Swamp Girl

Agreed. I'm part of @T-Billy's Straight Braid Brigade. #braidalltheway!

I have caught hundreds and hundreds of bass on weighted paddletails in 2024. I have also lost many, many bass on weighted paddletails in 2024. Because the hook point is tight to the paddletail, you won't hook as many as you would with a crankbait, but losing 80% means something is wrong. Do you set the hook when you first detect a bite? I don't. A paddletail is soft and salty and a bass won't drop it immediately like it will a hard, tasteless lure, so I set the hook on the second or third tug or after the line tells me that the bass is carrying its kill off to wherever. Then crank down until you feel the bass's weight right before you set the hook and cross their eyes. Even then, you'll lose some. I do. Here's what I use with my paddletails, made by VMC. I've tried others, but the VMCs are far sturdier and the underspin gives you twice the attraction: ' I also use Rapala's Crush City Mayors for my paddletails. I've tried other brands, but the bass seem to prefer the Mayors.

@The Budget Angler: When I was in college, I'd ride my bike to the Olentangy River (Go Bucks!) and fish for smallies below a dam. We're separated by half a century, but connected by a love of bass.

Ah, I'm good at catching those big largies in late May and June and that's pretty much it. I'll pick up one here and there the rest of the soft water season, but mostly, I'm a 1.5-month-trick-pony. Heck, I don't even catch 18" smallmouth, at least not in Maine. Hank Parker fishes for smallies in Maine. That's his focus. And I don't see him catching 18s, 19s, and 20s. I do catch some thick ones, like the one just up thread, but I catch some thin ones too, depending upon the pond. Here's one of my rare, bigger, late-summer girls. I didn't measure her, but she was over 20" and five pounds.

I subscribed too. That was quite a battle and I liked the back reeling.

@TnRiver46: This should be your new tagline: "Oh...my...goodness...gracious!" I've followed in your footsteps, squeezing in fishing here and there, but I don't catch 20"+ smallies!

SO IMPORTANT! Cool idea.

I fished from 5:45 to 6:45 and caught four, two smallies and two largies. I don't have enough time in an hour to paddle to where the biggest bass are, but I did manage to paddle halfway and scored an 18-incher: I caught a 17-incher too: I also caught two fat smallies: All caught on a wacky worm, but I also hooked and lost two, one lmb and one smb, on a popper. The big news is my neighbor, the guy who greatly improved my boardwalk, spread ten yards of gravel on my path and has extended my boardwalk all the way to the pond. And he did it out of gratitude for letting him fish and hunt from my lot. Whadda guy! He's grateful to me and I'm grateful to him.

Woody scores two nineteens and a twenty. Way to go, buddy!

The consistent quality of the answers at BR is outstanding. I rev up to reply and then I read those who've already replied and I think, "Nothin' left to say."

I love fishing lily pads. Whereas I love and hate fishing lily pads.

Ha! Fingers crossed you do, buddy.

Whoa. There ya go!

I also own a couple, but have yet to throw one because I'm afraid of the toll they'll take on me.

End of summer is tough. Nice bass!

So, I've been reading my old trip reports and here's how bass fishing in Maine goes for me: February: Sigh. Early March: Launch and die. Late March: Catch three bass? Woo-hoo! Early April: In a good session, I'll catch nine. Late April: I might see my first double digit (ten bass, not a ten-pounder) day. Early May: Double-digit days are the norm. Late May: Here begins the Days of Glory: 40/50/60 bass sessions with multiple four-pounders. All of June: More Days of Glory. More thick girls. Early July: Still catching 30/40 bass per session. Late July: Steadily dropping numbers of fish. All of August: The dwindling continues, with a 15-bass session about the best I can muster. Early September: Should be called The Other August. Late September: The numbers can pick up. It's erratic. October: 40-bass sessions are again possible. Again, it's erratic. I can catch 40 bass one morning and 15 bass the next morning. Early November: Happy to catch five bass. Late November: Launch and die. December: Sigh. What's it like, month-by-month, where you live?

If the Nursery keeps going in this same direction, a few years down the road, you'll be telling this story: "So, I was fighting a pretty nice bass for the Nursery, three or four pounds, and just about had it to shore, when an eight-pound bluegill suddenly appears, t-bones that bass, snaps my 30-lb. braid, and takes my bass to the deep. I expect I'm the only man alive who knows, so trust me when I say that an eight-pound bluegill runs like a bonefish on crack."

Hear, hear.

@GreenPig: The nursery's bluegills are bigger than its bass!

Heck, I'd love to be New England Alex. Well done. I love when anglers are quick to return fish to breathing.

I don't catch many small bass, Alex, perhaps one 12-incher for every 50 bass, but my new PW is truly perhaps the smallest bass I've ever caught. I once kept a fingerling and raised it in an aquarium too, along with a baby bluegill, baby crappie, and baby catfish.

Yeah, I fished again. Just an hour and 15 minutes this afternoon, from 12:15 to 1:30. The disadvantage of my short trips is that there often isn't time to locate bass, but I did catch four and all on a hard jerkbait, as that was the only lure I took. It's always fun to use a lure I don't use much. This was the biggest: And this was the smallest. It's my new PW (Personal Worst). However, don't mock this bass. Rather, fear it for one day, it'll be fearless and ferocious and BIG ENOUGH to swallow a musky lure...or your Yorkie. There were bass feeding on the edges of off-shore grass, but I couldn't match the hatch. If I'd had a small popper, I think I could have caught them.

Hey, we fish the same!