So what do you do?

[5alive]

I have been in automotive design/engineering for 20 years and currently I am Design Team Leader for Delphi in Troy, married and have 2 great kids, both boys 14 and 9. I will be a co-director for NBAA on St. Clair this year and will participate in Top Bass, BFL, Stren and a weekly Shoot-Out Trail on Lobdell Lake. Look forward to another great year fishing and meeting new fisherman. I am a true fan of the sport of bass fishing as well take part in many other outdoor sports. Archery is very close to tournament fishing, and I look forward to every fall in Michigan as this is truly the Great State, and the month of October needs to be 2 months long!

[Potter]

When I am not fishing I am a pharmacist at a Sav-Mor Store in Tawas.

Have a good day guys, great site Dan.

Scott 

[dhuff]

Hey Potter, I am in Tawas all the time.  Where do you live.  what lakes do you fish.  We will have to get together up there and fish sometime.  I fish the area hard. 

5alive,  what shoot out are you talking about on Lobdell lake?

[Potter]

Dhuff, I live in West Branch and work in Tawas.  I fish the Midwest Sportsman-Clare Division on Saturdays.  Because of that I fish a lot on Houghton, Cadillac/Mitchell, and Wixom (like everybody else seems to do).  I also fish the "ponds" on the Ausable and some of the other lakes around home (Long Lake in Hale, Sage lake and Secord to name a few).

I have worked in Tawas for a little over a year and I have not spent as much time on the water there as I should, but I plan to fix that this summer.  If you are in the area please let me know.  (potter@ejourney.com)

[djmaclf]

I am a Self-Employed Computer Services Consulant.  Do what ever with computers/wiring/networking/etc. to bring in the cash.  Use to work for a company for 14 years, then they decided to off-shore.

[Savage]

I work in the tool inspection room at Delphi Plant 5 in Saginaw. (No we aren't closed yet)

[djkimmel]

I would love to be able to afford to fish in the wba, but I don't see that in the near future. Oh and I can and do drive the boat, I was so scared when he first started teaching me but I now can do that and pull the boat and unload and load it. He told me if I'm going to fish and be competative that I have to learn it's all part of it.

Pretty funny - reminds me of the first time I stopped at Monroe Reservoir in Indiana - coming back from the BASS Northern Divisional I think about 1989 or so - I was with Art Ferguson and he wanted to check out the lake prior to an American Scholarship (something like that) event.

I'd never seen so many bass boats on one lake at one time. There were like 5 major ramps and all had 90% or more percent occupancy with almost all of the trailers for bass boats. Several tournaments were going on. We went by one ramp and there were over 75 boats with nothing but WOMEN!!!

I was young. Art was younger. We just sat there looking and Art said, "Wow, they even drive the boats."

He will probably deny it now and that's okay. It was a long time ago and I do tend to mix things up and forget things now sometimes. I also remember there were hardly any bass being caught by anyone. Then we see this tall, attractive blonde with almost southern big hard walking up the ramp with not one, but TWO keepers in her weigh bag! Art looked at me and said, "I'm in love!"

That many women in one place actually scared me. I wanted to get back out fishing. I think all I caught that day were two big crappie.

[djkimmel]

Glad you made it George!

[Eric]

Well, it seems most days that I am a clown at the goat rodeo. 

But really my real job is being a paramedic, and my 2 fun jobs are police and teaching emergency medicine at a local college.

[5alive]

Dhuff,

There is a no membership 100% payback tournament every Wednesday night, 6-9pm, at the old White's Landing. Hopefully this year the new owners will let us continue with this. We average 20-30 boats every week.

[robtheboatman]

Good to see you here George.

I sell boats for Wonderland.  If anyone ever has a boat question, feel free to give me a shout.
Rob

[joshimoto son]

I'm from Horton Michigan, and live at home with my parents on a 55 acre farm
where we run a greenhouse business selling flowers and plants.

Yes... I live with my Mom and Dad... and I'm 34.... I used to have a house and a girlfriend,
but then I sold the girlfriend and broke up with the house to buy a bass boat (no really, I did).

I have an HVAC Engineering degree from Ferris State, I've done everything from industrial design to building automation and controls.

Currently I just do mechanical engineering for a small metal fabrication shop, it's a little boring, but it only takes me seven minutes to get to work. (I used to have to travel 72 miles one way)

Regarding Bass fishing, I'm a board member of my local club and do the monthly newsletter.

Really cool idea for a post, I've enjoyed reading about everyone.

Josh

[fishon1219]

I am the maintenance manager for a company called axle alliance. We build truck axles for Freightliner, western star and sterling trucks. Also most of the thomas built school buses you see on the road have our axles in them. I have a degree in electrical engineering and am currently working on my bachelors degree in business administration. My whole carrier has been some involved with industrial automation. I am just amazed at how things like that work. I also have a side business called Fishing Complete. In this business we distribute quality fishing tackle to local stores. Our major product line is Case plastic's you can find them on the web at www.madtoms.com

I am married for 8 years now and am raising a 19 month old boy named McClain that I have nicked named Godzilla. If any of you have a 19 month old boy you know why he has that nick name. I am currently trying to gain a position on the wonderland marine pro-staff. Wish me luck, they are a great bunch of guys and I am really looking forward to being a part of their team.

[Hooksetter]

I am the shop supervisor for Triune Manufacturing in Fowlerville. We build custom semi-trailers with expandable sections on one or both sides, for use as mobile classrooms, display booths, emergency relief services, etc. They can be configured just about any way the customer wants.

We also build custom aluminum truck bodies, such as street light maintenance units, digger derrick trucks, line bodies, etc.

I will be married 27 years this October. I have three daughters, two of which are married. The youngest is engaged. I have a grandson that will be 1 year old in February.

Life is GOOD!

[cwinsiii]

I'm a road service technician for a material handling co. I work out of my house in Traverse city and service Northern Michigan. We service everything from one lift truck to a complete warehouse system.

[Savage]

Oh man, Cwinsiii, I could have used some advice last year up on Elk & Torch!  I beat my guts out (so did Blakstr1) for 5 days trying to cover every inch of those 5 lakes in the chain....

It worked out OK, I found some straggling bedders in the wood on Elk and did OK, but I would have done much better with just one more bass.....

[plumley]

I work with dartag in Milford at the General Motors Proving Ground. Auto testing in occupant restraints. Done many things, photographic repair, test engineer, customer service, training and education coordination, presently child and adult clinic coordination. Always something new, kinda like bass fishing. I bought my first glass boat in 1994, fished Thompson, Lobdel, Woodland, and Pontiac. I must have figured I was as good as the big boys so I upgraded to a 175 Ranger, its a great small boat, my trips to Erie were sometimes frightening but I survived and learned my boating limits. I also learned that smallmouth were not largemouth and required different equipment and bait. But hey they live in the water and that narrows it down a little. I will always do something in fishing, I am working to get a position at Wonderland on their pro-staff, learning how to sell boats along the way.

[Dan]

I am a teacher in Jenison, a Grand Rapids suburb. This is my 34th year. I have 4 special education endorsements and have taught in a variety of settings with a variety of students, but currently I teach 6th grade. Hope to retire this year and get serious about bass fishing, jigging for big winter walleyes, bow hunting, and messing with the computer. Spend the summers at a cabin in Michigan's Great Northwest Corner. Great fishing opportunites, but I wish they would take the middle third of the state out and move St. Clair closer. I have been involved in running the Tear Drop Tournament Trail for about 20 years. I try and maintain the teardrop.com webpage. The Tear Drop is fishing Cadillac/Mitchell, Crystal, Torch, Portage, Hamlin, Duck Lake, with our two day classic scheduled for GT Bay. 100% payback on all tournaments. $5,000 two day classic. That money is split up among all that qualify for the Classic from first to last place. Fun group of guys and some good smallmouth anglers.

[cwinsiii]

Savage, I haven't been up here long enough yet to know the lakes. I haven't been on Torch or Elk yet, but I'm in slowly learning the lakes. My company wanted to put someone in Traverse, so I put in for it and got it. I've been here about a year and a half so far, I moved here for the fishing and I've been very happy with the fishing. I think some of the best fishing in the world is within an hour of Traverse city. You can catch any kind of fish you want within an hour of Traverse city.

I'm going to join a club in the area next month so, I'll be fishing the lakes in the area. If your coming up give me some notice and I'll check the lake out and give a report.


Thanks
Clare

[Cy]

I am a Systems Engineer / Information Technology Consultant for a IT Services company in Grand Rapids.  That means I implement, troubleshoot and project manage mainly Microsoft based network systems.  I specialize in Microsoft Active Directory and messaging solutions.  Those of you with a tech back ground will know what the heck I am talking about.  I have been in the IT business for about 8 year but graduated from Ferris State with a degree in Automotive Service.

I have only been a serious bass fisherman for the last couple of years and fishing tournaments for about a year.  My long term goal is to be able to earn a living in the fishing industry some how.

Cfruel