Swamp Girl

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.

Guessing a bass's weight from a photo is hard, for sure, because of the frequent lack of a reference point. For example, photographing a bass on the grass provides no reference points. Guessing weight in a YouTube video is easier, at least for me, because you have lots of references points. You get to see the bass next to this and that, the various objects that we know. However, regardless of length, four pounds is the point where the jaw really juts. It's just an observation that I'm made after catching many bass. And another observation that I've made is that a 19" can weigh 6.5 pounds like the ones that @Bluebasser86 catches, or 3.5 pounds if it's old and skinny, so whereas I use length to estimate weight, you have to factor the bass's girth too and girth goes up and down. A big belly down below is one way to add weight, but up top, big shoulders add weight too. For example, this bass had zero belly and wasn't that long compared to Florida bass, but weighed 6.54 pounds, all in the shoulders: If you're wondering why I simply don't weigh most of my bass, I did once weigh enough to get a pretty good bead on bass weight and I like to release my fish in 30 seconds or less. However, to brush up my weight-estimating skills, I plan to weigh a few more fish this year.

I watch a lot of YouTube videos and I'm better than just about any of the YouTube creators at guessing weight. I can usually predict what the scale will read within a couple ounces. One reliable indicator is how much the lower jaw gets stretched. The lower jaw really just when a bass is over four pounds. See here:

And that pic will be my all-time favorite of a DD, my faraway friend.

Been there. Even using my VMC heavy duty underspins, I still lose blades. Nothing better than ^this.^

Good way to describe it. Made me laugh!

Joe, it's already a good-looking boat. My dad bought the cheapest, oldest motors he could find, so I grew up yanking and yanking and yanking. I bought a Johnson 6 hp in the my twenties that actually started and I spent more time tugging fish than the motor's rope. Have you started the motor?

You might be, as that was the whole point of "The Matrix."

The snow that fell last night was the wettest snow we've had all season. The snowblower became snowspitter and snowplow.

Been there. Bass tug at us long before we set the hook.

Go, Joe, go! And BP is tallying too. Sorry I can't contribute to this thread, but perhaps in a month.

I have carpal tunnel surgery on Tuesday, so we have the same task: Get healthy by June 1st! Me too. That's my number one goal for 2026. I can feel Father Time's cold breath on my neck, so I want to have as much fun for as long as possible.

For those of you who are leashing your paddle, what leash do you use?

I added a magnet to my vest. My pliers attach to that, but they're tethered too and there's a second pair tethered to my canoe and kayak. I buy nets like some bassnuts buy lures. I do like the YakAttack net, but I also use a bigger one. I wish I could remember the manufacturer.

I bought a bluegill swimbait that was expensive. Maybe $50? I really need to use it more. It did catch a couple bass the summer I bought it.

Whoa! As a writer, I know I'm a relic.

It's cool that you're always running hot for fishing!

^This.^ John has further great suggestions. I live in Tick Alley, as New England leads the country in Lyme's, and I walk though woods to launch my boats. Two tick vaccines are supposed to be released this year. I'll get mine ASAP.

Every place comes with perks and a price. A Maine winter is the price I pay for a Maine summer. You're vice-versa. Another way to think of it is this: You're in the thick of your hot fishing right now, but you'll eventually be in the thick of simply being hot.

Eight miles round-trip to my pond. Three times that to my pal's pond.

@IYAOYAS: That bass has a cool shape.

Suzuki makes a good motor. I owned a Suzuki Grand Vitara and used it on logging roads in northwestern Ontario. I finally sold it all beaten and battered, but for years afterward, I would see it about town because it just kept running and running and running.