Swamp Girl

I had to Google Chug Bug and I was tempted, but stood strong.

We really do have to determine what our local bass want. My preferred walking bait is the Dual Realis Pencil. It makes a chirping sound when I walk it and my local bass prefer that over other walking baits I've tried. Do I think anyone else should buy it? Only if they live in my town.

To a degree, I'm a minimalist too because I simply can't carry much. Even at the two ponds where I've a canoe stashed, I still have to carry my four to six rods, two paddles, net, flashlight, pepper spray, and tacklebox through the woods, often at four in the morning. So, my tacklebox is necessarily small. If I have to carry or wheel a canoe too, I'm only taking two to four rods. @Functional: I'm surprised a popper didn't make your list. For late summer and through fall, it's my most productive lure. Sadly, it's not warm enough to them to hit it yet.

Me too. We should be on one of those hoarders shows. I can see it now: "Let's find someone we can put in the donate bin. Something. Anything. How about this?" "No, that's my only 2012 MegaBass 110 in Double Yum Clownface XT3000!" "But there are a dozen others that look just like it." "Different vintages."

I get that. I also understand why someone who fishes heavily fished water would always be looking to cast something that their local bass haven't seen yet.

I turn 69 this summer and I have enough lures for the rest of my life with the exception of Senkos, paddletail's, and a few other soft plastics that I'll lose to wear and tear. I'll have to buy hooks, underspins, and sinkers too, of course, but if I lived another 30 years and fished hard, I don't think I'd use and lose all my lures. Plus, I used a pink and clear Shimano Flashboost Popper heavily last summer and caught hundreds and hundreds of bass with it. It's scuffed and battered, but the bass don't care. I don't need to replace it. And when a pickerel steals it one day, I have dozens of other poppers to replace it. I understand that many anglers love collecting lures and I understand the appeal, for they are beautiful, but I have shelves of lures I'll never use and I've settled into the lures that give me confidence. Anyone else saying "BAH!" to the Bait Monkey? Or do you love having the Bait Monkey perched on your shoulder, with Tackle Warehouse boxes forever on their way?

I fish only the brass-bladed Mepps and I keep steel wool handy for the blades tarnish quickly.

Tight lines indeed.

Holy muskies, @T-Billy! What. A. Morning.

I fished my pal's pond for two hours. It was windy when I launched (10 mph), but settled to half that. I only caught seven, but lost two nice ones (18-inchers) at the canoe. The ones I landed were chunky bass, caught on an underspin, spinnerbait, and walking bait. Here are three: For the fourth out of the last five trips, I caught a 19-incher.* This one was especially fine, being both plump and sleek: I keep waiting for the fishing to explode, but in the meantime, I keep plugging. *The one trip I didn't catch at least one 19-incher was my "busy boat" trip, where I focused on quantity and caught 31. You can see from my photos that I'm fishing deep water off-shore, trying to catch staging females instead of fishing the shallows as I so often do. FWIW, I've caught 169 bass so far in 2025. Eight were 19-inchers or larger and several times that number were 18 to 19 inches. I consider 19-inchers and above to be big northern bass. Last year, about 2.5% of the bass I caught were 19 inches or bigger. This year, by focusing on bigger bass, about 5% of the bass I'm catching are 19 inches or bigger. So, to catch more bigger bass, I've had to give up catching more bass.

Whereas the fishing has been clearly outstanding per your stories and photos, your enduring friendships surpass all those big, countless brownies. The span of the brotherhood speaks to the character of you men. I'm grateful you let us cyber-tag along.

Well, then, I'm going trailerless this week and we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the suggestion.

Good job, Papa, rebuilding that engine and catching those bass.

Way to hang tough, Brian, and boat some bass.

I don't fish any water deeper than ten feet because that's the deepest it is where I fish. I do think I catch bigger bass in deeper water.

I launched for just 1.25 hours this evening. It was too windy to launch earlier. I was struck by how the cool the bass still feel, meaning the water is still cool, but we have some sunny days in the mid-sixties before we drop into the fifties for highs this weekend and the following week. So, it's my hope that by Thursday morning, it'll be warm enough to really activate the bass. I caught 8 this evening. Bunch of 2.5-pounders. Six on the underspin, two on the spinnerbait, and two hit my wacky worm, but I couldn't close the deal. I hate when bass swallow a wacky worm, so I'm quick to set the hook. I know I'd catch more if I waited, but I'd also deep hook some.

@10,000 lakes Bassin: I reacted with a laugh emoji because they're SOOOOOO fat they make me laugh! Real beauties. Thanks for posting them.

Brrrrr! But I love your video. What you call "skinny, post-spawners," the rest of the world calls "nice, fat bass." Cool. She's a beauty. Whoa! I am so far behind you. If I had the badge, I'd pull you over for speeding. Fun goal!

Well done!

That's some good fishing, @Pumpkin Lizard. Did your son catch a white bass? I ask because it's so big. Or is it a wiper?

You can buy one. I've long considered it to put it in my window at Christmas.

Bob, your prose is as pretty as your pond. I know you're the master of tools, but I didn't know that that included a keyboard too.

Anyone referencing Ralphie has my vote for Bass Resource Supreme Allied Admiral, should you choose to run for that esteemed office. @Glenn, of course, will always be the Grand Poobah.

Smart. Gives you a better chance to find them faster. For me, fishing is finding. Cool! Sounds fun. Amen. I've had the dickens scared out of me on several northern Minnesota lakes. Good luck, errr, good finding!