My dentist died.

He was the very best dentist that I have ever known. Such a great dentist to have, in fact, that I travelled 250 miles, one way, to go to the dentist.

Amy, at first, wondered why I made it a point to go to Savannah when I needed to go see the dentist. She soon learned, and he became her dentist, as well.

First time I went to Dr. Kazlow's office in downtown Savannah was in 1992 when I took a lunch break from my work as an investigator back then. A friend recommended him when I had a filling loose. I was expecting the dreaded root canal sales pitch.

His office was not fancy. It was an old-fashioned office, and he even had the old-timey dental chair, equipment, and even the old porcelain spit-bowl. As I began taking off my suit coat, he asked if I had any allergies. I replied, "Yes, one...pain." He glanced at my sidearm and handcuffs and said, "Well, you came to the right place. No pain here."

"Good, because if you hurt me, I might shoot you," I replied, semi-jokingly.

I sat down in the dental chair and got comfortable. He looked at my tooth and then he said, "I need to take a picture to make sure nothing is too bad underneath everything."
Ok. Now comes the added things to bump up the cost of my visit and all because of this one tooth. He took an x-ray, and excused himself for a few minutes while he processed it and looked at it.

He came back in the room and said, "you don't need a root canal, but I am going to have to build your tooth up some and it will take about 3 fillings to build it up and fix it right."

Good, no root canal, but I was figuring he was going to sock it to me with the 3 fillings deal. I started bracing myself for the novacaine injection. I didn't feel a thing... not even the initial prick of the needle nor the liquid going into my gums. The only thing I felt throughout the whole ordeal was a little bit of pressure while he put the fillings in. He was right. No pain... so far... but I hadn't gotten the bill for his services yet.

When finished, I went to the front to pay the bill. He followed me there after he cleaned up. "I am going to have to charge you a little more than what I usually charge for a filling, since I had to put in 3 fillings and build that tooth up," he said. "Is $75 ok?"

No pain.

He was right.

I didn't even feel pain in my wallet. I was happy to pay him.

In Savannah, Dr. Kazlow was known as the "painless dentist". Amy found that out for herself. Being located downtown, being the most reasonable dentist I've known, having the very best "bedside" manners that I have seen, and being the most customer service-oriented dentist I've ever met, he will be greatly missed by me, by Amy, and by so many people who were his patients.

80 years old. He had been at the same office throughout most of his life. And from the window, he had witnessed half-century or more of history that passed by the intersection of Liberty St. at Bull St. in downtown Savannah.

How fortunate I feel in having had the honor to have befriended him.

Fishing in the shallows right now is not very productive, since the surface water temps are still a bit too cold for the crappie to come into the shallows. Deep lake fishing is still doing well, though.

If you're going fishing for crappie around this time, you are best off if you have a boat so you can get to some deep spots.

You won't even need to cast your line. Just find a good deep spot (preferably with a nice drop-off) of about 50 ft in depth. Drop your line straight down until you feel it hit bottom. Then pull up about 2 ft off the bottom.

A double bottom rig with a bass casting or pyramid sinker will work well if you are using live bait. Though many folks like using the tiny little small minnows, I like the medium ones. The medium minnows attract a bigger fish. For crappie, I like using a #1 gold aberdeen or a #1, or #1/0 bronze carlisle hook (I like the carlisle hooks better). I usually like hooking the minnow directly at and under the dorsal fin. They seem to do better for me than hooking them anywhere else.

If I am on shore and havng to cast out, I'll use the same rig and then add a small bobber about 2-3 ft above my barrel swivel. This allows me to cast out to a deeper area, let the sinker hit bottom, and the bobber pulls up just enough on the line to keep my bait at just the right distance from the bottom.

If you'd rather use lures for crappie fishing during this time of year, the chartreuse jig bodies seem to work best, and fishing from a boat in deep water (50 ft depth is ideal) works very well.

Again, drop the jig straight down from the boat. When it hits bottom, pull it up about 2 ft. Then start twitching your rod to get a bit of jigging action going.

If you can stand the cold night temperatures, night-time fishing can be very productive in those same 50 ft depths.

If you have some of the glow worms or the ice fishing glow-in-the-dark weighted plastic minnows for jigging, you can have a good bit of fun and end up with a daily limit in a matter of just a few hours... and you may end up catching some other, more sizeable fish than crappie.
Be sure to remember safety, especially when boating to your favorite fishing spots during this time of year. Dress warmly in layers. Layers give better protection while allowing you to peel off layers if the day starts warming up.

Remember when night fishing to keep your stern light on and fish away from the channel. If you decide to turn your stern light off while anchored in order to keep your fishing spot a secret, you are posing a danger to yourself, your passenger(s) and other boaters. And if DNR sees you, there is a very good chance you will get a very well-deserved ticket.

One other thing... wear a PFD. Don't just use it as a seat cushion. There are fishing PFD vests which are comfortable and they even provide good added insulation against the cold temps.
If you happen to fall overboard, or your boat capsizes, stay with the boat and try to climb atop of it or pull yourself as much out of the water as you can. It is much easier to spot a capsized boat than it is just a head bobbing up and down on the water.

Getting close to February, it's once again time for boating and fishing. Right now is a great time for striper fishing, as well as going for trout in the foothill streams and rivers.

For trout, I enjoy using ultralight spinning tackle. I remember back when I was a kid in the 1960's, I had read something in a fishing magazine about a new idea catching on which was the use of ultralight monofilament on spinning reels in order to use poppers, flies, and ultralight spinners for fishing trout in the mountain streams and rivers.

Today, it's pretty common to see people fishing with spinning tackle for trout. Back then, there was no such thing as ultralight spinning rods and reels.

For trout, being a panfish, I usually like using my Daiwa Ultralight spinning outfit with 4 lb monofilament line. A #10 or #8 extra long shank aberdeen hook with a small live bug on it works best for me. Live maggies work fabulous, but so do live crickets. And, I have caught trout using small and medium minnows, as well. I prefer the medium minnows since they usually attract a larger trout. I still prefer live bugs or maggies, though. I think the trout like them better, too.

Small spinners work well. I usually like the tiny 1/24 or 1/32 oz spinners. The color just depends on where you are and how the fish are acting that particular day. If you use spinners, it works better on a strike than a popper, since once a trout hits it and finds out it isn't food, it lets go and it almost seems like he tells all the other trouts in the area. Since a spinner is being retrieved slowly but almost constantly, there's a better chance that you'll hook that first strike.

Spinners are also good right now (though the larger ones) for stripers. Although you can catch stripers from the bank, you can get to better places by boat. Near bridges and docks out near the channels are a good spot for using spinners for stripers right now. They're still a bit deep running, so you'll want to fish about 20' below the surface.

For stripers around this time of year, I usually use my Shakespeare Prius medium action rod and reel, spooled with 14 lb Remmington monofilament line, and I use heavier, 1/8 to 1/4 oz spinners. Some folks prefer the chartreuse colored ones, but I seem to do better with the reds and the orange ones.

I've been having some customers telling me that Crappie are still doing well down about 50'. Drop a jig all the way down til you feel it hit bottom, then pull it up about 2' and start jigging. You should get some pretty good strikes that way.

As soon as the weather breaks, I'll be back to my regular hours at my fishing shop in the garage, which will be Mon-Fri from 9 til 6. Right now, though, I am only open Wed-Fri from 10-5 and if it's rainy cold weather, I'm closed.

I'm going to start having some fun and exciting fishing tournaments, along with a fishing derby this year, which will include fishing tournaments for all kinds of different fishing... bass, catfish, bream, crappie, etc. Drop by and get the scoop. I'm thinking it will be a lot of fun.
It's nice right now, and 6 pm, so I'm gone.... fishing.

I look through a few classifieds often to see what's out there for what prices. There are some flags that raise when I sort through the multitudes of classifieds, especially on the internet.
There are a good bit of classified ads I've seen in boat, auto, motorcycle and rv listings.
First, there are some sellers that say they don't have a title, or the title(s) has been lost, but if you buy the item, you can get the title yourself.

Don't fall for this one. If you do, you'll be facing a paperwork nightmare and it could end up costing you more than what you bargained for.

The other common thing I run across is those folks that tell me that the item belongs to a 'friend', uncle, cousin, or what have you. They have the title(s) and registration papers, and they have been signed already, so all you need to do is write your name in there as the buyer and everything's good to go. Not necessarily so. Watch out for this con game. You could end up with a regret afterward.

I've contacted the DMV about buying used vehicles, motorcycles, and RV's. They've told me that it is the responsibility of the seller to provide the buyer with a current title and proper registration paperwork at the time of purchase. The seller also needs to provide the buyer with a bona fide bill of sale.

I've also contacted SC DNR and they have expressed the same thing. If the title has been 'lost' or 'misplaced' by the owner of the boat, a duplicate title and or registration can be ordered by the seller of the boat. Duplicate titles are only $5 each and duplicate registration cards are only $1 each.

What happens is that there are a good bit of folks out there trying to make a fast buck by becoming "shade tree" auto, motorcycle, RV or boat dealers without going through proper licensing. On the surface, you may feel you're getting a great deal, but since they are not legitimate businesses, you don't have the recourse available to you that you would if you bought from a real and legitimate business.

Let's look at this example:

You go look at a boat that was listed for sale in a classified ad. The boat looks fine and the seller even cranks the engine for you. The seller points out that the registration is good through 2011. Time comes to buy the boat, and he tells you that he bought the boat from a relative or 'buddy' and he never got around to changing the registration to his name, but he shows you where the titles have already been signed, but not dated by the prior owner.
You give him the money and drive off with the boat. You then go to have the titles and registration transferred to your name and you are asked for the bill of sale. The titles and registrations are signed over by one person, and the bill of sale is signed by someone else. You have a problem.

Or, let's say the titles, registrations and bill of sale is all in order and signed by the prior owner. You put the boat in the water and it has a hole in it and sinks. So, you go back to the person you bought the boat from and he says he's never seen you before. How can you prove otherwise?

See where I'm getting at? Think about red flags like these when you're looking to buy a vehicle, RV, or boat.