Swamp Girl

Bank tanks, Murphy!!!!!!

Pat is a great angler.

I caught my first 2024 2fer (two bass on one lure), my biggest bass was 20.75", and I caught 37 total with a 60/40 lmb/smb ratio. Also saw or heard owls, woodpeckers, eagles, osprey, loons, ducks, and geese. I fished the biggest of the bodies of water that I fish and the most developed, with cabins and other anglers, although because I launched this morning at 4:00 and 41 degrees, I had the pond to myself. There were wolf packs chasing shad in old and emerging reeds. I usually can't catch them, but I pitched my Keitech on an Owner underspin into the salad, kept my rod high, and reeled like crazy to keep it on the surface. They hit it! Not every time, but I finally caught some of those wolfpacking bass. I think it was moving too fast for them to see it wasn't one of the shad that they were chasing. I got a lot of pics, but only loaded a third of them. See how tame the loons are at this pond? They sometimes follow me.

Hi-ya, Bob. Where in Wisconsin?

That's a longer day that I could fish. And you're fishing again tomorrow. Whew!

Healthy pike, Mike. I'm fishing tomorrow too. Alarm clock set for 3:30 a.m. Going to the closest thing to a lake that I fish. It's got homes, docks, and other anglers, but it's still full of fish. First trip this year to it and I'm excited. Hopefully not too excited to sleep!

Possum Anything and I'm smitten.

@Catt, your bass is just perfect. Largemouth come in so many different shapes and the big ones can bulge here and there, but yours looks both sleek and huge. A perfect specimen. I know your shorelines and moving and casting is possible. It would be nigh impossible in Maine. Our shorelines are a jumble of boulders and fallen trees. Sure, there are openings, but to reach them, you'd have to be part squirrel.

Bi-i-i-i-igggggg bass! #bankanglersarethebest

Carp are sooooooo strong. The Lindners loved to catch them and those boys caught everything, so they targeted carp because they're a blast.

Jake is fearless in trying anything and everything, unlike most of us, who have our tried and trues and continue using them even when they're no longer true to us.

@thediscochef: Your fishing hole has the best name and I can't imagine a better one.

I'm all out of reactions, but thanks for the parade of tanks. So, here's my question: When you hook a monster from the bank, to land her, do you go into the water sometimes? I ask because I think I would if the shoreline supported such a move. @MIbassyaker: I'm sure I've caught pre-spawn river smallies, but none of them looked like yours. Your fish looks like a bog bass who just lazes her days away waiting for the abundant swamp smorgasbord to be served to her.

I'm really enjoying these shore angler big bass pics! @MIbassyaker: That's a heckuva belly on that river smallie. All the river smallies I've ever caught were lean from fighting current.

@Pat Brown: I hope Jake sticks with fishing. He's a creative angler, catching fish this way and that. He's a good apple that didn't fall far from a fine tree.

You and @BrianMDTX are right. Small boats do present challenges. Even a two-pound bass can turn my canoe. Four-pounders and up can tow my canoe. However, I began as a shore angler and there's no way I can ever say that the bank's advantages are greater than my canoe's advantages.

@MN Fisher: I love 17-inchers, so thanks!

I toast the shore anglers. If I were pinned to the shore, I'd hope to catch one bass because that's what I catch on a GOOD morning when I cast from the shore before boarding my canoe. Yet, I see you shore anglers not only catch multiple bass, but some big ones, and many of you fish with picnickers on one side and another angler on the other. I don't know how you guys succeed like you do, but I always admire you. #contextcounts

So true.

My boat is so plain. It's just a scuffed hull and terribly tippy. This thread depresses me. You guys have great boats. Even @thediscochef's gravy boat is better looking than my boat.

That's just sad, @Koz. Shameful and pathetic too. Nice bass though!

Ahhh, pizza and music are fine things too. I know this is heresy and I might be burned at the stake, but bass aren't the only wonderful thing in this wide world.

Here's my single word commentary on you BR boys: Woody, I love your story. You lost two bass. Then you sat and attended to details. Then you landed that beast. The big girl I caught about three weeks ago never fought. She was dead weight all the way. At least yours woke up, took line, and danced for you. @TnRiver46: Nobody at BR fishes from so many different platforms as you. Beautiful bass. Catching it on four pounds from a tiny boat means you get to add two pounds to her weight.

Whoa! That's biblical. Bill Murray should have added it to his list:

What is a bad aspect of where you fish? For example, @Zcoker enjoys incredible fishing in the Everglades, but the swamp can move like the magical maze in Harry Potter. @Susky River Rat uses a fuel-sucking, slow, and hard-to-control jet motor to fish the shallow Susky. For me, it would be rocks. Maine is a rocky state, which is why farmers largely abandoned it for the Ohio River Valley way back when. We have rocks everywhere, including our ponds and bogs. So, I'll be paddling along and suddenly scrape and stick on a boulder just below the surface. If I had a motor, it could be calamity. This might be why I see so few motorboats on the water I fish. I'll have fished a body of water twenty times and think I know every rock just under the water and then I go and find a new one. From time to time, I think a stable boat with a motor would be nice and then I go, "Nahhh."