Swamp Girl

@gimruis: I am not so spoiled that I don't thrill to 18 and 19-inchers. I love them and consider them quality fish. I'm guessing that the five longest fish I caught this evening would place me in a tournament here too, based upon the Maine tourney videos I've watched, but a tournament would make me nervous. Too. much. pressure.

Rain was forecast, but not lightning. So, I launched, hoping to get back on the quantity track and catch 45 to 55 bass after my last ten-bass outing. I started with a small smallie on a Mepps in the middle of the pond. I then made my way to a protected bay, where I caught quality, but not a lotta bass. They were 17 to 19 inches and I felt good catching them in weeds, which often bedevil me. I used a Crush City Mayor in shad color and a loon Whopper Plopper. Here are the weeds. And here are the bass. I paddled to a similar bay, but that's when the thunderstorms arrived. I took shelter on the shore and waited. It was nearly dark when the lightning abated and I paddled home, but the wind and rain kicked up in my face for 1.5 miles. It was rough. Still, I had fun and it wasn't the first time I've paddled home on a windy, rainy night. I finished with 19 bass, which is an improvement, but our yo-yo weather has sure curbed their feeding. We reached 94 degrees and 30 hours later, we hit 59 degrees.

@bp_fowler: Kayak fishing requires organization, for sure. @Jmurphy87: I'm just glad you're fishing...and catching, regardless of their size. @Way north bass guy: I never tire of pics of your river. @The Baron and @NorcalBassin: Kids rule and dads drool! @OHBuckets: That omelet: YUM!

I'm launching at five. At seven, heavy rain is forecast, .7" in one hour. It's gonna be pounding!

I cropped the entire pics off.

@JackstrawIII: I love craftsmanship and wood, so those knives are wowsome. @Way north bass guy: Another "WOW!"

I will, Tim. My canoe's stealth will let me fish atop them, but I'm still scaredy. I know how it will go: There I'll be, alone in the quiet bog, nothing much happening, and then I'll hook the Krakken...on a short line...and she will be berserk.

I have been dreading fishing heavy slop. Whereas I caught a number of six-pound-plus bass last year in heavy slop, I lost three for every one I caught. @T-Billy sent me a Heavy rod and I bought some 50-lb. test line and @road warrior suggested a baitcasting reel, which I bought, but sitting in a tippy canoe* and winching with my old woman arms is such a challenge. I'll attempt it with my new gear, but I'm a fraidy-cat. *It's so tippy that I'm guessing half you guys would tip within the first minute. No lie. It's not a normal canoe. It's nearly a racing canoe, so long and so narrow. On a lake where I have to paddle five miles, its speed is greatly appreciated.

To be frank, I don't notice much difference between spring and summer beyond this: In early spring, I catch fewer fish. Then one day, it all changes and I catch more fish, which I think is a metabolism shift triggered by warmer water. The constant through spring and summer is that the bass are always moving and my challenge as an angler is to find them. I have caught them in these places this year and on those days, I could only catch them in these places: Within 12" of a rocky shoreline In 12" of water in a mucky cove Beneath woody bushes Deep in the swamp and tight to cover 90' offshore in 8' of water 120' offshore in 6' of water In zombie reed fields In newly grown reed fields On the edges of lily pads groupings Where water enters a pond Where water exits a pond On shaded shorelines On rocky flats freckled with weeds I found bass thick and willing in a zombie reed field one day and the very next day, they weren't there. So, I had to find them again. Most fishing trips, I succeed. My last one, I couldn't find them, but I was fishing after a 30-degree drop in 30 hours, which might have dampened their appetites. For me, fishing is like pheasant hunting, where I have to keep moving to find them and flush them. Luckily, I like moving, as I'm a paddler and I enjoy the act of paddling, of moving my boat efficiently and true.

Switching sides. Got it and I'll try it. Thanks.

I'm not sure what you mean by not turning the rod over. Do you mean from ferrules up to ferrules down or the rod's to the right of my torso and then the left?

Yikes! You do a lot of head hitting then! Here's my main lure: Cowboys offer the highest praise by saying, "That guy sure can cowboy." Well, @king fisher sure can fisherman.

I agree with this. I'd also try a nightcrawler hooked once in the head on super light line. Hard to cast, but they won't be able to resist it.

Not me. I've caught thousands of smallies on leeches and I did so with all due joy. I agree that she's at least six pounds. I caught two last year that went 22.25". One weighted 6.71 pounds and the other, 6.75 pounds. Both were thinner than yours, so I think yours is seven pounds plus.

I guessed before I read Dwight's guess and my guess was 3.5 to 4.0 pounds. I catch a lot of bass in that range, so I know the look.

@IcatchDinks, in the past week, I've twice had big bass hit smaller bass that I was playing beside my canoe. Apropos of nothin', here's how tired I was when I docked last night: I was using a friend's canoe, so I docked at what I thought was his house, unloaded, and was lugging gear up to my car when I saw the house and realized it was the wrong house. YIKES! I scurried out of there. Maybe I shouldn't linger into the darkness, but I love being alone on a lake in the dark. Love. it. I see the windows of the camps glowing yellow and I both envy and pity them. I contemplate how few people have ever been alone on a lake in the dark even once in their lives because we are told, again and again and again, to be afraid. Fear is humbug.

@IcatchDinks, please share some of your coming rain. I love fishing current, where streams enter and exit. Say, you could feed your first bass above to your 22-incher!

@FishTank: If I fished 5 lb. test, I'd catch nada. A bass would plow into a weed and ping! When I hook a bass in a weed field, I see weed after weed pulled under as bass veer into it. Look at the weeds in my first and third photos and those are just the weeds that show on the surface. Don't you have weeds too and if you do, how does your line survive them? I can't argue with your results. You catch big bass. I'm just confused by your line choice and wonder how you do it. @Jmurphy87: You urban, shore bound anglers amaze me. You almost always catch something and sometimes you catch a four or five-pounder, like @IcatchDinks's 22-incher. Of course, there's @Pat Brown, who catches DD from the shore, but it's rumored that FFS was developed by scanning his brain. It's further said that FFS is a crude facsimile of Pat's brain. I don't know if any of this is true, but that's what being said. Am I the only one who'd love to fish with @keagbassr? Heck, he wouldn't even have to let me aboard his boat. I could simply tie a rope to his boat and I'd be 20 yards behind him in my canoe. Double-heck, I wouldn't even need a rod and reel! Just some binoculars, for watching and learning.

I fished for 2.5 hours and struggled to catch ten bass, catching the 10th, a smallmouth, in the dark on the paddle back. However, the ninth bass was a nice one and she's the third one down. The temp here is dropping fast, about 30 degrees in 30 hours, so that might be why they weren't hitting like they normally do. Still, I was happy to be on the water. Congrats, @thediscochef! Nice one too, @Woody B!

@gimruis and @Blue Raider Bob: Whoever sits in the bow, it's now the hot seat. If the kid can catch this gal, you've got to surpass him, since he's only 12 and doesn't even have his own fishing rod: Wow, @Jar11591: That's a long list!

Okay, I now love those men because I love dogs.

@TnRiver46: I'm not surprised that filling it was a chore. That was the hard part for me too. I bought yards of topsoil, which were loaded into my trailer, and then I parked the trailer beside the seven raised beds. I shoveled and shoveled and shoveled! That Miracle-Gro soil is the best. Expensive, but wonderful. @fishhugger: I have plenty of weeds you may transplant to your yard. I guarantee that they will grow.

You and @TnRiver46...and me. "Erupted" made me laugh. Prepare to be swallowed. I wrote a book about pumpkins overrunning a town. Your lawn is amazing. When you come to do my grass, please stop in Tennessee and pick up Bob the Builder to do my lawn. In gratitude, I will put you both in the bow my canoe and paddle you to bass.

@TnRiver46: I wish I'd thought to put posts in the corners of my raised beds like you did. What kind of soil do you have in your raised bed? It's so dark. It looks like shredded wood. @IcatchDinks: I wish I'd learned to play a single instrument. When my Japanese garden is done, I'll share some pics of it. I'm getting close. I have to lay a patio of slate. I've laid three paver patios in my life, but never worked with heavy slate squares. I wish burly Bob the Builder (@Blue Raider Bob) were here!

I don't just have a bass thumb. I have a green thumb too. I've lived in my house for three years and have done all the landscaping. The first pic amazes me. I've grown red raspberries many times over the years, but these raspberries were planted last summer. I built the two raised beds, filled them with topsoil, and planted five pots with raspberries. Look at them now! They're ready to attack Tokyo. So, I built another two raised beds, one for blueberries and one for black raspberries. Here are five black raspberry plants. i share this pic because this is what my red raspberries looked like last year. I've done other projects too, like this flagstone walkway bordered by boxwoods. See the colorful tree to the left of the path? That's a Flamethrower Redbud, an incredible tree that always look like it's at the peak of fall color. You can see my big project in the background of this shot. It's a Japanese garden. I should finish it this summer. I know my grass isn't perfect. That will be my final project. I'm focused on bushes and trees right now, which grow slowly. I can grow grass in two weeks. @Blue Raider Bob, you're not the only one who makes cool, pretty things. Any other gardeners? Any other hobbies other than fishing?