Swamp Girl

That would do it. It's wild up there. I wrote a story about a couple Germans who had to swim and bushwhack their way out of the wilderness of Manitoba. It's here: https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/wrong-canoe-right-stuff I also wrote about a guy who was trying to ski and paddle from the end of the Aleutians to Greenland. He lost some toes on the way to frostbite. I couldn't find my story, but it might be in the Intertubes somewhere. That's a good one, Dwight. I'd love to see you fish there too. My second pick would be fishing with Pat Cullen. His more than 1,100 DDs suggest that he caught thousands and THOUSANDS of six, seven, eight, and nine-pounders. At night! So thrilling and spooky, but if Pat were there, I'd just be a scaredy kitten, not a full-blown scaredy cat.

"Hundreds of miles" was a heckuva long and expensive floatplane ride. Northern Manitoba? Ungava? Northwest Territories? I'd love to see @Pat Brown break the WR in Japan. From the shore. In the rain. And the 24-pound bass would break free right at the shore, but Jake would leap on it and Father and son would be given co-credit as the new world record holders.

Send him up to Maine. I'll have him cast into the bog below. A bog bass will bully his buggy whip pole and then he might be ready to listen and learn. Note all the grass around the bass below, even though I'm constantly pitching grass from my canoe because you're not just fighting big-shouldered bog bass; You're fighting their home too:

Well, @Lottabass is gonna hop into my canoe, but when we're done, I'm gonna hop into your rowboat and fish for flounder. That sounds like a blast and a half!

I don't think you have to teach him. If he hooks a big bass, the bass will be his teacher. When I started fishing for lmb in swamps after decades of fishing for smallies in rocky lakes, I learned quickly that my M spinning rods couldn't control a big lmb in weeds.

I'd be happy to have you as a fishing and adventure pal!

You get to fish for one week anywhere with no limits other than you're at one general area for one week. Where would that place be and why? For example, you may pick Lake Baccarac today or Castiac Lake at its peak. Heck, you can even choose to fish in @WRB's boat at Castiac's peak. Or fish for seven straight nights with Pat Cullen, the Georgia legend, who caught over 1,100 bass over 10 pounds. Or you could choose to be a kid again and fish with your grandfather at his farm pond. Or you could fish with the now-deceased Doug Hannon at his honey holes for a week. Or fish with Jimmy Houston at his peak. Anything, anywhere, anytime! Don't forget to explain why too. I'd choose to be 25 again and fish for a week in northwestern Ontario. Being 25 would give me the strength to undertake mile-long portages and those portages would put me on water that no one else would struggle to reach. It would be pristine fishing again. Yeah, I have it pretty good in Maine, with a couple bodies of water with zero homes, but they're far from wilderness, even though there are some people who make-believe that they are. Being in a place without planes and distant cars and zero detritus of humanity is my Nirvana. I want to hear wolf song, not AC/DC. I want to see bears, not bear traffic. And my Dad would be young enough too to be in the canoe with me.

So true. 57 degrees in Maine is a red-hot, 45-to-75-bass morning. I suspect 57 degrees in Florida is cool, slow fishing.

Brilliant. Levi, some of the best sticks at Bass Resource have coached you. Apply their wisdom and you'll catch some fine bass. Then share your photos please! Last spring, I found the bass to be on the move. I'd catch them one way one day and then another way in a different place the next day. So, I fished on the move and kept switching baits until I caught one. Then I repeated what I'd just done, and repeated, repeated, etc. Some days they were deep. Then shallow. Then super shallow. Then on a windblown shore. Then tight to wood. And on and on and on. However, the guys above know way more about catching lmbs than me, so listen to them first.

That sounds sooooooo exciting. I love hooking more than one big bass on a trip.

Alex, try the rechargeable heaters. They're like a slender computer mouse and you can stick them anywhere: pockets, gloves, boots, or hat. On the highest setting, they're actually too hot for me and they only cost $20 for two. I lost one on the floor of my car for a couple weeks and it had snow, dirt, and ice falling on it and sat in a shallow pool of water too. No matter. It still works.

I caught my only 25-pound-plus bag with a soft 7" swimbait (and a big walking bait). I know BIG bass are caught with Ned baits, but there are days big bass prefer big baits.

That is a good story, a family affair. It's comparable to a nine-pound-plus Southern bass, so it is a freak.

Oh, no. Any clue as to the cause? Regarding lactose intolerance, the majority of adults world-wise are lactose intolerant, but they don't know it. They feel lousy after eating dairy, but haven't pinned it to dairy yet.

No way would it be my PB. She wouldn't even crack my top five because she was a wimp. My PB was a pregnant lady. Perhaps the bass pictured below. I've caught longer, thicker, and heavier bass, but she was as difficult to land as the best of the bigger bass. I caught her in a narrow river choked with weeds. I hooked her in the night. I was alone. She ricocheted off mid-channel weeds and then ran for reeds and if she'd reached them, she would have freed herself as they nearly all do. So, I stabbed in her direction with my long-handled net, as she was pulling my canoe into the reeds too, and caught her right before she reached freedom. Even then, she was dripping weeds. She was also a perfect specimen.

Large pelagic fish?

Hot Hands are worthless. These aren't. @Pat Brown will smile when he reads that you're goin' fishin' with a frog!

@Bluebasser86: Clayton, buy these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG65PYBV?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder_k2_1_6&amp=&crid=2UWE2ZMB6EY81&sprefix=rechar&th=1 They last for hours, recharge from your computer, have three settings, and slip inside gloves and boots. I own four of them and use them everyday. I'm thinking about buying another two too!

I'm assuming that we all love looking at @Bluebasser86's bass. I think Maine's bass are beautiful and especially the bog bass I catch, which are big-shouldered and black: But not even the bog bass have the bellies of those Kansas powerplant lake bass. Sure, a few do, but most don't. I'd love to know the ages of those Kansas powerplant bass with their accelerated growth. The bass above is sealed under ice right now, while those Kansas powerplant bass are gorging every dang day to look like they do. Say, Clayton, do you stay warm while winter fishing? Even with my warmest winter outerwear, my hands and feet get cold after a couple hours outside.

Oh, yeah. Dumb of me. I've heard they're on every street corner there. I have to drive to Portland for Maine's only Bazookas R Us outlet. Dang inconvenient!

Speaking of otters, do you have a Bazookas R Us store in your area, Bob?

@Bluebasser86: This spring, I'm going to hire Bob/@Blue Raider Bob to dig a canal from your warm water lake with its THICK bass to my pond. I would greatly enjoy the warm water and its bass. Bob has a tractor and can build everything. I believe in him.

And gorgeous. Look at those markings.

A. I love pond updates. B. I don't have a clue, Bob. Maybe Alex/@AlabamaSpothunter does or Tom/@WRB.