Finally figured this out!

[justfishin2]

I was about to give up on being able to post anything, but I found that I was simply looking in the wrong place(s)...typical for me. I'm a "newbie" from Southern Illinois who has always been both a hunter and a fisherman. Seems like somewhere along the way all the big deer took too much of my time away from fishing, though, and now that I'm older, I'm ready to hit the water more often than the woods. I've never really been anything more than a mediocre bass and 'gill fisherman, but last Fall an older friend and his wife took my wife and me out on his pontoon for crappie. I'm hooked and so is my wife. Over the winter I bought a different (bigger) Jon boat and have been redoing the trailer. The wife has back problems and we needed something that was both more stable and comfortable. She is quite content to just "go", but I want to "catch", so I'm looking forward to browsing the different forums for some good tips. A funny story about our older friends with the pontoon...he was somewhat obsessive about what we should be using, and it began to grate on my wife (a true country girl from west Kentucky) who just blurted out "Why can't y'all just catch whatever ends up on your pole and be happy?" About that time her cane pole bent double, and when she set the hook I saw at least 6 pounds of a huge bass being lifted out of the water. We all just sat there with our mouths open except her who tried to horse it in, and it literally broke her pole in half and got away. I was hoping for another invitation from them, but within a week the other lady had a stroke and passed away. That really saddened us and made me more resolved to enjoy the time we have left by fishing more. Someone else can hunt all those monster bucks...the fish bite too good in October and November! If anyone on here is from this area and wouldn't mind sharing some tips about good places to fish where our "new" 1670 Jon boat would work, please let me know. I really need to stay within a 2 hour drive of the Fairfield, IL area due to the back issues my wife has.

[RetiredRR]

Welcome to crappie.com, from Texas.

[justfishin2]

Thanks for the welcome,Retired. I'm starting to wish that's what I could be, too. Looks like I've finally set my tentative date as sometime in 2017, but between now and then (God willing) I intend to log some serious water time. Don't have any idea of your age or health, but hope that both qualify you for as much as you can handle!

["G"]

Welcome from Mississippi

[Luvfatslabs]

Welcome Aboard

[NYHellbender]

Welcome to the Crappie.com family

[CrappiePappy]

Click on the word "Forum" and that will take you to a page with a list of all the available forums. You might also want to post your "howdy do's" on the Illinois state forum, and you should get some good advice & opinions on where to fish ... within your 2hr drive limit.

Make some friends, attend some of the "gatherings" in your area, and read & follow the site rules ... and you'll find this site to be one of the greatest things you've ever found on the internet !!

... cp

[rthensley]

Welcome from Virginia.

["D"]

welcome, justfishin2 and rthensley from Louisiana. Good luck catching.

[usafret99]

Welcome alabama