Swamp Girl
Super User
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Everything posted by Swamp Girl
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Beauty, Bazoo!
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Only Mainiacs.
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@keagbassr, that big head is one lumpy-bodied bass. I can see why you thought she was a seven when she showed her head. Fantastic!
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Some more and I promise that these are the last I'll post, as I have hundreds more photos to sift, but I reckon that all y'all have seen enough.
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I complained for about a month and a half about the big fish I was losing. Then, when I switched to smaller lures for the fall, I started landing the big ones. I think higher water and dying weeds helped, but I also think the smaller hooks helped, for with a smaller hook, there's less metal to punch through their bony mouths. In a canoe, I'll never be able to set a hook with the force of a fisher standing on a bass boat. In a canoe, I've only my old arms to set the hook, but a standing fisher gets to use the much larger muscles of their legs too.
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Well done!
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@A-Jay is right. Develop good habits. #pdfsareagreathabit
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Here are some more four-poundish, 2023 fish. I caught a lot of bass this year, so it's taking time to find all the bigger girls:
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It'll bottom out at 41 degrees next week and only reach the high fifties. That's warm enough to still catch bass, but I tipped once this year and if I were to tip again as the water cools and cools, this cricket might never chirp again.
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I once camped on an island in northwestern Ontario and right across from the island was a waterfall tumbling into the lake. That current held ten fish. No lie. We'd paddle over and catch ten fish and then nothing. We'd wait an hour and catch another ten fish. Hour after hour. So, on that lake, at that waterfall, it took an hour.
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@Woody B: I have nothing to teach you, except maybe how to sneak up on bass with a paddle. You're a bass-catching machine too, Woody, one of THE most consistent fishers at BR and you fish MUCH BUSIER water than me. I might fish one more time Friday evening, wind permitting. Then our temps drop and I really do need to rest and recover. As @AlabamaSpothunter noted, I've got all my trip reports to recall, which will warm me in the winter, and all the coming southern bass to witness. @Pat Brown, @Dwight Hottle, and gang are just getting started. Here are some more, some a little shorter, but so fat they're funny. Isn't it strange and cool how they range in shape and coloration. I like when they form a mound of muscle on my bump board. The one I'm lippin' and grippin' near that's third from the bottom was especially fat, but she was long and athletic:
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Thanks, Alex! I slipped some skinny ones into the group because they really punctuate the fat ones. The most satisfying thing about this season was recently landing the big ones that I'd been losing just a few weeks ago. Being reincarnated as a Maine bog bass is a good move, since it takes super sharp hooks, stout rods, and strong line to winch them out of the weeds. Plus, you can see that the bog bass eat well. The fatties were the bog fish. The skinny bass came from ponds.
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In April, after I landed my first big girl, Alex(@AlabamaSpothunter) wrote, "Me and Phishli have talked about it in PMs......big girls are coming your way, and it started today." Alex should be a fortune teller. I can't show them all, but here are some of them. Some are skinny and some are finned hippos:
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I've said it before and I say again: The chef is a smart man.
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^This^ photo is Everycity, USA. I used to drive thousands of miles for my work and every city looked like your photo.
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I suffered the same transformation in Columbus, Ohio. There were streams I explored and farm ponds I fished as a kid. I rode my bike to them to catch crawdads, catch fish, pluck apples off long-abandoned trees, and poke under rocks. The city kept expanding and expanding, gobbling one stream and farm pond after another. Broke. My. Heart. There are kids who need green to grow. TV kids don't need the green, but some of us do. Just as some adults can't breathe inside drywall boxes.
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Confession: I catch dinks too. It's the fearless nature of bass, as they hit lures as big as them. @IcatchDinks: Atta, Dad!
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I don't know what I'll do when they come to civilize Maine with strip malls and subdivisions. I'll feel like Huck Finn, but with no territory to save me: “I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.” One taste of my cookies and they're hooked. I bake them with milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chunks, dark chocolate drops, Madagascar vanilla, and salted, roasted pecans.
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@TnRiver46: Downtown fishing is cool. When I was in college at Ohio State (Go Bucks!), I'd wade the Olentangy River for smallmouth within sight of the stadium. Your smallie has such strong striping.
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"BR style"
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It's Maine that's cool, literally and figuratively. While much of the country was way too hot, we were just right, and Maine has many more bass than people. What's not to love?
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On perhaps my last fishing trip of the year, I landed 18 on a gorgeous evening. The first two are average fish. Then two 18-inchers and then the same two 18-inchers in the air, where you can really see how thick they were. I might fish one more time Friday evening, wind permitting. We'll see.
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Those are cool plaques. So proud of you! @Blue Raider Bob: I'm pretty tuckered, Bob. Plus, just like last year, my catch totals are steadily dropping as the water temps drop. I don't know if you remember, but last year, I went out in the middle of the night for my last trip and the wind was howling. When the Sun rose, I could see how brown and bleak Maine had become and understood I'd lingered too long. I'm not making that mistake this year. I had the best fishing year of my life. I'm past happy. I'll make a point next year of more scenery shots just for you, my friend! I'm still hoping to fish for two hours Friday evening at one of my two big bass bogs, but only if the wind permits. Gimruis! BR is the Hall of Champions.
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And ^THIS^ is why I admire you. I try to outlast them too. I know it looks like I always and easily catch fish, but I caught one bass in four or five trips this past spring, but I kept plugging and even now, when the fishing is easier, there are times I get stumped, when I, like you, try the spots I caught them the week before, and catch nothing. So, I go looking until I find them. We keep grinding, like this guy:
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pdx, you are such a persistent fisher. You try a spot, come up empty, try another and another and it seems like you always eventually find fish. I admire persistence and enjoy your trip reports.
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