Swamp Girl

Good story, good bass, and good photos. All good!

These two are related. The houses produce the algae blooms: "Algae blooms are caused by an excess of nutrients in an aquatic system, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which can lead to rapid algae growth. These nutrients can come from fertilizers, wastewater, stormwater runoff, pet waste, leaves, grass clippings, and improperly functioning septic tanks." The same thing is happening in Maine. @jbmaine reports a drop in his fishing success in southern Maine and Maine Game and Wildlife says that shoreline developer is the number one determinant of water quality. Thus, I chose to not build on my waterfront property.

@PhishLI has talked to me about being dialed in and I understand what is meant by that now: I can't usually dial in because I'm pond hopping and often going days between fishing, but this week, I fished three mornings in four days at the same pond and I found the bass on the first day and they didn't move, so I went straight to them each subsequent morning. By next week, the new reeds might be rising and the bass might not be there or even if they are, I might not be able to wrench them free of tough, new reeds. I used to dial in in Canada, where I'd camp on a lake for a week and frequently catch 100 smallies in a day because I knew where they were after searching the first day. P. S. - I've needed four naps, Andy. P. P. S. - Please send me some gobies!!!

Back at ya, Alex. To be old and to be still angling takes grit.

@FryDog62: Just be thankful you don't weigh 187 pounds. Seriously, landing a tarpon is a BIG deal. Most tarpon escape, so congrats.

@FryDog62: Years ago, in a fishing magazine, I read about a guide who gaffed a green tarpon and the tarpon took off, taking the guide with him. It couldn't run far towing a full-grown man, but the client took a minute to start the boat and fetch the guide. The guide climbed back aboard and they landed the fish.

Do pontooners drink too much and talk/laugh too loudly for you?

I have such admiration for anglers like @IcatchDinks who fish pressured ponds.

I often say the same. This spring, whenever I went to a familiar pond, the bass were in a different place. This last week was the exception when I fished the same pond three times in four day and they stayed put, allowing me to catch 154 in three mornings. However, I figure that when I launch next week, I'll be back to square one and will have to bumble my way around the water until I find them again and determine what they want. #Icatchbassbybumblingandfumbling

Lovely intro. So happy for both of you to be fishing together again.

Heck, yeah!

@IcatchDinks: My well-oiled and well-designed system of handling bass immediately rusts and seizes when a big girl comes over the gunnel.

Are you T-rigging it, BP? And does it literally float like a surface lure?

What's weird, ICD, is that right now I'm using pretty much two lures: a Keitech with an underspin and a Whopper Plopper. The Keitech is catching the most bass by far, about 70/30 versus the Whopper Plopper. I've tried other lures, but right now in Maine, the bass want those two lures. Come summer, I'll add a popper, wacky worm, squarebill, and T-rigged worm, but for now, I'm a two-trick pony. Apropos of nothing, here's my top 2024 bass and all-time PB again, caught on a Keitech. She fought like a log and thank goodness for that, otherwise I might not have boated her. The photo is horrible, but I get so nervous with big bass in my canoe. I just want to return them to the water ASAP. She was 22.25" with a big back and belly:

You're Nostradamus, Dwight. Fishing this morning was a bridge too far. It's taking all day to recover. I won't fish again until next week and then only one morning at a big fish pond and perhaps two two-hour evening sessions at my quantity pond where I've a canoe waiting for me. Not having to carry a canoe makes a big difference.

The In-Fisherman Master Angler Award program acknowledges that different regions produce different-sized fish: By this program, I've caught the southern equivalents of lmb 10-pounders. I think that given the effect of gobies, the 5 lb. cut-off for smb should be higher. And south of Newfoundland, 4 lb. brookies are super-rare.

Good fishing, gang! I'm out of reactions...AGAIN!

I fished my third morning this week, up at three again and launching at four. I lost my Shimano glidebait to a rock and most of the braided line on that reel. Then another reel started to malfunction and I had to cut a lot of line off of it. I had to pull my Whopper Plopper, which I'd already cast, in by hand. A bass hit that lure and I had to land it in the middle of a zombie reed field by hand too, i.e. no rod nor reel. It was a pretty big bass too, but didn't fight much and I'm thinking it didn't fight because I couldn't apply much pressure to it. Still, I caught 42 bass and fished well the first three hours. The final two hours, I tired and fished poorly. The bass were still hitting, but I wasn't landing them. When you're catching bass in a foot of water with reed stumps everywhere, your mechanics have to be solid. Even zombie reeds are tough and fibrous and my mechanics were off enough for fish after fish after fish to escape. The bass second from the bottom is skinny, but I photographed it because it was long and had Spotted bass-like markings. The bottom one was the biggest and beautifully marked. In three mornings this week, I caught 154 bass. The biggest was 5.25 pounds. Many of this morning's bass were thick, as you see below, all 17" to 18.5". Now I need to nap. Whew.

Thanks, Catt. I've thought of using one a shakyhead jig. Because it floats, it would stand up on the bottom.

I was raised in Ohio. Ohio's lakes are pounded. Catching twin 44" muskies there is like Pat Brown landing DDs in city ponds. Go, @T-Billy, go!

It won't end at FFS. I predict that drone lures with AI are coming, i.e. lures linked to FFS that will swim to the scoped bass and using AI, entice a hit. The technology already exists. The tech user will have to free line the lure and the lure will alert the tech user when it's been hit, so the tech user can take up the slack and set the hook. Then these tech users will be posting photos of 50 lb. bags. I further predict that such successes will be short-lived, as bass will adapt. As it always is in nature, it's adapt or die. The stress of being caught again and again will kill some of the old gals and especially if they're crammed into livewells so that the tech users can pose with five DDs at once. I hope I'm wrong.

I go light too. The water I fish is sooooooo weedy that going heavy only gets me into weeds that much quicker. I landed more bass yesterday because I'm dealing with fragile zombie weeds rather than tough, living weeds. Even then, a few times, bass gathered enough zombie weeds to break free.

How do you fish that floater, Catt?

Thanks, GP.

Beauty!