Swamp Girl

I'll post some of tomorrow morning's trip. Hey, I'm just trying...and failing...to keep up with you. You landed 40 bass on your last trip. I didn't even manage half that number.

I love the water I fish and am content here, but now is the spring of my discontent thanks to you, for now I want to fish your son's lake too! 😉

Yikes! Now I'm going to stay scared. I think it was the eagle's body language that unnerved me. You know how eagles will scoot when you near them. Not this one. It just kept staring at me. Plus, it was mostly black. Now I'm wondering if it was a Golden Eagle, which are bigger than Bald Eagles.

It still gnaws at me that Kent lost that WR. I don't fault Kent. I credit the mighty bass that wouldn't budge. So cool that Kent's been so kind to you. He sent me a box of lures once. Gratis! And I've used them with all due gratitude. One thing that came me an advantage in landing bass is not flipping the rod from one side of my body to the other. If it's on the right when I hook the bass, I keep it here. Same with the left. Of course, when a smallie jumps five times, landing it is a lotta luck. I'm returning to my pal's pond tomorrow morning and will launch in a fog that's forecast to last all morning. Any suggestions as to where and how I should fish. The wind will be less, but still blowing (5-6 mph). I'm thinking of working a big walking bait over the dropoffs because they'll be more likely to hit in the fog. I forgot to share how I saw an eagle yesterday that unnerved me. It was the first time in my life that a bird scared me. It was so big that I felt like potential prey. It wouldn't have attacked me, of course, but I was still afraid. And it was NOT afraid of me. I drifted so close to it.

I suspect even the brown bass greats lose some. In fact, Kent told me a story of losing a smallie that he suspected was the world record. No doubt. They don't quit. Sorry you lost that four-pounder. Bass pull my boat into all kinds of trouble too.

I'll probably catch many four-pounders this year. Here's a nice four-pounder I caught yesterday: However, five-pounders are rare this far north. Same with six and seven-pounders.

I lost my net a few days ago in eight feet of water, but the water was clear and I hooked with an underspin on my first try. Am I that good? No, I was that lucky! Last spring, I dropped my cell phone into the water. I was soooo sad. So, I decided to paddle to think about what I'd need to do when I got home and I tossed out an underspin to troll it and hooked my PB. I was still so sad playing her that I had zero adrenaline and so I was refrigerator cool landing her.

Yeah, Pat can write. I'm a mostly retired professional writer and I've done a fair share of outdoor writing. Pat could too. He pays attention, which the source of good writing, and he plays with words, which is key too. @IcatchDinks: My friend, size does matter. See that little hand on your smallie? That's all that matters.

Big mouth. Big belly. Big joy! 300 acres is the perfect size. Is he allowed to launch a boat there?

I watch all Glenn's videos and read the Bass Resource articles and watch YouTube videos too. There are times when I directly apply what @Glenn and others have said, such as thoroughly working laydowns, casting to beaver dams, roaming for fall bass, etc., but yesterday, the wind both surprised and scared me. My long, slender canoe is tippy and I had to paddle across a mile of whitecapping water, so my primary concern was staying alive. There were places I wanted to fish, like a wind-beaten point and the wind beaten shore, but I didn't dare. And there were places I tried to fish, but I kept getting blown off them. So, I did a LOT of trolling to keep a paddle in my hand when the wind gusted. However, I still tried to apply what Bass Resource and the Bass Resource gang have taught me by keeping my distance from shorelines. I've fished my pal's pond a lot and on sunny days, I can see the bottom. I know where the bottom drops off and I know the shallow, muddy flats, so I paddled a ways off shore, just where it's deeper, hoping to find some staging females. When I reached a wind-protected bay, I could finally cast and I caught the 19-incher on the bump board there. I caught another 19-incher trolling later, the second from the top. When it was time to paddle home, I reverted to trolling the drop-off and that's when I caught the 21-incher. When I reached the shoreline where I leave my boat, the wind had died and I could finally cast and I caught some more. I honestly felt uncertain out there, anxious much of the time for the water is still cool enough to kill me and I'm alone out there, but my improvised strategy of trolling the drop-off worked. He is good and I do my best to pay it forward, letting some locals hunt, trap, and fish my pond. And I let my pal's grandson fish my pond too. It was your spinnerbait that caught my two biggest bass, so THANKS! It runs true and doesn't bend out of shape needing correction because it's sturdy. And it looks YUM to the bass! I was mostly scared. The photos don't really convey how choppy and gusty it was out there. I think the weather forecast got the wind speed wrong. Thanks! I don't weigh my fish anymore, however, I have weighed fish with similar builds and lengths and she likely was a little over six pounds, but I don't know. I'm certain she was over five. I didn't lose a single lmb. I did lose three smallmouth (and caught three smallmouth). If you're wondering how I can land big lmb and lose little smallmouth, it's because they're hippety-hoppety. They won't stay in the water, jumping and jumping and jumping. Here's one I did land, small, but beautiful:

I finally joined the 2025 Five-Pounder Club! Fingers crossed that @The Baron joins too.

I launched at a pal's pond at 4:45. I had flipped the wind direction in my head. I expected to launch on the wind protected shore, but it was the wind beaten shore and the pond was white capping. So, I paddled across the pond and trolled along the way. I caught a 18.25" bass, which distressed me. It was soooooo skinny. Was something wrong with the pond? Had a parasite infected the pond? Had the forage base collapsed? See why I was worried? I had no reason to worry. The pond was just fine. Because of the wind, I did a lot of trolling and caught about half my bass this way and the other half casting. I likely had a 20-pound bag with a 21-incher, two 19-inchers, and half a dozen 18-inchers. All were caught on a @Siebert Outdoors spinnerbait and a VMC heavy duty underspin. I also joined the 2025 Five-Pounder Club. Three of my bass were smallmouth and the rest were lmb. Here are the best of them, with some lipped and gripped and some on the bump board: This was the biggest. I lip gripped her and put her on the bump board too: I had been catching bass off shore, but near the end of my trip, I tried the shallows, casting into a zombie reed field. They were there, but not as big: It sure was fun. The average size was exceptional. I caught 19, but eight of them were fine, thick fish, ranging from 18 inches to 21 inches. I'll be fishing my pal's pond a couple mornings this week, so I left my Kevlar canoe there.

My takeaway is that Guinness is the Elixir of Eternal Youth.

That's a heckuva boat, @The Baron, and Wes's four-pounder equals a six-pounder down south. Is Wes a lineman?

If they made them, I'd buy a pedal canoe. I'd buy the boat below if I could drag it through the woods:

Ahhh, I didn't know. Thanks. However, you're still using your muscle and skill to hold yourself over the submerged timber.

@Motoboss: What a setup!

I'm taking a pal fishing next week. Yesterday, his wife said, "Of course he won't catch what you catch." "No, he won't, he'll catch more." "Really?" she said. "I'll make sure of it." "How?" "I'll be in the stern and the stern steers. I'll position him to cast to the best spots. If he doesn't have a good time, I'll have failed."

This will be a little shift in direction, but it might be useful: If you're in the Five C's Club, how do you counter how time has dwindled you? For me, I plan more. For example, when I pull up to my dock in the swamp, which is made of downed and split trees, pallets, and milled oak and is foot higher than my canoe, I think about how I'm going to climb onto that dock. When I was young, I'd just do it and my strength and sense of balance would save me if something went wrong. Now I position my body so that something doesn't go wrong. I use my arms to climb onto my kayak seat, balance on my haunches, and place my arms on my gunnels to help me stand. While standing, I transfer my hands to the milled oak to boost me onto the platform. All this makes a difference when I'm cool, stiff, and wet. I might sound pathetic doing all of the above, but I'm pretty sure that 90% of America's nearly 69-year olds couldn't do it. To ascend the bank with all my gear to walk through the woods, I mentally muster the strength. When our bodies go, our minds matter more and more.

SIX TIMES! ^This^ really shines a light on what separates Pat from the pack. A. Pat had the instinct to stick with that tree. B. Pat had the on-site analytical ability to reason through what lure might work. C. Pat had the tenacity to keep casting. I fished one week with one of the best musky anglers. He caught three 50"-plus muskies that week. He shared ^these^ traits with Pat. And he also had Pat's ability to recount the details of the catch. Great anglers pay attention. Lastly, if I had hooked that bass, I would not have landed it. I'm not 6' 4" and young. I do fish from a canoe that would have been pulled into the tree and beyond. I would have left a lure in that bass's lip. The right angler hooked that bass, the angler with the right stuff. When it comes to @king fisher, I do know what it takes to paddle a small boat in big wind, but again, I don't have what it takes to fish over a submerged tree in a 30 mph wind. I'd be surprised if 1% of all bass anglers could meet that feat. I know I couldn't and I have mad paddling skills.

Oh, I know. My dad is 94 and my mom is 90. I've witnessed the ravages of time.

About three years ago, I saw a guy docking his cigarette boat on Green Bay with a line of massive outboards on his boat's transom. He staggered off the boat. All that power wasn't enough to satisfy him. He had to be drunk too, endangering everyone he encountered. I bet I outfish most of them in my used canoe. I'm sure @Pat Brown does in his little boat. Same with @kingfisher in his kayak and @AlabamaSpothunter in his little boat.

I honestly don't know what's more impressive: The King wrangling huge bass out of submerged trees in a 30 mph wind or Big Bass Pat tying his PB, a bass that just. wouldn't. quit. at a lake that was busy as New Dehli at rush hour. You two sure can fish in such difficult situations.

Yes, that's our club!!! We sometimes fart too.

Well, I'm proud of you too.