Swamp Girl

And I don't have many mornings like that. Most mornings, I catch one four-pounder. Maybe two. Rarely three. And oftentimes, none. As I wrote, it was a perfect morning to catch bass. The fog and cloud cover expanded the surface bite window and the stable weather had them chomping. This was the special girl. She has quite a mouth: My hands still hurt and are still red and swollen. I fished five of the last seven days and old skin is thin. All those little cuts add up.

50" musky? 12-pound bass? Man, you set the bar high!

Whoa. Such generosity. You're a good man, a true champ. I fished smallmouth for 30 years and whereas I have never fished Champlain, I have fished big lakes, like Superior and Michigan, and on that big, clear water, I was never discouraged by weeds. Rather, I was encouraged and caught many smallies in weedy bays. I especially liked floating mats of weeds.

Of course, I went with my walking the dog lure instead of a Whopper Plopper and the big, noisy lure idea worked.

My walking the dog bait (I wish I knew its name.) was perfect for the circumstances. With the river being so shallow, the bass were easy to spook even with my stealthy canoe. So, I needed the longest possible casts and with so many bass tucked under the weeds lining the river channel, I needed a big, noisy lure to pique their curiosity and draw them out. You know those lines in the water that shallow bass moving quickly create? Once, I saw two bass going for my lure, one from each side. You could take every bass I've ever caught walking the dog before today and that number would be smaller than the ones I caught this morning. And I hooked so many from far, far away, but my fiberglass rod and 30 lb. braided line were up to the task. I wonder how many of you would want to do what I did this morning. It was uncomfortable at times and I'm still hurting from the effort several hours later. To launch the canoe, I had to carefully descend a slope with the canoe over my head. The slope started off with bowling ball-sized rocks and then became slippery mud. The water was cold enough to kill me, so tipping could be lethal and if I tipped, no one was there to help me. Plus, my lightweight canoe tips VERY easily. I entered the canoe with mud caked on my boots, so the water that always comes into my canoe became brown from the mud. Several times, I lost the river channel in the foggy dark and ended up stuck on a muddy flat. I paddled several miles both ways and coming back, I had a 9 mph headwind. The bigger bass had bigger teeth and even though I wore my normal gloves with no fingertips, my fingertips hurt now from all the little lacerations and a couple are swollen and red. I enjoy the challenges, but I note that in such places, I'm nearly always alone, suggesting others don't. I'm 68 and have a few more years of doing such trips, but I feel the day coming when I'll have to walk an easier road. When I exited my canoe at the end of my trip, I carefully moved from my canoe to the slippery bank, staying low, but when I tried to stand, I fell on my can...because I was that stiff. I had to muster my remaining strength to actually stand. Say, look at this 19.25-incher I caught yesterday morning and contrast her frame with the 18.5 and 19-inchers I caught this morning:

True story: I was camped on an island in the wilderness of northwestern Ontario. Across from the island was a small waterfall. I'd say to my partner, "Want to go catch ten fish?" "Sure," she'd always reply. So, we'd paddle over and catch ten smallmouth and walleyes. Not nine. Not eleven. Nearly always ten. And then we'd paddle back to camp and wait an hour or two and I'd say, "Wanna go catch ten fish?" That slot of current would reload every hour or two, again and again and again.

Let us know, Koz, what happened.

I tried to do some screen captures of other Brunhildes, but failed. Oh, well. I'll be more careful with my camera in the future to hopefully keep it from slipping into video mode. I forgot to share that I caught another double this morning, i.e. two bass at once. The lure was my Yo-Zuri popper.

I caught a dozen bass like this out of 56 total. More photos in a stand-alone trip report titled "I love it when a plan comes together.":

You're just warming up, Alex, and we northern anglers are about to cool WAY DOWN. Here's the baton: Take it and run, my friend, run! Since my year is almost done, it was great to catch some thick fish and good to do so on a difficult body of water. Many times today, I read the water wrong and got stuck on mud flats. And I was picking weeds off my lures all morning long. Plus, it's creepy to launch in the foggy dark all by myself down a gravel road in a gorge.

I was looking forward all week to fishing this morning because: It's the last day of Indian Summer, which means it's been warm for six straight days. Foggy morning. Cloudy morning. South wind. In other words, a perfect morning. I launched in the dark and struggled at first because of the dark and heavy fog. It was hard to see what was what and to read the river channel. I eventually discovered three ways to catch them: A 6" Depps fat fluke skated like a frog over thick weeds and also wildly twitched in shallow water. Casting my big walking dog lure right down the river channel where it was narrowest and calling bass out of the weeds from both sides. Casting a Yamamoto Zako paddletail on an underspin. I caught 58, but so many were THICK, with about a dozen at 18 to 20 inches. Somehow my camera shifted to the video setting, so six of my bass are on video and I don't know how to load those, so I won't. Plus, there are so many that I captured as photos that I don't need those six beasts. I felt like I was fishing in an aviary, with eagles soaring, diving, and eating bass in the shallows. There were turkeys gobbling in the woods, sandpipers running over the mud, Great Blue Herons, and even a falcon. My arms and wrists hurt from fighting fish and paddling back in a 9 mph wind. But I'm happy. I'll start with a small bass so you can see that small bass hit my big walking bait too and that even the small ones are fat. Now here come the Brunhildas: Remember that six of my biggest bass are short videos, but they were similar to the ones above. I caught smaller ones too: Even the short ones were thick: What a morning. I won't fish for a week or so and I might only fish my pond going forward. It takes a lot out of me to fish like I did this morning, carrying my canoe down a steep bank, launching in the dark, and paddling miles. I fished very well and I'm proud of that. The conditions were tough, with weeds EVERYWHERE, but I don't think I lost a big single bass that I hooked. Now, fishing the walking dog bait meant I missed some strikes, as I always do with a lure that's constantly changing direction. Whew! Oh, yeah, I actually caught only 56 bass, but I caught two beautiful yellow perch that hit my 6" Depps with a 5/0 hook and so I counted them as honorary bass. Here they are:

Nope. Other than a fiberglass spinning rod that I use for surface lures and a M rod that I use for some of my lighter soft plastics, I'm using the same MH rods and Shimano spinning reels for all lures. Look at @A-Jay's pretty array of rods. I'm the exact opposite, a tangle of rods, weeds, and leaves in a wet canoe.

I fished for the fourth time in six days and am fishing again tomorrow morning at the leaky dam, which I scouted yesterday to see if it's safe to launch beside the dam. It is! Then I'll take a break for a week or so. I wanted to take advantage of our Indian Summer and I have! This morning's fishing fit the fall pattern of schools of bass here and there and long stretches of unproductive water in-between. I caught three in three consecutive casts to begin my morning. Here are two of those three, both 17-inches: I caught more smallmouth that largemouth this morning, but I don't photograph most of the smallies because they're skinny: I fished three lures: a Yum Ned bait, a Yo-Zuri popper, and a Depps 6" fluke. All worked about equally well. Here's a pretty 17-incher: And here's my thickest fish: And my longest bass at 19.25-inches: I'm excited about fishing the river tomorrow above the leaky dam. It'll be our last warm day and it'll be cloudy and foggy, unlike this morning's sunshine. Fingers crossed! I caught a dozen of this morning's bass at the pond's last weed bed. Most of the others have rotted and collapsed. @Glenn taught me that fall bass will cluster at the last greenery and he's right. You can see the weed bed behind the bass in the last two bass pics. I also went an hour without getting a single hit. Fall fishing sure is hot and cold, just like the days of fall. Pretty pic:

So, you're saying you caught a 257-pounder?

Another beautiful beast for Andy!

Go get ''em, Koz!

I visited the actual dam today and while it looks solid, the missing pond says otherwise. I'm going to launch beside the dam on Wednesday morning and fish the river again. Fingers crossed!

Clayton's accounts are just as exciting when he's fishing on his own as when he's competing in a tournament.

Ask @Zcoker if you can night fish the Everglades with him.

IF I fish my friend's pond tomorrow morning, I'm going to be non-Crickety and fish a Ned bait. I'm a run and gun angler, throwing big lures for the most active fish and paddling, paddling, paddling, always moving, but I've been thinking about the two flurries yesterday where I caught most of my fish and they were at two weed beds that are still green. And I'm guessing that I could have mined more bass from those beds with a subtle, stay-on-site presentation. I'm going to scout the busted dam today. If it's safe to launch there tomorrow morning, I might. Otherwise I'm Ned fishing my pal's pond. Thank you for protecting our beloved resource. And CONGATS on the new PB. My longest smallies ever were some 21.5-inchers, so you've surpassed me and that makes me happy.

Ah, I see. I was wondering because your guide's boat looks so American. I'm so happy for you and you sure look just as happy in your photos too!

They are super fun! Beautiful bass, John. All your bass are beautiful...and dark, like many of the northern bass we catch in the U.S. Speaking of the U.S., I see your bass boat and wonder if those are made in Spain too.

I keep trying to think of something I want to learn this winter, but I can't and I think that's because I learn on the water. I learn about a new technique and then try it to see if it works for the bass I catch and from my canoe platform. It also has to work without adding to the load I already carry to the water. I'm willing to carry a new lure, but not much beyond that.

With all ^this^ happening, you still find time to catch DDs, which is why I'm the president of your fan club. P. S. - Your sense of humor is another reason I'm your fan!

I agree with Scott. I launched in the dark the last two mornings and will launch again in the dark come Tuesday morning. I know many experienced anglers like to wait for the air and water to warm, but even on clear nights when it's literally frosty when I launch, I tend to do well and sometimes catch a bass on my first or second cast when it's at its coldest and darkest.