Swamp Girl

Tim is considerate. He'll mount a Mercury outboard on their rear bumper before he launches them.

Bob and Tim, I'd prefer that you tow those cars into the water. That's what a loading ramp is for, after all.

Bob, if I can catch FIVE bass in a single outing and one of them is at least four pounds, I'll feel like I've cracked the code...for that day, but I think this pond is like scattering 100 big, bars of gold in the Sahara. Sure, they're BIG bars, but it's the Sahara. I know, I know. Over in the Latest Catch thread, I'm trying to keep TheDiscoChef in bed because I want him fishing still in five, ten, and fifty years.

I'm not surprised. Please rest, my bass brother. #sleepfluidsmoresleep

@Blue Raider Bob, I will be towing a barge, but in my defense, I've admitted that this bog haunts me and defeats me, again and again and again. Its bass are bloated by overeating, which tells me that it's a healthy ecosystem. And I've never seen anyone else fish it, so it's water where the bass have seen every lure.

I want to fish like @Team9nine one day. He's always shifting gears and using different lures. @thediscochef, I urge you to not fish for a few nights. Let your body use all its resources to get well instead of catching bass. In the meantime, your seven-pounders will only grow larger.

Thanks so much, Scott. I bought the colors you suggested too. I am terrible at jig fishing for black bass. I've caught lots of white bass and walleyes with jigs, but not black bass and I know that they're one of the best lures. Time for me to catch up...I hope.

Thanks so much, Scott. I'm placing an order tonight. Yes, I mostly use spinning gear, but I do throw a couple baitcasters too. I actually dropped a baitcaster into the water today. It was only four feet of clear water, so I hooked it using a Whopper Plopper at the tip of another outfit.

Scott, can you please give me a Tackle Warehouse link to one you like?

When I fish, I use these lures 99% of the time: wacky Senko, frog, T-rigged Senko, paddletail, Whopper Plopper, Mepps, and wakebait. I'm fishing again on Thursday and I plan to have none of these on my six rods. I'm going with a T-rigged Rage Craw, a chrome Spook for smallmouth, a Livingston Bull Nose, a T-Rigged Mann's Jelly worm for old time's sake, a bigger walking the dog lure, and one more, TBD.

@Blue Raider Bob: Anytime you want it, my friend, these ponds and your guide await you. You just have to drive 14 triblillion miles and arrange for babysitting for a goat herd, a horse herd, an angry goose, and the rest of your menagerie. @Dominat0r: I'm in Maine. You can kinda tell from the second to bottom photo, with the northwoods water backdropped by a mini-mountain. There are lots of northwoodsy lakes in the U.S. and Canada, but if you want mountains too, your options are fewer. Ha! Good wordplay!

@AlabamaSpothunter, I actually live in a relatively crowded part of Maine. Literally, millions of tourists pass through each year on their way to Acadia and Bar Harbor. However, Maine is also the oldest state, so fewer Mainers are launching canoes to fish in the woods. You are correct about having it to myself. Most times, I'm the only one on the water, which means a lot to me. I hate to hear chatter from another boat. And the bass here are healthy...and I do my best to keep them that way! There are lakes up north that might never be fished once in a year, but you do have to work to reach them. If I were younger, I'd be fishing them too! I should have mentioned that the second fish was the strongest. It parked under my canoe and twice I checked to see if it was caught in weeds, but it wasn't. It just wasn't moving. When she finally came into the canoe, I thought, "Really? That's your size? That's all? Whoa." That's deeply disrespectful.

I fished a dammed streambed this morning, so it was long and skinny with bays lining both sides. I'd only fished this pond one prior time this summer, but I'm liking it more and more. The quantity is okay (20 this morning) and the quality is pretty good. I lost a bass right beside my canoe that went between four and five ponds. It was SO close that I even attempted to net it after it unbuttoned right beside me. The fish here are well-shaped, well-fed, and feisty. And the pond is beautiful. See for yourself!

You live in Heaven.

@PhishLI: Those bottom two are beauties! I like the other three too. Heck, I even like the dink. Dinks make me laugh. They're fearless!

@Bluebasser86, does a paddletail count as a swimjig? If not, what are you suggesting? I went and ordered just about everything you guys suggested. That bog haunts me!

Why didn't I fish today???? The bass were biting!!!! ARGHHHHH!

@Pat Brown, that was riveting storytelling. Frogs are my hardest lure. I don't know why I can wait until I feel a fish's weight on other surface lures, but with a frog, I don't. I catch bass frogging, but I mostly miss them. Anyway, great catch, Pat. So many big bass were caught today! This is for all of you, the two, greatest cheerleaders of all time: @IcatchDinks, in the world of LEOs, the Hair Length Deputy is the Barney Fife of Bass Resource. I, on the other hand, as the Sheriff of Hair Density, am the Andy Taylor, and since I've seen @gimruis without his cap, I'm taking his one bullet.

You did the right thing, Murph. What an evening, @hokiehunter373!

@gimruis: That is a walrus! Well done.

I'd also be happy to take you fishing, but I read "quick excursions off the side of the road" and it would take you four-plus hours just to reach me and return to Acadia. Maine is full of bass. I've had my best luck casting in the overlooked water, i.e. a swamp here and stream there. You're more likely to land a smallie in the stream than swamp.

@Bluebasser86 Here's some footage of your blimp swimming right before you caught it:

I like the two bottom photos, @IcatchDinks, i.e. the fat-bellied bass and the beautiful pond. Fish on, my bass brother!

Because of this thread, I just bought a pair of safety glasses that will fit over my eyeglasses. So, thanks, PhishLI! I used my hook cutters recently when a bass somehow managed to work my rear treble hook completely through its gills. Rather than attempt to work it back, I simply cut all three hooks and then easy-peasy and a healthy fish to release.