Swamp Girl

You are a truthspeaker. I too miss the simplicity of summer fishing and able to fish at 4:00 a.m. I also miss the safety of summer fishing. I'm always a little on edge in the fall, wondering if I can make it to shore if I tip.

Woody, you catch so many fish already at your raceway. I'd love to see what you could catch if everyone wasn't in such a hurry. In Maine, knowing that the ice and snow are coming, I treasure the last casts and the last bass. Perhaps surprisingly, there are moments when I don't cast, when I lay the rod in front of me, and just witness. I really listen to the geese, feel the canoe rocking beneath me, smell the musky sweetness of the decaying leaves, and am grateful for the crimsoned maple trees. Being an old woman with far fewer fishing days ahead than behind, my wistful witnessing matters more than ever.

Gosh, I love your attitude. I once fished with a pretty famous female fisher. We took a drift boat down one river and the boys took a drift boat down another. We caught 10" smallies and the boys caught 20" smallies. They kept texting us photos of their beasts and I pined to be in their boat, as I hooked another 10-incher. Then this woman said, "They're all good." And she was right. I'll never forget that day, for it was my first time rowing a drift boat, and listening to her stories, and rounding a corner to see five bald eagles atop rocks in the river, our fellow fishers. It was a beautiful day.

And I haven't lost a single lure to a rock in two years of fishing in Maine. I have, however, removed about an aggregate two tons of weeds from lures. P. S. - Thanks, @TnRiver46, for all those photos. Other than eating walleye, your photo-essay took us along with ya!

As I shared in another thread, I caught five bass at 19" or more, giving me another 20 lb. bag. The first two were caught on consecutive casts.

Whoa! That was my fishing temp in Maine. That's crazy cool for you. I'm guessing it felt like paradise. No wonder lost tungsten and a lost jig and lost bass couldn't spoil your mood.

I agree. That's a good looking bass.

This is how I feel about @Dan N:

I wish I'd had a better camera. I've seen a lot of sunrises in 2023, but this morning's was the best.

Hey, I wrote an article for BR about camping to catch bass called "Bunking with Bass." Glenn should post it soon. Oh, you will. You're a heckuva fisherman. I can only dream about catching bass as big as your biggest. Say, Pat, as I was bringing 17", 18", and 19" bass into my canoe this morning, I thought about all the YouTube videos proclaiming "This pond is full of GIANT bass!" and then they go and catch one three-pounder.

I can't say for sure that I caught another 20-pound bag because water killed my Rapala scale (I ordered another.), but I caught five bass that were 19" to 19.75" and Texas Parks and Wildlife says that bass of that length range from 3.95 pounds to 4.49 pounds and as you'll see below, my bass were all beefy and some bulged. I caught 22 in all with my usual battery of lures (Whopper Plopper, popper, wacky Senko, T-Rigged blue worm, and a paddletail with an Owner underspin) and only lost one big gal because I wasn't fishing a bog with a three-foot mat of weeds two feet down. I was fishing a pond with actual open water to play and land bass. I'll start with some pond pics and then show you some of the shorter, but still fat bass, and end with the March of the Brunhildas. FWIW, I was expecting a big morning, so yesterday I replaced the hooks on my Whopper Ploppers with red Gamakatsu trebles and retied all my knots. I'm so glad I did.:

@TnRiver46 really knows how to live, but I'm angry at him. He ate walleye and didn't offer me any. I LOVE WALLEYE!!! ^That's^ because TNRiver46 was hoggin' walleye upriver. Say, I just returned from this morning's fishing and had one of the best fishing trips of my life. I'm going to write a stand-alone trip report. Right now, I'm just tired and happy. So tired. So happy.

Heck, yeah, it is. So is that last bass! Wow, Dom! That's two giants in one trip.

Great tip! Thanks.

I reached the same conclusion from my chats with him. And I put new hooks on three Whopper Ploppers this afternoon, channeling my inner @thediscochef.

I'll study my depth maps and work the transitions.

Don't worry, Woody. Every time you catch more than ten bass, you get a "Get of Jail" card. So, you have hundreds of those cards. Go heavy metal long hair if you want.

Photoshop? Nah. I've fished with Nelson. That's his head.

You're a good teacher, Glenn, and that video made a world of sense to me. However, I'm wondering, Glenn and others, about my bogs, which range from 2' to 10', but 80% of the bogs are four or five feet deep. Is there as much movement when the depth is so much the same?

^Great news!^ Holy bassin', boys, you're boating the biggies! I'll try to do my bit tomorrow morning. I regained access to my favorite pond of 2022 a couple days ago. It's a pond with quantity plus quality. Usually, I have to choose between the two Q's, but this pond doesn't make me choose. It's rimmed with weeds, but it's open in the middle, so if I do hook a biggie, I'll have a better chance of landing it. If I have the energy, I might fish my little stream tomorrow evening too. I've twice hooked a four-pound plus bass in water five feet wide. The first time she jumped and threw the hook. The second time she hooked my line on a branch and I boated only tree. Speaking of trees, trees are changing here and leaves are falling and it's nippy most mornings now. Snow's a ways away, but I don't intend to fish into November like I did last year. The fishing wasn't that good and it was dangerous too. Same with spring of 2024. I won't begin as early to catch only one bass in cold water other than one nearby weed-choked bog where that one bass is likely to weigh five pounds and if I fish it in late March and early April, there aren't weeds atop weeds atop weeds. It's an amazing bog. If I catch a 17-incher, that's a dink for that bog. However, if I catch three bass in four hours, that's non-stop hits for that bog too. It's quality with pitiful quantity.

I second cloud cover. If I can, I avoid fishing when it's sunny. Cloudy fishing is my goal spring, summer, and fall.

@gimruis: I am so happy for your season of bounty. You officers of the law deserve some R & R. I like the shape of your second bass. It's shorter, but bigger.

Now, ^this^ is @PhishLI-grade wit! Beauties, @A-Jay!

Catching five-pounders in 2' to 3' waves sounds super exciting...and super hard. Any photos?

Lee is here, but it's just a blustery day. So, no worries. I expect we'll lose power at some point, but that happens half a dozen times each year because of our nor'easters. Most times, I don't even fire up the generator. I'm actually attending a wedding today, which speaks loudly about New Englanders. Tropical storm? Party on!