Swamp Girl

No foolin'? That's great news! I'm surprised that they're so protective of bass, given how sturdy they are, but I kind of like it too. FWIW, I ordered three Canada caps. I'll be wearing them all summer. I have always loved Canada and Canadians. Got a new boat pic?

Cold, snowy winds blow long and hard off those Great Lakes for sure. The BR gang have been posting so many big bass, but anglers like @gim, @The Baron, me, and others are simply this:

Dang it, Dwight, it's still winter here. The wind is howling today and tomorrow brings four inches of snow. Does anyone have a white flag? I am ready to unconditionally surrender.

The question: "Are you ready for some football?" Rockhopper's answer, "Yes, yes, I am."

You are making the Bait Monkey cry!

I only tried lizards (blue) once, but they were a good numbers bait for me.

Musky anglers do this all the time with follows. They'll leave to rest the fish and return later.

I'll add that an underspin with a Keitech, Crush City Mayor, or Yamamoto Zako was my number one producer last spring and early summer by far. In 2024, it caught my PB and about a thousand other bass. I could throw it everywhere and it caught shallow bass, deep bass, and in-between bass. It's nearly weedless, so it gave me great confidence pitching it into weeds and wood. It's also a terrific lure to troll, which many bassheads don't do, but I always do when paddling from one spot to another.

@AlabamaSpothunter has praised Texas's bass rearing program many times. It's been a heckuva spring for the BR gang. I seem to remember you, Alex, starting off the parade of beshemoths with your near DD and all your sixes, sevens, and eight-pounders.

Agree! It is fun to fish with a new lure and have it work. You know how an athlete imagines the movements they'll use in a coming competition? Well, in the middle of a day, I'll sometimes pretend I'm strolling a lure to keep building muscle memory. I caught a few strolling last year, but hope to catch many more this year.

@softwateronly: You are smokin' hot! Ha! I wouldn't have it any other way. Rather, I couldn't have it any other way or I wouldn't be able to fish most of the water I fish.

We call him Mr. Bluebasser86!

I read this twice. It was that exciting. Thanks!

Ha! ^The story^ of my fishing life. If one's boat is light AND therefore easily bullied by bass and wind AND you can't stand to use your leg muscles too to fight a bass AND there are weeds and wood everywhere, landing a big bass is like tightrope walking across the Grand Canyon in a howling wind while wrestling a bobcat. Which is why it's SOOOOOOO fun!

All good options. I'd consider Erie and Ontario too for monster smallies. If you could fish morning and evening, you might enjoy 100-bass days in Maine, which isn't that far away.

Heck, yeah, it was a blast!

When I launch at four in the morning, it's dark and I hear bass feeding all around me. Big galoomps! It's exciting. One time in the dark in 2024, I caught a 4-pounder, 4.7-pounder, and 4.4-pounder on consecutive casts. I think I could have caught more, but it was foggy in addition to being dark and bass spin my canoe, so I lost all sense of where the school was.

Tom sure applied this advice to his life. That must have been thrilling! Striped bass are beasts.

Thanks. That means a lot to me. Okay, I know the territory. I used to live in Brighton and Brookline. Your turf is people, people, and more people. Plus people. And roads. And buildings. Buildings full of people. When I was young and strong, I fished in northwestern Ontario and as good as the fishing is in Maine, if I could, I'd still fish northwestern Ontario instead*. My happiest place is a lake with no homes, no people, and no other boats and there are few delights in this world for me that are greater than portaging through the woods and seeing blue glimmering through the trees. Then you reach that shore and cast to see if there are fish in that lake and it's fish on! *I focused on northwestern Ontario because there's an area there where smallmouth abound and they were my favorite fish for several decades.

Please do! As I've said several times, In-Fisherman believes a northern tier lmb's weight is equivalent to 1.5 times that weight in a southern bass. They also believe that northern smallies equal southern smallies. So, your 20+ northern lmb bag is equal to a 30+ southern lmb bag, while your 20+ northern smallmouth bag is equal to a 20+ southern smallmouth bass, which is still worthy of Irish dancing. I don't know if the In-Fisherman staff is right, but they have caught a few big bass, in the north and the south, both lmb and smb. And being mostly from Minnesota, I'm certain they understand the challenges of landing big lmb that far north.

Man, oh, man, such fishing is beyond my ken.

You've sure had some great days. Thanks for sharing!

Darren, I can only speak to my experience of bass fishing in Maine. When I finally launch (It's snowing heavily here right now.), I won't work my way down shorelines, casting at docks and laydowns. That's a summer approach for me, when bass tuck under cover to avoid birds and ambush prey. However, I might catch them tight to shorelines. I won't know until I start casting if they're there or not. My starting point will be deep water abutting shallow water. They spawn in the shallows and stage in the adjacent deep water, so I cast there, in the deep water. However, that's just a starting point. Last spring, I'd catch them in the back of a bay one day, tight to shoreline the next day, thirty feet from the shore the next, and in deep water the next. Keep moving and keep casting until you get a hit. Then pound that spot and similar spots on that day at that lake, but don't assume that they'll be in the same spot the next day. Bass are a puzzle we have to solve everyday.

Don't hold this against me, but bass fishing is my second favorite hobby. Sumo miniature golf is my favorite.

Ah, c'mon! At the rate you Southern bassheads are catching big bass, we'll never catch all y'all. Meanwhile, it's snowing here. Big flakes. Sigh. Anyway, congrats, Koz!