Swamp Girl

Thank you, @FryDog62. You explained that well. When I'm going fishing, I study the map the night before and plan where I'll paddle first, second, third, etc. And I plan what lures I'll use, after looking at the hourly forecast, and factoring in when the wind will hit which shoreline.

My gut agrees with you, but can you unpack your assertion for me? Why does kayak fishing force you to become a better angler?

Thanks for another update, Glenn. I love the tackle shop photos and Mr. Fuji smiling in your cap.

Poetry. I wish I'd been there with ya, Bob. Thank you, @Mobasser. I'm all out of reactions.

^Beyond yonder, for sure^

Has anyone at BR fished Siberia, New Zealand, Argentina, or any place that's beyond yonder?

Wait a sec. If they're all the same lure, then the lure manufacturers might have tricked me into buying more lures than I need. Thank goodness it was just me and that nobody else fell for it.

I just bought some, so thanks!

Listen to WRB (Tom). And welcome!

My Keitechs are 4.8". I bought some larger ones, but they just didn't feel right and they make too big a splash when they land. I also bought smaller ones, but they felt wrong too. In short, I agree with your sweet spot. The bass do too.

Your 21" smallies are not dinks. And then there's that striper you caught that could eat 21" smallies. So, I know the real reasons you're staying home.

Thanks, @Woody B and @Pat Brown. Well, then, I guess I fish for big fish too. I tried a Ned rig one time and caught maybe fifteen, but I didn't enjoy fishing it. I like the distance I get with bigger lures and I like their commotion too, but mostly I like that four, five, and six-pounders like them too.

12 lb. walleye, 50" musky, 30 lb. pike, 40 lb. lake trout, and on and on. Wow, @Dwight Hottle, wow!

I've backpacked a lot. I've lived off fish a lot. But I've never put the two together. Respect. I just realized that a Beetle Spin, spinnerbait, and underspin with a Keitech are the same lure, more or less, i.e. a fluttering spinner paired with soft plastic. You should be proud. The BR gang backstories are so different.

Whoa! Double whoa! What an angler's life you led, Tom. Ted Williams doesn't have anything on you.

@casts_by_fly: That's quite a CV. Weirdly, given that you've fished for mighty steelhead and bonefish, what I admire most on your CV is coarse and carp fishing in the UK. I've read about that style of fishing and it's otherworldly. Extra-long rods and spider silk-thin line. Contrast that with sprinting steelhead and bonefish and that's the range of an Arctic tern. @Pat Brown: Pat, I think you could catch bass in a kiddies' wading pool.

Me too. I don't really understand the "I fish for big fish." approach. Sure, I cast 12" worms and giant surface lures, but only because I think that's what the bass will hit...and do hit, of all sizes.

That's another kind of range, for sure. I wish I had that range. I'm working on it, watching various videos of fishing lures and techniques that I don't know.

As an angler, I'm proudest of my ability to catch fish wherever. For example, I've thrived on the Mississippi River, Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Erie, wilderness lakes, creeks, slow and muddy rivers, big northern lakes like Lake of the Woods, swamps, clear, sandy-bottomed rivers, farm ponds, highland reservoirs, old quarries, the Everglades, tumbling streams, and creeks you could hop across. I've never fished Alpine lakes, Texas reservoirs, the Columbia, and California's famous lakes, but just about everything else. I'm at my best in the wilderness, but I'm too old to fish it anymore. By wilderness, I don't mean a fly-in cabin with a dock and motorboat. I mean carrying a canoe through the woods and sleeping on rock. I had the energy to do that and it didn't scare me. It thrilled me. So, I was happy there and fished from can until can't. The abundance of boulders and laydowns rewarded pinpoint casting and my paddling ability was also rewarded because I fished in all weather. So, where have you fished and where do/did you fish best?

I know you're busy, so thank you for the updates. I'm just happy for you. How happy? Seven-pound bass happy!

@Team9nine: One thing that I admire about you beyond your consistency is your range. You went out day after day and caught many bass and some big bass from the shore, plying the small water of apartment and condo ponds. Now you're at a different latitude and fishing bigger water from a boat and trying different lakes too and catching consistently and landing quality fish. It's one thing to learn a lake and fish it consistently. It's another to fish different water and catch consistently.

I always wear mine. I've spent aggregate years on big water, like Lakes Superior and Michigan and the Mississippi River in tiny boats, but a shallow bog down the road can kill me just as dead as a Great Lake or the Mighty Miss. Plus, I've seen boats dragging for a body more than once. Now, imagine someone who loves you identifying your body at the morgue once it's been lost underwater for days and then hooked and hauled to the surface.

Nice ones, Bassman. I love that the same Ned keeps catching and catching.

Wouldn't it be great if we were all rich enough to simply buy a lake, which self-manages itself?

^This^ is good news, Bob. You have worked so hard to save your pond. A few years ago, I captured and relocated 33 red squirrels, but they wanted peanuts so badly that they were easy to catch. Otters are tricksy!