Swamp Girl

The river is where you do all your shopping. @Pat Brown: I'm terrible at frog fishing, so I appreciate your tips, Pat.

@Smokinal: Post some trip reports, please. Represent! Well, even though I'm often a 1 on the QQ Scale, I'm off to hunt a big one. Fingers crossed!

@IcatchDinks: Keep this up and you'll have to change your screen name. Cool that you took your little brothers fishing!

Whoa! A 20 lb. + average is something to crow about.

Thank you, Gary. I think it's important for landowners to let anglers reach the water. I never thought I'd have the money to buy waterfront acreage. I was born in a trailer and raised three to a bed and kids who share a pillow with their siblings don't dream of waterfront lots, so my sympathies will always be with the working man and his kid just wanting to catch some bass.

Bob, I figure we'll fish together one day. I've got a good feeling about that. However, I've been told to stop telling people that they'll catch 40 bass. I was told, "Tell them they'll catch ten bass and they'll get to watch you catch 40 bass." However, if you can cast into the pockets below the bushes and between the weeds, you too can catch 40 bass because that's where they are. However, if you bang the canoe, neither of us will catch 40 bass! 😉 One last thing: To catch a lot of bass, you have to release them fast. The net slows me down. I don't photograph smaller bass. And one quick pic for the bigger ones.

I'm trying, Alex. When I hold a bass for a photo, I try to pick a pretty or telling shoreline for the background. What you don't see are the bass where the lower half is a blur! Some mornings, they just won't be still.

Me too. I've got a thousands-of-miles road trip starting this Friday and I dread it. I don't want to leave Maine.

Out of reactions, but thanks for the update, Pat. I love to see you guys happy. Two-fer for Jake!

Ha! Being a 1 just means I fish for quantity as opposed to quality.

I second that!

Heck, yeah, that striper would stretch a net and so many long smallies too.

If you find that lake, please call me. Pretty please.

Ha! Well, you have succeeded.

Hardcore. Respect. It's not the rain that bothers them. It's the wind, which churn water, making hunting harder. I totally believe this. I once had a classroom aquarium with largemouth bass, bluegills, etc. I bought minnows to feed the bass and the minnows KNEW when bass were feeding, as they darted about the aquarium with the bass in pursuit. The minnows also knew when bass stopped feeding, as they'd suddenly stop darting and swim right beside the mouths of bass. I think bass could also read the body language of muskies and know when it was wise to hide.

Full disclosure: I wanted to be like @A-Jay, @Pat Brown, @Dwight Hottle, @AlabamaSpothunter, and the other BR big bass anglers, but failed. I fished big bass bogs and used big bass lures and probed big bass haunts, as explained by @Glenn and other experts, but largely failed. And I still try to be a 10, from time to time. For example, I'm big bass boggin' tomorrow morning, which means driving down the dirt road in the dark, strapping wheels to my canoe, hauling it over the meadow and through the woods, and launching in the mud, which is how I caught my PB this spring, but it's also how I caught a fourth of the fish I catch when I fish like an Ol' Crick (1!).

Andy, you might remember that I was once a musky angler and your approach to big brown bass reminds me of my musky days. I too sought to be ever ready for that one, rare bite. Every cast, I'd visualize a fish hitting my lure so that I'd be ready when it did and I'd also visualize my reaction, much like athletes visualize their coming performance. Thanks to all who replied. Once again, I'm out of reactions. I wish there was a black market where I could buy more reactions. @Dwight Hottle is a 10, for sure, on the QQ Scale. Dwight, has anyone ever called you a 10 before this? 😉

You all know I love a busy boat. I like to lift lots of bass into my little canoe and by playing the odds, I sometimes lift big bass into my boat. @A-Jay, on the other end of the spectrum, targets big bass and does very, very well doing so. So, imagine a spectrum where I'm at one end and Andy's at the other. Are you Ol' Crickier or more A-Jayish? I'm 1 on the QQ Scale* and Andy's 10. How about you? *Quantity Quality Scale

Socks would give wind more to grab.

Clever lad. Heavy rain means less light, where black is best. Pounding rain means you better make some noise yourself. Beautiful bass! We're both front fishers!

We had a power surge in my home recently that cost me about two grand in lost electronics. "File a claim," a friend said. "Then they'll raise my insurance," I said. "Then what good is insurance?" she asked. "It's very, very good if my home burns to the ground," I replied.

Oh, no! I'm surprised wind could grab hold of a thin rod.

I agree. Our species has been here for about 300,000 years. Bass have been here for about 3,000,000 years. To survive 3,000,000 years, you have to be a highly adapted animal, one that Mother Nature has fine-tuned a guhblillion times. Anyone who asserts that bass are simple feeding and spawning machines lives in Make-Believe Land. They are sophisticated feeding and spawning machines. NEARLY EVERY TIME I go fishing, I find the bass have moved and like @AlabamaSpothunter, I fish a lot. They're reacting to every little tick and click in their environment and always shifting their position and approach. However, I too like to fish right before the change happens because I remember moments of angling bliss at such times. I know that someone of you might dismiss what I'm about to share next, but I can feel coming barometric pressure changes like wild animals can.* I have literally lived years of my life in tents and when you sleep outside, you must be aware of coming change. I think we could all feel barometric pressure changing if we hadn't been numbed by decades of living behind thick walls, where weather really doesn't matter, but living outside forces you to pay attention...or else. *I once felt a tornado well before it arrived and that pressure shift yanked me out of deep sleep, but I can also feel the pressure shifting before lesser storms arrive. I've been in the wilderness when the sky was Robin's egg blue and said more than once, "There's a storm coming." Then, the next day, it was howling. I think all wild animals feel change coming too and so they get their essential business done right then, like eating, before the change hits.

I hear ya. Maine bass are always moving too. I also love the Mayor. It's my new steady. G' bye, Keitech, my old love! We had some good times, but.... Big bass, buddy! Woo-hoo, @thediscochef! Leader of the pack. Vroom, vroom!

A continent requires longer casts.