Swamp Girl

I could post my PB, but instead, I'll post the girl below. I caught her on my third trip from the last. To reach her home, I drove a ridge line in the dark, down a gravel road, and then down a narrow, dangerous drive to launch beside a dam. I had to carry my canoe down a slippery slope to launch. I then paddled down a gorge in creepy blackness, skirting fallen, spectral trees. That led to a long flat and I had to follow the old riverbed to find water deep enough to float my canoe. It was hard and several times I paddled onto a mud flat and I had to use my paddle as a pole to extricate myself. A couple of miles of mis-directions later, I reached the widest and deepest part of the river and proceeded to catch 56 bass and two jumbo perch. I'd caught more bass in a morning in 2024 and I'd caught bigger bass too in 2024, but I'd never caught so many big bass as I did that morning, about a dozen in total and this gal was the thickest of them. I think I caught her on a big walking bait. Black and gold. She has everything I love in a bass. My everything isn't much: just a big head followed by a big body. She didn't look beaten down by life, but thriving despite its myriad challenges, and I saw five of them: three bald eagles in a V cruising over her home and two ospreys too. I didn't weigh or measure her, but if you really need a number, here's one: A perfect 10.

Glenn, I'm happy to watch your videos whenever they're filmed. I was just expressing some soft water envy.

I came back to have another look at Pat's bass. It's just as whoa-y today as it was when I first saw it.

Michael Neal is a trickster. He's talking about winter bass fishing, but it's clearly summer behind him. See the water??? It's soft!!!

There are more of us crescent wrench-ers than I would have guessed. Well, this wrench wench is happy for the company!

I am in love with @FryDog62's organization. They say opposites attract and anyone who's seen photos of my canoe know that I'm the utter opposite. If you haven't seen any pics of my messy canoes, here's one: Still, I'm in love @FryDog62's boat. I will grab a different rod for smallies. I'd use a ML or M, but I quickly learned that you can't keep an lmb from weeds with merely a M, so all my lmb rods are MH and all about 7' 2" long.

What if I gave you a buck-fifty to change your mind? #fingerscrossedyou'recheap Seriously, I remember zig-zagging canoe down rivers as a kid. It was probably half due to paddling crummy canoes and half due to my being a lousy paddler. Thousands of miles later, I bend it like Beckham.

Other than a fiberglass rod I prefer for surface baits, I use all my other rods with all my lures. Yep, I fish with crescent wrenches and make them work.

Whoa, that bass is FAT! And look at the muscle in her tail. W-O-W!

If he did that, I'd back that play...on drums perhaps? Good point. Most of the time I'm under the speed limit, but even old lady drivers sometimes speed. Another good point.

I hope you're wrong. Their are still plenty of level-headed leaders in our sport, like Glenn. However, I fear that one of the pyro-technicians who've worked with KISS might one day equip Ben's boat with flame throwers and fireworks launchers, which Ben would trigger every time he caught a bass and then he'd air guitar like Bill and Ted. Even then, there will still be low-key bassheads like me quietly moseying in backwaters and slipping bass back into the water with all due gratitude.

@F14A-B: The thing that drives me bonkers about drama queens like BM is that life clobbers us with real drama, like people we love being afflicted with punishing diseases and everyone we love eventually dying, one by one. I remember in one of his videos a guy in a bigger boat cruising by a ways away and BM clickbaited that, as if a boat's wake were one of life's big trials. He seriously needs to buck up and bluster down. He catches such big bass and should be ecstatic over his successes, but he employs cheap tricks so that people will pay attention to him: I'm guessing that BM thinks that Chicken Little-ing it beats 9-to-5-ing it, but the 9-to-5-ers are my heroes.

Fingers crossed you do!

@Blue Raider Bob: I've had otters swim alongside my canoes, diving under it to pop up on starboard and then port.

If I ever build on my pondfront property, I'm going to fish you like!

You are soooo right about the coastal wind. It blows and blows and blows. I'd fish more if I could, but so many mornings and evenings, it's too windy for my canoes.

Cool!

Brrrrrr! It was six degrees this morning on the coast of Maine, but fishing in 34 degrees is still quite cold...and quite impressive. #hardcore

I get skunked when there's snow on the ground and I'm casting from shore. Granted, I don't cast long in those circumstances. Ten casts and I'm done, but it's good to simply cast.

@A-Jay: A. Nice pike. B. I always admire how neat your boat is. C. And I envy how little your boat moves when a fish is hooked. Muskies especially will take a canoe for a ride, but lmb do too.

Wh-what???!!!??? Full disclosure: I use Whopper Ploppers less and less.

I see you're new here. FWIW, @Team9nine is our resident Crappie God. If he told me to throw a Suick Thriller to catch crappies, I would. Here's a Suick Thriller:

All this talk about BM sent me to his latest YouTube video, where he opened by monetizing his arrest and then proceeded to go fishing with a hangover, chucking bass back into the water as if they weren't living, wonderful animals and letting them flop on a deck full of boat hooks. I couldn't stomach the full video.

It does. Even when I'm having a great morning on a local pond or bog, I still ache for wild places.

@TnRiver46: You're right about the versatility of canoes and their carrying capacity. I can't stand in my canoe and I don't think anyone could other than a balance beam gymnast. It is narrow. And @Susky River Rat is right about canoes being uncool, but I feel pretty cool when I glide over weeds and cast to thick bass. @VolFan, I'll go look at the Native Ultimate right now. Thanks for the lead!