Swamp Girl

@Lottabass: That was a joy to read. Thanks for sharing it, Al!

Well, then, I need to have a lipless crankbait tied on when I launch this spring and I catch one, to cast back to the same area.

That's impressive...and surprises me. Water so cold, but fishing so hot! Anyway, I'm excited for you too, Joe.

One thing I love about buzzbaits is how it's three baits in one: A high, fast, chirpy retrieve that makes a racket, daring bass to hit it. A lower, slower, gurgling, come hither retrieve. You can change the lure's profile and color in seconds by swapping trailers or going buck naked.

No, it's not getting warmer, but for the first time this winter, I can feel spring coming. Yeah, it's still so cold it hurts, but the Sun's higher and the days are longer and winter will bend and then break. I've spent the last few months planning what I'll cast. I caught my first buzzbait bass last fall and that was a blast, so I'm going to cast some more buzzbaits and I'll be casting bladed jigs too, as well as the spinnerbaits that worked so well last spring. I'm even thinking of trying some shiners. I used to use leeches for smallmouth in northwestern Ontario and really enjoyed that style of fishing. I think I'd enjoy shiners too and there's a bait shop nearby that sells them. They also sell white suckers and if they sold some smaller ones, I'd like to try them too. The four ponds I fish already have white suckers, so I wouldn't be introducing an exotic species if one escaped. Does anyone else fish with live bait? Are you guys seeing the daily changes in the Sun too?

I haven't been to a fishing expo for decades, but ^this^ is why I'd like to go. It's also fun to see the bass boats that cost more than my waterfront land. They're so shiny!!!

True. I'd catch a 40+-incher on most trips while fishing for smallmouth. I unhooked most of them in the water rather than risk netting them with a bass net and bringing them into a canoe. This one wasn't measured, but having caught several its size, I'm guessing she was 43 inches: But these were what we wanted to catch mostly: I think everyone who eats meat should clean a fish, deer, or squirrel at least once in their life. Life and death are distanced from most Americans today. We once all took part in killing chickens and bathing our deceased relatives. Now we pay butchers and morticians to hide death from us.

I use the five fillet method:

Russ, you opine with so much certainty, not just in this thread, but other threads, about fish tasting great regardless of where they were caught. My takeaway isn't that this is true, although you allege it is again and again. My takeaway if that YOU LOVE eating fish. A simple Google search reveals that fish caught from muddy water have two chemical compounds in their flesh that we can taste: "The earthy, musty, or muddy flavor is primarily caused by two compounds: geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB). These compounds are produced by bacteria and blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) that thrive in nutrient-rich, stagnant, or warm water. Fish absorb these compounds through their gills, and they accumulate in the fish's bloodstream, skin, and fatty tissues." Have you ever had someone love to eat something that you didn't? I sure have. All my life, I watched people drink coffee, beer, and wine with relish and all my life, my most recent attempt to enjoy any of these three tastes are as bitter and unpleasant as the first. I suspect I have more bitter-sensitive taste buds in my tongue so that despite my lifelong desire to partake of the rituals of coffee, beer, and wine, I just can't. My tongue simply doesn't process bitter drinks like most adult tongues. Give wine to a five-year-old and watch their reaction. That's how it tastes to me too. So, when you assume that you and I and everyone else taste fish caught here and there exactly the same, well, common experiences should have all doubtful of this assertion. I'm an omnivore, an animal evolved to eat meat and plants. I have true canines, I.e. meat-tearing teeth, like a dog or tiger. My point is that I simply have to smile at a mirror to be reminded that I'm a meat and plant eater. However, I also have a history of watching people reduce the fishing in farm ponds to a bunch of runts because of their gluttony. I've seen farm ponds go from healthy ecosystems to 10" factories when all the big fish were kept. Do I think we've gone too far from keeping everything to letting everything go? Yeah. There's a middle-ground that all who love to catch big bass should strive to reach.

Thanks for the pics, @GreenPig. You should post them from time to time. They're magnificent.

I wasn't going for romantic. Consider that humans are full of microplastics because we live in plastic environments. Further consider that bass inhale water and that everything in that water ends up in their cells. So, would clean water matter? Would clean water affect taste? Well, drink clean, cool water and then drink warm, muddy water. Do they taste the same? I've lived for months drinking nothing but unfiltered, untreated, clean, cool lake water. It's DELISH and the fish who live in it are delicious too (speaking from actual experience). I've also eaten a few fish from muddy, warm water. Less delish, for sure.

I hadn't thought about ticks, but you're right. Fewer ticks will survive the winter. New England leads the nation in Lyme's cases.

We're so proud of you, Tim. Plus, you're a good egg!

@GreenPig: The colors in that sky are jaw-dropping.

I'd ask @Blue Raider Bob about catching baitfish. He catches them all the time. Pond-building, I'm guessing, starts with baitfish.

I'm hiring three, strong men to do some clearing of my land this spring. This thread has led me to plan a fish meal or more for them. They're going to clear for three days and I'll go fishing alone or with them for an hour to catch some bass (hopefully) small enough to eat. 15-inchers are about the smallest in my pond, but hopefully I/we can catch a few and I'll clean and cook them for the guys in the woods along with potatoes. It'll be a shore lunch, which northwoods men of the upper Midwest know well and love. I'll feed them fish and taters the first day and if they want more of the same the second, I'll fish and prepare another meal, but if they prefer McDonald's, that's what they'll get. However, fish caught from clean, cool water is pretty delicious, so I'm hoping that they'll prefer that.

Thanks for the education, @casts_by_fly. I knew nothing about the British style of bird hunting. I would enjoy both styles, for I'd love walking with my dog and watching him/her work. I'd love that partnership and seeing how happy my dog was. Plus, I love Springers. They're one of my favorite breeds.

I remember watching "American Sportsmen" as a kid and seeing Bing Crosby on a bird hunt, singing while they walked. It seemed a splendid way to spend a morning.

It's still cold in Maine, but each day is two to three minutes longer than the preceding day, I can feel spring coming. Fishing again isn't hypothetical. Snow literally lies three feet from me and it hit zero again last night, but winter will buckle under the growing light. Every night is shorter. Every day is longer. And I'm smiling.

Different tastes for different tongues. I find your state's walleyes to taste clean, but my "clean" is your "bland."

I think bass are hard to clean. If you've ever cleaned a yellow perch, Sauger, or walleye, your fillet knife runs along their backbones like a freshly paved highway. A bass's backbone, on the other hand, is like driving down an old road pitted with potholes. And the meat isn't as sweet as a bluegill's, so there's less incentive to drive down that road. However, I hope to eat a few out of my pond this summer. My pond's water is some of the cleanest in Maine according to Maine Fish and Wildlife, but twelve-inchers are rare.

Heck, yeah!

That's really cold for New Jersey. Cold in Maine too, but so was last year. I caught bass in 2024 in March, but didn't catch bass until mid-April last year as the water was solid through March.

You would know.

Nah. I know where they live. I'll show you.* I'm just happy you're coming, Bob. No need to bring your otters, Bob. We have otters already. And even though Tennessee has taters and sausage too, I'll be cooking up a big batch for Bob. Launching a canoe at four in the morning builds up quite an appetite! *To be frank, I'm a little nervous about guiding Bob to bass because I want him to have the bass fishing adventure of his lifetime and I hope I can deliver that. If Bob is up for a bog trip, he might catch a six or even seven-pounder. If we just fish my pond, he'll catch scores of three to four-pounders. Bob will decide. Wherever we fish, it will be beautiful: And my neighborhood is beautiful too: And a drive up the coast will take us to thundering surf: