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• John Kovaka of Savanna, GA writes:

  Thursday, November 30, 2017

  RE: New boat brand – I wonder if they will be built on one of a production lines at Ranger. I think they have three lines there. I'm not sure, but being it's all former Ranger people, it's connected.

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• Steven Dendy of Spring Hill, KS writes:

  Thursday, November 30, 2017

  RE: New boat brand – This should get pretty good!

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• Tyler Cory of Stevens Point, WI writes:

  Sunday, November 19, 2017

  RE: Balog on Young Man's Game – Hi Joe, loved the article. Do you feel like it has a lot to do with the high school and college fishing tournaments? Guys in there early to teens are learning extremely valuable lessons in tournament fishing like how to be mentally tough or when to abandon plan A and move onto plans B or C. Things older anglers might not have learned this until they were in there mid 20s or even later fishing in big money, pay to play type tournaments. Just some food for thought.

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• Charlie Hartley of Grove City, OH writes:

  Friday, November 10, 2017

  RE: Balog's fishlife crisis – Once again you hit the nail on the head. Put your passion back on the front burner! Life is short, do what you love as much as possible. From a fellow addict.

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• Dave Mauldin of Round Rock, TX writes:

  Thursday, November 9, 2017

  RE: Texans move up – I fished a lot of FLW and B.A.S.S. events and nothing scared me, but when I saw Hanselman or Castledine at one of the events, I was scared.

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• Johnny McLean of Little Rock, AR writes:

  Thursday, November 9, 2017

  RE: Balog's fishlife crisis – Come on Joe, do you honestly think you can be a real bass fisherman without four graphs, a little gizmo that sounds like shad swimming and a couple of iPhones on your belt? Good column.

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• Chad Keogh of Penticton, BC writes:

  Sunday, November 5, 2017

  RE: Sonar back in the South – Congrats on the move east, Sonar, and good luck next year!

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• Dennnis Becker of Troy, OH writes:

  Saturday, November 4, 2017

  As president of the Ohio Bass Federation (1989-2004), I had the pleasure of working with Gary Dollahon on numerous occasions. Nice article about a great guy!

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• Jim Liner of Pintlala, AL writes:

  Saturday, November 4, 2017

  RE: Sonar back in the South – Hey Miles, welcome to the real world. Best of luck to you and Katie. See you at the Classic.

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• Dennis Pentecost of Milford, IL writes:

  Saturday, November 4, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – I think the new clips are a good idea but if you are really concerned about the fish, bring back nets, B.A.S.S.! Flipping bass into the boat on the carpet does more harm to the fish.

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• John Whyte of Orillia, ON writes:

  Friday, November 3, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – The idea that because other stressful procedures cause higher mortality really doesn't cut it. Congrats to B.A.S.S. for this initiative. Why would anyone try to curve the evolution of catch and release tournaments? Sorry, but the arguments are weak and do nothing to improve our fisheries and tournaments.

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• Chad Aaron of Lawrenceburg, TN writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – B.A.S.S. is unfortunately following the lead of many of our lawmakers, as you pointed out. Perception and feelings often take the place of science, or what we used to refer to as common sense. But I wonder if there isn't something else guiding our industry in this PC direction – money. Are they possibly courting sponsorships and partnerships that don't exactly push a specific rule, but welcome the sport "evolving" and becoming more "main stream"?

  I know that once you leave the path of common sense, science-based fish care and turn to the path of pleasing the PC police, it's not long before concessions are made for the animal rights groups. And we all know what their ultimate goal is.

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• Steve Krakowski of Wilmington, NC writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – PIercing cull-clips aren't a problem – it's holding and transporting a fish by the cull-clip that does the damage.

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• William White of Hope Mills, NC writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – I have to agree with you 100 percent that what B.A.S.S. is doing is a perception problem and not an "in the best interest of a fish's health" problem. The flopping around on hot carpet or banging off of a console or gunnel has to be a lot more stressful on the fish. Netting a fish for television purposes would not have the same dramatic effect as a boat-flip, so don't think B.A.S.S. will be using nets anytime soon.

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• Rick Bradford of Central, NC writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – I could not agree with you more on "science over perception". As a fisheries professional myself and one who bass fishes, through-the-lip cull clips are not high on my list of "issues". As you would probably agree, "culling" some bass out of a population after a tournament is not necessarily a bad thing for the health of the fishery, but perception again wins that issue. It always simmers the blood a little when an organization acts over something seemingly inconsequential. Thanks for you columns.

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• Michael McCoy of Mentor on the Lake, OH writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – Joe, you speak the truth. This is a very well thought out out opinion piece! Although you might have stirred the poo poo pot just a bit, sometimes that is what it takes to get people to realize the bigger issue. Also, sometimes "poking the bear" gets a much better result and not just a reaction.

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• Doug Stevenson of Decatur, AL writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – If the Good Lord had wanted fish to have holes in their lips, he would have put them there himself. This is another example of fishermen not caring about the bass, which is giving the "be kind to animals" people another reason to ban tournaments. I'm also not sure that a 10-year-old's observations on bass mortality in his family's pond counts as a scientific study.

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• Bill Spindler of Turnersville, NJJ writes:

  Thursday, November 2, 2017

  RE: Balog on culling clips – You can thank Ray Scott for the flipping of bass onto the carpeted deck of bass boats as a way of landing vs. a landing net in most other tournament organizations. Why no net? It was more dramatic for TV! The result was boat-flipping or excessive time tiring the fish out to hand-land them. Does the author want to land a 3- to 5-pound smallmouth caught on a jerkbait with two or three treble hooks by hand? Not me.

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