Swamp Girl

@SJS: Like you, I was told to wait a sec before setting the hook. Then, when I returned to largemouth bass fishing in my sixties, I learned that you do what the three anglers explained above. I think the currently prescribed method is best because bass inhale baits. They don't gum their way up a bait. And just as quickly as they inhale, they can exhale a bait. I've seen them do exactly this in clear water. So, take up the slack and sweep set. BTW, it's a good question and I'm glad you asked it.

Sounds like a fun morning, Brian. It's always fun to score more than ever before with a new lure. That three-pounder has a fine shape.

Thanks, @herder. I love the blues. @Jar11591: There's nothing better than a shoreline drift.

It's an interesting question. I think @Jar11591 is right, that it's forage-related, and that the forage there is sized for small bass, but that begs another question: Why is small forage there?

Without electronics, I can't pinpoint structure, but through trial and error, I can find fish-holding areas that I assume are due to structure. You did a good job explaining a complex tactic, Dwight. I enjoyed reading your post.

I'm stuck in stealth mode. Seriously, I enjoyed drift fishing for decades when I fished from a motorboat. I should do it again. Thanks for the reminder!

What a great trip report, Clayton. I love how you broke down your thinking for us. And what a great bass too! I love your Kansas hawgs!

Yours is a good and fair question. On one hand, it doesn't really matter. On the other hand, when I report that I caught an 18-pound bag at my pond, I really don't want to be exaggerating. When I weigh a couple bass at each half inch length, I can use those weights going forward with greater confidence that I'm a reliable reporter. However, I don't want to waste fishing time by weighing hundreds of 17 and 18-inch bass this summer and I don't want to keep that many bass out of the water longer.

I'm not going to measure every quarter inch. That'll take too long. Every half inch at both ponds will take long enough. Yeah, the bogs fatten the bass, for sure! I love how crazy dark that girl was. She sure spun my canoe. She came from a bog that produces few fish. I think my top total was eight bass in a morning. Most mornings were one to three bass, but there's always a good chance that one of them will look like this:

I have long struggled with recording my bass catches. I don't enjoy weighing bass because of the time it takes, but there are Bass Resource anglers whom I respect and who understandably assay bass by their weight since photos are misleading. So, when I catch a 16" bass at my pond, I'll put it on the bump board and measure it. Then I'll do the same with another 16" bass, but not a third. I'll average those two weights and use that weight going forward. I'll do the same with a 16.25" bass, a 16.5" bass, and so on. Then I'll do the same with the bass at my pal's pond, as they tend to be thinner. Then I won't worry about weighing bass, although the bass I catch at bogs can look a little like the bass that @Bluebasser86 catches and so my length-to-weight measurements for my pond and my pal's pond won't apply for bog bass. For example, this 19-incher who weighed over 5.6 pounds: Now, I understand that bass weights vary by season, but the bass in my pond are always plump, like these from late last summer of different lengths, so my spring averages should be pretty accurate through the year. With my weight averages, I'll be able to report bag weights at my pond and my pal's pond going forward. They'll still be estimates, but pretty accurate estimates rooted in actual, site-specific weighing.

I have caught them in howling winds.

Seeing that they're the same bass might be doable if I hadn't assumed that @casts_by_fly had posed the question in good faith. The fish is also photographed forward and then aft, further muddling assessment, for that shifts the light. Anyway, I conceded long ago in this thread that my initial premise was wrong, so at this point, we're simply beating a dead bass.

Sure, that's pretty well-established. Glenn has made the same point more than once, but to be clear, it's both @casts_by_fly and my eyes playing a trick on me.

@Fried Lemons: Your bass is obviously impressive, but so is paddle boarding in March. Hardcore.

I don't follow. Please explain.

I do agree and am always open to changing the way I fish. For example, if I were fishing with @Lottabass and he suggested I switch lures to one of his, I'd change in a New York nanosecond. The top one. The bottom one has the more impressive belly, but the top one is longer and note its jutting jaw.

Do you post your bass pics and videos at any other sites? For me, it's just Bass Resource.

I love this trip report! Love the title too, natch. And that's nearly a five-pound RIVER smallmouth. Wow!

Cool. Healthy response. Yeah, they are mysterious. I have the advantages of a boat and EASY access to a pond that isn't pounded and I still launch every morning understanding that even though I knew exactly where the bass were a few hours back and what they wanted, I don't have a clue where they'll be and what they'll want that morning. Heck, yeah, it is. I was raised in a football family. We'd make a pilgrimage to Canton's Football of Fame every year to see our enshrined kin. Plus, my grandfather, parents, six siblings, and I all attended Ohio State. I bled scarlet and gray. So, one fall day, when Ohio State lost, I was despondent. It was one of those perfect fall days when the air was so clear and the light was so right that every tree and blade of grass seemed to glow. And I suddenly realized that I was wasting that precious day, which was a tragedy. So, I developed the ability to be really sad for a relatively brief bit and then to return to celebrating what remains.

So true. I fish with a swiveling head. I also fish with a teenage boy whom I call the Kid. One thing I love about the Kid is that I can say, "Did you see that?", referencing a feeding bass, and he always did see just that, which is why he catches as many fish as me.

Gosh, there is good advice in this thread. I kept thinking as I read the responses, "I'd mark this as the solution. No, this. No, this."

I like the Rapala Customs Cleanup craw in green pumpkin and red. I T-Rig them. I like Rage Bugs and the Rage Craw too. I don't know most of the craws mentioned in the this thread and I don't want to meet them. I have too many lures already! This is what I hope to do to the Bait Monkey going forward: I haven't used many creature baits.

I blanked again today too, making more than a hundred consecutive days of skunking.

Wow. I thought I had a lot of tackle, but you own a tackle shop.

I'm intrigued, but I worry that the a hook would entangle in the stick, but wouldn't free itself and then I've hooks in the netting and the fish at the same time.