Swamp Girl

We've all been there and done that. Hey, you're still funny!

"Fishcastion" is so cute. Don't be mad at me, Tim, for writing that. I'm going fishing with the kid and his dad tomorrow morning. It'll be 1 m.p.h. and partly cloudy, near perfect for windblown canoes. This time, I want the dad to land a big one or three. I thought I was the top fish loser at BR, but now I'm thinking we're neck and neck, my friend. J/K. I know how hard it is to land a musky. I've got last place locked down. Anyway, good looking fish, Tim.

Whoa! Here's me if you do:

Go, BR!

@T-Billy! Beauties, Tim. You're a heckuva musky angler.

@GRiver: Me too, Buddy. I am soooo cool when fishing every other surface lure. I never react until I feel their weight. However, when a bass hits my frog, I want to scream and throw my rod overboard. @MN Fisher: I stand corrected. You clearly have a better research team than me. My research team is, well, me. Measly me. I like ^this.^

My extensive testing on Tennessee River bass has reached the conclusion that these bass see this whenever a spinnerbait passes them:

Anyone else wishin' that they'd be fishin' with @IcatchDinks, @FishTax, and @Pat Brown?

It's not just fishing where a strength can also be a weakness.

Impressive.

You are the King of Joy, Pat. I see all your smiles when you hold up your bass, big and small.

PFD and be gentle with the bass. No flipping or tossing them back into the water. Disrespect bass twice and you'll never fish with me again. No whining. If you're cold and wet, I'm also cold and wet, so complaining about the weather tells me nothing I don't already know. If you have a 30-bass morning, thank me for paddling you and putting you on bass. If we're going into the wilderness, pay your way: half of gas, lodging on the way, bait, etc. And do, at the very least, one of these: Volunteer to clean the fish, cook the fish, or do the dishes.

Agreed. For a primitive angler like me, with no Garmin or sonar, all I've got is what the water tells me. I've paddled thousands of miles on rivers, where I had to watch the water...or else. Watching river currents attuned me to pond, bog, and lake currents. The water's surface tells us a bit about what's beneath. I'm always looking for something that affects current, like a rock, reef, weed bed, saddle, etc., any place where bass will park because bass are like gunslingers who, in a saloon, always want a wall at their backs.

Another possible best attribute of Woody's: Fishing and fishing and fishing. Woody B. doth decree that everyday is the day to go fishing!

Go, ICD, go! Yeah, Pat spins a yarn like a spinning jenny. See here:

I'm a primitive angler. I don't even use a motor or anchor, much less electronics. This is largely due to the water I fish. I don't fish water with ramps, so I have to carry everything to the water and I'm old. Thus, no heavy anchor, even heavier battery, or even heavier motor. Now, if I towed a boat with a motor, I still don't think I'd use FFS because I think bass need to take a break from us and electronics in the ocean have given fish no place to hide and they're disappearing.

What's your best bassin' skill? And your worst? Just name one of each: MIne is casting. As long as I don't think about it, but just cast tap decades of casting, I can hit the pockets, again and again and again. I can also hurl a lure half of forever and I catch a lot of bass way yonder from my canoe. Just don't ask me the name, maker, or color of the lure I just cast!

How is Lynn? How are you, Andy?

I'm out of reactions, @Pat Brown, but I loved, loved, LOVED your trip report. You are a joyful angler and a fun storyteller. I'm fishing again Wednesday morning with near perfect conditions: 1 m.p.h. wind and partly cloudy. I'm going to launch at a big bass pond. Yeah, I'm a quantity angler, but here and there, I'm hoping for a bigger bass. Maybe with the kid and his dad. Maybe not. I don't yet know if they're up to rising and shining at Crickety o'clock. Shining is the hard part.

@Pogues2300: Do it! Catch one and you might hear a "Yee-haw!" from Heaven.

Ha! Here's a just-taken photo of me heading down to fish, the stubborn Old Mule of Maine: Me too, brother, me too, which is why I launch with five to seven rods, all rigged with different lures.

It is beautiful here. What my photos don't convey are the loons singing, the ospreys' battle cry, and the pine-scented air. Yesterday, I had one neighbor send me a photo of a bear in his yard and another of a bobcat in her yard.

@OmegaDPW: Can you guesstimate the length or weight of your big bass? @IcatchDinks: Congrats on the 17-incher. Yet another not-a-dink! Excited to see the pics of your buddies' bass and hear their tales.

Just say, "No." Got it. I do have some weedless Silver Minnowsish lures. I'll listen to you and this old gal:

Another pic on the Thames River in England.