Swamp Girl

Amen, brother. Love your post, @senile1!

I just might go down to my pond and cast a few times from shore!

That bass is as thick as one of @Bluebasser86's Kansas bass! What's most impressive to me is the muscle of the tail. I look forward to hearing about the fight!

Other than my Deps 6" and 7" Sakamata flukes, I don't use any of the above. @AlabamaSpothunter told me about the Sakamatas and I've scored with them. They feel different (softer) and the local bass like their size and feel. I'm kept busy with the lures I already own. I don't know what JDM rods are and I barely know what BFS is. I think they're light line setups, but for decades, I fished for smallies with four and six-pound line, tossing light lures long distances. I own a lot of crankbaits and would like to use them regularly, but the water I fish is just too weedy and shallow for them. I can use them in early spring for a couple weeks before the weeds rise. I use Whopper Ploppers a lot less simply because I can't cast them into weeds and under bushes. Plus, I catch a lot of bass with poppers, which land on the water without the BIG PLOP that can spook bass.

Hey, you're singing my song!

Whew! ^This^ made me smile.

Cool that you did all that, Bryon. We're a pretty easy-going group, so don't expect a lot of doubters.

I think it's good to move threads like this up top again from time to time. I was fishing this summer when un-forecasted lighting arrived. I beached my canoe and retreated into the woods to wait it out. It lasted for 1.5 hours, taking me into the night and even then, the rain pounded, making for a long, wet paddle home.

You caught some good ones!

@WRB: Tom, I hope you'll keep posting and teaching us even after you quit. You're a BR rockstar!

@A-Jay: Hey, I'm just reporting what I've seen. 😉

Heartbreaking. For me, the greatest era was Tom's prime, when bass in the upper teens were regularly caught and Dottie still swam. Tom, if I buy one of your outfits, I'll want to mount it.

Sharks, hurricanes, and gators ain't nothin' compared to the perils of New England, where the ghosts of Puritans atop moose ride with the Headless Horseman, all hoping to sup the blood of bassheads.

Stop it! You and @softwateronly are making me want to launch again. I'm going crazy!

@Zcoker: We have many things in common: We're both pretty new to lmb fishing. I caught them as a kid, but didn't focus on them again until about three years ago. We both paddle and fish from a small boat. We both love surface lures. We both catch big fish for our latitudes. My four-pounders at the top of the country are equivalent to your six-pounders at the bottom of the country. My six+-pounders are equivalent to your DDs. We both fish in the dark, but you fish deeper into the dark than I do. We both fish heavy cover. I fished muskies, aka freshwater sharks, and you fished sharks, aka saltwater muskies.

Brrrrrr! I've fished those 38 degree mornings. They're hard on my hands and feet, as both get wet.

@GRiver, if you're not occasionally bumping into bass with your boat because they didn't know you were there, then being quieter and not looming over them is a good plan. For me, the worst mistake I can make is the sharp sound of a rod striking my canoe. I might make that mistake once a morning and I wince when I do. It shakes the canoe, which shakes the water, which shakes their lateral lines and inner ears, meaning they hear us twice. There have been times when I made the rod striking the canoe mistake and there'd be four swirls around me and four bass streaking away, which were four bass I'd lost the chance to catch. ^This^ made me laugh!

As @siusaluki23 noted, if I'm drifting over rocks, I'm likely to catch smallmouth. When I drift into weeds, I'm likely to catch largemouth. Although most bass anglers use larger lures for smallmouth than largemouth, because I'm targeting largemouth, I use big lures all the time and smallmouth are happy to hit them.

Carp are powerful. I always admired the Lindners for focusing on carp from time to time. It's like dancing with the homely girl because she's a better dancer than the pretty girls.

Why I am a better sneaky angler than you are. I have shared several times how I bump a bass or two many trips with the bow of my canoe. I do so because I'm deliberate in my canoe. Before I reach for a rod, I'll plan exactly how I'll move it without bumping it into anything. I'll set my paddle ever so carefully on my gunnels that I've covered with rubber. I'm not walking around my boat or standing so that bass can see me. And I cast as far as I possibly can. And when I bump my canoe and make noise, I admonish myself, saying, "C'mon. You can do better."

We're all cheering for you guys.

Whoa! Not my story, but my landing percentage did increase over 2024 and I had a few outings where I landed nearly every bass. I like your attitude, @TOXIC.

Do tell!

Healthy bass, Mike!

My heart was pounding as I read your account, Koz. I've been in big wind on big water in small boats, but I've never also had to contend with stumps.