Swamp Girl

Amen, my friend! It'll be 43 degrees when I launch tomorrow morning (and it's 43 right now), but at least it won't be windy. I think I'll catch some fish because the bass have to eat and if I'm right in guessing that they haven't spawned yet, they really have to eat. Crazy that you wore so much clothing when June is a week away! I'll bundle tomorrow too. Shouting out again to @king fisher. What a bag! Atop a kayak in 20 mph wind. That takes mad skill and a truckload of pluck. I wouldn't enjoy the brown shorelines, but I'd love the challenge of boating big fish from a tiny boat. I assume he's not using FFS. I'm guessing no motor too.

I can die a happy woman if @Glenn follows in Uncut Angling's footsteps and does his own version of this:

You fish more pressured water than me, however the water I fish is more pressured than it appears. I avoid the weekends to avoid other anglers and I launch early to avoid other anglers. For example, in the top photo, it looks like a wilderness lake, but if I had turned the camera 180 degrees, you would see a line of houses, docks, swimming platforms, and many boats. Thanks. I'm due to miss some.

@king fisher: If I could choose between a 39.4 pound bag and a DD, I'd take your big bag everyday of the year, including February 29th. Your achievement coming atop a kayak makes it doubly impressive. I'm so proud of you and so happy for you.

Ha! You and I are lucky to fish the water we do. I shared that I've caught thirteen 19-inchers or bigger this month, but I didn't share that I've only lost one that size. I feel good about my landing ratio, which is 93%. The one that I lost jumped completely out of the water and shook free, which was something special to see.

I like Old Lady Angler. I'll be fishing with her this summer. I also like Kristine Fischer, who has a last name as apt as Tiger Woods. I probably watch more of @Glenn's videos too than any others. He's a gifted teacher.

I've seen how much fun you have fishing with your buddies and wife. Do you have a spare bedroom?

Gosh, yesterday evening sucked the sap out of me. This morning, I feel like I brawled with Bluto. The photos only show the protected areas I fished. To reach them, I had to paddle through white-caps. And for some strange reason, the sky looks light in a lot of my photos. It wasn't. It was gray all evening and it was raining on the drive home. Right now, I have NO desire to fish again. It was rough out there, plus I ended up with a hook in my thumb. It happened in a situation where I would never have predicted it. It was a Rapala hook, a small one that slid into my thumb so easily. I had to punch it through and cut below the barb. So, now my thumb is swollen. Sigh. I know I'm not the only one taking a beating out there, but I have caught 13 bass 19" or bigger this month. Those are big lmb for 44.43 degrees north.

And Maine (This is a sheltered bay that I reached after paddling through white-caps.): Mettle-testing in many places.

Br-r-r-r! I think we'll get your weather this Friday, when the low will be 43 and high will be 48. Crazy cool for late May!

It's been windy this week and if I was going to launch, it would have to be with an 8 m.p.h. wind (That's what the forecast said, but it was white-capping on the open water. Even 8 m.p.h. is more wind than I like to fish in my high-sided, light canoe. It was 52 degrees when I launched and 49 when I quit. COLD for late May! Here was the sky: The evening was cool, but the fishing wasn't. It wasn't hot either. Lukewarm quantity-wise, but toasty quality-wise. I caught two 19-inchers. The first was nearly 19.5": She hit a wacky worm. This one was a little shorter, but likely heavier and she hit a loon-colored Whopper Plopper: I caught some other fine bass: This one was beautiful: One last one and then I stumbled to shore, for I was quite chilled: I'm guessing the best five weighed between 18 and 18.5 pounds. 20 bass in all, taking me to 293 bass for 2025. I'm catching fewer bass this year for two reasons: I'm spending more time fishing for bigger bass and it's been a cool spring, cooling the fishing. Here's a little one to say bye!

Many days, I can see what they're feeding on. For example, I'll see bass chasing shad on the surface, smallmouth launching themselves to grab dragonflies, or bass waiting under bushes to eat bugs that fall.

I check everyday and every couple hours prior to launching. If I had a motorboat, I'd check less.

Amen, brother. I try to apply the accepted knowledge and sometimes I succeed, but sometimes my local bass zig where they're supposed to zag.

Way to go, @Pat Brown and Jake! Jake sure is following in his papa's footsteps. More and more, when I see photos of Jake, I see the emerging man, but there are still a few photos where I see the boy. Pat, over the years, I've seen you post many bass with shredded tails. I have never, NOT ONCE with thousands of bass, seen a Maine tail as shredded as the ones you catch. This tells me that either Maine bass are test tubing their fry or they're nest building on soft mud and your bass must be nest building on gravel and mud. Beauty, @IYAOYAS!

This rings true. I too am pounding a couple ponds and have for a couple years now. If I were to guide you and you were to ask, "Where will we catch them," my answer would be, "I dunno. Gotta find 'em." I just don't perceive the tight patterns on the water I fish that are presented as proven knowledge. Do I doubt that these patterns are found elsewhere? I do not. The only pattern I've discerned this fall is that SOME bigger gals are off-shore...until they aren't. I've caught five big gals off shore and four at an egress stream. I haven't caught any big gals on shorelines like I likely will later in the year. I'd bet money on ^this.^

Hardcore.

Scott, where are you fishing for two weeks?

Hey, Kyle! I hope you stay and continue to post. Congrats on that 20-incher! She has a big, thick back.

Sounds great, Jim! I have a tandem canoe and a solo canoe on my pond and LOTS of three-pounders.

Brian, I spent a week in northwestern Ontario with about a dozen fellow musky anglers and I marveled at how much they loved language. Several of them were men who could surge into violence and the majority of them were drawn to danger, but nearly all of them loved words. I think this is because it's common to fish all day and not catch a single musky, so in the interim, a musky hunter has nothing to do but pay attention and glean all you can from what you see. Just as a successful musky hunter witnesses well, so must a writer. To write well, you must pay attention and then muster the means to convey what you saw. The difference is that a writer must also witness outward and inward, for the full story isn't just what our eyes see, but how we feel in the seeing. One eye looking outward and the other, inward.

@IcatchDinks: I marvel that you fish at all with two tykes, but am glad that you do. I shoot for five hours or thereabouts for morning trips, but evening trips can be as short as an hour when I launch at my pond and just hop into the canoe at my dock. My pond being five minutes from my home justifies those short fishing sessions. Five minutes of driving and five minutes of walking through my woods and I'm on the water!

I've got a mission! You and I know that I can catch bass. Now let's see if I can "catch" a bed! Thanks again for all your knowledge.

I appreciate your cutting me some slack. I've felt like a big, ol' BED FAILURE! Come up here and fish my pond, which the McMansioners haven't ruined and will likely never ruin!

Tannic and clear, yes, but the bottoms are either mud or rock. I'll do what you suggest in three weeks: I'll go bed hunting instead of bass hunting! You're right about my fishing overcast days. I don't like to fish sunny days, plus we are frequently overcast on the coast of Maine. I saw someone from Washington yesterday who'd moved here and I said, "This must feel a lot like your home," since it was gray and drizzling. He smiled and said, "Yes, it does."