmon bug long ago and its a disease that doesn't have a cure. I've wet a line for them in all the Great Lakes. Nowadays I do a little in the spring in Lk Huron and as much as I can get away with in Lk Michigan. They are addicting to say the least. The best advice I could give is make good friends with a salmon nut, and avoid doing it to yourself. Gas money is waaay cheaper....lol. I'm solidly a bigger boat guy, I have a sea ray 28 ft w/ 10 ft beam...and I drag it around some but its not really made for that. I also have a Ranger dealer (and good friend) 3 miles down the road and I have to say they are one heck of a boat. Surely the most worthy of the open style boats and I have seen first hand that they look just right behind Ford F350's..........my turn to run now.......

Your gonna fit right in SSB! We've got adventure stories from pert near all over on this thread thanks to Dave. And to hear it from the BIG lakes is cool!

On a more serious note:
I ask for your thoughts and prayers for the communites in the Red River Valley. Fargo/Moorhead received MORE bad news today (along with the $%#@ snowstorm) that the river is expected to crest and at least 43' which is unheard of. The record is 40.18 back in 1897.

Folks, believe me when I tell you this is truly a crisis situation. I have felt extremely guilty for having to be at work all week when I could have been out helping. I work in West Fargo. The problem I've been facing is I'm in management and we just layed off a bunch of people due to the ecomony and we are in the process of trying to restructre blah blah blah.

I left work at 2:00 today to make sure I got on the east side of the river in case something happened to the dikes. I got home at 5:00 pm and its normally a 35 minute drive. I guess I'm babbling due to stress and Hi-lifes but it truly is a serious situation. There is already entire communities that had to give up the fight and leave their homes to be swallowed by water. So I ask that you pray for the dikes to hold so thousands won't be without homes this summer.

Thanks,

Rooster

P.S. J/k It's best light not hi-life.

Rooster,

Scary indeed. My thoughts and prayers are with you guys up there.

But I have to be honest...I'm gonna pray really hard for those dikes.

p.s. I know this is not a laughing matter, but if your going to set one up on tee like that Rooster, I'm gonna nail it over the fence.

Rooster, you have to quit drinking that light beer. All it does is fill you up quicker. Start livin' the High Life brother.

I just can't believe the fight those Kings have. They don't give up until they hit the floor of the boat. The one I caught was 31 pounds. I was also superised by the size of their tail. It was no wonder they have so much power.

Rooster7, sorry to hear that you are in the middle of the flooding up there. I saw video on the evening news today and it brought back memories of the 1972 flood here in PA.

I was worried that some of the Camp Chickenbuck clan might be affected by today's flooding. Unfortunately, it seems to be so.

Thoughts and prayers from PA to all affected in any way. Be smart and stay safe! Everything else can be replaced except your life!

Ron

Tzone! Do you ever sleep? What the heck man???

Ray,
Thanks for the kind words but I must clarify. I live in the country 25 miles east of the Red in Mn so all I am really dealing with is flooded/washed out roads and practically impossible drives to work. The folks in Fargo/Moorhead, the communites along the Red River and the ones that are experiencing overland flooding are the ones that are really dealing with it. I'm debating weather I should skip work tomorrow and go and help people but listening to the radio, many volunteers are calling in frustrated because they get brought to a "need" site by bus and end up standing around for hours because they got dropped off at a site that no longer needed people etc. If I go, I want to work. Not stand around. If I'm going to do nothing, I might as well monitor my own water situation at home.

I must give a big shout out to "The Boy" (Capt Bangflop) though. From what I understand, he has been up there heaving sandbags for the last couple days. Way to go Justin. I'm proud of you!

Hey Ray...I'm coming to PA for work April 6 - 10th. Never been there before in my life. What should I expect? Reckon I should bring a banjo?

Prayers sent to all in the flood zone. Back in 1986 we had 23" of rain in 48 hours where I live so I know a little about overland flooding. Some of our farmland had 20" of water over it for a week. Anyway I'm a bit guilty of not following the situation closely and I guess I missed how we came to this flood situation. Is it just the winter thaw? Rain? What caused this?
I remember flying over the upper watershed in '93 I believe when the spring flooding was so bad and thought I could never see anything like that again. Obviously Ma Nature is a bit upset. I do know our local Coast Guard Station is packed ready to go and expecting deployment there at any minute. At any rate...hang in there guys.

The salmon fishing would be very cool. I've never been.

SSB, you are catching on very quickly, fitting in quite well!

Rooster, 43 feet? are you serious? that's too much.

there's simply no chance of holding that back.

That flooding is certainly something.Our prayers and well wishes go out to all of the families in peril.
SSB's post reminded me also of the 1993 floods.I had occassion that year to fly to Kansas City several times from Atlanta and the sight of the Mississippi in full flood is something indeed to behold.If I remember correctly the river was 23 miles wide according to the plane captain.
Kodos to CBF(Justin) for helping.

Stan in SC

OMG SSB...I can't believe a new-be as yourself would jump on this wagon of sorts with all the other fellows in this threat! Am I fighting a losing battle? Thought if I didn't say anything, it would go away.

CBF-good job on helping with sandbags and whatever you can. As I remember from the flood here in Roseau a while back, fresh blood and faces help tremendously. People get worn down, tired, etc but when someone new comes along it sure seems to pick them up and keep them going.

I too, pray for the F-M area and hope the dikes hold and the river will go down. I LOVE that place, its old stomping grounds...

Oh way to go...you lay into the new guy on his fist week here.

You're really going to like your new boat mrs.nd. It is really shiney. Maybe you can even let dave drive once in awhile. You'll have to pry the truck away from weezy though, so you can get it to the lake.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you when I bring it up there next weekend.

Oh crap....well ssb, the heats of you for awhile.

I do...unfortunetaly not very well. If I can get 6 hours a night, I'm pretty happy about it.

T