Swamp Girl

You're a good man for seeing it this way.

Don't dangle a worm. Bluegill will grab the dangling bit. Run a thin, tiny hook through the worm.

@Pat Brown: Yeah, the opinions/tactics about hook-set timing sure range. As you know, I use an underspin A LOT and I find it fascinating how bass can take the lure and move sideways and I wouldn't even know they're there if I weren't watching the line. Hooray for the dock! I think the guy, who owns a construction business, took pity on me when he saw me exit my canoe, so stiff that I had to crawl on the floating mud before I could get my feet under me. I both called him and texted him to thank him. I think it's a win-win, for he gets to fish the pond and I get a dock. And he gets a dock too!

Whoa! I've always wanted to fish that river. I've also wanted to paddle it, source-to-sea. I'm excited for you.

I sent the photos to a flower expert and you are correct. I knew it was odd when I saw it. I just didn't know how odd. She wrote:

@IcatchDinks: I rarely deep hook bass because I set the hook sooner rather than later, but I was using a 5/0 hook and I think it's too big for them to swallow, which allows me to wait longer.

It's such a tight pocket to hit, but when do, they hit right back. "Right at the shoreline" is sure right. I do best about three to five inches from the shoreline. They are tight to it, tucked under a bush.

I returned to my pond for the first time in about a week, launching at 4:30 and fishing until 8:30. I was SURPRISED and PLEASED to find that the rudimentary boardwalk two pals had built for me out of pallets was straightened and extended by a man whose house is at the entrance to my property. He asked if he could fish the pond with his son and I said yes and when I met his employee who also has a son, I gave him permission too. So, those two men took it upon themselves to greatly improve the boardwalk and they built a dock too. So, now launching is a breeze. I paddled my 85-pound canoe backwards because it's a tandem and tandems are easier to steer if you paddle backwards from the bow seat if you're alone. I caught 52 bass. The last two years, I'd average about 35 bass, but I was fishing longer then, so I feel like I'm learning the pond, as I'm catching more in less time. I caught the vast majority of my fish casting into shoreline pockets. I saw a red flower I've never seen before. Does anyone know what it is? Then I saw it again, looking purple this time. Pretty, huh? At one point, I crossed the pond and took a pic of it so you can see that whereas I catch most of my bass in the marshy pockets, there is open water. Here's a long, thin bass I caught. For once, I didn't cast a single Whopper Plopper. I caught half on my translucent Shimano Flash Boost popper with a pink tint and the other half on an Owner Underspin with dark blue and shad-colored paddletails (Keitechs and Crush City The Mayor). By the end of the morning, I was down to my last Underspin. I thought I'd bought enough over the winter to last for all of 2023. Ha! The spinners eventually fall off. They still work, but not as well. I caught some thicker ones too. Thanks to @fin for teaching me how to insert photos for more cohesive storytelling. Five final points: Is there anything better than putting a brand new Keitech on an underspin? I increased my hook-setting success by waiting a few seconds on the underspins, i.e. just letting them run with it. I forgot to take photos of the new boardwalk and dock, but I will next time and share them. @Glenn said the higher the Sun, the more bass tuck into shady shores. Man, oh, man, is he ever right about that. I found success casting under overhanging bushes. A few times, it seems like I cast right into a bass's mouth, as the lure hit the water and it was immediately fish on. I have lots more fish pics, but so many of the bass were flopping as the shutter clicked. I don't like to wait for them to be still because I like to return them to the water ASAP.

I want to congratulate you too, @JayMac89. It's cool that you're catching more and cool too that you're posting in this thread. @IcatchDinks: I actually caught 52 this morning, but I always lose a lot. Always.

Hey, I have this happen every time I go fishing. Welcome to Katie's World! Congrats on all your bass!

Well-put, Andy, and thanks.

@BrianMDTX: Congrats on your jig success. I always enjoy finding success with a new lure. The last time I was out, I used a long Rapala wakebait for the first time and caught a couple thick ones with that. This sentence caught my eye: I think I lose more bass than anyone. It's not uncommon for me to lose five bass in a row. Of course, I can also catch three bass on consecutive casts, but gosh, I sure lose a lot of them. 95% of the time, if they hook a reed, they're free. If they hook wood, I often land them. I don't know why weeds free them so quickly. My last trip out, I'd paddled a couple miles just to cast into a stream mouth where big bass lurk. That stream is about six feet across and has good current. Alewives and even Atlantic salmon use it, so it's a fish highway. It has bushes arching over it, so it's also a tunnel, and the entrance is fronted/guarded by weeds. It's unforgiving and you might have just one chance to cast into it, since fighting one means another likely won't hit. My first cast had a bass charge like a bull. Usually, I wait a second before setting the hook, but it hit so hard it set the hook. I managed to land it and managed a second cast. The second hit was even more violent than the first. That fish came out of the tunnel and zipped past my canoe, pulling drag as if I were free-spooling. Then...free. And that's my angling life: Catch one, lose one. I love dog pics, @gimruis. Thanks!

Well done, Alex!

Here's Mac Davis singing our song:

Cool squirrel! I like the mist too.

In the past two years, I've been hooked three times, twice in the thigh and once in the fingertip. The fingertip was the worst because you're down to one hand and it's loaded with nerve endings. I didn't want to punch it through, but I was alone in a bog and had no choice.

I did not know this anecdote and I LOVE it. Thank you.

The Danes own Greenland. Australia is both an island and a continent. Geoscience Australia explains, "Being surrounded by ocean, Australia is often referred to as an island continent. "

Me too!

Mickey, I don't live far from China Lake. You are welcome to fish my pond, which has been good for 40+ bass in two-plus hours of evening fishing the last couple weeks or I could take you to one of my bigger bass bogs. I can't take you to my pal's pond, where the bass above were caught, but I have three bogs that have six-pound-plus bass swimming in them that I could take you to fish. The big bog bass are verrrrrrrrrry hard to pull out of the weeds, but there's a good chance you'll hook one. I watch YouTube videos of other Maine anglers and they also don't equal my catch rate nor the average size of the bass I catch, but they're fishing the bigger water. I'm often fishing in a foot of water, sitting atop weeds and surrounded by weeds. I don't think motor boats could go where I go. They are, however, much faster and more comfy than a canoe. So, pluses and minuses. Mickey, here's a trip report about my pond, with pics of the bass it holds:

Yeah, @Dwight Hottle, I know there are bigger islands than Baffin. When I said #2, I was thinking of Canada's northern islands.

I wish I could cry you a river, Riverman. It would be saltwater, so you could fish for snook, redfish, and tarpon. Fun, huh? Thanks, PDX. I used to photograph the bass on my bump board at the cluttered bottom of my always-wet canoe, but I think they're much prettier with a Maine shoreline and sky behind them.

I once interviewed a world-class adventurer. He'd just circumnavigated Ellesmere Island, surpassed in size by only Baffin Island. He waxed about how a house is the end of dreams. The mortgage, taxes, insurance, and upkeep keep one in a cubicle. He had a cabin, but he built it and it had no septic nor running water. As far as the rest of what he wrote, the Finns are the world's happiest people and they often say, "I have enough."

Your humility and humor shine and shine.

This was written by a man who's spent 40 years in the wilderness, both in the Yukon and Scotland: “I’ve spent the majority of my life living outside the conventions of mainstream society, and I’ll tell you what I think is weird, and it ain’t the hermit. It’s how entire generations of people have been conned into believing that there is only one way to live, and that’s on-grid, in deepening debt, working on products you’ll probably never use, to line the pockets of people you’ll never meet, just so you might be able to get enough money together to buy a load of crap you don’t need, or, if you’re lucky, have a holiday that takes you to a place, like where I live, for a week of the happiness I feel every day.”