Swamp Girl

Without shame, I'll sometimes post smaller bass to show the Bass Resource crew my reality, which is that I catch smaller bass alongside my bigger bass. If you ONLY post your biggest bass, it's an incomplete trip report. Plus, not everyone has a Lake Menderchuck or Maine bog to fish. Some Bass Resource members fish pounded water where, despite their best efforts, an eleven-inch bass is their best catch on that trip. Who am I to rain shame on their catch? I am here to encourage them as so many have encouraged me. @Team9nine is a heckuva angler, not just a great bass stick. He is so consistent. Consistency, to me, is one of the biggest marks of skill. Can you catch bass on this day with these weather conditions? Now at this place with different weather? Now here in the heat? Now here after the storm? Now here in the fog on water you do not know? And on and on and on. @Team9nine has shown that consistency and I've lauded him more than once for it. Even if you fish the same water every trip, the conditions are forever changing, which is what I realized when I pounded my pond in 2024. The bass did NOT stay put. If you don't have FFS, you better be good at hunches and if you aren't good at hunching, you better be tenacious. I'm a good huncher, but to do so, I study the weather, reread my old trip reports to better guess the next morning's possible pattern, and re-rig half a dozen rods before each trip. Even then, I'm not locked into using those six lures. Lastly, I just want to fish again, but it's snowing hard again right now. This time of year is such a tease. Sigh.

Cool, creative one!

Catt, just in case you haven't seen this or heard of Dr. Von Hoff:

I'm still hoping to cast at the end of March. I won't launch because it will be too cold and dangerous for that, but I can cast from the end of my boardwalk and I expect I'll catch my first bass. Maybe not the first time, but it's a shallow bay and should warm fairly quickly.

Oh, no, Tommy! I don't normally pray, but I am now.

@DaubsNU1: You know I'm a paddler, BUT if I were going to buy a boat with a motor, I'd buy yours. And I LOVE its color!

I think about the cost of bass boats and then I think about the $75,000 that bought me five acres of lakefront with 431' of shoreline. It's brimming with bass.

It's still white here with 3-5" more forecast for tomorrow, but spring is definitely coming. The white is neither snow nor ice; it's slush. Now I just need the bogs and ponds to melt.

I've never seen one. Wish I had. I've only seen two bobcats and I've spent a LOT of time in the woods.

@Columbia Craw: Thank you.

Same.

Cool!

@AbelG: Wow! What a fish!!! @Pat Brown: If that is Jake's first 2025 bass, after doing some complex, careful calculations, I have determined that Jake is exactly three pounds and eleven ounces ahead of me. Don't ask me to show my work. @Choporoz: Gosh, it's good to see the stogie again.

You dream big. I like that.

Thanks for the optimistic thought, but he's 94. He struggles to rise from a chair. I did fish with him into his early eighties. Not too many fish that long so far from roads.

Another option is the Old Town NEXT. I bought mine used for $500, but it looks new. The advantage is the weight, as it's 56 pounds. It'll also car top easier than a kayak. With the hull up, it'll sit flatly on your rack. I prefer the openness of a canoe, but I'll be mounting a couple YakAttack mounting plates to go along with its kayak seat. I'll paddle it with a canoe paddle instead of a kayak paddle because canoe paddles don't consume as much space: Another option is a Kevlar canoe. I paddle a Bell Rockstar. It's 15' 5" long and weighs 32 pounds. That's a lot of boat at that weight. It's slender and tracks like it's on rails, so it's fast and efficient. It does feel tippy and can dump you, so if you buy one, you'll want to practice a bit close to shore. I like its speed because I can cover miles in a morning.

That used to be my favorite bait. Then I fell in love with the Crush City Mayor. Then I fell in love with the Yamamoto Kickin Zako in Chartreuse. They're all great baits, but I think the Zako is the wiggliest.

True story: The last time I went to Canada, my Dad asked if he could go again and I told him that his walker wouldn't work in the wilderness. He said, "I could crawl around the camp." It broke my heart. The last few times we'd gone, I paid for lodges and fly-in cabins with boardwalks, but even those became too hard for him. Sigh.

It would be this little, pink Shimano popper with Flash Boost. It caught hundreds and hundreds and one morning, it caught 75 pretty much by itself. However, the feather tail is LONG gone. I think that only lasted the first evening I used it. I also added extra split rings and changed the hooks once or twice in 2024. It doesn't look like much, but the bass sure loved it. I even caught bass with it when the Sun was high and hot: This was another big producer for me, the Dobyns Beast spinnerbait. One morning, on consecutive casts, it caught a four-pounder, a five-pounder, and a four-and-a-half-pounder: Yeah, it caught big girls:

Yeah, that would be cool. One could learn so much. I'm amazed that a few folks, instead of going for a fantasy pick, would choose to stay home and fish with loved ones or partner up with one of the BR gang. If I were to choose the latter, I'd take @Blue Raider Bob/Bob fishing. I'd be up at three to make him sausage, eggs, and taters and then I'd put him in the bow of my canoe and park him on top of bass. He'd catch bass until his thumb said, "UNCLE!" I'd be happy to paddle, point, net, and photograph. Everyday, I'd take him someplace new. Oh, the things he'd see!

Remember time traveling is allowed. Travel back in time and go fish the Churchill with your younger father. The Churchill is a mighty river, for sure.

Who said anything about traveling? This is magical thinking! You're allowed to time travel and resurrect the dead, after all.

So cool.

That would be so exciting. I'm guessing you were there early when the pike were shallow. If you want to experience effort and you're not too old, skip the Otter and bushwhack. There are few moments as exciting when you're sneaking through the woods with no portage trail and you see the shimmering blue of your destination for the first time.

Dang it, for sure! I wanted you to land that beast, Bob. FWIW, I've lost lots of big bass, so you're not alone.