Swamp Girl

Great post. I love concision. Me: Catt:

@Pat Brown: I'm a big believer in the unconscious. I'm guessing that you're familiar with the possibility that we forget nothing. Of course, we can't retrieve all memories, but you've likely had the experience of smelling something and a long forgotten memory floods to the fore. Well, when I blast a cast, I think it's my brain referencing, albeit unconsciously, all my memories and saying, "Hey, this reminds me of that. Cast there!" I trust my hunches. I think anyone who's spent enough time on water should trust their hunches too, whether they're part of the plan or not. Agreed. I was a whitewater canoeist and to canoe well in furious water, you have to read it. Well, flat water isn't as easy to read, but still, I think there are teeny-tiny clues for when water moved by wind passes over a difference in the bottom, it will register on the surface, ever so slightly. I think hunches can come from noting the slightest difference in the surface and remembering a similar difference that produced a bass.

That helps. I get it. Thank you. However, after completely agreeing, I have this caveat: I do have hunches that I'll play and win. For example, I'll be working an area with contemplated intent and then I'll go and blast a cast to the middle of nothing and nowhere...and I catch a lot of bass this way. You know I don't have sonar, so I don't have a clue what's under the water where I'm blasting, but I have a long history of wayward casts catching bass. However, I don't see the pros doing this. They have a plan and they stick to it. What you said was wonderful. Really. You wrote with such clarity and passion. Thank you.

And vice-versa. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to fish the Everglades. I would. I watch lots of videos of kayakers fishing for those swamp bass and I want to be there too. I don't think I'd be overwhelmed. A swamp is a marsh is a bog. I think I'd feel pretty much at home despite my ignorance. It's not my intention to be dense, but what do you mean by "acknowledgement of intention," Pat?

I was fishing a lake in northwestern Ontario for smallies that I knew "very intimately." I had spent literal months on that one lake, fishing it from June through October. So, one day, I was fishing with my dad in one canoe and a pal was fishing in another canoe, perhaps 20 yards away. "We're catching them here," I said, observing that he hadn't caught a bass. "Come on over!" "What makes you think they're where you are and not over here?" he asked. "Experience," I said. And then I caught a 21-incher to punctuate my point. Sadly, he was too stubborn to move and caught nothing.

Hmmm. @PhishLI and @AlabamaSpothunter might disagree with you. I know I do. I had my best fishing season ever by sticking to a few bodies of water and gaining a better and better understanding of them. In 2022, I was a hummingbird, flying from flower to flower, i.e. from pond to bog to a different pond to a different pond to a different bog. In 2023, I focused on five bogs and gleaned a better understanding of where the bass bunker and how that changes from spring to fall. I'm not the least bit uncomfortable fishing new water. I LOVE to fish new water, but by fishing the same bodies of water again and again, I did develop a better understanding of them and their bass. It's hard to compare your Everglades bass to my bog bass, for your fish grow 12 months a year, but as @Pat Brown has observed more than once, a six-plus-pounder in Maine, in terms of rarity, equates to a much bigger bass from the Everglades. I didn't catch dozens of six-plus-pounders like I did four-to-five pounders in 2023, but I caught enough to believe in the wisdom of @PhishLI's and @AlabamaSpothunter's approach.* And I'm pretty sure I hooked and lost fish bigger than the biggest bass I caught, but I don't yet have the skill/strength/equipment to land those biggest bass yet. It's pert near impossible to keep a goblin out of the weeds when she's big enough to pull your boat into the weeds. However, from time to time, I still do fish new water for the sheer joy of casting into the unknown. *To be frank, Alex and Phish wanted me to focus on one or two bodies of water. I just couldn't. I like variety too much. So, I compromised and focused on five...and am sure glad I did.

How do you differentiate them? For example, when I fished northwestern Ontario for smallmouth, my primary lure was an F13 Rapala and six-pound test. One time, my fishing buddy said, "I've just been watching you cast and time after time, your Rapala lands right beside wood or rock." So, that suggests it's a strength, but that particular lure also comforts me on tough days when the bass aren't biting, for I've caught thousands of bass with it.

I'm glad you're quitting him. There are so many better fishing buddies out there and as long as you were marooned in that maroon's boat, you'd never find them. P. S. - Happy birthday and happy you-kicked-Covid!

You guys are making me feel like a wimp!

That's an excellent bass care tip. Thanks!

@benburkefishing: How big was the one on your left, Ben?

You bet. We had several 4" rainfalls in 2023. After one, there was so much water roaring out of a pond that the bass stacked to feed there, up to four pounds. Here's hoping for big rain in 2024! Speaking of rain, I bought REI Gore-Tex rain pants and a matching jacket at Ebay for $30. They both look never to rarely worn. I'm thrilled because I love to fish in the rain and my old Gore-Tex gear is 40 years old and looks it.

That is one sassy squirrel!

Truly, our winters are okay. We'll have 60-degree days in November and December highs usually reach the forties. January and February are cold, but still a far ways from North Dakota cold. And our summers are perfect: low humidity and rarely too hot.

I just bought an Aegis radar system there at 62% off. Despite the deep discount, I'm now setting up a gofundme to pay for it. I beg all y'all to be generous. Here's hoping I can mount it on my canoe.

For you, Gimruiz. And me too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KClpLzFftU Me too. I lived for 30 years in northwestern WI and when people asked why I moved to coastal Maine, I say, "It's warmer." We did hit -16 twice last winter, but those temps are way, way, WAY outliers. I remember many days in Wisconsin when my car door groaned, my seat groaned, and my engine groaned.

^This^ is for Officer Blue, but I know Tim RipZ loves squirrels too.

Yes, we are accident prone. Perhaps you could buy me a couple walking sticks so I'm less likely to trip. I'm thinking 7'2" MH fast action walking sticks.

I could be your dock supervisor. I might stumble on your dock into a fishing rod and then trip and accidentally cast it. A lot.

Hey, this is one of those I-happened-to-go-fishing-on-the-way-to-the-grocery-store deals! If I had a dock, I too would be checking-on-the-boat 😉-😉 several times a day.

One way I can infer weight is the heavy bass, over six pounds or so, stretch their lower jaws when lipped and gripped, like @jimanchower's big girl.

@jimanchower: Welcome and congrats! Please don't do a one and done posting. Stay! Be an active member of this great group of anglers. Now, here's me celebrating your beast:

I second @MIbassyaker's sigh. Another great trip report by @TnRiver46!

When it comes to paddling and portaging, old school is the only school. Unless you're Marshawn Lynch accustomed to carrying cornerbacks on your back, I can't imagine carrying a sonar and battery into the bush. On such trips, keeping your canoe on a straight line matters as much as ever.

I also love and fish the Keitechs, but I've found the Rage Swimmers to be just as effective. I had a 49-bass day in early summer on an Owner underspin/Rage Swimmer combo, surpassed in 2023 only by a 59-bass day on a Mepps brass spinner and Whopper Plopper.