Swamp Girl

I sure use and LOVE the Shimano Flashboost lures and Deps Sakamata Shads. Both caught me a lot of bass in 2024. Literally hundreds of bass. I'm like @softwateronly: I LOVE the Winter Solstice. It's my favorite day of the year.

You'd look silly beholding the grace and coordination of a ballerina and deny that that's art. Then watch a fly fisher in thigh-high current while working his/her line and you might look silly again denying that there's no art in that angling. Of course, many anglers bring a lot of science to bassing. A motor comes from science. So do carbon fiber rods and FFS and Garmin. Best response. I'm a creative person and I have had countless conversations with other creative people. Whatever the medium (dance, theater, painting, writing, etc.), we all have the same challenges and similar choices. A painter works with form, color, and texture. I dancer works with her/his body. A writer works with words, but we're all trying to convey what we see. For example, Vincent van Gogh saw movement: Grant Wood saw order: I'm going to go with "a bit of both" as my answer. This is akin to fishing: The scientific process, also known as the scientific method, is a systematic approach to investigating phenomena by making observations, asking questions, forming a hypothesis, conducting experiments, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating the results However, when I fish, I don't always go with my set conclusions. I cast against the grain, which is creative and intuitive. And I certainly take the time to see what's before me and share that:

Skipping is so easy in December. January and February too.

I drove to my pond yesterday, crunched through the woods, and walked to the end of my boardwalk, figuring I'd cast a few times for old time's sake, but the water was frozen. I cast anyway and my underspin skittered over the ice. I caught nothing, making me a... So, yeah, I know about fishing ending annually too. I just imaging you at my pond yesterday, creating your own advantages:

I've never owned such a pretty kayak paddle as yours.

Just the gunnels. I am thinking of wrapping a little orange tape around my paddle, right above the blade. It's carbon and very light and the wind has blown it out of my hands a few times. On a choppy day, it can be hard to spot in the waves as I grab my second paddle to retrieve it. I always clamp on my second paddle! I own a couple kayak paddles and have tried them, but I don't like their length. When I'm not paddling, they take up more space and my canoes are already crowded with rods. It's cool to talk boats and paddles with you!

I haven't paddled it yet. It's sitting in my garage, waiting for the spring, but thanks for asking. I did order some Yak Attack mounting plates and rod holders, so when I troll as I paddle to the next spot, that will be much easier! I also bought adhesive-backed rubber strips for the gunnels, so my rods and paddle won't strike the hull and spook bass. I'll be painting the bottom of the Next in the spring before I take it to my pond and leave it there. I'm already excited to do that!

Great goal, Tim.

Dang, you're still out there too??? How big do you think the crappie-eater was?

I think part of my success comes from moving. I watch the videos where a guy will cast at one laydown for 20-30 minutes and whereas I might give a laydown five minutes, that's it. So, whereas I understand the allure and power of Spotlock, getting from one spot to another in less time appeals to me a little more.

I think @T-Billy should loan Clayton his fur hat for the next two or three months.

Let's do just that! Where in Maine?

Thanks, Alex. I imagine myself fishing OH Ivie and just bobbing out in the middle, as stinky as a skunk, and yelling, "There aren't any bass here!" I do think I'd fare well on the Susky. I've watched YouTube videos of guys fishing it and it's familiar enough that I might guess right about where to cast.

@Bluebasser86: Clayton, I don't hire guides because they're above my pay grade, but if I lived in Kansas, I'd scrape and save the money to hire you. I wouldn't even be focused on catching fish. I'd be focused on learning. That six-pounder has a mountain of a back! However, I wouldn't want to fish in the snow. I can do that in Maine.

Bob, you don't catch as many bass as @Bluebasser86, but your accounts are just as exciting. I was watching a movie last night and I wasn't as interested as I once would have been simply because I knew that no matter how dire the situation, the protagonists would win in the end. With fishing, we don't know and I love that uncertainty. Even if you're Clayton, the bass sometimes win. Because I don't have FFS, I don't look for bait. I fish those areas that look fishy.

Like you, I fish from a canoe and have only focused on lmb for three years. When I started posting at Bass Resource, I did not know the majority of the lures and techniques. I still Google a lot to decode some posts. Like you, I stumble upon bass because I don't have @Pat Brown's analytical mind and I don't have FFS to find fish and I don't have @AlabamaSpothunter's wealth of knowledge. The difference between us is that I would frame your catching those big bass as hunting them down. So what if you were casting a blade bait for the first time? That's one more time than me. And so what if you happened upon them? I happen upon the majority of my bass. I just keep moving and trying lures until I find a lure a bass wants to hit. My only expertise is canoeing. A canoe is a stealthy platform and I just ordered more adhesive-backed rubber strips to attach to the gunnels to quiet my canoe even more. Play to your boat's strengths and sneak up on 'em. I remember a couple guys pulled near my canoe this past fall in an aluminum canoe. They were making all kind of noise and it was the worst kind of noise, like striking their canoe with a paddle when they set it down clumsily, which makes a canoe vibrate like a bell. I caught a three-pounder, a 3.5-pounder, and a four-pounder while the noise-makers caught nothing. So, keep moving. Keep switching lures. Keep casting. And keep quiet. Age is huge. I should have mentioned it. I wish I could still fish all day. On one of my last 2024 trips, the one where I caught about ten bass that were four or more-pounders, I had launched in a cool fog, paddled miles, landed scores of bass, and returned to my takeout right beside a dam. The shoreline was slick and sloped and the dam was sucking water through it, so I could not tip. I ever so carefully moved from my canoe to the shore and tried to stand, but I immediately failed and collapsed onto the mud. That was my age and I feel it everyday. Here's one of the bass from that morning and whenever I see it, I remember driving home with a muddy bum and I smile, for age humbles us all eventually:

I have seen some YouTube anglers hook bass in places that astonished me. I follow their lead and yours and also cast into skinny water that's more weed and wood than water. I've been rereading my trip reports to study where and when I caught bass in 2024 to replicate that in 2025. What is most useful in my trip reports are the occasional photos I took of the places I caught fish. Those photos are pinned with the dates I caught them. So, I know where and when to go. Pat, you such an analytical angler. I wish I were more like you. I'm a more intuitive angler. I have great intuition, but I can't share why I cast where I do. Ha! Of course, I could say that my advantage is that I live in Maine and my disadvantage is that I don't live in Mexico, which is pretty much what I wrote in my opening post.

Reading about @Aaron_H's and @CastingClinic's big catches has me thinking about advantages and disadvantages on the water, since Aaron caught his seven and eight-pounders from the shore and Mr. Clinic caught his PBs on a cold, windy day. The playing field is not level for us. Some of us have more experience. Some of us have boats. Some of us have motors. Some of us fish less-fished water. Some of us can pick and choose our fishing times because we're retired. Some of us can afford guides. Some of us have FFS. Some of us have Garmin. And so on. What are your three biggest advantages and what are your three biggest disadvantages and why? My biggest advantages: I have access to water without ramps, which means they're less fished, so the fish are less educated. I have canoes, which are quiet and don't need ramps to launch. I get to fish three to four times a week. My biggest disadvantages: Canoes have high sides and are bullied by the wind, so I get blown off water or simply can't launch. Canoes sit high on the water. They skate atop the water, so even a 2.5 bass can pull me into weeds. I fish in the north, so for five months a year, I can't fish.

@DarrinW: I see you're new to the site, so here's a tip: @Pat Brown is a consistently successful angler who catches big bass and is a natural teacher who's generous with what he's learned. He whispers bass. Follow him and take notes. Pat, again and again, I'm struck by the different ways we bass anglers catch bass. I do have success with laydowns and occasionally catch a bass on a frog, but I do NOT have success with docks. I cast to them and remember one bass out of thousands that I caught off a dock. I think I need to get better at skipping my lure under docks, but still, you'd think I'd have caught a few bass by laying a lure softly beside a dock.

Boy, you sure earned your great day! Aaron in Florida, fishing from the shore, also had a great day, and I'm doubly impressed when anglers overcome challenges, like cold winds and being shore bound. Tip o' the hat to you, sir!

What @AlabamaSpothunter said: I watch a lot of YouTube videos of bass anglers fishing in Florida from BOATS and Aaron outfished 99.729% of them.

Thanks to Susky starting this thread. Because of Susky, I've been thinking about giving myself a goal for 2025 and I've settled on one. 2025 will be the Year of the Big Bags: I'm going to keep a running tally of my five-bass-bags over 15 pounds. My goal will be at least four bags over 20-pounds. It's hard to achieve at my latitude because when I do it, I typically do it with three four-pounders, one five-pounder, and a three and a half-pounder. The last one is the only easy slot to fill.

I'm jelly. That's some great bass-water you'll be fishing! @Jigfishn10: @king fisher is the man!

We just fish in different places. I see you live in Texas. Figure a way to cast all the way to Maine and your luck will change. Perhaps a really long rod or a lure with a rocket booster. If I see your lure land out of nowhere close to me, I'll net it for you and send you a pic! @countonswampgirlforlousyideas

So true. I can see my white lures so easily when they're still far from the canoe. I haven't had much success with pure white, but white with gray, orange, and chartreuse are bass-catchers in my local water.