Thank you folks!

[VietVet68]

First of all I wish to thank you all for rekindling my desire to fish again. When my father passed away 14 years ago, I never wet another line. He was my ultimate fishing buddy.

Now, not only have you rekindled that spirit, but you also have me as excited as the day that I bolted 2x12's across my old jon and mounted my fiberglass seats and my first Humminbird Flasher (Super-sixty I think)

OK, enough of the past......

Up until 2 weeks ago the only boat i still owned was a 1973 Burnscraft Houseboat on Monroe lake that the spouse had talked me into buying. Because of health problems it had been dry docked for the past three years. Then two weeks ago I had a offer of a trade for a 1985 Sylvan 24' Pontoon W/ new Hoosier Trailer. With a little encouragement from the wife and some cash to boot, I made the trade.

Once I pulled it home from Monroe (it pulls like a dream), I started thinking about how I could fix it up for just peasure boating and began to explore the internet for ideas. Then when I researched "Pontoon" I stumbled upon "Rod Holders", then "Spider Rigging" then "Crappie.Com", from that point on I became possessed. I then spent most of the next four days reading a vast majority of the post here. Wonderful posts, tremendous information, and most of all gave me the desire to step into the future and not dwell on the past.

Although I spent 2/3 of a lifetime fishing for most all freshwater species, the Crappie has always intrigued me most. Dad and I use to troll Patoka a lot in it's early years for Northerns, and at that time I had a Lowrance paper chart recorder and got pretty good at reading it. From time to time we would stumble upon "pods" of Crappies, sometimes looking like 10' tall inverted Christmas trees. We would just troll on with our 6-7" Rapalas at a speed the Northerns liked and the Crappies couldn't catch. I wish I had known about "Spider Rigging" back then.

To keep from rambling I think I'll end this post here. But you can bet your favorite Crappie bobber that I will strike again, soon. Even after reading all the post I still have a few questions that I would like to have some help with.

It is a privledge to be here,

Mike,
Terre Haute, Indiana

[Hoot]

Welcome Mike.

Great to hear that your getting back to fishing. I've done the same for similar reasons.

Tuning into this board has been the best thing I've ever done to learn and improve my fishing in general but certainly crappie fishing. There's a lot of experience on this board.

Most important, I've found that everyone here is more than willing to suggest and help you out any way they can.

It's a great board and a very good group of people. Your off to a good start.

Good fishing!
Hoot

[Mrs. Crappie Stalker]

Welcome to the boards, Mike. My dad was my best fishing buddy too, next to my husband. When Dad died in 95, it was a long, time before we could go fishing again, and I still miss him and think about him every time we hit the water. I still use some of his rods and tackle.

We love this site too! Paul and I fight over who gets the computer first when we get home every nite!

Good fishing to you! :D

[jcass]

68, huh? Long way from Tet to Monroe. Hope you had a good ride and can enjoy some time catching some slabs.
Good luck this summer.

[okeechobee fisher]

this site has been the best site i have ever stumbled on also....ive only been here for about a month and my fishins improving, and ideas have been going threw my head more than ever.....love this site!!!

[JimmyS]

Mike, Welcome to Crappie.Com. Happy to have you aboard ! Jimmy S.

[scrap]

New guy here too - love this place

[DmDuck]

Terre Haute ?????? I'd be workin over Turtle Creek for the crappie if I was that close . Man warm water year around !! Welcome Aboard !!

Greensburg In

[fiddlefarter]

Welcome all ya'll new guys. I love this site myself. I still crappie fished some the past couple years but I bought a new boat last fall and now I'm back to being a hard core crappie man again. Just the other day I told a friend of mine that I ran into at the lake, "To hell with a stinkin' 'ol bass". My dad is my favorite fishin' partner too, but he's retired and I have to "make hay while the sun's shinin' " during the week so it seems like, at least for the last couple of weeks, he has been fishing during the week and has been too tired to go on Sat/Sun. I think he just don't want me to catch more than him... You know I need to get him on this site to defend himself.

[VietVet68]

68, huh? Long way from Tet to Monroe. Hope you had a good ride and can enjoy some time catching some slabs.
Good luck this summer.

I remember only one thing about TET, and that is.............er....uh...hmmm...what was the question again?