Swamp Girl

You might have observed that I focus on green bass, but I catch brown bass too. My focus has me casting big lures like a 13 Fishing Dual Pitch 108 Pencil in Golden Retriever. It's a 4.5" bait for a bucket-mouthed bass, but lawdy, lawdy, the smallies like it too. Like these two: Yeah, I know they're not @A-Jay-sized bass, but they're still smallies, i.e. fearless fish willing to bite above their weight class. Do any of you throw bigger baits like the Dual Pitch 108 Pencil intending to catch brown bass or do you also catch smallies while throwing big baits for lmb?

@N Florida Mike: You've had quite a 2025, Mike. I've lost count of all your 20"+ bass. @Bazoo: Now I want to try a Johnson Silver Minnow. I'll dig one out and give it a go, but I won't buy a Zoom Split Tail Trailer. I have plenty of other soft plastics that will work.

I won't fish above 10 mph and prefer to fish below 6 mph. It's the cost of my quiet canoe, which lets me launch at water others can't reach. I think wind is good for fishing, but my light, high-sided canoe works like a sail and being tippy, windy days are scary. I actually reading the accounts of struggling with wind because I'm reminded I'm not alone.

@IcatchDinks: Future headline: ICD, Jr. Breaks Largemouth Record Again! Professional Bass Angler, ICD, Jr. broke the largemouth bass world record for the fifth time yesterday. Asked to explain the unprecedented feat, ICD, Jr. said, "I was nearly born with a fishing rod in my hand. My dad used to take me fishing when I just one." The new world record bass weighed 27 pounds, 6 ounces, besting his former record by four ounces. It was caught on a lure that he designed, the Dink-O-Daddy, named after his father.

I caught seven bass 19" or longer this past week. Those are big bass for Maine. I caught three of them at a stream exiting the lake and four of them trolling. Trolling isn't as fun as casting, but your lure is at your target depth 100% of the time. So, it ups your odds. Being quiet also helps me. The three bass that I caught at the stream's headwaters is a tight, shallow area with clear water. I think many anglers would reveal their presence. I caught all three on a wacky worm. There's current there and I correctly guessed that the current would provide enough action to entice a bass. The less I moved, the less likely a bass would realize I was there. So, I cast my worm from a good distance and let the current move it. My challenge was watching the line to see a strike. The worm was moving constantly in the current. I had to differentiate that movement from a bass taking the bait. I focused on that spot because it's a prime site to ambush prey and bigger bass claim the prime sites. So, basically fish an area likely to hold big bass, don't betray your presence, and keep your lure in the water. I think these matter more than a certain lure. At the very least, this approach works for me...or worked this past week.

Mono and braid.

^This^ is also my position.

You know all those YouTubers will clickbait titles like "Monster Bass," who then go out and catch one three-pounder? Still, some of them garner hundreds of thousands of views, even though an old woman in a canoe outfishes them ten-to-one. Well, I wish you had a channel, Pat. You sure deserve it. You constantly share things I haven't observed and didn't know.

Yeah, for sure. I think about this every time I share how many bass I catch with my chartreuse and white Zakos and worry that other BR members will go buy them, catch nothing, and say, "Swampy's a kook." As Jimmy might sing, "Changes in latitude, changes in bass attitudes."

I did. I'll PM you.

Interesting. Not that way here. When the trees turn green here, the water is finally warm enough for the bass to feel perky.

I had to Google Zoom Split Tail. That's a cool-looking trailer, but I'm going to stick with my Zako. Maine bass like it. However, I can see why a Zoom Split Tail might not stay put.

Fingers crossed for you, buddy. Speaking of buddies and Krakens, I surely hope your buddy said, "Release the Kraken!" when he did. Like this guy:

I predict next week will be my best fishing all year, so I'm pre-reporting and we'll soon see if I'm right. It's cool today and tomorrow will be even cooler, ranging from 47 degrees to 50 degrees. It starts to warm on Sunday and that warming continues through the week. See the trees and bushes last night? \ Still brown, right? Well, I expect them to erupt this coming week and I expect the bass to do the same. I've done well this spring with quality, catching seven bass over 19 inches in the last four trips, and about a dozen bass between 18 and 19 inches this last week alone, but quantity should double or triple next week...if my forecast holds...and it'll stay that way through the end of June. #whenthetreesawakenthebassdotoo P. S. - Does anyone else still have bare branches?

No keeper, but the Zako stays put. Sometimes after battling a bass, it's rolled to an twisted upside down position, but I just twist it back.

I always fish a trailer. I use a Zako in chartreuse and white. It stays put.

W-w-w-WOW! That's the Kraken!

Don't we all! I skunked a few times in March and April because even though I knew the water was too cold, I just couldn't wait. Wait. I charge nothing to take people fishing. Am I undercharging? Seriously, Pat, you are such a thoughtful, informed angler and whereas I don't shrug at sight fishing beds, I do mull your position.

Because I'm pretty new to lmb fishing (Before I first focused on lmb in Maine, I'd last fished them 50 years ago.), I'd never fished a spinnerbait for anything smaller than muskies. So, when I tried them, I was delighted with how well they worked and dismayed by how they'd break after even catching five fish, leaving a big hook in a bass's mouth. I paid much more for titanium and the first one I used broke too. They broke because they'd be bent by a bass and I'd have to bend them to their original shape so that they'd run true, weakening the metal even more. Someone at Bass Resource suggested a Dobyn's Beast spinnerbait and that was a great suggestion, as its thicker steel didn't deform in a fight. And then, to support a Bass Resource advertiser and thus Bass Resource, I ordered some of @Siebert Outdoors's spinnerbaits. I've only used one this spring because it just keeps running true. It caught my biggest bass this spring too as well as several four-pounders and many bass between three and four pounds. Here's the big girl it caught: Amazingly, I haven't lost a single big bass that it's hooked. I bought it with the chrome willow blades and a super white skirt. Sure, it looks like spinnerbaits from other lure companies, but it's better. Because I'm a paddler, I often troll with it and it performs just as well trolling as casting. I can't imagine using anything else going forward.

Thanks, but I only had to move it once (and I used my canoe wheels to roll it down my path), as I have it at my pond and it'll stay there. When I travel to other water, I take my 32 lb. Kevlar Rockstar canoe.

And that's why I bought it. I'm a weak, old woman.

Man, you sure can cowboy.

I prefer a single blade paddle because it consumes less space. 59 pounds.

I fished my pal's pond for the fourth time this week. We have a cold front coming and the weekend will be cool and wet, so I launched one last time, hoping that the bass could sense the coming weather and feed accordingly. They did. I caught bass on four lures: a Mike Siebert spinnerbait, an underspin, a wacky worm, and a walking bait. I caught 15 total and two were smallies. I opened with a 17-incher and a 18.5-incher, but my finish was the grand finale, as I caught three bass in three consecutive casts. There's a little river that flows out of my pal's pond and it draws big bass. I approached with maximum stealth and positioned my canoe as far as possible while still permitting a cast. Then I feasted. This was the appetizer at 18.75 inches: She did not want to come to the canoe. Great fun. Then the entree was served: The 19-incher also didn't want to come to me and maintained a fair distance, taking me for a little ride. My third consecutive cast produced this pretty, petite dessert, a considerably smaller, but still solid bass: All three were caught on a Junebug wacky worm with a chartreuse tip. Here are some others I caught: This was my view paddling home:

Oh, I know it's exciting, as I was casting to bass chasing shad this morning...and caught a couple. When smallies in northwestern Ontario were plucking bugs off the surface, if you could land your popper within three feet of them within three seconds or so, it was fish on. Knowing this probability made it some of the most exciting fishing of my life.