Swamp Girl

When I fished for smallmouth in northwestern Ontario, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior, I used 6 lb. test. It was plenty strong enough to land hundreds of smallmouth and the occasional 20-lb. pike or king salmon. I switched to 30 lb. braid and 12-pound mono when I started fishing weedy water, but I know where the weeds grow in the two primary ponds I fish and so I'm going to keep a spinning reel with 6-pound test in my canoe or kayak in 2026 to achieve longer casts and have a line that's harder for the bass to see. Of course, near weeds, I'll use heavier line.

You are hardcore, @Fried Lemons. A passionate angler. I can't catch anything. The feels-like temp here was four below this morning. See that ice on your rod tip? We have a little more than that.

I officially end the contest and declare Russ the winner. 3.33 can't be beaten.

I use 30 lb. braid in the weeds, but prefer 8-12 lb. mono for open water. However, I'm going to be using hard jerkbaits this spring and am thinking of using 6 lb. mono for them. I've tried fluoro, but don't understand its appeal. It's stiff and knots can unravel. Yes, I know you can treat the line, but I'm Thoreau. I'm looking to simplify, not complicate. Thus, I also don't tie leaders. I don't need yet another one more thing to do.

I work with my photos in three different systems (Google phone, Chromebook, and a desktop), but in all three, there's a rescale option at the top of the photo. I click on that. On my Chromebook, it's a square. When I open it, there are two numbers, both in the thousands (width and length). I reduce one of those numbers by entering a smaller number. When I do, the other number also proportionately reduces. Then I save that reduced version of the photo. Your system will give you that option. Take it. Sometimes I didn't reduce it enough and it'll still be over 1 Mb. No biggie. I just reduce it some more. Sometimes I reduced it too much and the photo will be tiny and grainy. No biggie. I just don't reduce it as much. A width of 600-800 usually works for me. This process takes 30 seconds or less.

If I'm in public, I do not hesitate to ask young strangers to help me do something new on my phone. They're always happy to help and always know what to do.

Or ask anyone under 40 to help.

I'm with you. I'd appreciate hearing the details of this story and not piecemeal.

I think he's Mister Bossy Britches and I'd decline.

It was brave too. They paddled toward the aggressive shark, like the protectors who run toward the fire.

I agree with @king fisher. I bought an expensive reel a couple years ago and have yet to use it, but I expect to use it this year.

I believe you.

If I could afford a guide (I can't.), I'd want him/her to teach me. Catching bass would be a distant second goal. I'd want to take what they taught me and catch more bass for the rest of my life. If a guide I hired wasn't teaching, I'd feel like I was paying way too much for a boat ride. However, when I guide friends for fun, my number one goal is to put them on bass. I want to give them the busiest possible boat. Luckily, this is pretty easy in a tandem canoe because they're in the bow on my pond and I know where the bass hang and a canoe is steered from the stern, so I literally aim them at bass. At every sweet spot, the bow angler gets the first and best cast, so I've never failed to put a pal on bass.

Good fishin', @Darth-Baiter! It sounds like you'll be big fish fishing like @Dwight Hottle and young @WRB-2.0. When Tom grew old, he was happy with his BFS rigs for smaller bass. Of course, when you've caught 17, 18, and 19-pound bass, 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of the world's bass are smaller bass.

Great post, @Goby. So informative and measured.

A beautiful cabin!

Go, Bob, go!!!

However it happened, it sounds like a scene from a horror movie.

I've landed heads of saltwater fish when sharks are their bodies, but freshwater is freaky? Was it a huge catfish? Snapper? Gar? And the eyes looking like they were long dead makes it even freakier.

Like @GreenPig and @jitterbug127, I avoid weekends. One reason I like to launch at four in the morning is that most other anglers are still in their jammies then.

He is smokin' hot.

Ours is an older house built in the 50s so it was very affordable, even for waterfront. What gets me is that only a few people besides me ever fish it. Florida has soooooooo much water that waterfront can be more affordable. Michigan too. I would love this property with two ponds full of big bass and all that acreage: https://www.land.com/property/80-acres-in-ogemaw-county-michigan/25330888/ In Maine, riverfront property is MUCH cheaper than lakefront. Oceanfront property used to be the most desirable, but some buyers are backing away from the ocean because it can be surly. On average, five acres of pond front property in my area runs close to a million, but I bought scruffy wetlands-front property and had four local guys build a boardwalk on my budget, which means they used beaver-felled trees and free pallets that I acquired from the hardware store. They did mill some oak boards for the top. I'm hiring the same guys to clean up my shoreline. Beavers have dropped quite a few oak trees and they'll cut those and give the wood to an old guy who heats with wood. I also paid five grand for a driveway and a neighbor donated his time and tractor to spread gravel on my footpath. In the end, with about ten grand and considerable sweat, it'll be worth about four times what I paid. Maybe more. However, I'd never sell it for $300,000 or even $1,000,000. It means too much to me.

Atta, Jig Man. #sojealous!

Eric, there are websites that list properties with ponds. In many places in the United States, they are affordable for middle class people. You might remember that my five acres was only $75,000 less than two years ago. I keep slowly improving it. It was wild when I bought it and a wild property works to the buyer's advantage.

Thank-ey, Spankey!