Swamp Girl

They can take a foot of soft plastic into their mouths that quickly, huh, Kent?

I have some 12" worms and have thrown them, but not caught anything yet. How long do you wait to set the hook on a 12" worm? Kites: Robocop meant to add: And keep rock bass off the Latest Catch thread!

To be fair, we only have a slice of a second to decide how to react. One of the most challenging things that bass do to me is they spin my canoe. It's 15' 6" long, but only weighs 32 pounds, so it's sitting atop the water like a water spider and is pretty easy to move. So, for the first second of the fight, I'll be facing the bass, but then they turn the canoe and I've had fights where the bass is behind me.

W-w-wow!!! Post a rock bass and this is what you get:

Thanks! All good points.

WHOA! I'd be beyond tired. I'd need oxygen.

^Funny!" I make ^this^ same mistake again and again and again. I see a big one and grab the net...too soon. Heck, yeah! You write good trip reports. You put us in the boat with you, which might not be wise, given the size of your boat. ?

@TnRiver46, I've eaten a lot of northwestern Ontario walleye, from cold lakes where the water's so clean you drink it. I wonder how warm water walleyes compare. BTW, I always enjoy your mix of photos. Nice smallies too!

I've wondered and worried about falling into weeds. I wouldn't die because I always wear a PDF, but it would be hard to reach open water. I do feel safer launching in the early morning as opposed to evening. I've worked in some dangerous neighborhoods and they're typically quiet in the morning. Bad guys sleep late. Their awake time is late, not early. Why stop there? Why not tie another lure and a box of cookies to his line too? @T-Billy: How do you keep a gun dry and still have easy access to it? @keagbassr: Do you sometimes not catch big bass and simply not report that? I ask because you report so many big fish.

I was chatting with Pat Brown yesterday about not fishing my biggest fish bog for a bit. I'm thinking I'm going to wait until the weeds die back. We're at Peak Weed right now and I just can't wrassle those big gals out of the weeds. I wish I understood the mechanics of how they dive into the weeds and and immediately unhook themselves. They don't break the line. They simply pop free and it's not because they're not solidly hooked: I use MH rods, braid, and replace my hooks. That's why I fished a pond this morning, where there are far fewer weeds. For me, the creepiest thing about bog fishing is launching in the dark. The bogs themselves don't scare me. I'm at home on the water and I'm fine with the dark. I just don't like being in the dark on land. Once I launch, no bad guy could catch me, not with my swift canoe and my half century of paddling.

@Bluebasser86, your Kansas bass have the perfect shape: small mouths with big bodies. If they were just as dark as Maine bass, they'd be perfect. ? I hope you win the AOY. I'm cheering for you from far, far away.

Ha! ^This^ is my life. Bigger bass do the most awkward things to me in my canoe. They pull me into a tree one time and spin me backwards the next time, so that I'm fighting a bass that's behind me. Yeah, I pulled some off grass edges, but I ALWAYS catch some in the middle. I'll frequently work a weed line and then fan cast open water. I catch some of my biggest bass in deep, open water on. the. surface. Weird, huh? Congrats on two fives in one night. Quite an accomplishment. Here are a couple I caught one morning this summer: And a couple more I caught another morning, both 21.15-inchers: And here's a morning trio from about ten days ago: I love bulky bass. It means they're thriving.

Nice bass, Pat and Kites! Since it's a rainy day and perfect for a double feature (For you young folks, that's two movies for the price of one, preceded by shorts/cartoons.), I'm going to do a double feature, i.e. some medium-sized bass followed by the main feature, but with shorts to start the show and two intermissions. I caught 20 bass total and the first of the bigger bass was 19", but the second, bigger bass, while not as long, was chunkier. I swear that the blue heron likes to watch me fish. He followed me from one rock to another. I caught all 20 bass on a bone-colored, River2Sea popper, a white, 130 Whopper Plopper, and a shad-colored Keitech with a weighted-shaft hook. I rose at 3:50, launched in the rainy dark, paddled more than six miles, and I'm drained. It wasn't that long ago that I could do this every morning and evening and still be as bouncy as a bunny.

Take those footballs to the Colts' training camp!

I wish I were Jean-Luc Picard and that I had a number one. If I did, I'd hear ^this^ wish and say to my #1, "Make it so." I think we all do and the bonus of a boat is that you don't have to jump into the water to fetch a beast.

I am amazed at the size of the bass you catch from shore. FROM SHORE! You'd be landing DDs with a boat.

You're the man who jumped in the water and landed a giant bass. You have nothing to fear that walks or swims or flies this world. Remember this video I took of you?

Smart. My canoe can look chaotic, but everything is always in the same place. That way, I can reach for whatever I need without even looking first. I got stuck last week because I was in a different, smaller canoe so I could take the kid fishing. It was a two-person canoe, but shorter than my solo boat, plus we had his gear, so my system couldn't work. FWIW, I didn't fish this morning because tomorrow morning bodes to be even better. It's going to be in the mid-sixties all night tonight, which is unseasonably warm, nearly no wind, and raining steadily. I know you like to fish the rain too.

I know, huh? I upgrade some hooks on lures. The wonderful thing about the pricey hooks is that they're super sharp and hook bass better the horrible thing about the pricey hooks is that they're super sharp and hook us better. When I hooked myself last week, they slid into me like I was made of warm butter. Don't you have lures tied to outfits? I always have six or seven rods and reels ready to cast in my canoe.

Atta, Pard'! I see so many young YouTubers fishing barefoot and I shake my head. So many hooks on a boat.

I actually do wait a sec and just watch the bass when I release them. Many of them are content to suspend as I hold them gently, but some, mostly the smallmouth, are quick to flee. Yeah, I love where I live. I'm nearly always the only one on the water, which I treasure. If I arrive at a launch and there's another car, I go to the next pond or bog. Of course, having water to myself wouldn't be the case on weekends during the day, which is why I don't fish weekends during the day. 58 bass is a busy day! I haven't had one of those in a couple months.

I have been tracking them all the way from Minnesota, which tells you how exciting they are for me. @Pat Brown, I'm thinking of NOT rising at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. No earlier than 4:00 and maybe even 4:15. The water is noticeably cooler. Our highs are low to mid seventies and our lows are low to high fifties. I think the bass are too chill to bite in the early mornings. Somebody robbed a bank! Either that or you are seriously much loved!!!!! Ha! Bob, it might seem hard to believe, but the reels I use are 30 to 40 years old and have caught thousands of fish. That snapping I heard that I first thought was a rod and then thought was the stem of the reel was actually the teeth of one of my Stradic's gears snapping off. That reel actually caught my three biggest bass this morning with more teeth snapping off as I applied too much pressure. Crazy, huh?

Thanks, guys! My birthday gifts arrive today too: a Shimano 2500 Vanford and a Diawa 2500 Ballistic

Beautiful bass, @Pat Brown, @Turtle Angler, and @thediscochef! I launched in the dark as I typically do. It was foggy too (First pic). I tried two Ploppers, one Popper, and a buzzbait, but couldn't get a single bite. I did catch some bitsy bass (Second pic) with a paddletail and spinnerbait. Then, when the Sun rose and the surface fishing should have been at its worst, I tried a white 130 Whopper Plopper and caught two 18.5-inchers (Third and fourth pics). I ended the morning with 11 bass and the last one was the best at 19.5 inches (Last pic). I turned 67 today and am launching again tomorrow morning in the dark, thus my hashtag: #IwillnotgogentleintothatgoodnightIragerageagainstthedyingofthelight.

@Pat Brown: I'm trying a buzzbait tomorrow morning for the first time for bass because of this conversation. I've caught muskies on buzzbaits, but never a bass.