Swamp Girl

We're prespawn too, Gim, and you've seen the bass I've been catching. They're thick, but not Minnesota thick. FWIW, I miss Minnesota. I lived in Eau Claire and spent a lot of time in the Twin Cities and the North Shore.

What lake/river will you be fishing and for what species? Your bass are so thick! I'd love to see a photo. I'd estimate a Maine 18.5-incher at 3.5 pounds.

Agree! These girls all came on a big walking bait and a big Deps Sakamata Shad one morning last October:

@Pat Brown: I would have loved the culling too. That was a busy bank! Cool that you're creating a big bass pond with your buddy. "OUCH!" on your thumb. Jake's expression is so cute on his last bass! I'm fishing this evening for a couple hours at my pond and will fish my pal's pond Thursday and Friday mornings when it'll be cloudy and less windy. Best of all, it's warming all week, so the water's been warming too. I won't be surprised if Thursday and Friday are my best mornings for all of 2025. I'm hoping for quantity plus quality, a busy boat with a couple four-pounders!

It does sting and the sting lingers. Sorry, bud. Your impatience was your undoing, since when hand lined her, you lost the shock absorption of your rod and the slippage of your reel's drag. Big pike can be landed on 6 lb. line, but only with a rod and reel. Here's one on 6 lb. test, but there were other big ones I hooked with six-pound test while fishing for smallmouth in northwestern Ontario. Her tail is wrapped behind me and she's held against my PFD, so she's not long-armed or even half-armed:

So true. I paddled some friends out to the island on my pond for grilled brats over a campfire with 18 mph winds and gusts to 30 mph and took the pooch to the dog park for three hours of catching the Frisbee and mowed the lawn and by the end of the day, I think my arms and legs weighed a hundred pounds each.

I fish the VMC underspins with Zakos a LOT, but rarely catch smallmouth with them. I'm targeting lmb with the underspins, but frequently catch smallmouth while using other lures like poppers and walking baits for lmb.

@LrgmouthShad: You're regularly catching those 18-inchers. They're fun! @bp_fowler: Your mom is a thunderin' stick. How big was her beast?

And I just rigged a burner worm. When the bass are chasing shad in Maine, I want to give them a fleeting look at my bait. I caught two busting shad my last trip out by ripping my bait over them.

Bass be tricksey! Bass don't do consistentsss-ly!

I have never waited so long in my life with a lure. Your patience is impressive. Now ^this^ I know. Sometimes I'll feel a little tic, but mostly I see the line with Senkos do something odd. Pat's a great teacher. Continue listening to him.

Those are big-bellied bucketmouths, Joe! What caught them? How did they fight?

I wouldn't bet against you 'cause my mama didn't raise a fool.

I have never understood mixing beer and watersports. Isn't the water enough? It is for me.

Horrific memories.

You're a consistent angler, Brian. You're like @Team9nine, i.e. you launch and catch. Therefore, I think the weather is foiling you. However, I like the Mepps idea. I also like the parallel to the shoreline cast. That's a money cast for me and has been for nearly 60 years. However, sometimes I run the lure a foot from the bank. Sometimes two feet. Sometimes three feet. Depends upon what they want that day.

Gim, I know it's not as big as you like, but it's a perfect specimen. Congrats, buddy! I started slow too.

@casts_by_fly: Your photo reminds me of @AlabamaSpothunter's assertion that if bass grew bigger, they'd try to eat us.

Marvel's Daredevil is the "man without fear" and small mouth are the "fish without fear."

Cool! Got a pic?

The circle keeps moving. Sometimes it's twenty yards from my canoe and sometimes it's forty yards. It's my favorite way to fish, but YMMV.

When those osprey seize a bass, it looks like a controlled crash. I once saw an eagle take its bass to a dead tree to eat it and the eagle let me sidle under it for a long, close look. I've learned that when you look under the hood of such assertions, what you find is that they heard some guy caught a seven-pounder once. Seven-pounders are rare in New Hampshire. I understand your discouragement and then you lost a prop too. Dang. Did you ever read this trip report? So many big bass, but so much work too: mud, slope, darkness, miles of paddling, etc. It takes a light boat and some exploring to find such places and you have to tolerate launching without a ramp and NOT sitting high and dry, but I do catch fine bass. However, a ‘68 Buick GS400 convertible is cool too.

My gloves take such a beating. I go through several pairs each year. Sometimes I wear a pair and sometimes only one on my fish gripping hand, to keep the other hand free for knot tying.

In case you don't click on @Dwight Hottle's link, here's the bass he caught with that 8" jig: Now I'm thinking I'm casting too small a walking bait for Maine's small mouth and that's why my smallies are small!

I disagree. When you have three seconds to hit a six foot circle, that's thrilling. It's like having a brief shot at a bounding 8-point buck versus, to use your word, shooting at an 8-pointer "chained" to a tree.