Swamp Girl

That's 'cause you're too cool to back down.

It's fishing fertile water. I know your turf and you're close to water that holds a lot of fish, both for quantity and quality: Mille Lacs, Chequamegon Bay, the north shore of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, the backwaters of the Mississippi for lmbs and the upper Mississippi for smallies. Best of all, northwestern Ontario sits atop Minnesota. I have fished many lakes in northwestern Ontario where I caught a bass on my first cast, which tells you how abundant and eager they are. However, a hundred-bass day means fishing both mornings and evenings, which I could once do, but no longer.

Small pike are dangerous.

It's going to be near zero tonight and cold again tomorrow, but then it'll be getting warm, with some forty-degree days in the forecast and even one fifty-degree day. As they say in Texas:

^This^ 3,000.

You're close, buddy.

I've timed a few and winced as I watched. I have no issue with eating bass other than "WHY???" when other species are so much tastier.

I don't believe that fisheries are infinite. The Atlantic Ocean is far larger than any lake. Heck, it makes Lake Superior seem puny, but New Englanders managed to pretty much crush the cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder populations and they did most of their damage before factory ships. Even our shrimp population has shrunk. This should have been their theme song: Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today Shah-la, la-la-la-la, live for today And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, ay-ay-ay Shah-la, la-la-la-la live for today (live for today) My point is that it's easy to be easy on the bass we love. @Mobasser's story about a fellow angler chucking bass makes me sad. The expression, "It's all good," does not apply to that guy. As we all should. Yep. We all should be sportsmen and women. Sporting means you adhere to good form. I kid you not. I fished once with a guide who told me that she'd worked at a billionaire's ranch that hosted the rich and famous. For a pheasant """"hunt,"""" the ranch owner bought hundreds of pheasants in cages and had his guests shoot them as they were released one at a time. Then they heaped the pheasants for bears to eat and ate Maine lobster flown in fresh. Not sporting. Not merely bad form, but the worst form. Agreed. I unhook them in the water in my net.

@A-Jay: Yeah, I eat fish too. However, I catch a lot of fish and always have. I've had hundred-bass days in many states, including Michigan. If I'm indifferent to a hundred bass a day or even 50, that'll dent the population's health. If other anglers are rough-housing bass too, that'll be a bigger dent. Sniffing out hypocrisy is a good thing, but I'm just trying to limit the damage I do. I'm already putting a hole in their faces. I don't want to suffocate them beyond that. I keep them in the net in the water while I prepare the photo or bump board. Then I unhook them quickly (I'm really good at unhooking bass.) and take the photo. Some are out of the water for only 15 seconds, but I shoot for under thirty. Al Lindner said that we should hold our breaths while they're out of the water to remind ourselves that the clock is ticking for bass.

This is what I do too. Keep them in net. One quick photo. Maybe two photos if she's big. Then back in the water. Gone in 30 seconds. I read Gim's response after I wrote mine. Gim, Pat, and I are aligned: Protect the resource.

My takeaway is that you catch DDs in heavy fog. Look at those shorelines!

Agree. What's even worse is when an angler holds a fish up to the camera while delivering their how-to-catch-fish-like-me lecture.

What an interesting stat to keep, Pat. I'm guessing I lose about the same percentage of bass over four pounds. I used four pounds instead of five pounds because four is my big bass cutoff. I'm guessing that five pounds is yours. I'm guessing I lose about the same percentage of bass under four pounds too.

Me too, buddy.

I had two buried in 2023 and only one in 2024, but the 2024 hooking was in a fingertip and not only does that mean that I was down to one hand, but a fingertip is loaded with nerve endings.

Wisconsin's DNR denied the presence of cougars for years before backyard cameras started photographing them. YIKES, @F14A-B!

@NorcalBassin: Gorgeous, varied, creative photography! I love thick fish too.

Tough hombre.

Sounds wicked cool! I also fish the off-the-beaten spots. Cool that we have similar fishing styles even though I'm about as far north (Maine) as one can be in the contiguous U.S. and you're about as far south as one can be. Can you share some pics of where you fish? Here's where I fish:

I bought Megastrike and used it because @A-Jay suggested it a couple years ago. I used it more in 2023 than 2024 and I caught more six-pounders in 2024. Was there quality causation because of Megastrike? I don't know. I caught more bass in 2024 without using Megastrike. Was there causation for quantity? Again, I don't know. I think Andy and others are right: Likely doesn't hurt and might help.

Good one!

Of course, you can always long arm your bass and seemingly double their size, but I prefer your photo. In the game of bass, here's the score: BP: 1 SG: 0

Yeah, it's the Old Town NEXT. I just pulled the other photo off the Internet, but my NEXT looks just like it. I think the Discovery and the NEXT are the same boat with different badging, like a Chevy and GMC truck with different grills and badging. And yes, I paid $500. Given that it's similar to Royalex, it's the closet thing to an immortal boat that one can buy, so the age and use don't really matter. I have yet to paddle it, but Old Town has made enough canoes to know how to design and build a good hull.

I've long wanted to fish Lake Champlain too.