 good morning oh what an awesome awesome night that was probably the quietest night I've ever had no wind at all no rain nothing no coyotes even I didn't hear a thing it was it was pretty great I woke up a couple times and just my ears were working and I didn't hear anything and I went back to sleep was great no cell phone service out here either so I wasn't playing on a phone or doing any of that stuff it was awesome I got a bunch of reading done a bunch of editing done on the book that I am working on for my friend who's gonna publish another book soon as far as temperature over we're at 18 degrees so it didn't get too cold last night I was pretty warm my feet were we're in a little bit of a wet spot because when I threw my boots in the truck I guess one of them made it all the way up to where my sleeping bag was and it melted down on the drive to where I was sleeping so where my feet are it's a little bit wet but it wasn't too cold pretty excited for today CJ is gonna be coming in pretty soon it's about 5 50 in the morning right now and we are gonna go explore a super remote pond for crappy he's pretty sure there's crappy in there and we don't know about size or numbers so we're looking for good numbers more importantly we're looking for good size like it's not a problem catching crappy at all and in Maine and we're not really going for a feed right now so yeah so we're looking for something decent size we don't know what's in there for size and we're gonna go in chase them around with the live scope and have a great day that day to be a crappy buddy all right CJ's here we got a little buggy to ride in today and we're pretty pumped up but like you said it's a bad day to be a crappy oh yeah I did the poles not set up the right way oh those look like crappy yeah they don't look huge but they're definitely crappy at 40 and those like whoa yeah 100 we want to head back yeah we want like a minimum of a hundred no no yep just grab her and go treat there yeah they're not showing up big but that's all right we could weed through them got one right under me that didn't take long that didn't take long at all oh yeah nice nice black choke that castmaster look at that buddy we're on the board dark one there's two or three on the bottom he was way up oh I got a school here now got him there he is that feels all right went down to the micro tungsten first time with this rod so I don't know if he's small or not yeah he's in that range I switched down to a micro tungsten look at this look at this tungsten how small is this that's awesome isn't that great you got a pump board shoot I don't know what my brawn one 10 inches the hole 10 inches oh there he goes he's probably 13 yeah because the holes 10 yeah he might have been 14 not a bad start they're definitely moving around pretty good little guy another decent I might have found some perch no maybe it was like a crappy yep little guy here we go this ain't a crappy got him you sure there's not browns in here right oh it was a pickerel you're right what is he doing up in the water call them like that I couldn't resist them just a few meals got him got him on a lift a bad one there that one ate that micro tungsten had a rough go of it with go pros this trip so right about now after I lost that fish I lost my volume from my GoPro so the next couple fish catches you're just gonna have to go without the volume or I could add it here got him nice little 10 to 12 inch crappy micro tungsten oh there's another one got him another one on the micro tungsten nice little head shaker 10 to 12 range probably good eater size but I think I was letting those go I'm gonna hold the rod really weird here and I'm gonna put my British tea pinky out while I catch this little crappy gold stubzy not sure what happened here but I got a fish on oh it's a pickerel that was a snake they were like cruising the water column really high and I couldn't resist it if I saw one swim through got another weird hold here cut the rod tip pointed down there he is gutting pinky out three finger out and we're looking at a little tiny crappy so quantity is pretty good here quality size is not very good these are eaters that we should probably cull some of these if if CJ's gonna fish this pond a lot there's another bite oh another pickerel long and thin they're like crazy racers and by far the highest I've ever seen pickerel in the water column there within the top five foot of the surface over 26 foot of water another bite and another little tiny crappy feel like 12 13's you still got them over there on you beautiful those look pretty good size oh there you go I guess I'm getting them anyway yeah yeah that's not a bad size one is it no feels decent some bad one to bread action that's crazy how well that works isn't it I love one to bread I can't figure out why but it does work decent one still down there here oh my god I would not have guessed that big trouble me yeah that'd be perfect we are doing a health check today on a bunch of small remote ponds in western Maine and the health check is to see first if they have crappy in them or a nice yellow perch and secondly to find out how big they are the first pond we're on today we're just starting to get into some better size I probably iced one this morning over 13 inch right in this range here and CJ's got a pretty good stack of 12 to 13 started for dinner tonight we've hit geez I bet you we've already hit 60 70 fish a lot in that 10 to 12 range so health wise quantity is way up quality is a little bit down as far as main standards go and we're gonna we're gonna work on this a little bit more now that we're getting some bigger ones and if they don't get bigger we'll pick up and try another pond do another health check somewhere else okay guys we put a pretty good pretty good effort on this pond we work the basin mostly looking for the biggest crappy in the pond or the lake and we work the basin from about 20 foot deep was a shallowest down to like 26 28 foot deep so it's deepest part of the pond you get those big pods of bait like you are seeing on the screens and we were made we were able to pull out some decent crappy but not the droids we're looking for we're looking for big so CJ said those magic words that I just love to hear he said let's go find something big so we're packing up and we're gonna instead of whole hop and we're pond hopping we're just gonna load up and jump in the ATV and take a little ride till we find something we like and go try another pond and check out some size all right guys we are making the move we almost made it don't don't forget how deep that is oh no that's bubbling right up couple two inches why is that bubbling up so hard that's weird yeah oh that's plenty yeah look at the gush are you created you must have hit a low spot or something living on the edge taking up too much room really that's awesome did we just lose my sir three inches oh reverse two inches three and a half question is can we get out move around keep thinking it looks better as we get going yeah pressure rich got to be we could drill our way out anything over over five foot enough to create a problem there's not much there is there I'll stay back two and a half to yeah it's probably not worth it once we get over our head if we were brook trout fishing the rainbow trout fishing to be one thing yeah then it doesn't matter if you fall through okay no dice we gave it a quick shot but it wasn't safe wasn't quite safe enough for us and once you get out over your head who knows what the ice is it wasn't gonna be thicker I know that too thin for me yeah so we're gonna try another spot you know I've been in situations like this before where it looks safe but once you get out there and you start poking holes and jumping around moving around getting set up it's probably not safe so it's not worth it so we're gonna go try somewhere else see if we can find some ice and find some fish oh yeah there's two two big sneer me well eight fuel they're kind of hanging tight think they're gonna see if they want something bigger they like that bigger one is you got them doesn't feel big yeah but this is the first time I ever use this rod he came in oh my god right there right there no one big head shake right there but that bigger lure man he reacted yeah decent and now you had some bigers he's in that 12 range I went up to this size and there they're jumping on it that one was tough buddy he bit like a yellow all right guys we just got to our third body of water we're finding some crappy this is pretty deep body water this one's like 55 60 foot deep and we're over like 32 33 and with the forward face and sonar we found some really tight small wolf packs in that 20 to 25 range so those are the ones were after I got a couple top side that were 13's and we saw a couple that looked even bigger on the live scope so we're gonna we're gonna keep working and moving around there they're not like skittish but they're they're on the move they're on the prowl so they're not like stopping so it's really hard to get ahead of them you can kind of try to just get on them and get down to them real quick and if they stay in that range they're probably catchable good hooks it good on you got four or five down there oh yeah nice 13 yeah you got probably five on the on that school it's nice 13 isn't your yeah it's a school win nah he shot side you got three together pretty tight that's what we're looking at you guys they haven't seen you yet oh he saw you now he's about to go down in five four three two one that looked better yeah that's a better fish be a hog baby wow oh it's a hog nice that's what we're looking for that's what we've been looking all day for still two more they're still three more there there you go how the decent or yeah decent I got eight straight up on you pull and drag yeah oh yeah another slab another 14 yeah those two and take these all day long that guy kind of slid in on you too yeah these things are so fun to catch you really learn your your jigging skills hone them in you come out here do that then you go to some bago it's easy to catch some lakers yeah because I think I had them at like 80 which isn't quite as far away as you're sitting yes see right there's 70 78 feet away those are direction directly towards your seat there's two or three that like 75 and 80 okay so like yeah go to I guess try to hit 80 the best you can this is the direction right here look so pretty much right at you oh they're chomping they're like coming before to get it it's a it's wonderbred here my Dodgers and stuff I kill them on wonderbred this one feels not bad oh my god that's a pie plate man are they even that good or what look at that one guys that one's thick that's a I'd call that a hog right there they've I switched over to this Stubbs for Mac maybe Stubbsy and they are just chomping that thing but that's a good one he's in the 15 range oh yeah 15 glass any 15 and a quarter 15 and a quarter I'll take them all right got a nice little 15 incher there 15 and a quarter got them on that Acme Stubbsy I switched over to that bigger profile bigger bay and they're just chomping it take a breath first yeah that's the old drop trick the old drop kick drop to Rick see he taught me that last year and still fish there here try this bait I want to see you get one now oh there's a pig on the left too yeah I mean that I drop that thing down they react a lot different than they have been to the small stuff they always say bigger fish big baits but that one pushes a lot of water it gets their attention from afar wicked doesn't it I have to actually go get these fish they're just too far away you know our 20 32 feet that way 32 that way can you poke me one I don't know if those were the droids I was looking at but there's it's 32 yeah I don't know where those yep yep that's the angle but while you're here I'll go ahead I got I found these big ones 20 you can drill that one like 21 that way are those giants 18 call it and let me give you the line yep to your right one step to your right yep that thing 13 probably 13 change is he I'm so bad at judging I always judge smaller I throw two there get him back I'm gonna drop down the sluice heavy enough I can get down to that other one before before I release this fish I got another nice one down there I'm gonna try to get down before I release this so he doesn't spoken too bad he chomped it the rattle bait yeah they're hitting this rattle bait it's called a stub Z or a stubs Z 14er so he's bigger than I thought 13 3 quarter okay I missed him alright guys 13 and 3 quarters not bad get him back yeah he's still there he's sticking around my switch over to that smaller bait tell you in a second I hate those in line reels I am now decent yeah heavy one I mean he's over 13 probably got him on the castmaster micro tungsten yeah I mean he's 13 and a half 14 probably good one there cool that one's beautiful purple and gold that's us that's a pretty good slap actually yeah I was just like I'm decent I think he's um 14 yeah yeah he probably is yeah oh Jesus 14 pretty easy 14 alright guys 14 and you're going back I mean this this to me is like more fun than anything yeah but you're catching 14's but the next one could be 18 you see here 17 yeah this uh it's kind of like whole hopping when we were lake hopping yeah we found the right one for us put a little smash vest on them yeah we added up some inches there in a hurry with a one of one over 15 in the 13 14 range yeah yep so that was a great that was a great move for us we that was the third body of water we hit and geez I don't know how many we just caught but we probably caught less here but the quality went through the roof you know nothing under 12 inches and over 15 inches and fun to catch that deep water where they're roaming around normally this is the part of the video where I say well that's gonna do it for today guys blah blah blah but that's not gonna do it for today guys because we got a little special for you we got a little catch and cook going on we did a little selective harvest on some 12 to 13 inch crappy earlier and we're gonna show you how to cook them up we're gonna eat them tonight we're we're in luck cuz what's Anna cooking tonight steak and cheese egg rolls steak and cheese egg rolls and then venison steak and cheese nice and then what do we do with these crappy we're gonna make fish tacos fish tacos so stay tuned guys maybe you'll get to see that and we'll do a little we'll do a little chat with CJ to later in the in the show stay tuned for having me for dinner this incredible meal