Swamp Girl

Thanks, buddy. It still hurts this morning, but the wrist brace is on the way.

I love wind, but my love is unrequited, as the wind doesn't love my canoe. Still, if it's 6/7 mph or less, I'm fishing the windblown shore. I just paddle a lot more because the wind keeps blowing me against the bank. As far as a.m. vs. p.m., they're both great. Mid-day is a challenge. I can catch bass in the middle of the day, but I can't catch 40 bass.

I bought the wrist brace, GP (@GreenPig). Thanks again for the suggestion.

I agree about @Fishlegs's bass. She looks too long and fat to be just 3 lbs. 10 ounces. Look at her mouth too. That's a big mouth for a smallie.

That loon photo is amazing. I really enjoyed your trip report.

@MIbassyaker: Fishing's been hot, for sure. After the long, cold winter, the bass are eating while they can. I lived in Wisconsin for 30 years and so I know your climate. Coastal Maine is very slow to warm in the spring due to the North Atlantic. When we finally warm, the bass feed and feed before the spawn. As I was paddling back this evening, there were bass rising everywhere on the pond. I would have fished for them, but I didn't want to walk the woods in total darkness.

It actually buckled twice tonight. I was fighting two strong bass and both times, it failed me. Bass are soooo strong. I was happy to finally fish from a sit-on-top kayak. I made a major error when I was casting one rod and I hooked the other rod, which was in a rod holder behind me. I had to cut and retie both outfits.

Thanks for the warning. I would have eventually stood on it, but not now, as I'll be fishing it again. It's a slow boat. My canoe is long and narrow and built for speed and to track straight. My canoe's narrow hull is why it's tippy, like a scull. However, I enjoyed the kayak. Being shorter meant it was easier to navigate the swamp maze.

It felt as stable as a pontoon boat, but it was crowded. I'm used to 15' 6" of boat. I think it was about 9'. I understand why kayak anglers are super-organized: They have to be! Thanks, GP (@GreenPig)!

Great trip report, @Fishlegs.

I launched at my pond and gave myself two hours and 25 minutes to fish because I wanted to return to my car with a little light left. I encountered two boys in kayaks who were fishing, which is rare, as I usually have the pond to myself. We chatted for a bit. They'd just caught a bass and were taking a photo of it. I complimented them. I caught 40 bass, but the last one was as difficult to land as they come. I was trolling a Whopper Plopper, as suggested by Dwight Hottle, while heading back to my car. She bowed my M fiberglass moderate action rod and even though I was a good twenty yards from shore, she ran to shore and wrapped my line around some wood. I was probably 20 yards in front of her, so I had to maintain tension as best as I could while paddling back to her. When I reached her, she freed herself from the wood and ran to deep water, so I had to work her back to the kayak. She's the last photo. My pond is more and more promising. Two years ago, I only caught 15 to 16.5-inchers. I am not only catching longer bass, but some fine, thick ones. Here are eight of them. My wrist is seriously hurting from fighting them.

Thanks, @PhishLI. I don't expect too many issues. My solo canoe feels like a fence rail and threatens to dump me several times each trip. It won't be my first time in a kayak. Just my first time in a fishing kayak, but I'll apply your advice.

"Pond" is literally in its name, but since I learned basing on farm ponds, I too understand why 169 acres would strike most as a lake.

Chef, for the cost of a guide, you can fly to Maine and camp on my pond/lake and catch two hundred bass in a few days. And I'll be glad to take you to the ponds and bogs where the five, six, seven, and eight-pounders swim, but the two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half-pounders at my pond are a blast. I'm going fishing in a few minutes. For the first time in my life, I'll be using a fishing kayak. I'm allowing a neighbor to keep his boat on my land and he said to use it whenever I want, so I will. I'm excited to see if the bass are still in the swamp alongside the swamp, as I loved the maze below. It was like golfing at Augusta, if Augusta had the obstacles of miniature golf:

I wish you'd been there. The woods would have been a lot less scary with my cyber-brother Bob there. I've actually slept in the woods for literal years of my life, but for some reason, that night was spooky. I think it was walking that path for the first time in the dark, plus the rain, plus I had no flashlight. I'm going again in a couple hours, but this time I'm taking my tactical flashlight and spray.

Wicked cool. @MIbassyaker: Fat cat!

@TnRiver46: What kind of motor is that?

I agree, Mike. I fly to Florida most years and it reminds me of southern California now with its 10-lane highways that are busy 24 hours a day. As it was with California, one can love a place to death.

@gimruis: "According to the Miami Herald, the Insurance Information Institute estimated that 13% of all Florida homeowners are going without property insurance, almost double the national average of 7%." @N Florida Mike: It's rising at a rate that we can't notice without measuring, but the rate is accelerating and the effects can seen in Miami, where streets that flooded once a year now flood several times a year (Yes, Miami is pushing back with infrastructure, but when it comes to water, water always wins.): "In the last 80 years, sea level rise has risen about a foot, with 8 inches of that total in the last 30 years, said Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science."

Home inventory in Florida is rising, which means there are more people looking to sell than buy. This is likely due to rising property insurance and some Floridians are choosing to "self-insure," which means no insurance. With evermore Florida homes uninsured, the next hurricane will scar Florida, as some damaged, uninsured homes will be abandoned and their new residents will be rats, mold, and drug addicts. In short, I would not buy in Florida. The state cannot solve insurance unaffordability with its Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, not without raising taxes...and raising taxes...and raising taxes as the water rises and rises and rises. I know my outlook is bleak, but the situation is bleak. Florida's pool table flat with an average elevation of 100'. Only Delaware is lower at 60'.

Hi, King (@king fisher). That was a good trip report. Sometimes even anglers who catch 42-pound bags are stumped and reading about your struggle makes me think, "Hey, he puts his pants on one leg at a time too!" Now, I do feel a little uncomfy giving Mr. 42 advice as I'm Ms. 22.5 on a great day, but I've bass fished a lot of gin clear water and all I've learned boils down to this: "If you can see them, they can see you." So, you need the lighted possible line (six-pound mono or fluoro at the heaviest), the most lifelike lure since they'll see and note every element of your lure that isn't lifelike, and cast as far as you possibly can; Cast beyond your sight, i.e. cast blindly to the zone where you can't see if there's a bass there or nor. Six-pound test will let you do this. Consider live bait too, hooked with a small hook and no weight. They become much less wary with live bait. You won't be able to cast nearly as far, but you won't have to. Again, thanks for the good story. Not every good story ends with the hero triumphing. Sharing your struggle sets up your eventual triumph. It gives your coming victory greater meaning, like Michael Jordan being pummeled by the Pistons for years before winning. Your fan, Ol' Crick P. S. - Please tell @Bird that he caught some nice ones! P. P. S. - The very best of luck on landing a DD on 6-lb. test. I've landed plenty of five-pound smallies on 6-lb. test, but a DD lmb is going to take you for a ride. Fingers crossed you hook that gal in open water.

You had me at your ^first^ sentence. And your last photo too.

Murph!!! Ha, @PhishLI! Nice one, @Fried Lemons!

I love that you guys fished together. I hate that you lost that big gal!

All ^this^ makes your catches even more impressive.