Swamp Girl

It was a dang mini-pike/pickerel who took my lure. However, before that, I caught a four-pound pickerel, which is good-sized for Maine. Before this morning, I used spinnerbaits in Canada for pike and musky, so I'm familiar with the lure. I asked the BR guys if I could troll one. They said, "yes," so I did and it worked as well as casting. I hate to not be fishing when I'm paddling to a new spot. Are you going to Quetico? My spouse tells me to stop telling people that they'll catch 40 bass in a morning if they go fishing with me. "They won't," I'm told. "They'll catch ten. Maybe 15. And they'll watch you catch 40."

Anglers who assert that live bait requires no skill are silly geese. I have caught thousands of smallies with live bait because on some days, live bait outfishes lures and I like a busy boat, but to catch all those bass, I had to have a nose for where bass hang and a feel for a hit and the ability to play those strong, leaping fish. A smallie can hit a leech ever so slightly. Many times, I've told my leech-fishing partner, "You have a hit." They were oblivious because the hits are wee.

I was going to fish a bog, but as I was passing a pal's pond, I decided to drive less and fish more. I'm glad I did because I caught 49 bass this morning and some quality fish too. Here are a couple pushing four pounds. They were caught back to back. The first gave me a quite a fight, tiring me, so when I hooked her twin on the very next cast, I was tuckered, but I managed to land her too. The first bass ran behind my canoe's stern and I had extra rods sticking out beyond it, so I had to make sure my rod and the extra rods didn't cross. Then I had to extricate my net from the extra rods in the front. So, when the second bass hit in the middle of a lily pad field, I thought, "Not again!" However, I kept the rod high, which helped, and for whatever reason, she swam out of the lily pads. Whew! Anyone who reads my trip reports knows that I don't fish a lot of different lures. This morning, I decided to try two new lures: a spinnerbait and jig. The spinnerbait caught most of my fish, including my big one, which you'll seen a ways down. Here are a couple spinnerbait bass. Using the spinnerbait was easy because my main lure is an underspin. A spinnerbait is just an overspin and with the exposed hook, I landed far more bass than I do with my underspin. However, I'll continue to use the underspin for pitching into heavy cover. Here's another fine fish, also nearing four pounds: I caught a lot of smallmouth too. A long bass! Spinnerbait smallie: More lmbs of various shapes: Then the spinnerbait really produced. I cast parallel to a shaded shoreline about ten feet out and the girl below hit. A lot of times with bigger bass, I feel like I barely land them. I didn't feel that way with this girl. She was powerful and pulled hard, but I felt in control the entire time, largely because I hooked her far enough off-shore to have some water to play her. There were weeds under me, but not that mat of weeds I find closer to shore. I could feel the weeds pinging as she plowed through them, but there weren't enough to mire and free her. Shortly after this, I lost my Terminator spinnerbait to a pickerel. However, I had a wonderful morning and now I'm confident with a new lure. She's a bucketmouth, huh? Thick jaw too. The photo is a little strange because I raised my camera to capture her full length. I also caught my first bass on a jig, but didn't stick with that because they wanted flashier, noisier lures. My Whopper Plopper and Choppo outproduced my Rapala Skitterpop and wakebait. My two-bladed spinnerbait outproduced my one-bladed underspin. I did catch a couple bass on a pumpkin green worm as a follow-up lure. I'm probably the only BR member to have not caught bass with a spinnerbait before today, but if you haven't used one, do! Unless your screen name is @TnRiver46. Lastly, I'll never know for sure, but I think I might have caught a 20-lb. bag. Four were close to 19 inches long or 19 inches, which is close to four pounds on my chart, and the big girl was over five pounds. However, I think about @A-Jay surpassing 30 pounds with smallmouth earlier this year and I know a certified 20-pound bag would have been nice, but it's not the be-all and end-all.

@The Baron: Thanks for taking those kids fishing. A couple of their bass have nice, round bellies. Whatever the length, I like to see bass eating well. Thriving. Weird to make a racket with trailers. I'm glad you caught some anyway. It's Crickety o'clock (3:19 a.m.) and I'm leaving in a few minutes to fish a bog. Fingers crossed. I've tied a jig and spinnerbait onto my rods, hoping to develop a little more range today.

Woo-hoo, @MassBass!

No doubt. Bass break rules as fast they make rules. Your bride proved my point. 😁

I think I preach stealth more than anyone. And I preach it based upon what happens if I bump something in my canoe and I see three swirls within five feet of me as the bass bolt. So your wife caught a seven-pounder? Wow. They're rare.

@jbmaine: WHEW! I'm not alone. Thanks, JB. Did you get any measurement on that bottom bass?

@MN Fisher:

Look for your complimentary bass boat to arrive by Fed Ex. Some assembly required.* *It will arrive in 732 boxes.

All by myself. Don't wanna post all by myself...anymore.

You all know I post Maine bass pics again and again, but I can't be the only BR member who catches bass in Maine. C'mon, my Maine bassin' brothers, bass up!

I caught this big girl on 6 lb. test with an F13 Rapala while fishing for smallmouth. Over the decades, I caught a few her size, but always unhooked them in the water for my safety and theirs. This time, I had a big enough net to bring one aboard. I wish you could see her full length, but she wrapped around my arm like a python. I love the belly on your hybrid, @Team9nine. The weirdest thing I caught while bass fishing was a Mirror carp, as ugly a freshwater fish that swims. I was fishing smallmouth again on the Mississippi and I think I was using four-pound test. It took about twenty minutes to land her. They look like this:

Dang, Woody, you've got style. You fish like this guy walked and talked:

I'm thinking a good thought for you.

@IcatchDinks: It's good to see a Mepps being used. They're oldies, but goodies.

@Fried Lemons: How long is that worm???

Go get those night bass, @LrgmouthShad! You too, @thediscochef!

This surprises me, Tim. It feels like you've been hunting muskies for much longer. I'm just glad that Tim and @TnRiver46 are catching fish. This thread has been pretty quiet. Too hot to catch bass? For me, its the wind. It won't stop blowing. I'll launch tomorrow evening when it dips to 6 mph, but even that's more than I like. When I launch tomorrow, I'll only have spinnerbaits and jigs on my line. I made a rare new lure purchase of three Terminator titanium spinnerbaits and they're so pretty, I have to try them, and @PhishLI coached and encouraged me to use jigs, so I'll try those too. Over the last half century, I've jigged plenty for walleyes, but that's a different type of jigging. So, no poppers, Ploppers, or underspins tomorrow! Can I troll a spinnerbait? I ask because when I cross the tomorrow's pond to reach the area where I'll cast, I like to troll so that I'm fishing every single second. And can I troll a jig? FWIW, I catch some bass every trip by trolling. I've just never trolled a spinnerbait or jig.

I agree with ICD. Tim rocks.

What a fish! According to In-Fisherman, its southern equivalent would be about 18.5 pounds.

Me too.

Your boat, @TOXIC?

What's the full story of that lightning strike?

All Wisconsin girls smell a bit like barns, i.e. the earthy sweetness of hay and manure. With a whiff of cheese. I think bass like our aroma.