T-Billy

I caught this sow of a 44" this morning. Then she caught me. She was hooked on the rear hook of the crappie rig. She went ballistic while I was trying to unhook her and hooked me with two barbs of the front treble. There was so much net balled up on the hook, I could barely get the cutters in there to cut myself free from her. She went off a few times while we were hooked together. That was fun!!! Lol. I ripped the hook points out with pliers. Like grandpa always said, If your gonna be dumb, ya gotta be tough. 😂 As you can see in the pic, after she was done torturing me, she crapped all over me and the boat. 🤣 Also got a 35".

Did you accept the position of Gim's deputy? 😂

I'm BAAACK in the saddle again!!! 😁 I played hooky today and it paid off. 43" on a crankbait. 42.5, 41, 37, and 36 came to dine at the crappie buffet. I also swung on another one but didn't get hooks, and had six other bites on crappie that dropped it before I could get to the rod. My snow pants have enough muskie poop and slime and my blood on them to stand up by themselves. 😂 34 degree start today and only made it into the mid 40's.

My best bassin days are behind me. My muskie fishing prime still lies ahead.

Yeah they're warming up to the specks. I had three grab my crappie Saturday afternoon, but drop them before I could get to the rod. I'll be on fishcation from May 17 to June 3. It should be good. These past two years that I've gotten on this bite, the second half of May has been prime time.

Congrats Jax86!!! That's an absolute monster in this state.

First husky of the year. 43.5" First of the year to dine at T-Billy's all you can eat crappie buffet as well. Tammy had one drop the crappie as she was reeling down to swing, and I had a mid 30's take two swipes at a crappie I was reeling in also. We probably caught a hundred 6-9 inch crappie today. No eaters but the trees are stacked with perfect bait size males. 2026 Crappiepalooza is fixing to go down soon!!!

Just call me Shrek. @Dwight Hottle has turned me green with envy. Congrats on one heck of a trip buddy!!!

It takes me about one minute per fish with my electric bubba blade. That thing is worth every penny.

I quit fishing jigs in heavy cover long ago. Snelled, straight shank flipping rig produces better and comes through cover WAY better. Jigs are my choice for fishing structure. They come through rock better than bullet sinkers. Swim jigs are the only exception.

My first thought as well. I believe those two are both happier now than they ever were on this planet.😉

Catt. Moon position trumps moon phase.

Lol. She actually does pretty well, but those 40" + fish give her about all she wants. It's important to rip the hooks free from the crappie on the hookset and I'm often fishing them tight to laydowns, so I lock the drag down and run 4X strong trebles on my quick strike rigs. That's 24# drag on my Tekota 500's. The crappie are generally only 5' - 10' below the boat, so it's a short range slugfest. I reluctantly started doing this out of frustration at how tough it is to catch muskie here on artificials during the crappie spawn. It quickly turned into one of my favorite ways to catch 'em. Good for the skis as well. They're nearly always hooked right in the corner of the mouth, and the fights are short.

My head would have melted in that hat today Dwight!!! 😂 The wife is definitely a good luck charm. That live crappie bite will be kicking off here soon. I'm looking forward to spending some days on the water with her doing that. I took the second half of May off for it. When she hooks a big ski on that short line, I sometimes wonder which one of them I'll be netting. 😂 It's a hoot!!!

I spent a few hours pitching fresh pine laydowns from our recent storms. The lake is about 5' high and the fish are scattered. The only place I could get bit was deep in the pine boughs. I caught 5 with one a little shy of 3# and a 3.45#.

Good to hear you're on the mend!!! Praying for your continued recovery. Good luck this weekend.

Nine trips in. Two of these little guys in the bag and three lost. They're keeping me humble so far this spring.

Yeah, he can catch 'em too. Hammers the big's all winter on his home lake. He hasn't posted anything to his YT channel in a long time either. I hope he's OK.

Lots of Amish in my neck of the woods, so I'm gonna guess about 16. 😂🤦‍♂️ Ya gotta see it to believe it.

Nope. This is my only social media.

8 trips, one little muskie caught, two lost. Had enough of that abuse and went pitching trees for the last couple hours today. This is the first bass of the year. I ended up catching five and losing two. It was a fun change of pace.

We were mid 70's yesterday, high 30's today. March weather in OH is bipolar. I may as well be snowed in. I've caught one small muskie in seven outings. 😂🤦‍♂️

I've been thinking of him lately as well. I pray all is well with him. Same goes for AlabamaSpothunter. He hasn't been here since last June.

A friend of my brother-in-law's place in northern Wisconsin. Drifted in by yesterday's storm.