Swamp Girl

You knew this thread was coming, right? Well, as an old woman who launches in the dark and lands my canoe in the dark, my most hated sound is voices when returning to my parked car. 99% of the time, no one is there, but when someone is, it's heeby-jeeby creepy! I landed to voices the other night, but it was pitch black and I hovered off-shore and listened for a few minutes. I'm sure they didn't know I was there, so I waited and assessed before landing. Another sound I hate is the thunk when I drop my pliers. I work so hard to be quiet and dropping pliers in my Kelvar canoe is the auditory equivalent of launching a flare. Last one: Tree branches rustling as your partner tries to free his lure for the tenth time that morning. And then the chalkboard screeching declaration: "We're going to have to go to shore and get it."

They are dinosaurs!

I was catching 15-inchers, but that's in a lake where they're nearly all 15-inchers.

I know that hatches can be hard, but I've had good success during them. However, when smallies are rising to feed on falling mayflies and damselflies, their mouths are often beyond full, leaving no room for a lure. No matter. I've gotten multiple hits on each cast, so I eventually hook one. I've had good luck with a clear Heddon Tiny Torpedo, which looks like a translucent mayfly. Last June, I saw smallies launching themselves like Trident missiles to take dragonflies out of the air. Landing a lure anywhere near them triggered a strike.

As a bog fisherwoman, I must confess that I admire you river fishermen. I lived on the Wisconsin River and fished it every morning and I've fished the Mississippi for many, collective months, as well as other smaller rivers, including brookie streams I could hop across, so I speak from extensive experience when I opine that river fishing is harder than still water fishing.

Padlin, how do you plug the ends of the PVC pipe? To manage 6 to 8 rods, I have to be disciplined. Everything in my canoe has its spot, determined by trial and error. Even with my system, I still get the occasional tangle. Not at all. I appreciate the ideas and I'm mulling them.

Me too, Tim! I always chat with them.

I appreciate the suggestion, but a wind sock would just foul on weeds where I fish. There's six feet of water, but four to five feet of that is weeds.

I would love to be on that team! I'm no longer even taking a tackle box. I make do with one utility box. The only thing I won't cut is my six to eight fishing rods. I wouldn't know how to fish with one measly rod! I often cast one rod, then another, then another, then another, and then another. Yeah, I'm a kook. I love how you can hold your spot in the wind. The wind bullies me. I avoid it, which is sad, because I'd love to fish a wind-battered shore. The very lightness and length of my canoe make me vulnerable. It's like fishing in a kite.

There's being bound by blood, which is significant, but being bound by paddling runs even thicker than blood. FWIW, I'd love to paddle a kayak, but they're just too heavy for me. I have shopped them, but they can't equal the size of my canoe (15' 6") and its weight (32 pounds). However, I understand their considerable advantages.

Tom, I never forget that you love the northwoods as much as me. I've never heard a mountain lion, but I wanna! Oh, will that drag scream!

My catch rate yesterday was higher than normal, a combination of the fall feed and the high water that allowed me to fish faster: Water over the weeds meant I didn't have to hit pockets and pull weeds from my lure. I truly did think about you when I got a sense of the fish's size and immediately wanted to reach for my net, even though I still had too much line out. So, you were there and THANK GOODNESS, because I hate trying to dislocate my shoulder to stretch another inch to net a bass. However, you've had days of plenty too. I've read about them and loved hearing your tales of success!

Sometimes I laugh at how noisy nature can be, especially when I launch in the dark or fish into the dark: owls hooting, herons screeching, beaver tails slapping, kingfishers chittering, geese wings beating the air, bass slurping, and on and on.

Sometimes, I muster enough old muscle to raise my canoe's bow out of the water, as if a little outboard were pushing it and then there's an actual gurgle. BR has some poets.

Dwight, yesterday evening, I had just the opposite. The bass weren't hitting my surface lure. They inhaled it with no sound and I didn't even know they'd hit until my line tightened. It was weird.

Gosh, YES! I love your entire list. Thank you.

I love this post, but I'm out of reactions. Pat, when I musky fished, I spent a week with burly men and many had lived demanding lives. There were two bouncers, a fighter pilot, a race car driver, a college football player, etc. However, these hardened men with callused hands were like you, i.e. they noted and loved all the bits that comprised a day of musky fishing. I think the more we note, the better we are at fishing. Good fishing requires good witnessing and a fisher who pays attention and can share what they've seen reminds me of samurai who were both warriors and poets. I saw a bald eagle (or an osprey: I can't say for it was far away), dive and kill a bass yesterday. I was thrilled. I hadn't seen that since June. They hit the water with such force. In June, I parked under a dead tree and watched an eagle eat its bass. Thanks for the video. It's wicked cool!

Southern bald eagles are a different species than ours, I'm guessing. Speaking of sounds, the most gosh-awful sound has to be a Great Blue Heron.

I also carry a knife and there's a can of spray in my car that's ten times more potent than pepper spray.

Loon song is both the most lonesome and lovely sound in the world.

Holy moose, Batman! That's incredible.

What are your favorite fishing sounds on the water? Mine is when a heavy bass comes up and sloshes water. It's at a lower pitch and it's thrilling, for only heavy bass can make that sound. I also love owls.

I love when we help each other. You are spoiled, my bassin' buddy!

I saw a lot of bass chasing shad last night and I cast at many of them, dropping surface lures a yard or so beyond the swirls, and I didn't catch a single one. I also didn't get a single bite. I had the same thing happen in the spring. In northwestern Ontario, if a smallie feeds on the surface and you land a lure near that dapple, it's fish on. Agreed. Any prop thumps/swishes/swirls the water. Even when I paddle, I try to slip my paddle into the water like an Olympic diver slipping into the water at the conclusion of a dive. Bob, may I quote you for an article?

Hey, you put your daughter's safety first and no father should ever, EVER feel badly about that.