Swamp Girl

Call me Ahab. I keep returning to the pond where I caught my PB about a month ago, hoping to hook her again to weigh her, but nada. I did catch 39 bass, but never found a pattern. They were scattered and wanting different things: Zoom worm, wacky worm, Whopper Plopper, and a Rapala Crush City soft swimbait. I start with two photos of the pond, showing how it looks both like a Canadian lake with rocky shorelines and black water and a swamp. Then a photo of a short, FAT bass, so fat it was funny. Then two photos of lipped and gripped bass. Then another two bass on the bump board. But no white whale. Respectfully, Cap'n Ahab

Nope.

Glenn doesn't spin his wheels in his videos. Too many YouTube videos open with special effects that aren't special. They then talk for three minutes about what they're going to tell you or show you. In a few seconds, Glenn is already teaching us. He respects his audience. And I respect his reservoir of knowledge and wonder how he's learned so much and can remember so much.

They're a training bass. I loved them as a kid.

The sweetest song.

Heck, yeah, I do. Thanks, Woody! Big spots. BIG! Nice bass, @swhit140! @BrianMDTX: It's beautiful where you fish, Brian. Handsome bass too. Yesterday was my fastest clip ever at catching lmbs. I had everything in my favor: perfect wind, rain, low light, and an approaching warm front. Plus, I just happened to fish where every other bass in the pond was hanging. I only had two hours to fish and I was paddling a heavy canoe, so I fished the swamp beside where I store my canoe. Normally, I paddle to the end of the pond where two streams enter and there's an island and reef. Will I fish the swamp again? You betcha!

@casts_by_fly: I can't even see their beds. I'm too low in my canoe. However, the tandem canoe on my pond is an 85-pound beast and it's so stable I stood in it to take the swamp photos and to cast a few times over grass and bushes.

I don't target spawning bass. I assume I catch some, but not intentionally. That photo looks like the bogs I fish. Feet of weeds with inches of water on top. Thanks for the lure suggestion!

This past week I've been a hammer. Going forward, who knows.

Given that I'm nearly 68 and still using my spinning rods, I'll likely literally die on the same hill. I once fished with a now-dead pal and always outfished him. So, one day, without telling me, he watched me fish and then said, "You hit pocket after pocket. You don't miss. No wonder you catch more than me." He was being kind. Sometimes I miss, but I can hit most of the pockets because of "experience and practice." Growing old has a lot of challenges, but we old anglers have had a lot of practice. Ha! Well, sooner or later, we all have to die and it's nice we get to pick our final resting hill. 😉

I used the Rapala Crush City swimbait last night for the first time, hooked to an Owner underspin. I rigged it so that I could safely cast into heavy cover, i.e. with the hook tight to the back of the lure. I cast with impunity. It's not as big as your Magdraft, but as the weeds thicken, it'll let you reach bass no mattter where they are. I don't think I hooked a single weed and here's where I was casting:

After last night's fishing, I think it's only a matter of time before I land a 19+-incher. I say this because of the frames of some of the bass I caught, i.e. they have the frames to be four-pounders and more. I caught at least three that are already 3.5-pounders. Not that far to go to reach four.

I was paddling a two-person canoe, so there was a seat waiting for you! I must admit that I still don't fish the way I'm supposed to fish, that is with baitcasting gear. Yeah, I'm still fishing with my spinning rods. I know baitcasting outfits are more accurate, but after a lifetime of fishing spinning rods for smallmouth, I'm a pinpoint caster with them and perhaps just as importantly, I can lay a lure ever so lightly into a pocket with my spinning outfits through decades of practice. I use MH rods and 30 lb. braid. I do have a couple baitcasting outfits ready to go and when the bogs develop their mats of weeds, I'll switch to them, one with a H rod that @T-Billy gave me paired with 50 lb. line. I'll be fishing a different pond tomorrow morning, the one where I have to cross the field to reach it. It's where I caught my PB about a month ago and I keep trying to catch her again to get a weight. She had such an unusual shape that I think I'd recognize her again.

@Glenn: I have a tactical flashlight called the Tiny Monster. It turns night into day. I also have military grade spray, which is about ten times as potent as bear spray. Next time, I'll take those two. The rain made it much darker much faster. I quit at 40 bass, but I trolled my Whopper Plopper (Thanks, @Dwight Hottle: I've caught so many bass following your advice to troll my Whopper Plopper.) while paddling back and catching another seven really slowed me.

I own 4.5 acres with 431' of the shoreline, but I think of it as my pond since nearly no one else fishes it. It has no public access and you can't even see it from any roads. It's 169 acres not counting the adjacent swamp that I fished tonight. In Maine, you can't actually own a pond that's more than 10 acres, even if you own all the surrounding land.

Thanks, @A-Jay! I was quite busy. I had many back-to-back-to-back bass. When I caught bass on my first two casts, I figured it was going to be a ton of fun. I was especially pleased to see so many thick fish. My pond is healthy and I love the challenge of hitting the little pockets in the swamp and then steering the bass clear of wood and weeds. Yeah, it was.

A pallet boardwalk was built at my pond today by two Maine men who cut trees downed by beavers lengthwise and then screwed the pallets to the flat sides of the trees, which were laid side-by-side in the mud. Next they're going to mill some oak and screw the oak to the tops of the pallets. I do have to hop over a rock wall that extends into the mud/water, but they positioned some flat rocks to make that easier. I'll take some pics of their work and share them with you. Now able to cross the mud to reach the water, I went fishing at 6:00 p.m. and conditions were perfect. It was raining and I fished the windblown, swampy side of the pond. A couple years ago, when I first came to BR, I sought advice on fishing in tight, weedy quarters, but tonight, I realized I've come a long way, that I'm not only comfy fishing a swamp, but I prefer it. I caught 47 bass in two hours and 15 minutes. The fishing was as fast as I've ever experienced with lmb. I start with a couple photos of the swamp. Look at all those pockets! Who wouldn't want to fish there? Then photos of some of the bass I caught. I used a Rapala Crush City swimbait with an Owner underspin instead of my typical Keitech. I liked the Crush City a lot. It's more durable than a Keitech. I caught a couple stocky 18-inchers and a number of 17+-inchers. I've never caught two 18+-inchers in one session at my pond, so that was encouraging. Plus, I lost a third 18+-incher when she jumped right beside my canoe. The only challenge this evening was walking through the woods in the rainy dark. That was creepy.

There's much, for sure, and rock too, which explains the smallmouth. In Maine, largemouth outcompete smallies and smallies tend to be thin, but they're fat in this pond. Yes, it could. I used to fish white bass on the Mississippi and successful reproduction was hit and miss. You might have a good year followed by three bad ones. Maybe. We did have our record cold winter about 11 years ago. I haven't considered this. Hmm. Interesting idea. You're so kind, but I don't want to fool with a battery. I'm off to fish it in about 15 minutes!

@Team9nine: There are so many smart, thoughtful anglers at BR and you're sure one of them. I just returned from the lake. The first 2/3rds of the driveway was built this week and the primitive boardwalk to reach water deep enough to float my canoe is being built right now. So, I'm planning to fish two hours this evening. I feel soooo lucky to have fine fishing five minutes from my house. My sense is that the bass are getting bigger. They used to be 15.5" to 16.5". That was two years ago. Now I'm seeing 17-inchers and an occasional 18-incher. As you wrote, time will tell. I have decided to put a chain across the entrance. I've invited many people to fish there, but I've seen tire tracks already on the just finished driveway. Anglers are welcome, but not people who want to go down to drink and trash the shoreline. There is some of that in Maine...and everywhere else.

Whoa! I bet that made your morning. Current has tricked me too. Still, it's a sweet bass.

Dear Pat and Jake. Please drive north. Bring a tent, big appetites, peanut oil, and breading. You may camp on my land and use my tandem canoe. Remember to come hungry. Your BR buddy, Ol' Crick P. S. - Jake, I know you like to catch different kinds of fish. Well, there are BIG eels in my pond. A Maine guide told me this. I don't fish for them, but you could. You seem able to catch everything with anything, so I imagine you asking your dad if he has anything in his pocket that would catch an eel. Your dad would fish out an old beer cap and you'd say, "That'll work." And you would make it work.

Pat, do you really think I can eat enough bass from a 170-acre lake to change the composition of the population? I'd have so much breading, bass, and peanut oil in me that I'd pop. I will, however, encourage others who use my land to keep and eat bass.

I garden like I fish: full bore hardcore. It's my third summer of building my current garden. It has three raised mounds, a Japanese garden, five raised beds for fruits and veggies, a driveway lined with Paperbark maples, a fire pit, four garden beds abutting the house, and other smaller features. It's still under construction, so I'm not taking many photos yet. I also add composted manure to the lawn twice a year. Maine soil is so infertile and in these uncertain times, I want my soil to be fertile if I ever have to produce more of my own food one day. Yesterday, I planted some black raspberries and mid-bush blueberries. I'll plant asparagus next week. What I love most about this garden is its winter beauty. It's easy to plant a garden that looks great in the summer, but my garden looks great in the winter too. For example, one raised mound is a massing of Red twig dogwoods. Another is Yellow twig dogwoods. The stems of both dogwoods are at their brightest in the winter and both are backdropped by Green giant thujas to make the red and yellow really pop. My Paperbark maples have exfoliating bark, so they're prettiest in the winter too. And so on. And I've sited my plants so that you look out the windows, the windows frame my best plants.

We're pre-spawn still in Maine. Great article, Glenn.

I like this idea. A lot. I think you're right. There are too many bass. I just wish I enjoyed eating bass more than I do.