Swamp Girl

I enjoyed the photos of younger Joe! As far the progression from bank to canoe to motorboat, I went bank to motorboat to canoe.

@Swimbaitstud: Last spring, I fished a bitsy bay off a bigger bay that had swamp current flowing through it. It was perhaps a foot deep, so I saw bass after bass streaking for my lure. We're not that far apart, but I guessing I'm still a month away from soft water. So, I too am skunking, albeit from home.

I understand that leading with music and a logo makes one look a little like Roland Martin, but I consider such things to be annoying filler. I prefer fishing videos where the content creator is fishing. I don't need to see them driving to the water, launching the boat, goofing with their buddies, etc. And I sure don't need a video that begins with 30 seconds of music and slick graphics. And most of all, don't talk post a title about fishing for giant bass and then land a three-pounder. For a brief time in my career, I had opportunities to fish with guides for free and stay at fancy resorts for free...for fishing articles. It was brief because I didn't enjoy it. It turned fishing into working.

Good looking bass, @GreenPig. @Aaron_H is back!

Heck, yeah, it does!

I live two miles from the North Atlantic, so everyday is pretty much the same day: Cold to cool in March, but perfect from May through October.

We do. It has some handy features like a pantry, mud room, laundry room, screen porch, media room, and half bath for guests. I'm already imaging docking my boat and walking up the path to the house with its windows glowing yellow!

We've taken the initial steps for building a lakefront home. We're looking at around 1,650 square feet, keeping it small to reduce the property taxes. We're looking at house plans and have set a meeting with a general contractor. We're likely two years away from a move, as there is so much to be done, but one day, I'll be able to walk to my dock. Our lake requires the home to be built 250' from the water, which I love. I don't like lakes where homes are a stone's throw from the water as such proximity reduces water quality. Our home will be the tenth and likely the last home on the lake because our lot is the last buildable lot, as three sides of the lake are wetlands. We're leaning toward this home, which would have an attached two-car garage in the back: The exterior walls would be six inches thick and spray-foamed. The windows would be three panes thick. We'd put solar panels on the roof. I once thought I'd have a fancy, raised boardwalk built, but my beaver-cut tree trunks with pallets and locally milled oak boards on top-boardwalk is working fine. It wouldn't have that fancy landscaping in front, even though I could do that and much more with my landscaping skills. I'll keep it woodsy because it'll be a home in the woods. In that vein, it'll likely be dark brown cedar shakes with dark green trim. Lastly, we own five acres, so we won't won't have neighbors on either side and we won't see any homes looking out at the lake, as the other nine homes are all in the woods too.

I'm assuming you're right. Okay, going forward, I'll photograph my bass on my bump board. I'll miss the pretty backgrounds though.

Yep. They're great.

3,925 + 61 = 3,986

The powers of observation that can make one a successful angler can also make one a good storyteller.

You write the best subject lines/titles. Your ledes are catchy too. Pity the bass weren't as catchy. The best laid plans of mice and bearded men, eh?

This post really stings, Pat. So, you're saying you catch the biggest bass with old, cheap baits??? I surrender!

I bought one glide bait, tied it with 30-lb. braid, and trolled it behind me in the dark on the way to some reeds. Well, my rod snapped back with violence and my braid snapped. 30-lb. test. 30-pound! It was probably a rock, but I've snagged other times while trolling without that violence.

Yikes! I was planning on leaning on these two this spring. All my lures are still producing, but I fear that my underspins will one day quit catching bass because they've caught so many. I love that lure. I make a point of using my Whopper Ploppers sparingly because bass can learn this lure. Poppers were HOT for me in 2024, but in 2025, they were lukewarm.

It doesn't matter for you because you already land HUGE bass with basic gear.

Knowing you, it will be. Go get 'em, Dwight!

I agree again with all of the above. In theory, I want to be an angler who cares what my bass weigh, but when they're in my canoe, I mostly want them back in the water.

That's true, as is everything you wrote before the sentence above. It's just that some anglers are so easy-going about keeping a bass from breathing. It's easy to say, "It doesn't hurt them," when you're the one breathing. And yes, yes, I understand that we're poking holes in them, but I try to mitigate the damage, such as keeping them in the net, which is in the water, until my pliers are in my lap and my camera is on and my bump board is set. I watch some videos where the angler is taking one and a half to three minutes to release a bass and not just any bass, but often the best, biggest bass. In northwestern Ontario, where I'd catch a LOT of bass some days, I'd fish with barbless hooks and would release them in the water. I'd do the same with muskies too. You've written in the past, Pat, about how you do everything you can to lessen the load we ask our quarry to carry, so I understand you're not cavalier about handling bass, but dang, I see some bass on the scale, on the bumpboard, and posed horizontally and vertically. Pick a lane, please. Of course, @PhishLI's photo refutes my assertion that four pounds is when jaws jut as his four-pounder doesn't have much of a jutting jaw and the my bass in the photo up top might have weighed more than four. I'll never know because I didn't measure her. I can count how many bass I catch without keeping them out of the water any longer. I can't do the same while weighing them.

I created a thread where I observed that a four-pounder will have a jutting jaw when lipped and gripped. Yours doesn't. By jutting jaw, I mean this with the four-pounder looking like Dudley Do-Right: Four pounds of weight distends the jaws of bass. There might be exceptions, of course, but I catch a lot of four-pounders and a LOT of three-pounders and four-pounders jut. The threes don't. FWIW, your one bass is WAY ahead of what I've caught in 2026.

I just hope you don't have heavy metal bands on Jet skis equipped with bazookas in Iowa. They are annoying.

It has to be under 10 mph for me to launch...unless...I can find shelter where I'm launching. I especially like the responses by @Jig Man and @FloridaFishinFool. I do wish I could fish wind beaten shorelines. When I had bigger boats, I could and scored and scored on those wind beaten shorelines.

I agree with all of this.