Swamp Girl

I wish I could take The Legend (ToM) fishing! It would be like taking Mick Jagger fishing. Why? Because Tom and Rick are both rockstars.

Thanks for all the clear coaching above. I am so comfortable swapping lures. As I've shared many times, I'll land a bass on one lure and immediately switch lures to see what else they'll hit.

For the love of humility, is there anything you don't do well? Anything? Bueller? Bueller?

Thanks! He's just the right mix of sugar and spice. He loves to cuddle, but he also love to roughhouse.

@PhishLI: Wow! It's like the pickerel rush I saw last week: I know there were bass in that pickerel rush. I heard them feeding, but there's no way I'm casting in there. I leave that to anglers who know how to punch through weeds and can stand with big @T-Billy muscles to winch them out. I know my limitations.

The ^reason^ I quit musky fishing. Women can fish as well as men, but not when it comes to casting musky lures.

The Churchill is quite a river. Enjoy! I'm glad you're taking a PLB. Carry it on your body.

I'll take him paddling, but not fishing. Just too many hooks. Here he is:

Could be. You're the scientist, so I'll follow your lead and if I ever see a carp, I'll finally get to use my bazooka.

Maine smallmouth come three to four feet out of the water to snatch dragonflies. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating. I wish you could see it. I don't have carp in the water I fish to confuse me, but I remember them taunting me in Ohio when I was a kid.

Out of reactions, but thanks for the pics and the well wishes!

Joey P will be our last dog, Mike.

You lived the bass angler's dream life, Tom. Some say you were at the right place at the right time, but there were thousands of anglers at your two lakes at the same time and you're the one with one 19-pounder, one 18-pounder, and three 17-pounders. You're the man!

Beautiful lake. I would have loved paddling it.

They're a beautiful breed.

When I was a teacher, I loved spunky students, so it's logical that I love spunky dogs too.

No competition, I'm assuming. Fascinating. I wonder why. Agreed. I'm not target fishing, but if I land my first cast in a likely spot, I'm much more likely to land a bass too. I used to do this with muskies. This is graduate school-level angling. Thanks! You are Jedi Master of Sense Fishing!

I totally believe you. I also know nothing about all of the above. As I shared in another thread, when it comes to electronics, this is me:

@IcatchDinks: The greatest two days of my angling life, numbers-wise, were with a Mepps. I caught more than 500 smallies on that one lure in two days. I pinched the barbs to shorten my release time and didn't even bring most of them into the canoe, releasing them in the water so I could catch a couple hundred more. Come the third day, I slept late and mostly lazed to recover. Their average size was 17 inches. Bonkers bass! So, yeah, I have a thing for Mepps and Mepps men. I wish I could use my Mepps here, but it's just too weedy. I spend most of my time pulling weeds off the hook.

@IcatchDinks: You're a Mepps man. My kinda guy!

@Mike L: You betcha to all of what you wrote above. Here's what I feel retrieving my underspin through weeds: Tick. Tick. Tick-tick. Tick. It's the tick that pulls a bit that's not a weed. My only quibble is here: In Maine, there's not much else that can make a splash. I see turtles, but not on logs. A beaver splash sounds like a bowling ball dropped into the water. Ospreys and eagles splash on their dives, but they couldn't be mistaken for a bass. If I hear a splash in Maine, I'm 99% sure it's a bass and I hear a lot of them. I once asked my cell phone to play some jazz. I listened for about two minutes before I realized it interfered for listening for bass.

Later today, okay? And that's a good rule! Our last boy was also a mini. Sorry you lost yours. Saying good-bye is the worst. We still talk about our last one everyday.

Great photos and stories, guys. All out of reactions. Sorry. Here are my paddling partners on the Thames River, well west of London obviously.

Manny, my old dog died April 19, 2023. I buried him in my Japanese garden and planted Creeping Jenny on his grave. The Creeping Jenny now completely covers his grave and it thrives, growing plush and wide. After months of mourning, I'm getting a new dog today, another black and silver miniature German Schnauzer. His name is Joey P. Boots, the "Boots" being a nod to his four white paws. He also has a white muzzle, eyebrows, and chest. He even has off-white ears, so da Boots is quite a handsome guy. A friend and I built a backyard pen last Saturday and the house is loaded with toys and treats. I might be fishing less because puppies have so much to learn. Anyway, big day and friends are already pressing to see him before he's even arrived.

Your pics depict a magnitude of weeds that make me now feel like I'm fishing clear, blue water.