Swamp Girl

5 is a big deal for me and you're right, it is a beautiful fish, made even more so by your being new to angling, the wind, the cold, the lay down, and your first time in your kayak. It was T-Billy who taught me to toss my lures into the nastiest thickets. Getting them out of those thickets is such a challenge, but it's soooo exciting too.

Lure-making is cool. So is treasuring your pappy's tackle.

@Choporoz: You rack up those six-pounders like Pat and Alex!

It's telling me that some Jurassic Park escapees have reached Wisconsin. Those are some serious claws.

Nothing in Maine. I've never felt one in my life.

^Posted^ last October and so true. You southern anglers have sure delivered and we Mainers are still buried in snow.

Tom, I would sing Kenny Rogers song, "The Gambler," while I fish except the loons would think I'm loonier than they are.

When I was young, I did NOT know my limitations and took a Sears 12' jon boat out on Lake Superior. Yeah, so dumb. And sooooooo scary.

Smart. I love the stability of jon boats, but, as you know, they aren't built for waves.

They look big, but it's hard (for me) to guess their weights with those perspectives, I.e. not much more than a head. I also get muddled when bass are thrust at the camera so that they're as big or bigger than the angler's torso. Whatever their weights, they're impressive and even more so caught from a dock in 20 minutes.

@Choporoz: How big are those bass? The second and third ones look exceptional.

Heck, yeah, @deep, that's a Megaultrasaurus!

Jordan and Pippen Jake and Pat

It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm intrigued. Do tell.

I so agree with both of the above. I love fishing, I.e. using well-engineered and well-made rods and reels, the beautiful lures, casting, paddling, watching the birds, and planning. I can be there simply having a good time and out of nowhere, a six-pounder wallops my lure. The nerve!

@Born 2 fish: She's got the lines of fighter jet. Sounds like she handles like one too. I don't know if you follow my struggles with landing bigger bass, but I was watching a YouTuber on a bass boat and when he set the hook, he literally back-pedaled to increase his power. In my tippy canoe (I tipped once last summer.), I'm stuck in my seat. Gosh, I'd love to stand. Say, wouldn't you like to sit after all the standing you've been doing?

@Born 2 fish: I keep scrolling back to behold your boat. She's a work of art, the David of fishing boats. So, listen up: I will do a straight-up trade for it, my canoe (with straps!) for your boat (with trailer). My canoe catches a lot of bass, so it's a great deal. #hopingyoudeliver

Yeah, I fished Minnetonka once for muskies. Here's a pic of what I caught: @DaubsNU1: Impressive what you've done with that ancient boat and motor.

The gin-clear water and all the other anglers make it challenging, for sure. Plus, the postal boat and the tourist boats and the water skiers and....

@Born 2 fish: Gosh, your boat is beautiful. I've fished Lake Geneva too. I went swimming there one time and saw a three-to-four pound bass parked under the swimming platform.

It's just as well you don't post such footage. I'd hit 11 on the must-fishometer, which only goes to 10, and I'd go fishing right now instead of blowing snow. Then I'd die, stuck in the snow on a backwoods road.

Whoa! Three consecutive five-pounders??? I could die happy right then and there. Here's the view outside my kitchen door right now. It's going to continue snowing all day today. All night long. All day tomorrow. And into tomorrow night. I'm going to go snowblow right now, but I'll have to do it again and again. Does consecutive snowblowing equal your feat?

That's generous of you to say, Pat, but the best I could muster in 2023 was back-to-back four-pounders. Just those two on consecutive casts and even in Canada, where I'd commonly catch 100 smallmouth in a day and sometimes would catch half a dozen in a day over four pounds, I never caught four-plus-pounders on consecutive casts. In Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Maine, if I catch more than one bass over four pounds in a trip, there is time between them.

You should film such times and share the footage. Not still photos, but video that let's us see you consecutively catching big bass after big bass, each one bigger than the last. I'd love to see that.

You should do what some YouTubers do and give your trip reports titles like: "Fishing for 13-pound bass!!!"