Swamp Girl

I feel stupid asking them because I'm asking about the obvious, but you do the hokey-pokey while fishing a spinnerbait, right? They don't work without the hokey-pokey because like it or not, the hokey-pokey is what it's all about. Here's an instructive video to help you. Yeah, @Glenn isn't the only one posting bass catching videos. You're welcome.

I look at them in the water and think, "Really? A bass will hit that hot mess?"

Length is faster, for sure, and like gimruis, I too am accutely aware that should I fiddle, the bass is drowning in air.

This is the best thread. There are aggregate centuries of observation and wisdom in this thread. I fish less fished water, aka ponds without ramps and bogs so weedy that they'll deter many anglers because your motor's prop will foul within seconds. I also fish a pond where I have to drag my canoe across a field and through the woods. I've never seen anyone else fish that pond because most people don't want to work that hard to fish. So, I'm casting to less-fished fish, pretty much the opposite of the great @Pat Brown's angling life. I feel kindred with anglers with anglers like @T-Billy, who fishes all night, and @AlabamaSpothunter, who fishes and fishes and fishes and taps the wisdom of our Japanese angling kin. All three of the just mentioned anglers score because they don't shirk the work. There are others too who push through, like @Alex from GA, who keeps fishing, and @pdxfisher, who fishes windy gorges through a health challenge. Of course, my little list of the BR men I admire is incomplete. When I started fishing, I could throw big, noisy Whopper Ploppers and catch bass willy-nilly, but I was warned that those giddy days would end and they did. I still cast Whopper Ploppers some trips, but only here and there and I only catch bass with them here and there. So, I keep trying to add new lures here and there so the bass I catch will keep seeing something new. However, they do seem less able to ignore underspins with Crush City Mayors and I don't blame them. That lure has flash and wiggle, I can and do change its color again and again, and I can cast it everywhere. Anyway, even though I'm fishing less fished water, I still use new lures because my half century of angling has also taught me that bass do adapt, so we must also adapt and this is why the Bait Monkey is the size of King Kong.

Considering I bought five acres of waterfront for $75,000 and had a driveway built for another $5,000, I spent north of eighty grand, but it's been worth every penny.

I fished my pond again this evening for 1.5 hours and had a great time because...I caught: Three bass out of trees, One bass out of weeds, Two bass off of shorelines, and Three bass that were open water wolfpacking. Nine total. Here's the first one, taken from a shoreline: Then another shoreline bass, nearly 17 inches: I caught two of my wolfpacking bass at the same time, as I was paddling back and had two rods out, one with an underspin and the other with a spinnerbait. The first was 17.5" and the second was 16.5": I finished my evening on the very next cast with a muscular 15.5-incher: I love all the ways we can catch lmb. Again and again, I have thanked Glenn for urging us to stay mobile in the fall to catch bass and it's so true. I no longer pursue and apply a pattern like I did in the summer because there is no pattern, no catching 40 bass 10 feet offshore or 50 bass in one feet of water tucked under woody bushes. They're here and there and everywhere, but I have to find each one. I also love having fishing five minutes from my home, being able to ring my spouse when I reach the car and say, "I'll be home in five minutes." @Rocky998: Congrats on your new PB. Those are two beautiful bass.

@softwateronly: Thick pike. Thick bass. Keep this up and I'll be calling you windycityalex.

^That^ deserves a Texas "YEE-HAW!"

There is a lake I love in northwestern Ontario and I have had a recurring nightmare where they paved the bottom of it with cement, turning into a lifeless swimming pool, and had homes and Dairy Queens ringing it. Of course, turning a wild lake into a city lake would be some people's idea of Heaven. I'm so glad that the whitefish have resurrected your Heaven.

I fell in love with spinnerbaits about a month ago. I know, I know, it's pathetic that it took me so long to discover them, but I was also frustrated by how soon they break, leaving a hook in a bass. So, I went shopping and even paid $14 a pop for titanium spinnerbaits, but those broke even sooner than the steel ones. Then someone suggested Dobyns Beast spinnerbaits and they are the best. My spinnerbaits take a lickin', but the Beast keeps on tickin'! I strongly recommend them. The water I fish is so weedy and the north country bass are so strong that my Beast is continually being deformed, requiring me to bend it back into its original shape. Well, all that bending weakens metal, but so far I've caught scores of bass on my Beast. I bought eight of them, but am still using the first one I opened. Who was it who suggested the Beast? I ask because all credit goes to him.

Thank you. I wanted to get a benchmark for weeds and you gave me that. So, when I try it, if I end up with weeds half the time, I won't feel like I'm failing.

Wow. ^That's^ huge. ^Another^ very nice post. Dare I say cool? I do, I do. @RHuff: Congrats on stretching. I too need to stretch into power fishing. I fish power baits, but with spinning outfits.

Fascinating...and thanks! Are you retrieving weed-free spinnerbaits the majority of the time?

Jar, I have a question: I try getting my spinnerbaits deep, but my pond is so shallow that weeds grow in its deepest part. So, I cast my spinnerbaits and count to four before beginning my retrieve and I retrieve weeds. Same with a count of three. With a two count, I can slow roll retrieve and catch them. I'm guessing your situation is different. Since I don't have electronics, there might be an area in my pond that is weed-free and maybe I'll find it one day and slow roll along the bottom.

So it begins. Alex, I found this inscribed on a stone tablet deep in an Alabama swamp: "Lo, and yea, it is written that Alex shall rule the fall and winter. For this is right and good and maketh the Heavens smile. It shall maketh the good people from North to South smile too. So be it."

This is exactly what I did tonight and it caught four of my five bass. They were in the same area, so I'm thinking they were wolf-packing.

I fished my pond for an hour at the end of the day. The problem with only fishing it for an hour is that the bigger bass are at the far end of the pond, but there's no time to paddle there and back, so I'm left catching 15" to 16.5" bass instead of 17" to 18.5" fish. Still, they're strong and fun. I caught four on a spinnerbait in deep water and one tight to the shoreline on a Googan Revolver.

@Fishing_Rod: I love our weather, but hate the shortening days. Maine in the winter is often lovely, but for a few weeks, night arrives at 3:30 p.m. and that's brutal. It wasn't that long ago that I could launch 3:45 a.m., but now it's two hours later, which is two hours less fishing. Sigh.

Thanks, Alex and Eric! Alex, you're right about fall fishing being junk fishing. This summer, I'd find the pattern and pound them. This morning, I'd flit from lure to lure trying to determine what they wanted, which was everything and nothing. I caught them deep. I caught them shallow. I caught them on the surface. I caught them ticking the tops of submerged weeds. I caught them with big, noisy lures and small, quiet lures. But I never caught one and said, "This is what they want."

I was catching 15" to 16" smallmouth on a Googan Revolver this morning. That's a pretty big bait for average-sized smallies to hit, but they hit it, again and again. I was not targeting smallies. I was hoping for green bass, but the brown bass kept hitting it.

I actually do wear the same clothing, again and again and again. They're Permethrin-treated and I want to maintain their effectiveness. You know those YouTube girls who apply makeup before going fishing and wear tight outfits? That's not me.

Well, my hinge wind hope didn't deliver. I managed 22, but 16 were smallmouth, all about the same size: My best lure was the Googan Revolver, but I also caught bass with an underspin, spinnerbait, and fluke. This was my best one: The others were like these: Wait, this was my best one: Did Maine represent? You decide.

Thanks, Alex, and thanks too to the rest of you. I ran out of reactions. Well, I'm off and fingers crossed I guess well and find a big bass or two. @Team9nine might not mean to do this, but lawdy, he's sure putting pressure on the rest of us to swing some big gals aboard! #Mainemustrepresent!

@GreenPig: Yoo-hoo!!! @Pumpkinseed Lizard: Love the mouth on the top bass and the belly on the bottom bass. That's quite a pond to have in your neighborhood.

BIG kitty cat! I got some footage of the cat right before it hit the spinnerbait: