T-Billy

We got hammered with heavy rain and 50+ winds Friday night into Sat. Power outages all over. Trees and power lines closing lots of roads. We had no power for 27 hours, some still don't have it and round two is here. The local co-op ran out of poles they replaced so many. More wind and rain today, maybe some ice on the back side. I won't be surprised if the power goes out again. On a positive note I put the first muskie of 26 in the net Saturday evening. Just a 31" but, I'm happy to have it. T'was the only bite in five trips. They're keeping me humble so far.

15 minutes to my favorite lake. 50 minutes to #2.

No chumming allowed!!!

First voyage of the 2026 campaign today. Took Peppy Le Pew for a boat ride. 😂 Nice to get out though, and now I know what NOT to do tomorrow. Water is rising, fish are scattered, and bait schools seem non-existent. Gonna hit the main lake basins tomorrow. It was too windy today.

There are worse ways to roll. I've never had a failure other than a few bad primers with a 9mm Glock, in I don't know how many thousands of rounds. I've had a handful of hangups with 40 and 357 sig, but even at that, it's a handful over many thousands of rounds and it was load specific.

Prayers for a successful surgery and a fast full recovery brother.

Perhaps a slower retrieve would produce better while the water is still in powdered form? 😁

List complete. Honey is happy. I'm free to fish starting next week.

I often edit myself this way when writing a longer post.

The lid came off over the past couple days, but I can't get out until next Sunday. Lots of rain forecast between now and then, but I'll be out there next Sun, Mon, Tues, come Hell or high water. Most likely it'll be high water.

Good stuff Katie. Those Crown Land lakes sound like some of the best places to fish this side of Heaven.

You should post some of those articles here for we fans of yours. 😉 Start a thread on it and share some of your favorites with us.

As it should. That's pretty dang cool. Congrats. F&S and Outdoor Life were big time when I was growing up. I had subscriptions to both, courtesy of my grandpa. He also kept me in steady supply of American Hunter, American Rifleman, and Fishing Facts.

In a kayak of all things!!! That man was born with.......

Thanks. I wasted nearly three decades of my life drunken and drugged. The Lord lifted me up out of that mess I created and gave me a whole new life. I'm doing my best to enjoy the rest of the days he's given me. 😉 Yep. I opologize for my senility @Zcoker . You da man!!! Your adventures in the glades are not for the faint of heart.

Thanks for the mention @gim . My old-timers disease is kicking in hard. Who is it that goes out on night ops in a kayak deep in the Everglades? That's my nomination for king of hardcore. Pythons and gators and moccasins OH MY!!!

X2

Thanks to a few warm days and some heavy rains the night before last, the snow's gone and the lakes have some open water near the creeks. The main basins are slush covered. We have a few days of highs just above freezing then another warm up. Might get to fish next week. If not, it's looking good for the first week of March!!! I'm chomping at the bit!!! Early spring rig fishin gives me my best shot at topping this beast.

The lady I bought the house from must have stored bird seed or something they liked in the breezeway because they chewed through the wall to get in. They crawl up under the corners of my vinyl siding to presumably store seeds/nuts in my walls. They dig holes all over my yard. I'll continue to drown as many of those destructive little buggers as I can catch. Those bucket traps work great. You can catch multiple critters without resetting it.

I have to kill a bunch of chipmunks every year, that my neighbor ladies draw in with their bird feeders. Pesky little critters. My mom feeds birds and has a mouse problem because of the seeds.

Yeah. I don't troll much through most of the year, but I troll A-rigs as slow as it'll go right after ice out and again late in the fall. 1.8 - 2.2 mph seems to be the sweet spot. I put at least 80hrs of that on it last Nov - Dec.

Well... My outboard mechanic says I fish too much. 😂 I got the Suzuki serviced today. Oil and lower unit lube changed, new plugs and the water pump impeller changed. The first impeller change was at his recommended three years. It was thrashed, so he recommended I do it every other year because of the hours I put on it. It was thrashed at two years also. Looks like an impeller change is gonna have to be an annual thing. It's a good problem to have. 😉 The snow is largely gone and we have a few more days of unseasonably warm weather coming, along with rain. That'll thin the ice some, but we have a ways to go. I'm guessing 3 weeks before the maiden voyage of 26, if the forecast holds. 🤞

Just a handful of new cranks and some components from LPO for making muskie spinners.

Down to a couple inches of slush here, with lows above freezing and highs around 60 for the next four days. Extended looks good to be fishing by mid March. Outboard gets serviced and a new water pump impeller installed tomorrow. Counting the days.......

Dunno about a bass, but I bet I could catch a muskie on that. As far as one lure for big bass, I'm gonna roll with a beaver type bait on a flippin fig. Gets it done from ice out till ice over.