Swamp Girl

These guys are so far from the fishing I do in my scuffed canoe, but we do share the passion. They start their day at four, just like me. It's just that I'm launching my canoe in a lonely bog and they're jostling for position in a parking lot, waiting for the lake to open. I play bumper car with rocks and wood under the water and they play bumper car with each other as they launch. They're kin, passion-wise, albeit fifth cousins three times removed. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/big-bass-and-men-who-love-them/?scope=anon Here's a teaser: During the next three hours of actionless fishing, Hall recasts frequently and talks about his own quest for the Big One, which has been going on for almost 30 years, since he wrangled his first ten-pounder from the Florida swamps while on a family vacation at age 12. Ten pounds is the catch of a lifetime for most bass anglers, but for a big-bass specialist like Hall, it’s more of a bar mitzvah, proof that you’re ready for bigger and better things. The achievement, though, apparently wasn’t viewed with great joy by his eight rather competitive bass-fishing brothers. “For my own safety,” he remembers, sounding like he hasn’t entirely recovered from the experience, “my dad had to rent me my own hotel room for a few days, or I’da been battered and bruised.” Later, in the midseventies, Hall attended Florida State on a pole-vaulting scholarship. But Lake Jackson, one of the finest natural bass lakes in the world, happened to be only six miles from his freshman dorm, and three weeks into his first year, before he ever took an exam, he dropped out to live in a tent in a nearby national forest. “I couldn’t stay off the lake,” he drawls,

So funny!

He actually caught 35. I just uploaded the bigger bass. Yep, I was lucky to catch three 14" bass as a kid. I'd strap one rod to my bike and a few lures and wade farm ponds. I remember catching 21 bass one evening and that was my greatest session ever, but none were three and four-pounders like this young fisherman caught this morning. I had a great time too. He really wanted to learn and because of his focus, he learned fast. I'm taking him to a numbers pond next where we'll have a chance at a hundred total. Thanks, Alex. He was sooooooooooooooo happy. Me too. I enjoyed the morning as much as catching the bass myself. His grandparents asked why we were launching the dark. The proof is in the pics.

We had a good trip.

Too funny!

^Beasty bass!^

I mentioned that I'm taking a boy fishing tomorrow and I can't believe how excited I am. He's super excited too. I was a teacher for 40 years, so I know how to teach kids, but I've never taught fishing, so I've been thinking about ways to build skills while having fun. We've going to start at four in the morning with trolling. I'll put in the bow and have him troll off one side while I troll off the other. I'll paddle so he can focus on the fishing. When I hook a bass, I'll pass him my rod. This will give him double the opportunities to play fish. Then we'll move to casting. Nothing is easier than a Whopper Plopper, so I'll start him on that and then move him to a Mepps, wacky worm, and paddletail. Then we'll move to froggin', both for fun and because it's so hard...at least for me. I'll post pics of the lad with his bass tomorrow. I'm hoping for 30, which is doable because we're going to a numbers pond.

Thanks for ^this.^ I appreciate hearing how other fishers set the hook.

Sigh, you're right again. As always, I enjoyed reading your trip report. I contracted such a severe case of poison ivy that the ER doc said, "People come here all the time wanting treatment for poison ivy, but I tell them to buy Calamine Lotion. You, however, have the worst case of poison ivy I have ever seen." He gave me two shots and a prescription because I'd burned it two days prior and it was inside me.

Went I launched around 4:30 this morning, it was in the upper fifties and foggy. I was actually cold this morning. I figured since it's July tomorrow, I wouldn't need fleece atop my thick, wicking top. Wrong. I caught my first bass froggin' and par for me, I lost about six others on the frog. The one I caught has the shoulders and tail of a bigger fish. I'd love to catch her again in a couple years. Fishing was slow and I ended up with seven LMB and five pickerel. One pickerel was so strong that I thought I had a five-pound bass. It was about a five-pound pickerel. If they were all that strong, I'd love to catch them. I've got a streak going of catching at least one 19" or larger bass. I'm not counting, but it's been weeks now. I thought the streak was going to end this morning, but minutes before I was leaving, I caught one. I caught some butterballs too and took some pics of the bog. The PHOTOS: Frog fish first, then two butterballs, then my 19.25-incher, and finally two pond pics:

I can explain this: Bass are mysterious. Another possibility: There was a hugely successful spawn a couple years back, resulting in a lot of young bass who are hungry and eating every little thing that moves.

They are so specific and it can change from hour to hour. I always take at least five rods and sometimes six. I'd take ten if I could fit them into a canoe. And I have a different lure on each rod. I love chatting with other 45ers, i.e. folks who live about halfway to the equator. A wacky Senko is a great lure, but it's hard to fish. I HATE to deep hook them, so I set early and lose quite a few.

@thediscochef: When you land as many monsters as you do, you have to lose a few. @Mbirdsley: Cool photos! I like your 3.5' frenzy story. @Team9nine:And I like your storm story. Well, off to fish this morning. And tomorrow morning, I'm taking a kid fishing! I'm going to put him in the bow and I'm going to be the trolling motor in the stern. My mission is to get him hooked on fishing.

^Great line!^ I love when fishers write like poets. They then remind me of the samurai who were also poets. ^Funny!^

What a great day, @Blue Raider Bob! @IcatchDinks: You da hubby!

@IcatchDinks: Beautiful photos and fish. You look so happy in that last photo. @thediscochef, I know how those streaks go and they go both ways. I've been landing my big fish this year too, but in three consecutive casts last year, I lost three four-pound bass. All three jumped. I worked all three to the canoe. And all three came unpinned right there. I think that's a lifetime three and done for me, that I'll never hook such three fine fish on consecutive casts again. Anyway, I'm just happy you've caught such big fish this year. I remember how your year started, BUT YOU DIDN'T QUIT. That would make a fine epitaph for all of us if we'd earned it: (S)He didn't quit. @Dominat0r, that grass looks plastic in that first photo, which makes me wonder about the bass too. Say, have you been spending the summer sitting on one of those Florida lanais, sipping Mai-Tais and photographing plastic bass on plastic grass once a day? ?

Tyler, I'm so glad you got a kayak. Once you figure out fishing from it, you'll catch more bass in it than you catch from the shore. Like you, I'm an Ohioan who grew up fishing farm ponds. You have some of the greatest bass fishing in the world not far from you: Lakes St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario. Of course, they'll take a bigger boat, but someday.

Wh-what??? Now I hear the Bait Monkey chattering that I need to buy a dip net too!!! That guilty smile that you have in the photo is perfect, btw. ?

Thanks! I see your PB is between 12 and 13 pounds. If I ever saw a bass that size beside my canoe, I'd faint! Seriously, what did you do when you saw that bass? I'd love to hear that story.

That's beyond a butterball. That's a turkey stuffed with a barbell.

Gosh, that sounds tough.

Scholars conjecture that Dante's 10th Level of Heck, which Dante never had a chance to explain, is where fishers who posted photos of drums at BASS Resource catch nothing but drums for all eternity.* *Vegas says that the odds of this being true are only 7 out of 5.

About a month ago, for two days, I saw bass chasing shad. I don't have electronics, but all around me, bass were lunging after shad. I couldn't catch a single fish. I think they too focused on shad to consider any of the many lures I tried. After two sessions of failing, I fished elsewhere and caught plenty that way.

@Jmurphy87: Imagine Robin of the Batman tv show saying this: "Holy (Canadian) Smoke, MurphMan, you bellied up to the buffet and went for seconds and thirds!" @IcatchDinks, your story made me smile.