Swamp Girl

Go, Jake, go!

Smallies here:

I'm rigged and ready. Also throwing my two, big swimbaits and threw some big Senkos in my tackle bag too. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yep, there are eels in that pond.

Thanks, Pat. Out of reactions.

Have you tried smaller worms in water in the low sixties?

Ahh, thank you. I was thinking iffy as in crackheads, but it doesn't look like a crackhead haunt.

10 bass at a municipal park is impressive.

I just rigged it and am taking my two big swimbaits and some big Senkos too. @LrgmouthShad: Feel free to weigh in. I really don't know when bass start hitting worms.

Then I will, Tim. I'll rig it tonight. Thanks.

I'm totally old school because I'm too old to carry a battery and sonar to the water in addition to everything else I'm carrying. Like Tom, I'm always visually scanning. Even if I'm retrieving a surface lure, I'm often not looking at it. I can hear and feel the bite. I use my eyes and my swivel neck to look for clues about where to cast. There's a lot of information as to what's below that can be gleaned from what's above. I like to infer. Then, when I catch one, it's because of deduction.

Is it too early to use a 12" magnum worm in Maine? Our water temps are in the low sixties and we are pre-spawn. I want to target a big girl tomorrow morning.

Sketchy in what way?

Yikes, @PhishLI!

I'm catching them in zombie reeds. About a foot of water. I rig my Keitech so that the hook point is tight to the soft plastic.

That bridge is beautiful and looks bassy to boot.

What Mr. Fisher said.

I'm thinking that @Crow Horse and his brother make Chuck Norris look like a sissy.

I caught 75 bass this morning and my PB pickerel, Tim. I'm going fishing again tomorrow. I don't like to fish three mornings in a row due to my age, but they're hitting right now and I want to ride this train a little longer.

Yep, Bob, like you, Murph (@Jmurphy87) is a hardworking family man, which matters exactly a flooflillion times more than catching bass. Plus, he, like @Pat Brown, catches bass while standing on concrete and dodging errant frisbees.

I forgot to share that it'll reach 68 degrees today, which is our high temp for 2024 so far. That's why I think they were so active. It's also going to reach 68 tomorrow with a south wind, so I'm going fishing again at the same pond. I did hook one bass that I think was big. She took drag and peeled free. @txchaser coached me to cast 180 degrees from where bass are hitting in case a big girl is hunkering in deeper water, so that's what I did and that's where she was.

Yep. And I feel pretty good, but I was losing more bass at the end, which told me it was time to quit. Bob, you'll come up here one day. I'll be the canoe's engine and your net girl and you'll have such a morning too. I'll say, "Cast there." And you might say, "Into that thicket?" "Yep." And you will and the thicket will explode.

I enjoyed bassing this morning at a pace I haven't experienced since fishing wilderness lakes in northwestern Ontario. I couldn't get a bite on the surface for the first two hours, but landed 31 lmbs on my Keitech with an underspin. Then, with the Sun up, they started hitting the surface and I caught 14 on my Whopper Plopper. After that, it was a mix of the Keitech and Whopper Plopper. See the zombie weeds in the second and third photos? That's where the lmb were. I also caught a PB pickerel that I didn't photograph because pickerel are bonkers, but I'm guessing she would have been a new state record. She was so fat and heavy and the state record is only 6 pounds, 13 ounces. She was beautiful too. I was not willing to kill her to merely have my name in a record book. 16 of the bass were smb, all lean and long like river fish. I included one smb photo so you can see their build and their gorgeous striping. 59 were lmbs, many in the 2.5 to 3.5 lb. range. What a fun morning. The dinosaurs were sure on patrol: two eagles and two ospreys.

@pdxfisher: I'm going back there tomorrow morning and hope to fish it one evening too. Then I'll bring my canoe home and fish other water.

Those are nice ones, Murph, especially the first and third. If you want to double their size, simply long-arm them.

I don't know and I don't how I'd know something like that. Is that something a sonar might determine? I do have some lures that I can fish low and slow and look forward to it! I have plenty of time to probe.