Swamp Girl

Actually, it's an old canoe that's coming. It's a two-person canoe made out of Royalex. Royalex is pert near impervious to damage. It's wide and likely slow, but stable. I'll leave it at the waterfront property I just bought. I was walking in town and saw a fleet of canoes and kayaks stacked behind a house, so I knocked on the door and asked the guy if any were for sale. He said he was a Maine guide, but mostly retired, so he might want to sell one. I told him I'd give him a week to decide, so I knocked again a week later and he walked me out back to show me an old red canoe with rotten gunwales. He had already rewebbed the seats. "I've already cut new, ash gunwales for it," he explained, "and I"ll finish and install them. I'll also repaint the canoe." "May I pick the color?" I asked, wanting a dark green canoe. "As long as it's Maine guide green, you may." BTW, Maine guide green is dark green, so I smiled. "My last question is whether I can afford it." "Can you afford $350?" I offered him a down payment, but he said that he doesn't accept something without giving something. "Pay me when it's ready." So, he's a good guy and it'll be a good canoe. Not fancy enough to tempt anyone to steal it and sturdy enough to leave it outside year-round. Also, heavy enough for me to go fishing on windier days than my Kevlar canoe allows. I might even be able to stand in it. I decided against a V-hull or jon boat because then I'd have to buy a motor too and haul the motor out of the woods in late fall and haul gasoline into the woods and on and on. Plus, there's the greater cost. Plus-plus, I love paddling. I'll post a photo when I fetch it.

I will never understand cheating to win. So, you are celebrated for winning, but you will forever know you're a fraud. What's the point?

Dogs are the best, so losing them is the worst. Sad for you, @gimruis.

@WRB is right like usual. He wrote: I'm a Mainer and I also caught a bunch of four-to-five pounders in 2023. I also caught some five-to-six pounders, some six-to-seven pounders, and maybe two over seven that I didn't weigh. If you're catching fours, every now and then, you'll catch bigger ones. In the meantime, enjoy the fours!

If anyone can do it, it's Mr. Consistency, aka you.

I laughed when Glenn related his raft years and "skating down the lake" with the "slightest wind" because I know how that goes. My canoe is a Bell Rockstar, a 32-lb., Kevlar, 15' 6" boat. It's long for a solo canoe and slender to save weight. Like a raft, it rides high, so it's like a semi truck on a windy day, catching and being abused by wind. It's advantage is speed. Being long and light, she's fast, but the wind tells me when I can and can't fish. Being narrow, she's quick to tip and when I first sit in it, it feels like I'm perched atop a fence rail. Good video, Glenn. Thanks! P. S. - Regarding lake orientation, I would not fish certain lakes in northwestern Ontario because of their orientation. When you're camped on a lake for just a week, you can't skip a day or three of fishing because of wind. You're giving up too much of your trip, so we'd pick lakes what would allow us to fish no matter how much the wind blew. Lots of islands (windbreaks) and bays were the key with short paddles between them. So was a lake that ran every which way. A long lake with a westerly or northwesterly orientation and few islands would have meant windbound days.

That's all you need.

Ha! The best fishing of my life was down logging roads on Crown Land in northwestern Ontario. If you took Robert Frost's advice and chose the road less traveled, you'd outfish me, but beware: those less traveled roads are bumpy and muddy.

Others have said this, but I'll reiterate it: You don't feel all bites, but you can see some of the bites that you can't feel if you watch your line between the rod tip and the water. If your line goes sideways, that's a fish. It can even go a little limp, which a lure that's being retrieved can't do on its own. It takes a bass taking your lure and swimming faster toward you than you're retrieving. I've taken many people fishing who don't watch their line and I had to say, "You've got a bite."

So true. I was alluding to football actually, but it was, I think, I a swing and a miss, which means I'm now alluding to baseball. Oh, bother. I've confused myself now. P. S. - Way to guide the boyfriend to his first bass and his first kayaking experience. Good jump getting that PFD on him too. Some young men believe they're immortal. I've tussled with a few who wanted to step into my canoe without a life jacket.

Green Pig of Georgia is catching them steadily through the winter. Now Creek Pirate had smallies go bonkers with a jerkbait in Alabama and Alex had his great streak too. I'm thinking a little Georgia/Alabama rivalry might be fun.

Thanks, Glenn. Bass Resource's @AlabamaSpothunter strolled this winter and put together the best streak I've seen in my two years here. I can't wait to stroll!

I think it was a hit because I've fished squarebills and seen bass take them into their mouths and reject them right by my canoe.

Beautiful beard, @MN Fisher.

Remember how I tried to run circles around you on my bike with no wheels?

Good idea! Heck, yeah, it is. I drove down yesterday evening to see if there was any melting yet. Sadly, it's still solid.

@Pat Brown: What an angler. Speaking of outstanding anglers, where's Alex?

Well said.

Ryan, you're a great addition to the Latest Catch thread. Plus, @thediscochef's Viking beard now has a Viking beard brother! I'm going to save and eventually buy the two of you this bass boat:

Gosh, that's pretty, Ryan. Thanks for sharing. @Pat Brown: What @RipzLipz said!

That would do it.

Every fight looks mighty when you're using 2 lb. test and a rod that a breeze could bend.

I tried it once and it didn't feel like fishing to me. No floating, no paddling, no casting, and no fighting. Cold water takes all the fight out of fish.

Now I'm jealous. I haven't caught bluegills in way too long, about forty years ago in the backwaters of the Mississippi. They were big, feisty, and delicious. I did do some yellow perch fishing in Lake Michigan about thirty years ago. They were just as tasty.

@MN Fisher, I love that GIF, but your #2 is just an excuse for your lack of April angling savvy and I don't want to hear it. BTW: