Swamp Girl

What a great day!

My main lures tomorrow will be a Spook-style bait and a spinnerbait, but I'm also fishing a fluke every session now. I haven't yet caught more than one or two on a fluke each session, but as I experiment and refine my technique, I expect to catch more. If I can master the fluke, that'll be yet another lure in my quiver. I've been throwing fat 7" flukes, but I've rigged fairly fat 5" flukes for tomorrow morning's fishing at my pal's pond. Here's one of the girls I caught there last time. She wasn't fat, but lawdy, she was long: Thanks for the suggestion, Pat. I'll check and see if I have a small jerkbait. If I do, I'll take that too. "Fast and erratic" will be my mantra. @TnRiver46: Brrrr! It's 53 here just now, but we'll reach 70 today. My fishing session tomorrow morning will be challenging, as there will be a brisk and rising NNW wind, so in my head, I've plotted the track I'll take to fish some lees. I wish I could fish the wind beaten shorelines, but I'd get one cast off and then my canoe would be grinding on the rocks. The photo above shows one of the wind-protected shorelines I'll be fishing tomorrow morning.

You sound like me, except I often have five lures and combos ready to go and sometimes six. I even have a main lure, the one I plan to fish the most, which was an underspin earlier this year when I was pitching into zombie and emerging wild rice and now is a spinnerbait and I always rig two of those because it's rare when one of the rigs doesn't go down and I want to continue fishing without a re-rigging delay.

No doubt. For sure. And yep. What's weird is that there's a lake 25 minutes south of mine where the rich people live. So, it has cabin-lined shorelines and water skiers. There's a property for sale there right now that's half an acre of waterfront listed at $2.25 million. And it will sell at that price because rich people think that's a superior body of water to my boggy, wild pond with no skiers and no waterfront homes. People are crazy. And thank goodness they're crazy!

Your story doesn't surprise me. Bass differ from state to state and lake to lake and bass to bass. I can only speak for the bass I catch in the few ponds and bogs I fish and even then, I'm only guessing about whether they're staying put or moving. All this talking about fishing makes me want to go fishing!!!

You are so right. For every three casts I make, there are twenty casts I could have made.

@Flushdraw: I think you're going to be a heckuva fisherman because you really listen to advice and you're curious enough to seek it. Bass fishing is complicated, made even more so by all the terminology and many tactics. Then there are the thousands lures with tens of thousands of color options. And for those who use them, electronics add yet another layer of complexity. I'm a pretty simple angler, fishing from a canoe, but I have pretty consistent success by both working the lures I know and adding a new arrow to my quiver now and then. I also cover a lot of water, fishing the entire time. For example, when I'm crossing a pond, I troll all the way. I don't think many BR anglers troll, but it's so effective in a canoe because I'm not paddling in a perfectly straight line and at a perfectly consistent speed, which makes my lures erratic. Anyway, the guys have given you lots of great advice and I'm excited to see the results of you applying it. I really like @JayMac89's post, but my experience is a little different. I think bass move...a lot. I fish based upon this assumption, which means I move...a lot too. I think there is validity to what JayMac wrote about bigger bass staking claim to prime ambush spots and I've found that to be true for a month or two, but then the weeds choke those prime spots and the bass are no longer there, not even if I cast into the thicket.

Nice one, Wes! And even nicer one, @Functional!

I love those four-to-five pounders. They're my specialty. And hauling them out of grass is how I do it. Fishing from shore gives you an advantage over me in that you're rooted on solid ground, whereas even two-pound bass can pull my canoe. However, for every 50 two-to-three pounders I catch, I might catch one or two four to five-pounders. A five-pounder in Maine can be 20 years old, which is why they're relatively rare. However, since you're a Texan, I think they could achieve five pounds in two years. I think you'll catch one pretty soon and when you do, be sure to photograph it and share the photo so we can all cyber-slap your back! And listen to whatever Tom tells you!

Catt and @gimruis, I fished yesterday morning and I've shared anecdotes of bumping into bass because they didn't hear me coming. Yeah, I'm the Queen of Stealth, but I was dethroned yesterday because I could see a rock that's familiar to me, just under the water, leaving perhaps five inches of water atop it and my primary concern was to not run aground, for there are ruts in the rock that permit passage and I was focused on finding one of those, but when I reached the rock, about three bass bolted, all bass I could have caught if I wasn't so stupid to think they wouldn't be that shallow. My point, regarding the thread, is that once they detect you, it's game over, so I'd rather err on the side of caution, i.e. stealth.

When I landed my PB this past spring and likely the biggest lmb I'll ever catch, unless I were to fish in Texas or Mexico, I instead focused on having fun and learning the pond where I bought property. I've been clear about enjoying the fight and I caught four and five-pounders this summer that would have taken my PB backwards waterskiing if they'd been tied, tail to tail-with a short rope. Did I have fun? Did I learn my pond? Missions accomplished!

Some big bass are being caught nowadays. Congrats, @Woody B, @Team9nine, and others.

From 2.5 pounds to a DD is quantum leap. That's like driving a kiddy car and then wanting to drive a 300 mph dragster next. Don't you aspire to some intermediate steps?

I no longer fish with a boat with a motor, but when I did, I cut my engine far before most anglers do and when possible, I used wind to finish my approach. I think many anglers are too cavalier about the noises they make.

That's windy, for sure, Andy. One October evening, I had to beach my kayak on the windblown side of Lake Winnibigoshish in northern Minnesota. The waves were breaking, but I was young and nimble. Still, it took all my youth to come ashore. Today, the same challenge would have a different, sad ending.

If you've hooked DDs, you're way, WAY ahead of me and I'm one of the most consistent bass-catchers at Bass Resource. So is @AlabamaSpothunter, who fishes hardcore and doesn't hook and lose DDs. If I ever hooked a DD, I don't think I could land it, because here's where I fish: That's a foot of water with weeds and wood everywhere and the bass run to the wood. What's the water like where you hook DDs? Anyway, you're doing nothing wrong and everything right if you're hooking DDs. You just need to land one and that'll take a little luck, while also pumping anglers who land them for fighting tips. Again, I'm not one of those DD anglers, so I have no advice to offer. Ask @WRB, also known as Tom, who has perhaps caught as many massive bass as any man alive. Or ask @Catt and then read their answers about ten times and commit them to memory and imagine yourself applying them in the middle of a battle. In the meantime, enjoy the hunt!

@GreenPig: Your bass might not be big, but I still admire your catches because, whereas I catch bass on frogs and flukes, I don't catch many. I fished a fluke several times yesterday morning and didn't even trigger a strike. The bass in my pond go for bigger, flashier lures like spinnerbaits and Whopper Ploppers.

I kid you not, Gimruis. This morning, I caught a nice, long bass and I put her on the bump board and actually said, "This one is for you, Gimruis." And as I reached for the camera, she flipped off the bump board and took a tour of my canoe, working nearly up the bow, so I was on my knees trying to capture her and not tip and when I did finally grab her, I just freed her without a pic. However, I do measure the better bass, which I can do by pinching their lips so that they don't flop, and I do remember their lengths, so if you want to know the length of a fish, I might just have it. FWIW, all the bass in this morning's trip report were 15.5 to 17.5 inches. No monsters, but lots of well-fed fish. I think you're right. Thanks for reminding me of that. Thanks! I like some of them too. For me, the breathing clock is ticking loudly when they're out of the water and if I don't get a great pic on the first attempt, I release them anyway because I know they can't breathe in my boat. I might surprise you one day and apply all your advice...when my debt is reduced. More than once, I've considered taking a photo of a dink...just to share that I do catch them. I don't catch a lot of them, but in the name of brutal honesty, a dink photo would tell the whole story.

If I do that, Geico tells me, I'll need a separate insurance policy on my land. I asked, "Even a three foot by three boot shed?" "Yes," was the answer. Regarding all the photography advice, to be frank, I think my photos are at least average. They are focused, show the entire bass, and have beautiful backgrounds. And my photography process has the fish out of the water for fifteen seconds or less. When I fish my pond, which is the EASIEST pond I fish, as there's a canoe already in the water, I still have to lug my gear about 100 yards in the dark on a bumpy, meandering path with roots and rocks. That's five rods, my heavy tactical flashlight, and my tacklebox with my pepper spray at the ready. Then it's down the bank and boardwalk and loading in the dark in the middle of a spooky swamp. Then I have to back my canoe down the narrow inlet that's barely wide enough for my canoe in the dark, with the woody swamp bushes tugging at my gear and me. At other ponds, I have to carry everything that's already at my pond: canoe, paddles, net, bump board, etc. I don't have a trailer where I can pre-rig and pull unlimited gear and I won't buy one because that's not how I fish. I fish less fished water. A ramp invites other anglers. Plus, when you look at my photos, I've shown you more than the bass. I hold the bass so that you can see where I caught them, whether it was in the weeds, tight to the shoreline, or out in the middle. And I also try to share the beauty of the pond in many of my shots. I do not longarm them. I see some bass that are long-armed and their bodies look as big as the angler's, as if a bass could weigh as much as a man's torso. So, a little credit, please. I am trying and by no means do I think I post the worst photos at Bass Resource, but my photos sure invite the most advice. FWIW, I've sold photos that were published in magazines, so I do have enough of a photographer's eye to have pleased quite a few editors. I might one day buy a GoPro and clamp it to my canoe. If I do, that'll be one more thing to do before I get to launch and actually fish. I know you guys are trying to help, but please remember that I do fish differently than many of you and that I already spent every spare dollar I had and then some. Right now, I'm a pile of debt. In short, please stumble through the dark woods in my shoes first before advising me how to photograph bass. On the other hand, when it comes to catching bass, please continue to advise away as you guys have shared so much applicable advice and put so many bass in my canoe...and it has been greatly appreciated.

Not here. It's straight-up fall. It was cool all morning and more and more sugar maples are doffing green and donning red. I watched a fishing the fall video last night, where movement was encouraged, so I did my best to stay light-hulled and cover water. Unfortunately, my canoe weighs 85-pounds, so my arms were tuckered by the trip's end, but I think I did pretty well. I did encounter what I think was my biggest bass yet in my pond. I cast a black Spook away from the shore and something rose to crush it. The hit was titanic. I've caught, landed, and weighed some nearly seven-pound bass on surface lures and the amount of water moved reminded me of those giants. I'll never know, of course, how big it was, but a three-pound bass can only move so much water. The echo of that hit stayed with me for an hour. Unfortunately, the erratic nature of a Spook can cause some bass to flat out miss with their hit and that's what happened.

Like many bass anglers, I struggled through August. Sure, I had a few fine sessions, but I also had some high single-digit catch totals, which is a good total in heavily fished areas, but not on the water I fish. For example, I caught nine bass each of my prior two sessions on my pond. Well, this morning, I caught 20 and a couple days ago, I caught 25 at another pond. So, the numbers are picking up. I launched in the dark as I often do and the first one was small: Then a chunk, off a shoreline on a Dobyns Beast Spinnerbait, which was suggested by @Rockhopper, I think, and it's far sturdier than others I've tried. The chunk: Then I caught a couple average bass, all shallow. Followed by a couple more chunks: A couple more average bass: Intermission for pretty pics! I love fishing the maze that's my pond: The maze grows thick bass: I had good luck in the pads too, catching my biggest bass of the morning: A couple to say bye-bye!

Wow, @PhishLI!

It's on its way to being a million here too. More and more rich people are buying lake lots in Maine.

You explained it just fine. It's just that the BR crew, if we were a train, would be derailing every five minutes. Here's a little footage of us in action: @Catt: Catt, since I'm doing dictionary definitions, here's another: Ol' Crick's Pond noun 1. A place where Ol' Crick can catch a 15-pound bag most mornings and she's wonderfully alone 2. A priceless place