Swamp Girl

Hula girls, 50 craft beers, and a pizza oven, I'm guessing.

I use my underspins with paddletails mostly in the thickest cover. Heck, I've even used them as surface lures, i.e. a frog, casting them onto a lawn of lily pads so thick that that the underspin scooted atop them until there was an opening...and I've had bass bust through the pads to clobber them before they ever reached an opening. But my bread and butter tactic with underspins is casting into or on the edge of reeds, lily pads, and grasses. I also cast them at shorelines like a surface lure and they've worked in a foot of water many times for me. There's nothing dainty about the underspins I throw, for I saddle them with five-inchish paddletails. They're big lures that I can chuck beyond yonder. Alex, I enjoy fishing with them because I can cast them everywhere and because a paddletail has terrific action and the flash of the underspin's blade is a siren's call for bass. They're my mid-column lure, along with inline spinners, squarebills, and jerkbaits, but my underspins catch more bass than my other three mid-column lures combined. If I'm casting to open water, I'll let them sink sometimes before retrieving, counting to five and then six on the next cast and so on until I find the fish. I like the Owner underspins: Last spring when the water was cold, the underspin was the lure that caught 'em. However, it's a warm water lure too. #theoldkatlovestoplaywithunderspins

Phish is right.

The underspin is one of my three favorite lures. Those are FAT spots, @NorcalBassin!

Not always. No one else wants to rise and shine at 3:00 a.m., so I fish alone. Mostly. I do fish with others here and there. However, I mostly prefer fishing alone because I catch more because I'm concentrating rather than coaching. ^This^ is kind. I wouldn't bank fish. If I were you, all the time you spend fishing now, I'd work a second job. Then, as others have suggested, I'd save that money and buy a kayak. Heck, you might not even need to work more. A basic kayak could be found for a couple hundred bucks. I'm not talking about a tricked-out fishing kayak. I'm talking about a basic, old kayak where you set the rod on your lap and go catch bass. Lots of great advice in this thread, but @Bankc's is the best. So far, you've seen this guy at his best.

@PaulVE64: Smallmouth fishing in Ontario in mid-November? You make this guy seem wimpy:

Please tell Jake that he and his dad aren't the only ones proud of him. We all are too.

It's cool to see photos of the footwear, so this is basically what I wear. They warm when it's cool and wet, but not too warm in the summer and I feel safe when stepping onto slippery rocks under the water:

Orcas sink sailboats. Woody keeps catching bass. The Mississippi River becomes salty. Woody keeps catching bass. TnRiver46 hangs with Ents. Woody keeps catching bass. The Yankee fishers have garaged their boats. Woody keeps catching bass.

I'd appreciate that.

I didn't think about using it as a hand cart. Thanks for the reminder.

I like your Bogs, @RRocket.

I use a ball-bearing swivel with my Mepps. I think they're more likely to work than the cheaper ones.

@Pat Brown: Gorgeous bass, Pat. What a mouth on your bass, @FishTank! I got some great news this yesterday morning. I had some blood work done on Thursday and my doctor called to say that I'm quite anemic, which explains why my energy has been so low. I remember rolling my canoe for thirty yards across a flat field this summer and panting. I also remember staggering out of my canoe after a few hours of fishing. The fix is an iron supplement and in three weeks to three months, I'm supposed to regain my energy. I know my iron level isn't exactly about catching bass, but it sorta is.

On YouTube, I see more and more young anglers fishing barefoot in their bass boats. If you're a barefoot fisher, please explain why. If you're not, what's your footwear of choice when fishing in your boat or from shore? I either wear tennis shoes or my neoprene/wetsuit boots. My tennis shoes are convenient because they're right by the door, but my neoprene boots are superior because I nearly always launch my canoe by stepping into the water and the boots were built to be wet, plus they're as comfy as slippers. Next year, I'm planning to always wear my neoprene boots.

@TnRiver46: Less is more if the 21-incher is the first bass, for it's a chunk and a half.

There's a pond I fish that's about 50/50 smallmouth/largemouth. When I'm traveling across the pond, I like to troll a Mepps. It only takes a couple minutes for a smallie to hit it. They love it as much as Ontario smallmouth. I also caught a four-pound lmb on it last summer while trolling. Pat, please give your son an "attaboy" from the BR crew.

I kid you not: I haven't used a Panther Martin or Rooster Tail for more than 50 years. What colors do you like?

Which five do you like, Steve? Nearly all my inline spinners are the basic Mepps in brass. I buff the one I'm using with steel wool before using it.

That would make nearly all of us super-excited and if it didn't, I pity that angler. Those four-to-five pounders are strong!

I love them too. Quantity-wise, the greatest two days of my life were using a Mepps undressed brass bladed-spinner. It was the only one on the trip and so my paddling partner didn't have one. He caught a fourth of what I caught.

Sure, Chef, sure. And I caught a 27 lb. lmb today. Such wild assertions are easy to say, but where's your proof? Heck, where's my proof?

You guys are funny!

Still scary big, but if I were younger, I'd like to paddle that western shoreline. I'm sure there'd be windbound days even with westerlies predominating.

@Friggs: Speaking of ultralight bass fishing, I've been thinking of rigging one rod this winter with 6-lb. test. Because I often fish bogs choked with weeds, I have 17-lb. mono or 20-lb. braid on every outfit, but sometimes I fish open water and 6 lb. test would be plenty. While bass fishing, I've landed 20 lb. pike in Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Canada, and the Mississippi River with 6-lb. mono. 6-lb. mono gives better action to lures and casts way yonder.