Thanks for the kind words. Of course despite being a stupidly long post, it was still a very condensed history of the site. I love Ed's last post. It's a kind of survivors I told you so to the many predators who more than once thought they had this site taken down. I think the real success of this site is due to the fact that the moderators and even Ed himself, realized long ago that this is bigger than any one of us. For all intensive purposes, I left CLF a year ago and it was barely noticed (nothing personal, it was more that I have been coaching football, baseball and softball spring, summer and fall). As involoved as I once was, it could have been easy of me to think the site would suffer in my absense, but the reality is that the site just has too many quality people who care enough about the site to step in and help out. JaKnee has done a great job in the past year or so, and every time I do get the time to browse the site, I'm pleased to see that despite the never changing difficulties, the site rolls on.
In the greater scheme of things, the message board as we know it is actually a dying breed. What once was considered an immediate media, is now painfully slow when compared to the facebooks and twitters that post real time, notify everyone of what is posted and allows you to respond and share instantly. This is a world wide trend that is affecting all message boards to some extent, not just CLF. I remember dialing up message boards back before phbb boards became the rage, and those took forever to load and post, but it seemed high tech at the time.
I read an article yesterday that even Google is having issues. The reason? The most valuable searches are ones made immediately prior to a purchase. When you google an item you get many results more than just where to buy. For those who are looking to buy immediately (internet gold) Amazon is now the first step to searching for an item. I know it's hard to believe that CLF might someday fall by the wayside, but if doesn't change with the times, then it certainly may. Anyone remember MySpace? My hope now is that the new owners are in the position to take CLF to the next level. It's amazing to think of the possibilities. I'm pusihing for a live JaKnee cam that we can log into at anytime of the day to see what he is up to. I already have the WWJD stickers..(What would JaKnee Do?)
You read it right Tom. The moderator your thinking of is Bob Wolf. We also had on by the name of Gus. The nice thing we can say about CLF is that we never spammed. When Marc left he took everyone's email from the database and spammed them all about his new site. They can't make the same claim that CLF can. The Fox River fishing report and consequently CLF grew by submitting to search engines and working with other websites. Jonathan Brandmeir and Hank Parker to name a couple were among many that were fans of CLF. I got emails from Dads, Michigan Ave. lawyers, a heart surgeon, and others that said they enjoyed CLF. The attorneys (5 of them) got together every lunch hour in one of their offices to peruse CLF. The heart surgeon never fished here but took his annual 2-week trip to Alaska. He still liked reading about local fishing on CLF though.
It could happen with forums as you suggest. It depends on the people though. The faster things in our life can go, some buy into it. How fast can a cup of coffee be heated up? Some need a new microwave when it starts taking more than a minute. Some don't have the time to post on Facebook and CLF. Video is so easy now, no big VHS camera, most have it on their phone. Instead of pictures, video of fishing could be shared, but most can't be bothered. Years ago my brother told me that in several years streaming video would be the rage, and now it is. When uploading video from a phone goes really fast, visitors should be utilizing it. It tells a better story than pictures can even do. When I started the Fox River fishing report I used a hand held scanner, things are much easier now.
Subscribers can take a look at the archives, it's a sticky on that forum. There's a lot of good info there as well as seeing what things used to be like.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet; that's how World War 1 was started.
Ahhh Gus and that powerline launcher video I got it saved somewhere.
I think only twice this year have I been pm'd or emailed demanding my spots or told not to fish their spots. Funny how a simple decision to stop posting the bigger fish 5 years ago slowed that tide.
Thanks for the CLF history lesson Tom. I have heard bits and pieces over the years, but it is cool to get it all in one piece.
The site has changed, but everything has peaks and valleys. I used to enjoy the heck out of the subscribers forum but the activity there seemed to fade the last few years.
After JD passed I lost some of my drive to browse the site and post. It also seemed like many of the really good members seemed to fade into the background when some of the knuckleheads started invading the site, which is maybe why the subscriber base trickled.
Regardless, I still consider Ed a pioneer for what he has done, and Tubes is probably the best moderator I have seen on any message board I have ever been a part of.
Even though nothing is really changing, it is still kind of bittersweet to see Ed sell the site.
I have my own thought about "other" site. In fact I know "Marc" is probably reading this right now . I started on the site many years ago before anywhere else. I left for a bit because the "other site" seem to have more trollers. But after a year or so, discovering some of the false statements, the terrible knowledge, I became victim to the dictator . I was simply "bad for business" . I was warned and still accepted by my family and friends at CLF!.
So in honor of that, I am running a CLF Charter Special. Mention the word "Crytown Angler" and receive $100 off your next charter with us this year. Thats the best I can do to pay back the many laughs, good reports, and friendships gained here.
Regards,
Captain Joel
Brush and Roll Charters Call 1-855-5-HOOKED to book your Lake Michigan Fishing Charter http://www.bnrcharters.com
Douche bag! Can I state that? I guess I can bash him since he's not a member of this site.
Dictator from the git-go. His 1st site failed miserably after about a year. Then he started a new & improved site. Don't know what happened to the new one? Now I know how he got my e-mail address.
"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."
If you guys are interested in history, much of it could be told but then this would really would turn into a bashing thread of quite a few people along the way. Of course there's always PM's and email LOL
Keeping it positive though there are many that really helped CLF. Individuals and groups of people have already been mentioned. Another 3 of them are Mike Norris, Mike Jackson and Bob Maciulis. From articles about CLF to being in the studio doing radio shows these guys helped spread the word about CLF. I want to say thank you to them too. People may have their thoughts about one or the other of them but Dave Brandes (wallidave) and I were on Mike Jackson's show and he goaded Dave into talking and Dave really cut loose on him but he took it and didn't stop him or BAN him. LOL Bob Maciulis was very kind the 2 times I was in the studio with him and Mike Norris has been a friend of the site since it was the Fox River fishing report. Ted Takasaki was kind enough to do a chat evening with us shortly after he won the PWT championship. Since he used to live in Algonquin I had the chance to fish with him, his wife, and daughter. He enjoyed CLF too. CLF was also written about in Cabelas magazine and Illinois Outdoor magazine.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet; that's how World War 1 was started.
Nice to see some of the old school CLFers chiming in on the thread. Some of my best hunting and fishing buddies came from this site. My wife always made fun of me for hooking up with "guys" on the internet, then meeting at forrest preserves to "fish".
When I had my boat on Lake Michigan, our success on the boat, came directly from this site. I never would have known what to do out there in all that water. Tubes, Big Dog, TLK, and Lucky Dog all were generous with the info. Those guys were all charter captians! They were giving away the info for free. (Might have something to do with the old days at the forrest preserve)
I won the trip to Anglers Kingdom, not only was that a great trip, but not long after, my fathers health started to decline. He is doing fine, but he can't go on those type of trips any longer. I will always be greatfull for those memories.
I've barely posted on the site for a couple years. Actully, wasn't even lurking. I uesd to check this site ten times a day. Some of it was due to the new direction the site was going. Most of it was due to, I wasn't fishing as much. I've become more of a hunter that fishes in the off season.
Bah, good for you Ed. These things are a business, easiest way to make some $$ off of these things is to sell. Some of you guys might remember a one year sponser here, Coon Creek Hunt Club. That same guy owned a general hunting site. Like Ed, he worked on that site for years, dumping countless hours of labor and money into it. I've heard the ammount he sold it for from a couple of his employees. Going by that, Ed, enjoy your retirement...
OK, two apologies are in order. First to Bob Wolf for not remembering his name.. I even had him on the charter boat with us too.. Sorry about that.
Second was to Mother for not mentioning him along with the many friends I've made here. Jay and I have fished tournaments together, chased snow geese in Missouri and Iowa together and hunted birds locally more times than I can remember and I forget to mention him?
For clarification purposes, Bob Hicks was the original moderator that so many people have had issues with. I personally never had any issues with him, but did not like how things went down when he left. To make things more confusing, there is also a guy named Bob Hicks that runs a Lake Michigan tackle business online. I can't think of the name of it off hand, but is not the same guy... It's like you need a scorecard to keep track of the players. In any case, all water under the bridge now.
I think the bottom line is that if the new owners continue to give the good people here a forum, they will take advantage of it and CLF will live on and grow.
. I started on the site many years ago before anywhere else. I left for a bit because the "other site" seem to have more trollers. But after a year or so, discovering some of the false statements, the terrible knowledge, I became victim to the dictator 
. I was simply "bad for business" 
