Swamp Girl

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:

Cool goal! Me too.

It's the worst. The snow is so heavy and the task is so dangerous. I'm glad you're not going to do it in a day. When I'm tired, I become stupid and take chances I don't take when I have energy. So, stretch out the work and stay safe because those Menderchuck bass are waiting for you. When I was young, Miami got an inch of snowfall. TV stations showed videos of cars sliding into intersections. You're right about snowfall being relative.

Look at the bird feeders. That's yesterday's snowfall. I fired up the snowblower three times in 24 hours: The single biggest snowfall I experienced in Maine was 31 inches, but that snowfall was beaten by the winter it didn't stop snowing. Nearly everyday, it snowed two to three inches. I hired men to clear the roof a couple times, but ice dams formed. I'd climb my ladder everyday to fight them, but I lost that battle and our roof leaked in six places. The ceiling repairs and light fixture replacements made for an expensive winter.

Big bass...and a fine pike too!

@NorcalBassin: You've really been getting out there. If I can build a high speed train from coast to coast by Wednesday, I'd like to join you later this week.

Here's what I think: I want a moratorium on new baits until 2100. That might give me enough time to try all the current baits if I can just manage to live another 74 years and fish 365 days a year. Heck, I'd need 25 years to use all the baits in my basement.

Ha! I actually love Maine. Just not now. Brrrr!

Welcome! I'm a Mainer too.

I don't fish with electronics, but I could see the bottom, so five to eight feet deep, I'm guessing. They were all caught on a lake north of Kenora, right off the road. I pulled my car off the asphalt road, launched, paddled to my island campsite, and started fishing.

They're terrible, but if you zoom in, you can see they're all 19" to 20" and without zooming, you can see they have big shoulders. If you do and you want some lakes chock full of bass, I can share their names and how to reach them. You'd need a four-wheel drive vehicle that you're willing to scratch. Drive with boots because when you come to water, you'll want to walk through it to test for depth and what's under the water. If it's solid, you're good to go as long as you go slow. If it's mud, you're best to avoid that. Yeah, huh, and that's the beauty of those lakes.

That's a cool box, @lavbasser. I wish the nearest Home Depot wasn't an hour away.

Especially landing a 13+-pounder. I bet a score of ten-pounders are caught for every bass over 13 pounds.

@Bass Rutten: That's cool and new to me; It looks like a fossil.

Been there. So close we could have touched them. What I also share with you is taking the time to photograph the glory we see. What I have never shared with you and never will is a 13-14 lb. lmb. With Tom gone, I suspect you've caught the biggest lmb of the Bass Resource crew.

Happy birthday, Bass Resource! And thank you, Glenn, for founding it.

II had a pinch of fame, enough to to taste it and to learn it doesn't suit me. I want a quiet life on a quiet pond. I'd never choose to end that.

So true, Al. Father Time is whittling away at all of us here at Bass Resource. If there's someplace we want to fish, we should go if at all possible. If you look at the photo of my island, you'll see my tent. Of course, I was the only one on that lake and to me, that's Heaven, being alone on a lake. I understand that it wouldn't be Heaven for most people, that they'd be lonely or afraid.

Here are some bass from the next day, along with a photo of where I camped:

@Jar11591: That girl's a keeper!

I've frequently shared how the best fishing of my life was for small mouth in northwestern Ontario and I've unsuccessfully urged Bass Resource anglers to sally forth into the wilderness too. I didn't take many photos up north because I was often alone, but one trip, I'd attached a ruler to the bottom of my canoe and thought it would be a good idea to lay the bass on the ruler and photograph them. Well, it was a terrible idea as the photos looked so sloppy because a canoe is a wet boat and especially so in northwestern Ontario where it seems to rain several times a day many days. However, you can see the size of the bass I caught one afternoon. These are some of the bigger ones from that afternoon. I think I caught about six over 19 inches that day. Ignore the ugly bottom of my canoe and you can see that they're thick, dark, beautiful bass:

My fishing art is old magazine covers and some folk art. I prefer images of canoe anglers, female anglers, and striking images of fish. Like F3, my home is full of art and most of it is original. Some of it thousands of years old. Unlike F3, I'm happy to own a print.:

Of course you did, you good man. Cool story! You had a fishing rock star in the boat.

Oh, I know. I got some last spring that were so cold they hurt to touch and they hit ever-so lightly. However, I caught my PB in cold water, so that tugs at me.