Swamp Girl

I think you're facing Mission Impossible with your current equipment. A 5' 6" rod is basically a Snoopy rod. What's your fishing reel?

I had the exact, same experience two days ago, when I was casting in the snow and so happy to be casting again, even though I caught nothing.

Funny! Great job of changing lure and locations until you landed a nearly 16 lb.-bag!

I really enjoyed your trip report, Dad. You write well, but I especially enjoyed having my good buddy fishing again.

I like @GrumpyOlPhartte's rig. The position of your pontoons wouldn't keep you from netting bass, plus the swivel seat is clever. My problem is that after five hours of paddling and casting, I'm so stiff that I half stumble ashore.

I still think you're hardcore, Woody.

I bought some of Tom's(@WRB) suggested weedless spoons and am looking forward to using them in 2024. I've got a stretch of river flanked by gnarly swamp and I'm going to pitch my Tom spoons into that thicket.

You don't have to stand to catch bass, Leon. I'm an old woman and whereas I could once stand in a canoe, I no longer do. I fish from my seat and catch quite a few. Sit one-top kayaks are pretty hard to flip. Glad to read you wear a PFD. Me too!

I just know that I'd like to fish with the woman below. I'd have her hold all my bass for photos. Her doll hands would make my fish look HUGE:

Like @king fisher, my scale can't be trusted. It weighs approximately half of the fish's actual weight, so I use it to get that half weight and then multiply by two. There's another scale I wouldn't trust and that's @AlabamaSpothunter's. After the amazing winter he's had, after weighing scores of five, six, seven, and eight-pound bass, his scale has to worn out, right? I'd buy him a new one, but the way he boats the toads, he'd wear that one down to a nub in a couple weeks too. Seriously, Alex's fish are so fat that I look at them and think his scale is underweighing them.

Conversely, it used to be common for musky anglers to pose a child beside their catch: A fish looks bigger beside a small person and smaller beside a large person.

BTW, congrats! That's quite a dowry. I love, love, LOVE the Berkshires. I saw that you have balance challenges. Is the challenge stepping into the boat? Once you're aboard, are you okay? If so, I'd enter on land and then simply slide the boat into the water. Wear a PFD, of course.

I'd chuck a Keitech swimbait on an Owner underspin. I don't even bury the hook for better hook-setting and am still able to pull it through heavy cover. I fish them through the water column, from slow rolling on the bottom to even landing them on lily pads like a frog. It's amazing how weed-resistant they are. I like the 3.8" and 4.3" Keitechs and I favor the ones that are white and gray. The link below will take you to mostly Keitech fish, all caught while fishing in the salad bar:

So, Woody, you basically fished six hours with wet, cold hands and not catching any bass, as you caught your first on your second cast and your last right at the end. That's hardcore, Woody. Hat's off to you!

Thanks, Alex. Ditto.

I was skunked today. There were three limiting factors: I fished from a narrow shore. I only cast about 20 times. I walked through snow to reach the water. I remember biking through snow to fish with my brothers about 60 years ago and catching nothing. Clearly, I've learned nothing in 60 years.

Does being okey-dokey with spinning gear make us these two? If it does, I'm good with it because, well, they're riding a hawg!

As someone who used spinning gear 99% of the time, I just can't relate. I can hit the pockets with my spinning rods. I guess the credit goes to decades of using them.

@A-Jay is a smallmouth ninja. I would do everything he suggests.

@Aaron_H, what shrinks the tubing?

Thanks for the heads-up, Glenn.

@Pat Brown: Twenty pounds from one of your ponds??? Man, oh, man, BR is sure stocked with bass whisperers. Jake is growing into a bass magnet like his daddy.

Whenever Alex's girls ^jump,^ he gets a little nervous, but they don't get away.

It's lousy here too, Gimruis. There's still ice on everything and we're supposed to be wet and gray for 14 of the next 15 days. We'll have to live through Alex and the other hammers. Luckily, Bass Resource has more hammers than Home Depot.

You have so many ways to catch bass, Alex, and you've developed such skill at playing them that I pity the fool who fishes against you. Plus, you've caught so many big ones that you've got Encyclopedia Basstanica in your brain. The complete set.