Swamp Girl

Pat, she was bigger than any bass I've caught in my life. She was a mound of muscle, which the lousy light of my headlamp doesn't show. I don't know about eight pounds, but I'm going to consider her a seven-pounder and note that in my biggest bass. As far as the rest of what you wrote, you are so kind. Thanks again for the part you played. You wouldn't believe how helpful your 11:00 o'clock/reel like crazy advice has been. My landing percentage has gone way up because I'm not giving them a chance to burrow into weeds. However, they can be quite frisky in the net, as they don't arrive tuckered by a fight. I caught a bass a quarter inch shorter that I weighted 6.54 pounds. That bass had the same massive shoulders as this morning's bass, but not the same bulging belly. So, being a little longer and a lot fatter than my 6.54-pounder has me confident calling this morning's bass a seven-pounder.

I should have done that! Thanks, Murph!

The other bass are just ordinary Maine fish. I only photographed them so you guys could see what I typically catch, as I tend to photograph bass that are 18 inches and above. The first bass was extraordinary...at least for me. Remember she was photographed illuminated by my headlamp in my mouth. I've since learned how to activate my cell phone camera's flash. I wish I knew that this morning. Here she is brightened, where you can better see her linebacker shoulders:

Gorgeous storytelling. I got to be there thanks to your storytelling skill. Thanks!

Thanks, Glenn! That first photo shows how invaluable BR has been to me. I learned about bump boards here. That MH rod you see? Well, I switched to MH rods because of BR. The blue-handled hook cutters that saved me many times last year and this year? Again, a BR suggestion. And most of all, the mechanics of landing a big fish in the dark and in the weeds all came from BR aka GLENN!

I love multi-species days.

Thanks. It's been the best fishing year of my life. I just wish I had the energy to fish more than two or three times a week! When the big girl hit, because of her advantages, I told myself to focus on mechanics and timing and I even looked up at my rod tip to confirm it was at 11:00 o'clock, like Big Bass Pat's. And whereas I considered grabbing the net to be ready, I remembered PDX warning against haste, so I kept both hands on my outfit and gained line on her. I lost a bass on Friday that reached reeds, so when I saw this bass following in that lost bass's tail tracks, I finally grabbed the net. It's not just that she's got perfect form, but catching her was perfect. I didn't err in a challenging situation. I've lost so many big fish to my wrong choices, but this time, I got it right. She had one slender hook in her upper lip. My smallest mistake would have freed her.

I'm basking in the joy of this morning and will the remainder of this day. I launched in the dark, as I normally do, but instead of turning upriver, I turned downriver with a plan, which was to cast downriver and hope for the best, as the river was weed-choked and lined with fibrous reeds. I retrieved weeds on the first cast. Same with the second and third. However, the fourth cast was weed free, so I knew I'd found an open lane. On the next cast, I heard that beloved KERSPLOOSH, and set the hook into something solid. You might think my situation was a little sad, an old woman in the dark on a weed-choked river. It's true that the bass had multiple advantages, with the grass and lily pads and bordering reeds all on its side, but I wasn't alone in my boat. @Glenn was there, having told me to downsize for shad-gorging fall bass, so I'd switched my giant 130 Whopper Plopper I'd cast through the summer to the chubby 90, triggering the strike. @Pat Brown was there, coaching me to keep my rod at 11:00 o'clock and to reel like a dervish. @pdxfisher was there too, reminding me to reach for my net too soon. However, this bass was pulling me from the river's middle to the reedy edges. If she reached the reeds, she'd win. So, I grabbed my net and scooped where I thought she was, mere inches from the reeds, and lifted. I was confused. My net has a long handle, so lifting a bigger bass can be a challenge, but it's a challenge I'm accustomed to, for I caught six four-pounders in my last two trips, but this was no four-pounder. I strained, brought her to me, flicked on my headlamp, and saw a perfect fish. Her jaw was massive, but her head looked tiny compared to her body. She looked like the love child of a strapping Maine buck bass and the Goodyear blimp. I'd caught seven bass in 2023 between six and seven pounds, but she looked and felt heavier than any of them. However, I'd forgotten my waterproof camera. So, I lay her on the bump board, put my headlamp in my mouth, and photographed her with my cell phone. It took seven tries to capture her glory and I considered weighing her, but then @AlabamaSpothunter appeared and whispered that we have to protect these beautiful creatures, so rather than keep her out of the water any longer, I slid her back into the river and paddled down to the bog. I caught 27 bass in total in three hours, which is a 9 bass per hour average. At the end, I decided to start photographing my fish, regardless of their size, so you can see the average length of these bog bass. I also photographed a couple shorelines so that you can also see that it's fall here in Maine. A couple days back, I stated that I'm just a summer bog basser, but that's no longer true. In the past week, I averaged 13 bass an hour in the little river, landed six four-pounders in a pond, and caught this perfect bass too where the river is wider, all in the fall.

With the stripped trees in the background, those stained jeans, THE hat, and the beast, you make Paul Bunyan look like a sissy.

Way to go! On a howling night in a little boat too. Whoa and whew! I am excited to see the coming beasts you'll boat, Tim.

I've got one too. I told it in a magazine, I'll find it and share it here, hoping you share one too.

IMO, river fishing is harder than lake fishing. And you're right about river levels, which is one of several reasons why river fishing is harder. I love this so much: "Truth be told I don’t have to be “good” I just have to have fun. Fun could be two fish perfect weather and out with my dog. It could be man I really struggled but, last minute I pulled some out. It’s not about the biggest or the most. It’s about how much fun I am having doing it."

Thanks, Darnold. I am a thoughtful fisher. I study the weather and that tells me where and when to fish. Bill Walsh, the coach of the 49ers, drew up his plays before the game and I'm kind of like that too. I'll picture the lake in my head and then sequence where I'll fish. However, if I get a hunch on the water or see something promising, I'll depart from my plan. And I've always got my six to eight rods pre-rigged before I fish, specifically for each lake and the weather of each morning or evening. What I've dropped recently is my tackle box. I now take just a utility box, which I refill before each trip, based upon where I'm going and the weather forecast. I've been lugging that heavy tacklebox and many trips, I didn't even open it. And when I fail, I tweak. For example, yesterday, I was casting a fat, yellow, Rapala crankbait that goes 3' deep and using three retrieves: cranking it down and letting it bob up, again and again, burning it, and a slow, steady retrieve. I didn't get a single bite, so next time, I'm trying a shad-colored crankbait, and I'll keep experimenting until I succeed or conclude that I can catch more bass with other lures. Yesterday morning, they really liked a small Whopper Plopper, but the prior evening, I hadn't even cast a Whopper Plopper because I was river fishing and with the current, I went with a popper instead to give them a longer look in that current. That popper sure worked, as I averaged 13 bass an hour with pics below. At one point, I caught three bass in three casts. You can see the bone-colored popper in the second and fourth pics. I wish I'd measured that fourth bass. She wasn't a fatty like the second and third ones, but she was long. For reference, the only fish I measured was the first one and she was 17". Tomorrow morning, I'm fishing a pond that tapers into a long, boggy stretch before becoming an actual river. With our suddenly cold nights, I'm going to try a crankbait again, for there's a flat right before it tapers, and I'm hoping the bass are wolf-packing there, moving in and out of the tapered shallows. We'll see! There was a day last fall when I caught 43 bass on a blue and silver jointed Rapala crankbait. I have a good memory for fish and what lures caught them, so I'm mulling whether to try that lure again. The trips and lakes and bass don't blur for me. The only thing I can't remember is the name of the lures and the manufacturers' color names, but I do remember the lures and their colors. Finally, simple fishing is underrated. Carrying less can take you to catch more. Look at the water in the first three pics. Can you imagine a bass boat there or any boat with a motor? You'd spend your fishing time pulling weeds from the prop. Even the water in the fourth pic is way weedier than the photo shows.

Gosh, ^this^ is a giant to me! Jimmy Buffet was right: Changes in latitude, changes in attitude. j

Thanks, guys. I'm all out of responses, but I appreciate your feedback! Heck, yeah. Pre-dawn fishing is often amazing. Sounds heavenly.

^This^ goes without saying.

He was so slow. If I heard bass leaping, I'd come running with coffee in one hand, a toothbrush in the other, and my fishing rod in my teeth!

Point taken.

Bob, I thought of you when I saw the Pickerel Rush this morning. It looks so different, but still lovely.

Oh, you tease! Please tell and tell it swell!

@Blue Raider Bob: Hey, hey, hey, they're Fat Albertas!

I had to google "yeet." Cool word. Nevertheless, I must report you to Johnny Law, aka the Man from Minnesota.

I live in Eastern MAine. I do hope I'm in the right thread. J/K

You take us along on your fishing trips with your pretty pics, so I figured I owed ya.

I was too excited to sleep through the night, so I was up at 12:30 a.m. and went fishing on two hours of sleep. Still, I fished well, catching 36 and I've posted a typical bass followed by the four biggest, although the first of the biggest is kinda skinny. It was dark when I launched, but I photographed the way to the pond coming out. First, the road. Then the meadow. Then the woods. Then the pond. Looks a bit boggy, but it's not as you'll see in the last pond photo. Then the bass! P. S. - A chubby, small Whopper Plopper was my best lure, followed by a Zoom Trick worm. I really like the Zoom Trick worm and last night was my first time using one. I'm thinking I'm the only one at BR who knows about Trick worms, so here's your heads-up. J/K! P. P. S. - It was 47 degrees this morning and I was wearing shorts. Brrr!