 What is up guys? Joe Holland here. Welcome to another edition of the Truck Camping Panfish Tour down in western Maine looking for a giant crappie or an amazing crappie and panfish bite. Today we are joined by two fishing guides, Dan and John. I'm going to join us and have fun going after these big crappie and kind of see how CJ and I attack them with the live school. Stay tuned I think you're really going to enjoy today as much as I'm going to enjoy. Now he's probably 12. This is a good eater size. Do you want an eater? Super easy to catch one. I got all that fish there. By the time I got on him he was 40 away from me. When I was there he was 15 going away so I came over and got ahead of him and I dropped down. When I got in his range he just chowed. Oh that's awesome. Little guy. They might be just laying in the mud. There's two there. I just saw two there. Do you see them? All right it was 35 for me so I'll drill you a hole. You can start dropping. This is switching screens. They're sliding on us. Yeah they're sliding on us. Oh they're, wow they're moving fast. That's a good one too. Right over here. Back towards that hole. There is something there if you want to catch like a perch or something straight down. I don't discriminate. No me neither. I mean these guys might come back. Yeah they're cruising. Now they're 20 away. One was pretty big. I got one. I think it's a small crappy. Yeah I think these are all nursery ones. One slid threw pretty good though. Is he still on you see there? You know what? Take the rod with you and after you drill get that bait down right away and I'll come over and help you after. No take this. Where'd you go suckers? Is that them? No. Those are crappy but I don't think that's them. They were bigger. Those are crappy too. What were they like 20 away? Yeah. Oh that's big. I don't know if that's them. That's 40 away so yeah we've got some fish over here that haven't been touched yet. Oh here we go. Is that them? That's gotta be them. Did they make it 40 feet? I wouldn't know. They're still moving. Yeah so take that. So we'll go 15. Yeah go. They're 44 now moving to 50 so if you go 50. Yep and then drop right away and I'll let you know. Go left a little. They're at 50 right now. Go left quite a bit. Keep going. Yeah are you 50? Yep. Go. They're at 50. Yeah you can try 50. Yeah and then drop right away and I'll I'll be able to watch for you. Are they stayed so if you drop right away you're on them. Six feet past them but they're heading your way. They're like 45 now so maybe you stopped them. Yeah you you're down pretty far right? Yep. Alright lift up a little bit. They're like they're within 10 feet of you. Oh he's coming in hot. Be ready. Watch your tip. Watch your tip in. This is a big one. In about four, three, two. Alright watch your tip right now he's on you. Yes. Oh he I saw it hit. He's still there. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Stop. Alright another one's coming up. Alright drop a little more. You hurt the feelings of the bigger one. Okay ready? Wait wait wait. Alright be ready. Watch your tip. Got him? Yes. Yeah he got him. Alright we'll go over and see what it is. Let's go guys let's go. Small yellow. Small yellow? The first one was a crappie for sure. You know why that was cool. Yeah. We have walked somebody through that line from 60 feet away. Yeah. Guys the fish are just moving so hard on us and fast and they're on the prowl. I don't think we're spooking them because they're so deep that now I'm just sending CG out there with a drill and a rod and I'm watching from where we are and he's catching these fish. He missed a pretty good size crappie. It hit him and their crappie just aren't hitting good right now and then the crappie went back down and we got that. I'll try to get a camera on the unit. Let's do it again. Want to do it again? Yeah. I mean I could see it clear as a day by far the best school we've had. There's a couple decent ones in there that one on the bottom looks really good. Okay, get another big down. Go down now. Go ahead bud. Go for it. That one will drop if you hold that lever back. Joe and I caught about 200 crappie in the last two days so it's fun to watch how they deserve it. Keep them fighting. I don't know where my thing went. Right there. Yeah, probably there. Stop it. He kissed it? He's still on. Oh, drop it right down. He might bite again but the other ones will too. That's impressive. I know. I tell you they love that bait. I'd go. That might be two there on them. Yeah. Nice. I dropped that one right back down. They still got five or six there. This one might be better. Oh yeah, that's a staver. That's a beast. I think, is it? Yeah, that's a good one. There's some bigger ones down there. John, drop down. Yeah, that's a good one there. Is that a keeper or a let it go? What do you think? Okay, cool. There's two good ones left in that spoon. Let's see if he can catch their attention. Right there. I wouldn't go any lower. Yeah, you got them coming. Oh, they're coming hot. Watch that tip. Atta boy. Fort Dean. Nice. Another good one. Feel pretty good. I'll get that out of the way. Nice. Another big one. We'll drop this lure down as quick as we can. You guys want a picture together with each with one? Oh yeah, that'd be good. Oh, we're losing them. We're losing them. Get down there quick. Quick. Quick. Whose one is that? You get your iPhone. Got them. Those are awesome. Yeah, they just barely slid out on us. Yeah, let me show you a trick. Yeah, check out this trick. I've never seen this trick. This trick is awesome. Just slapping them, pops that little air bubble for them. That's some big traffic. Yeah, those are good. That was over 14, wasn't it? Just shy over here. Let's see if they there's one down there, but they're to the side. Let's see where they go. See, you know, Washington, see if they take the school with them. See them going. The ones going to the school. If you need to turn that, you can. That guy might come back for you. I think that top one of those three is big. Yeah, good job. Good job, guys. That was awesome. That's a Tom Brady moment. High five, everybody. You see how we kept the school here for at least four of us here. No, I had a bait down there. They had already slid away. They was doing that yesterday. We'd find a hole, banged three or four out of them, and then that was some hunts back on. That was the first good school we found. That's the first school we found that had more than two or three. It's right that way. That whole way there should be. Well, it's kind of a run. Yeah, your cone's coming. When it's in download, I don't know which is left or right. You know what I mean? So like. Yeah, we have to get some of these baits. Yeah, I was never a believer in them till yesterday. That one's called a stub-z. It's made by Acme. That one, they've been choking it. Yeah. Well, that one that we kept. It was like purge. Did he have it deep? Oh, yeah. And you were like on cue. It wasn't like you were sitting back drinking a beer. Like you were on cue and he choked it. There's something about that stupid wonderbread color too. Oh, you got it? Nice. Is it baby crappy or purge? Like you said, they were sliding down. It might be crappy. Oh, nice poach. It is he quite. He might not be eater size. But look at that. Look how he choked that thing. And I was like right on it too. I don't know if it's the size, the shape or what, but they, the last three days I've been, I got one of them little poker things for these pan fish. I don't know where it went. Look at that. Well, like one thing I'll tell you guys, because I'll say it, my video too is, yeah, you probably had to keep that fish anyway. I was gonna. His stomach's out. But one thing I'll tell you guys is most people, like this is my neutral size bait, this cast master. It's like an eighth cast master. That's pretty big for most purge guys or crappy guys. That's my neutral. That's my big one. And then I have a tiny one. I always go with three different sizes to give them a different presentation. And the finicky fish, like nine out of 10 or a hundred ninety nine out of a hundred guys, when they have a finicky fish, they go to their smallest bait to try to get them to bite. I've been dropping that down and they've been chewing that. It's kind of like a bass where they just want to get that big meal. He wants, you know, I saw that yesterday and I was like, he's going the wrong direction. Yeah. And I was like, what the hell? And it's like fish that are like really finicky. They're coming up, kissing bait and you drop that and they just fly in and eat it. Got them? Who here putting a hurt on them? What's this? Big yellow? What do you think? Those yellows are good. Yeah. That's a male right there. That's a male. They got the most meat on them. You get good at flying in 10 to 12 inch fish. Yeah. I've never eaten yellows. Oh my God, they're so good. Imagine out of here, they're going to be good. Growing up though, where we were, everybody in the whole state eats them. Oh my gosh. But you go outside of Maine and they serve them as like a delicacy of restaurants. Got another one. Oh, mega yellow. Nice. Really. That's a big male right there. He came right off that bottom. That is a nice male. He's got some serious meat on him. I couldn't tell on the screen what he was because he was big enough. Yeah. Usually you got to get him within like eight and then they see you. He's coming over. Yeah. That's a good size fish right there. He saw you. He just saw you. Oh, you got him. Drop it right back down. He'll hit again. He's a mocha. Is he? Is he on the hook? No, he's not on the hook. He's coming back. All right, stop it. Stop, stop, stop. It might be a pickerel. He came in so fast. Yeah. If that's a crappy, that's the one we want. It's a pickerel. He'll hit again. Oh, oh, he swiped at it. There you are. Nice. Crappy. Maybe it's a rainbow. I think it's crappy. Yeah, big crappy. Nice. Look at the size of that thing. Dude, that's huge. That's got to be over 14. Oh, yeah, that's over. That's in the 15 range. And they're comping that bait, aren't they? That is a beauty. Are you biggest this year? If you want to measure it. He's got to be, I bet he's just under 15, like 14, three quarters. With Crappy, you got to close the mouth. Just under 15 right there. 14, three quarters. I got a pretty good eye on him. Nice one. Hey, that was awesome. You get two chances on those. Like the first one, he just came in and just. My hand was in the wrong spot. Was it? It was bad. That was the hardest hit I've seen yet on that first one. Like I watched the tip just go, like I almost heard it. And I sat and it was just like cluster. Yellow or black? Nice yellow. It's hard to do. Hard to pick up women with your bicycle. I can't see the bottom. That's the part that you don't want to. Oh, here you go. Try one of them pencils. Pencil pokers. Here's he go. He's already going. Nice. He's in the range now. Here he comes. He sees me. Let me get some activity. It's not coming very hot. Oh, he's on you. Yeah. Geez, feels all right. Might be a bass. Ah, big head shape. I hope it's a Crappy. Getting smaller now. It's a big yellow. I have to go to the eater pile. Who's got the eaters? Good one there, guys. Working on some lunch. Breakfast for lunch. Never a bad idea. I'll do some breakfast sandwiches. Have some steaks that I grilled up. Get some sauce. That looks edible. It wouldn't turn in the way. What do you think, Dan? Comfortable? Edible? Very edible. Is that going to fill the void? Oh, yeah. Maybe tomorrow we'll do a pizza. They've got a pizza oven now. Really? Yeah, they've got one of those in the ovens. Just for ice fishing. That's cool. Who makes it? Oh, wow, thank you. Oh, you did bring out the fine china. Look at that, guys. We got prime rib bacon and sausage sandwiches with egg and cheese. Wow. Yeah, it wasn't a bad idea. Yeah. They'll do it. Looks like there was one pond that we... Oh, he's small. That took a while. He's small. I think it's a yellow. That might be a Crappy. He's looking like a Crappy on screen. Yeah, he's just a small Crappy. Man, what's he... It took him a while to bite. Yeah, I know it. That was tough, catch. Yeah, he still got it. It doesn't feel like much. Look at that bite. Just barely nipping it. You guys want to eat that one? There's a school out here. They're kind of scattered. Not bad one right there. We're hooked up. I think we're perching right here. Another 14 inch or probably 13? This is a Facebook. This is a Facebook 18. I'm always lower on the guess. And CJ pulls out the scale. It's like, oh yeah, he's 14. Hold him up. I'll tell you exactly what that guy is. He is 13 and a half. I just gave that fish away. Which one? That one. He did. That's how he's got all his fish today. We gave them to him. I'm joking. That might be true. That's what the fun is out here. That's how CJ caught them all yesterday. 14. That's close. 14. That's under. Just a kind of pinches. 14. There's a lot of people that that'd be their personal best outside of Maine. Nice. John, how are you feeling? But is that your biggest or the ice? That is the biggest. Nice. Yeah, you've had like a bunch of 14s today. Really, really good day on the ice. Wait, who caught the 15? Was that you? Was it a 15? Yeah, your 15 was your biggest. Yeah, you got a 15 earlier. You got a 14, right? What was that? That double? Double. So those are awesome crappie guys. That's phenomenal. They look good on them. Oh no, you wrapped the old yellow pole. And the real kind of came off a little bit. Big yellow. That might be an eater. He could eat that same. Hack me. Here you go. Yeah. All right, that's probably twitch it there. See if he sees you. He ain't, he's not reacting the right way. Big mark. He definitely not reacting the right way. He's going the opposite direction. He's going left. Well, that's going to do it for today, guys. Had an awesome day chasing these crappie around, catching a few perch mixed in. Pretty much left it all out there today. I am exhausted. I bet you I drilled 200 holes on my own and up and down, up and down. The fish weren't moving very much and you had to stay on them. But all in all, pretty excellent day. I mean, we ice over a dozen, over 14, a couple in that 15 inch class and a couple of PBs I think for the ice out here today. Dan, had a great day. Awesome day. John? Phenomenal day. Phenomenal day? CJ? Phenomenal day? Any day on the ice. Phenomenal. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thanks for tuning in, guys. Off to the next one. I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow, but we're chasing the bigs tomorrow, so we might not put as many numbers out there, but we're going to see if we can put something big on the ice for you. Yeah, bring them over. Okay, guys, we are off the ice. We are at one of the local watering holes. What's this place called? The Back Burner. All right, we're hanging out. We're getting into the appetizers right now. What do we have here? Some cold chicken nachos and chicken wings. Chili chicken wings? Chili chicken wings. So these two guys, actually all three of you guys are guides, right? All three sitting with me. I'm in the presence of three main guides, and they're held in high esteem here in Maine. It's hard to get your guides licensed, and they're held to super high standards. What I want to know, CJ, how did you make the leap in the guide? I got you with your mouth full, so take your time. Take it over. But I've met a lot of guides, and I know it's like taking that leap and leaving like a previous job or something. We'll let her pass the stuff out because you got three minutes to tell us. So what a lot of people want to know, or you're like thinking about getting into it, or just curious like how you got your start into it? I've always wanted to be a guide. No kid. I love watching somebody else be successful just as much as I like being successful myself. I had a bad log accident, crunched my foot. I was out of work for a year and a half. I was going crazy, and Anna pushed me to do it. She's like, you got all this time, why don't you just go take your test while you can? So I did, and passed. I got my hunt and fishing one try. I never really thought I'd make a business out of it right away, but it happened quick. Dan, John really kind of teamed up right from the start, you know, took on a few ice fishing clients, worried about spreading. I'm busy now. Yeah. CJ, what did you do before guiding them? Logging. Like cutting the trees or driving them? Everything. I started out with a cable skinner when I was 15. I was driving a grapple skinner when I got out of high school. Eventually bought my own skinner, bought my own equipment. What did you buy for a skinner? Your first one? You remember? C535. No, no kidding. Then I felt six months I bought a 540B John Deere. Yeah. Then I bought a rubber tie skid skier with a log bucket on it. I bought a rubber tie saw head, a slasher, strap, skidder, chipper, and I ran that. I built that for like 10 years, and then I sold that business and went to work for other log companies until I crushed my foot. And then I, here I am, God, that's awesome. Great landscape of business for them. We still do, you know, as a film. Was it scary making a leaf in the guidance? Without having like a, like starting a zero without a thing? It still is scary. You never know what it's going to be. It's going to be a con. You jump around like it does. You never know, but we've been so, we have, honestly, meeting Dan and John. Teaming them, together, working with each other, and you know, meeting you and, you know, just, I don't know, it's like the stars of a line, the rustle. I'm teaching kids how to have fun in the outdoors. So, so, you know, whatever it might be, how to start a fire, how to cook a lot of fire, maybe even like that, getting kids outside. That's my goal. And then tours on the, on the dog sled, some of the weather. I think that's the coolest thing. Yeah. Like, I want, I want to do that too. Dog sled tours and like onto an ice fishing like that would be awesome. Yeah, that's the goal is to be able to do a whole trip. Drop the clients off from the dog sled, let them fish all day, we'll feed them a good meal, pick them back up, bring them back to their vehicle with the dog sled. I'll throw their info in the, in the description. If you guys are thinking of doing a dog sledded, guided, and fed ice fishing day, call these guys for sure. Or if you just want to wail, somebody's big crappy like we've been wailing. So dance there. My buddy Skip, who was a game up in the North Main Woods, he had Chamberlain for a while and played like, he was telling me when he was young, he was on like a night hunter duty, and they had this deer set up on the golden road and they just got everybody on. It was like right when you turn and they're hiding in the woods. And he said this little like gremlin car, you know, those gremlins are like a little tiny hatchback or whatever comes up and just catches the deer, then a light, then it grinds it, backs up right across the deer again, drives ahead, crosses the deer, shines the deer like five times. They're the ones in the other woods like, what the hell is this guy doing? So finally, the car gets like right in the right position, old guy gets out, right, got mama with him on the passenger side, opens the back, pulls out the rifle, slams the truck, and that deer still standing there in the headlights. And they're like, so Skip goes out and he goes, well, I'm not gonna have to shoot the deer, you know, let him shoot the deer. So he taps on the shoulder and says main game war, or yelled it first, but the guy couldn't hear, yelled it like four times, the guy still couldn't hear. So then he taps on the shoulder, says main game war, and that's a decoy. The guy says, the deer right there. All right, the winner of that round. All right, guys, awesome day out there on the hardwater. Pretty excited for tomorrow. We're picking up another fisherman tomorrow and gonna try some new ponds for some new water. I'm here pretty cozy in my bed in my truck, doing some more truck camping this trip and charging some GoPro pro batteries and also reading that book that I've been working on, helping edit the beta copy for a friend of mine, Tommy Carbone, before he puts it out to publish. And the book's just awesome. It's about David Libby on the Penobscot River and a bunch of really cool stories. So I'm really getting deep into this book and it's costing me some sleep, but it's a lot of fun. So morning's gonna come quick. We're starting probably 530 tomorrow morning and gonna load up and get on the crappy again. Thanks for tuning in, guys. Truck camping is fun. I love it.