Swamp Girl

@LrgmouthShad: Congrats on your first Texas bass 2024! I have yet to catch a Maine bass, but fingers crossed it happens today. I was struck by how pale your bass above is. I'm contrasting it with an exceptionally dark 2023 bass below. They almost look like a different species.

Affirmative. It's a go.

I know I've never met you and likely never will, unless I spend my days driving at 100 m.p.h. back and forth across Kansas, but I'm still excited for you. I'm sure the whole BR crew is. It's clear that you're also excited, as you should be, for your participation is a big deal and you've the skill to land in the money. Speaking for all of the BR crew, we're proud of you. I'm an Ohio State Buckeye and our arch rival is Michigan. Michigan's battle cry is, "Go, Blue!" Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm saying it now, albeit about you: GO, BLUE!

Lucky kid. I had no idea that you could cast at a bass 15 times and it won't hit, won't hit, won't hit, etc....and then it will hit.

I love 'em all. I was drift boat fishing with a couple accomplished female anglers. There were three guys in another drift boat on a different river. The guys were boating smallies with about half a dozen being four-and-five-pounders. Ours were five ounces, not for lack of skill, but our river simply wasn't generous that day. And when I wished that we were on the guys' river, the lead angler said, "They're all good." I've never forgotten that and I try to be grateful for every bass. There are a lot of Lake Menderchucks. Michigan is loaded with big bass. Some of the best fishing days of my life have been in Michigan.

Multi-species days are a blast, @Bluebasser86! Plus, you caught quality to go with your quantity of species. Good luck at the Bass master Kayak Classic! Is this the big tournament you qualified for last year?

I agree with a couple points that @Reel made: Yep, it's the same where I fish. I think this is because I'm not fishing bodies of water where there are great differences in depth. The deepest is typically ten feet, but it's common for me to fish a big bay where the entire bay is five feet deep. @Reel also talked about missing strikes. This is huge. When I was a kid, I was fishing a pond in southern Ohio. I was retrieving my lure along a weed line and I saw a bass emerge, inhale my lure, and eject it while I felt nothing. Ever since, I'm always looking for signs of a bass hitting my lure. It might be a sudden end of resistance while retrieving my lure or the line moving sideways or something so slight that I can't even describe it. Set the hook if think a bass might be there. Lastly, since it seems to be the thing to do: I'm no hammer. Metaphorically speaking, I would struggle to insert a tack into a soggy, rotten bulletin board.

With a creek as beautiful as yours, you don't have to catch anything to have a great fishing trip.

Where is @AlabamaSpothunter? He's a sledge hammer. My best bass-catching quality might be curiosity. I'm close to the opposite of Al Lindner, who preached finding a pattern. I'll catch a fish on one lure and my next cast will be with a different lure. Within a few hours, I'll cast 7-14 lures. If I could load my canoe with 20 rods and reels, I would and I'd use them all. I'm always trying to decode bass. What will they hit? When and where? I want to learn something from every outing. I also change my fishing lures before every trip. I'm not just retying, I'm deciding on the first seven I'll throw based upon where I'm going, whether it'll be foggy, overcast, raining, or sunny, wind direction, depth, etc. And each year, I'll fish a few new lures to add to my box of tricks. I use Whopper Ploppers a lot because they're fun, but even there, I'm changing the sizes, colors, shapes, and makers. I also work harder to fish the water I fish. If there's a ramp, I'm much less likely to fish that pond/bog/lake. Bass can abound beyond yonder. @craigp and @Reel are right about precision casting. Lastly, when @WRB talks, listen.

I know that look. We're both New Englanders and for Maine, the wind dies on Wednesday. I bet it's the same for you. I'm planning to launch at 1:00 p.m., when it will be merely 5 m.p.h.

I hope so too, Tom! If I do, I'm sure she'll take me for a ride first, as all my big ones do.

I'll fish with a boy a few times this summer. I enjoy fishing with him, but I never catch as many as I do alone. I put him the bow, which gives him first cast, and I net and unhook his bass, which is time I'm not fishing. I went once last year with a friend and enjoyed that, as he was in a kayak, but he's soooo busy with him family. You do make a good point, Kent. My primary problem is my age. So many of my peers can't climb into a tippy canoe anymore.

Springs on the coast of Maine tend to be windy. I find it maddening. Yesterday was steady at 26 mph and gusting to 40 mph. Today is better, but still 20 mph. Tomorrow is more of the same. I read that some sodbusters in the 1800s, living in their sod homes, sometimes went crazy, hearing the wind howl for months.

34 and howling? True grit.

You've led an enviable angler's life, Alex.

Ice for much of the winter, but I also stop because I'm an old woman fishing from a canoe and when the water chills, it kills.

If the weather forecast holds, I'm fishing on Wednesday. It's forecast to be sunny with a high of 50 degrees and a top wind speed of 5 mph. If I can catch a bass, I'll likely fish again on Thursday or Friday, which are supposed to be similar. Then the wind kicks up for at least ten straight days. The water will be cold, but hopefully just warm enough for bass to bite.

If Woody strings an Alex-grade streak, we'll have to say that there's a new sheriff in town:

@Woody B!

What was better, Baron: Catching those fine pike or not having to wait until April to fish?

Susky, my dad is a few steps ahead of yours, as my dad can no longer accompany me. He's 93, has terrible balance, and his hands have lost most of their strength. The last couple times we went, about 15 years ago, he chuckled a couple rods and reels into the water. Amazingly, we retrieved both of them, which made him as happy as landing a big bass. As far as partners behaving well, the eyeopener for me was when I asked a guy to go to northwestern Ontario and he insisted on paying everywhere: gas, food, licenses, and baits. "We're using your car, canoe, and gear. Even paying for everything else, I'm still ahead." And I realized he was right. However, he was ONE of many who felt that way, who ranged from him to cut-it-down-the-middle to token-paying to wallet-clutcher.

If the weather holds, I'm going to fish Wednesday in the middle of the day. I've never fished so early, so I don't know how it's going to go. I'm thinking of using a shaky head, jerkbait, and a fluke.

I'm thinking a good thought for your dad, Susky. Splitting gas works if everything else is equal, but if your partner is aboard your boat, (s)he should be paying for all the gas to offset the money you sunk/sink into your boat and the time you spent/spend on its maintenance. However, my number one criterion is no complaining. Don't complain about rising early. Don't complain about portaging in the dark. Don't complain about bugs and wind and rain.

Eric, I lived in Wisconsin for 30 years, so I know the look of MN (and Michigan and Ontario), so you're right about it looking like a Minnesota lake. "with traffic" made me laugh, @A-Jay!

@Woody B, I bought a used Gore-Tex raincoat and pants this winter for $35 total. I haven't used them yet, but they look like they were rarely used. You might want to consider the used option. I might go fishing this week. Thursday looks doable, wind and temperature-wise. I've felt guilty this winter, enjoying all the fish pics and not contributing, so hopefully, I'll catch a bass this Thursday and finally have something to share.