Already taken two trips out so far back in late February during the nice warm up weekend when it was 75 degrees in Omaha. Only targeted trout with my nephew Blake. Bought him a new rod and tackle box with goodies inside for his birthday in April. He should love that. I plan on using March as an opportunity to crappie fish this year, last year I targeted ice-out catfish which didn't go well and muskie and walleye. Though i did well with walleye, not so with muskie. Been hearing reports of crappie biting on small jigs retrieved very slowly in the shallow water around the metro. My knee has been doing very well so far. Went this winter without any major pain, except when I slipped on the ice a few times while shoveling snow. But at least I haven't had to take any pain killers for the pain which was the biggest question I had going into winter. So I feel pretty good about spring this year. Don't really need much in terms of gear. Rods and reels are good and have plenty of line leftover from last year. I'll need to replace the catfishing poles with new reels as the gears inside were stripped out, I think. I had problems with reeling them in after a few trips in very rainy conditions. Probably the best since the baitcaster switches on them didn't work. But I won't need to replace them until I feel ready for catfish, and that won't be until late May or June, depends on how rainy spring decides to be.

At any rate, hope all is well with the other members on the board and looking forward to another great year of crappie fishing.