Swamp Girl

Yep, you put on a clinic. I've been swarmed a few times in my life. I've even had boats troll around me.

After what you've achieved, InDomitable might be a better screen name for you. Tens of thousands of Florida fishers catch bass from kayakers. None have been bitten. Buy a kayak!

Hmm. Well, I'll see tomorrow, when I'll be using it. I expect it to work well, but only time will tell.

I've got a good feeling about this one, Pat.

Yikes!

Thanks! It's looking like the planets will align Monday morning: low wind, a hot Sunday with warm nighttime temps sandwiched between two cold fronts. I'm going to launch at four a.m., paddle through the bog, and then paddle another two miles of pond to reach the inlet, where the current will be strong after weeks of rain. On the way, I'll troll either a Whopper Plopper or crankbait. There's nothing like hearing that splash behind me when trolling a surface lure.

I am going to try ^this.^

@Mbirdsley: I love Frankfort. Whadda town! I love that top bass too. Whadda brute! Actually, Dom, fishing kayaks are pretty stable. And Royalex canoes, like Old Town canoes, are pretty stable too. However, Kevlar canoes like my 15' 6" Bell Rockstar, are built for ease of carrying and speed and they do flip. My canoe is like a sports car, i.e. fun to drive, but it can take you down as it takes you down the road. It's just the opposite here in Maine. We're suddenly cool. Heck, I only caught 11 and 16 fish the last two mornings and whereas that's a lot of bass in a lot of places, it's not many in my little-fished water. Something changed and suddenly. However, five of them were four pounds or more, so the big bass are still active and one of them was this girl (I don't know if I love her mouth or her belly more.): Heck, yeah, get off the bank! @thediscochef and others catch BIG bass off the bank, but where I fish, you couldn't even bank fish. It would be impossible. You'd either have to cast over 30 yards of reeds or scramble on boulders. Imagine bank fishing this: If I lived in Florida, I'd kayak fish the Everglades. I'd need a Garmin so I wouldn't be lost forever, but I'd plunge into the Everglades and fish the salad just like I fish here. I've seen other kayak fishers do this and I saw one, another paddling woman, land two DDs in a row there. Buy a kayak, Dom!

Florida rain. Florida lightning. Florida bugs. Florida nights. What. a. streak!

I'm excited to try this big popper for lmbs. I have good luck with big lures and most of my poppers don't qualify as big. Has anyone else used it?

It would be a demanding, full day, but it's doable.

^Impressive!^ Ah, a marsh boy, one of my southern cousins.

You caught some nice ones!

^Good points^ I imagine myself at 77 living in a small cabin on a lake. I'd have a dock and my boat tied there.

I so admire you. And am equally happy for you too. You sound just like me.

I'd stay with your boat for its range, room, speed, the ability to fish while standing, which is HUGE, and so on. However, as a swamp girl, a boat wouldn't work for me. I couldn't skate over the weeds with a transom and prop. A kayak can. So, I would only switch to a kayak if you're a swamp boy. However Part II, I will switch to a boat one day simply because I'll be too old for the work that comes with a canoe or kayak. And when I'm standing in that boat, I'll be happy, unless I look deep into the weeds and see a big bass slurp something. Then I'll be sad and wish I had a paddle instead of a prop. Yes and no. I see lots of kayaking Mainers who transport their kayaks in pickup beds. However, a trailer will make your life easier.' Sweet rigs, @TnRiver46!

Frog fishing is also hard for me. SO HARD! If I were to offer advice, it would be like the blind leading the blind. I started a thread last year about my troubles with frog fishing and one guy said he caught 100% of the bass who hit his frog. I think about that comment from time to time and always think, "Say what?" Wait! I do have some advice: As an alternative to froggin', I often pitch a plopper with treble hooks into an opening in the pads. They'll hit it and you'll hook them, but then you have to figure a way to get them out of there!!! Way. to. go!

@keagbassr: You always catch beautiful bass. I love how dark your fish in the photo is. Do you fish rivers, lakes, or both?

I'm catching about half as many bass as I caught last year, however I'm catching many bigger bass. The difference is that I'm throwing bigger lures. They're not musky lures, but they're not far from those billy clubs with hooks.

I went bog bassin' again. I lead with a heron and then another heron, the second one on a lodge. Then two pretty shoreline pics. Then two pics each of a 17.75-incher, a 19.25-incher, and a 20.25 incher. Sorry for the low quality of the 19.25-incher. My headlamp died and I had to process her in the dark. It was hard fishing this morning. It's cool today and that clamped their mouths and the wind kicked up, which had me paddling to position myself as much as I managed to fish. Plus, when it's windy, I can't see the weeds and thus cast into them more, so this morning's trip was mostly paddling and removing weeds from my lures. Still, any morning with two four-pounders (I caught 11 total.) is a good morning. Heck, any morning with a heron on a lodge is a great morning.

That was a nice one! You have the best attitude.

I'm taking a bluegill swimbait tomorrow. I can't remember what it's called, but it's big honker. I think it's the perfect size for those bog bass. Say, a story I didn't share about yesterday's bog is I was retrieving a Whopper Plopper parallel to weeds and I saw a big V come out of the weeds and CLOBBER the lure. Setting the hook felt like I was trying to drive the hooks into a cement wall. The fish responded and my line parted. There are big pickerel in this bog, so between the V and the line parting, I thought it was a pickerel, for that's their M.O., but now I'm thinking otherwise. I'm thinking it was a Cane toad, the Mother Bass. Pic below: So, I put new hooks on today, oiled my reels, retied all my lines, and changed the line on two reels. And I've got monster lures on my reels, from the BIG Whopper Ploppers to 10" worms to the swimbait. Fingers crossed!

I hope you have a great trip! I've read good things about China Lake. I won't fish it because my slender canoe can't compete with bass boats with electronics.

After reading about how guides can ruin one's casting abilities, I removed all the guides from one of my rods and now I can't cast at all. I guess one can't cast with 'em and can't cast without 'em. Goofing aside, I was fishing stripers with a guide for a fishing article and I lost one that would have made a nice photo. The guide was working for free to get the publicity, but when he yelled at me, I decided there was no way I'd mention him in the article. I wouldn't want the readership to book a grouch.