Swamp Girl

I hope you're right, my friend. I truly want to be wrong in my pessimissm.

Thanks for letting me know. I should have figured that it was considered. I only mentioned it because my spouse's nephrologist has raised nighttime dialysis as an option.

I turn 68 this month. Many mornings, I'm up at 3:15 a.m., on the water by four, and home by ten a.m. I sound perky, but anemia has kept me from fishing as I once did. I received an iron transfusion several weeks back and I'm hoping a blood test this fall will show improvement. My fishing is pretty physical as I paddle and often have to off-load and carry a canoe. So, I'm paddling miles every time I fish. The paddling is much easier when I'm paddling my lightweight solo canoe as opposed to the two heavy, tandem canoes I also use. In ten years, I might be limited to fishing the pond where I own shore front and have a canoe waiting. The bass are getting bigger there, so in ten years, I might not want to fish anywhere else. Here are three caught there this past week:

Andy, do you know why her nephrologist hasn't suggested home dialysis?

I have hesitated to deeply opine about FFS because, as Woody noted, I have no direct experience with it. On the other hand, never having used it doesn't invalidate my perspective. My problem with it is the same problem I have with targeting big, spawning females. Pregnancy is hard. Some female bass don't survive it. Add the stress of C&R, especially if you parade the bass before a camera and stuff her into a live well, and you'll have fewer big females living ten-plus years and replicating their genetics, as they used to recover uncaught off-shore and that's no longer the case. It's a Devil's bargain, catching more big bass today for fewer big bass tomorrow. I'm just grateful I fish water where technology-heavy boats can't be launched.

More than once, I've had them swim up to my canoe. Then when they tire of looking at me from starboard, they'll dive under my canoe and study me from port.

I'll be froggin' next time, guys. Promise. I fished a different pond today.

My fishing numbers went off a cliff a couple weeks ago, from 35-60-bass mornings to a fourth of that. So, instead of fishing primetime morning, I launched this afternoon after a cold front and surprisingly caught 25. I usually determine which lure works best and stick with that, but today the watermelon Zoom Trick Worm, junebug Zoom Mag Monster, Bronco Bug-tipped spinnerbait, and Mayor on an underspin all worked equally well. I did have a titanic hit on my Junebug T-rigged Mag Monster and set the hook into what felt like a boulder, but she was in a horrible location with rocks, trees, bushes, weeds, and current and I couldn't keep her pinned for more than a couple seconds. For those couple seconds though, the amount of water she moved was awesome. I didn't catch anything big, but a lot of bass from 2.5 to 3.3 pounds. Here are four of them: P. S. - At one point today, I had a hooked smallmouth that leapt as an eagle flew over it while a float plane flew over the eagle. It doesn't get any more northwoodsy than that.

^This^ brought tears to my eyes. And @PhishLI's fish put a big smile on my face.

We're all cheering for you, Bazoo! However, I have both direct and indirect experience with hooking a beaver, and if you hook way, hang on for it'll be a Nantucket sleighride:

@gimruis: The undead live! RUN!!!

Great thread, btw, Bob.

I prefer morning, but only because the evening fishing tends to be windier. All night long, the wind is generally dying down and all day long, the wind is generally picking up. However, if the wind weren't my master, I think morning and evening are about the same when it comes to bass feeding.

Deal, Bob! Although, the canoe is yours to use whenever you want with a fish feeder in exchange.

@Choporoz is right. The tech race will make catching big bass ever easier. AI will be integrated more and more and "anglers" will merely follow the instructions to land giant bass.

Great thread, Pat. And a great story. A persuasive reminder to conserve the resource.

It's all good, Mike, but thanks for explaining.

Wonderful story!

Pat, I kid you not: I have never thrown a frog at my pond. In three years. Never. Not once. Yeah, I'm cuckoo. Next time. You'll see. I did throw my first spybait, but couldn't trigger a strike. I caught them all on an underspin and spinnerbait.

@The Baron: So happy for you! Happy for @NorcalBassin and his clan too!

Wow, @PhishLI!

I love the water too.

So, the guys were working in the woods again yesterday. They milled some oak to put an easy-walkin' sidewalk atop my boardwalk and dock. The guy who watches my property likes the upgrade so much that he's going to expand the dock. Yeah, I'm a lucky, ol' gal. I went fishing too, launching at six because I'm puppy-tuckered. Once again, I was fishing bluebird skies, which I do not like. However, the bass were hitting...somewhat. I started in the weeds. Then I caught one in the middle. As always, the pond was strutting her stuff. She's soooo weedy just now. The bass kept coming from those weeds. Then I hooked a bigger open water bass. Right before I landed her, I lost a big one to a laydown. I was ten yards from the laydown, but she pulled my canoe atop it and then pulled free. They are so strong. Another nice open water bass. Back to the weeds. Last bass! Two hours of fun fishing five minutes from my home. Life is good.

I don't need bass for bliss. I don't think you do either. Pops + your kid = West Coast Bliss

@Woody B: If anyone teaches you how to catch bass again, please send that teacher to me too. I was catching 45 bass per outing mere weeks ago. Last night I caught eight and I felt lucky to catch eight because they just weren't hitting. It's confusing because the water looks soooooo bassy now with all the weeds. There was another boat near mine with three anglers and they caught none, so, yeah, I felt lucky to catch what I did, but here are my catch rates for my last three outings: 22...15...8. At this rate, I'll catch two next time or be smooched by this guy: @Fried Lemons: Great fishing, but I beg you: Please delete that pic of the deformed bass!