Swamp Girl

Fished until 9:30 this morning. You all know I'm a Whopper Plopper junkie, but if the bass this morning knew this too, they weren't willing to give me my fix. So, it was mostly a soft plastic paddletail with a shaft-weighted hook and a 7" Texas-rigged Senko. I caught 28 total, with three 18-inchers (One was football fat.), a 20.25-incher (Post-spawn skinny!), and a smattering of smallmouth. The 20.25-incher did jump twice, completely clearing the water, so she might be thin, but she was plucky. The photos lead with a typical fish followed by the 18-inchers followed by the thin 20.25-incher and finish with a smallie. The best part of the morning was paddling by a football field-sized lily pad patch and seeing a bass rise in the center. I didn't have a frog, so I skipped my paddletail over the top and KERSPLOOSH! Then, because I just had to catch something with a surface lure, I tried my chrome blue Rapala Skitterpop on the edges and caught three more. That was fun and I'll be sure to have my frog outfit when I return to that pond. Oh, it was cold this morning. That's what a clear night sky at 45 degrees north will give you, even in June. Maybe that's why the bass weren't looking up and raring to hit a noisy Whopper Plopper.

@galyonj, you're a heckuva storyteller and the coolest cat fisher at BR, considering how you kept your cool again and again and again. I like your photos too. P. S. - I also like your beard. P. P. S. - WHAT A FISH!!!!!!!!

Whoa! Two sevens in a row!!!

Small northern pike are the most dangerous fish I've ever boated. They save all their energy for mayhem in the boat.

@PhishLI: Fingertips are the worst. The. Worst! They're nothing but nerve endings, which they have to be for our hands to be useful. I once slipped a fingertip into an electric hedge trimmer because I was balancing on a ladder on a slope trimming a high hedge. At the ER, as the doctor was stitching it up, I started leaking tears, which is unusual for me, as I tend to take pain well. I apologized to the nurse and she whispered into my ear, "There's nothing worse than a fingertip." That moment where you're hooked and the bass is still hooked is a scary one, isn't it? I've never had it happen to me, but I've talked to guys who were hooked and connected to a musky. I think Satan will use that on the Tenth Circle of Hell if he ever gets around to building it.

Way to go, Mrs. B.! 22 inches and 5.2 pounds??? Somebody buy that bass a bluegill burger! With perch fries!!! Or overnight that bass to Maine and I'll drop him in a bog, where he'll feast on the Maine Butterball Diet (TM). I'll send him back in two months at 22" and 7 pounds. Dad thunders back!

I'm ready to buy it. I just need to know what ALF is. I know, I know, Team9Nine already told me. ?

What is ALF? I googled it and came up with several possibilities.

Can you suggest one at half the price of ^this^ one? Okay, I won't feel like such a fool anymore. FWIW, WRB, you are a warehouse of bass knowledge.

@gimruis, thank you for your time. I do listen to you guys and have switched to braid on six of my outfits because of what you guys say about braid. My froggin' outfit has 50 lb. braid on a broomstick rod. I do love the hooksetting power of braid on my six outfits. Whenever I look down and see braid, I smile because it gives me confidence. Maybe I need a long baitcasting rod to increase my distance with my Whopper Plopper. The rod I used to cast the Whopper Plopper is my shortest rod. Do you think a longer rod would help and if so, what kind of action should I buy?

That helps me differentiate. Thank you. I kid you not: I think about you sometimes when I'm using ^this^ setup and feel guilty, for a while back, you told me that most fishers don't do it this way. I tried the baitcasting outfit, but I couldn't begin to equal the distances I get with my 17 lb. mono on my 7'+ rod (I don't know it's exactly length, but it's a pain in the car and in the woods.) and big Shimano spinning reel (I think it's a 4000.). I can CHUCK with that Whopper Plopper with this rig. I caught yesterday's two 21"+ bass on this very setup and they both hit within a second or two of it landing. I wouldn't have reached them with my baitcasting outfit. I also love how I then have to reel a long time to get the lure back to the canoe, as that's more time the lure is in the water, but I catch 80% of my on-the-surface bass within the first three feet of the retrieve and I don't know why. I think casting to cover partly explains it, but I often cast (at least 50% of the time) in the middle of nowhere with considerable success. Maybe they are drawn to the KERSPLOOSH of it landing. Maybe it lands on their heads and they reflexively hit it. I wish I knew. I do admit that it's an unforgiving outfit when it comes to hooksetting at that distance, but I upgraded my hooks and both times yesterday, the Whopper Plooper's hooks were barb-buried in their thick mouths.

I honestly didn't even know what finesse fishing vs. power fishing is just a few months back. I heard you guys use the terms and had one of my many, many "Huh?" moments at BR. And I still don't have finesse vs. power sorted out. For example, I still throw my big 130 Whopper Plopper on a spinning reel. I like the distance I get with my spinning reel and I've caught so many bass at the very ends of my long casts. I wouldn't have reached those distances with a baitcasting outfit. I know this isn't the way most fishers do it, but it works for me.

@Team9nine, you and I fish much the same way, switching between quantity and quality. I love numbers lakes. I call it staying "busy." Of course, I love the quality lakes too, even though I should start carrying a defibrillator in my canoe cause they half stop my heart.

You write great reports. Your love of fishing rises and rises, line after line. I also love to read about other paddlers' fishing. That's a great day anywhere. Do we ever forget the big ones that get away? I wish we did, but....

I forgot to tell ya that your top bass is a real beauty. It's shaped like a big, fat tuna and its markings are amazing. Where do you catch your smallies? In Maine, so far, I only catch short ones.

Thanks for sharing. BR is the best place to hone old techniques and acquire new skills!

Those saltwater fishers are a little salty, eh?

I watch Kristine Fischer too. She has the knowledge and the passion. I vacillate between catching a lot of bass and aiming for bigger bass. This morning was a bigger bass morning and I landed two over 21", about six pounds each (I didn't weigh them, but this is what the length to weight chart says and they were both fat, so I'm pretty confident that they were six-pounders.). You are right about the amount of help available here. Ask and question and the answer(s) is coming shortly. Like you, I've yet to try some lures and techniques and also like you, I already bought those lures!

I'm with @Dye99. I actually prefer fishing in rain. I caught two 21"-plus bass in the rain this morning.

@AlabamaSpothunter, I'm proud of my landing ratio this year. Sure, I lose fish, but so far, when I hook big girls, I'm landing most of them. I focus and coach myself on mechanics, such as keeping them out of weeds and maintaining tension and not rushing to net them by the boat, which is where I lost some fat gals last year. I'd reach for the net, which requires me to stretch, and in that sec, I gave them enough slack to unbutton. I'm still amazed at that last big hog you landed. It looked like she launched herself into your net. How did you train Alabama bass to do that??? As far as more people, I think most people prefer bigger boats, which require ramps. Even fishing kayaks are heavy. And my light canoe is tippy, which would be off-putting for many. Plus, I don't think most people are willing to set their alarm clocks for three in the morning. I've been eyeing a couple more bogs off the highway. They sure look bassy.

@Darnold335, I think your post is great. Those videos can fool me.

P. S. - I forgot to share that a Dehavilland Beaver flew over the bog this morning just as a loon was singing. For that moment, I felt like I was back in my beloved northwestern Ontario, except I'd be catching smallmouth there instead of largemouth. @GreenPig, after I landed the first bass, my teeth chattered a few seconds, not for cold, but out of excitement. Heck, I was jittery all over.

I told Alex (AlabamaSpotHunter) last night that I was going to a quality/not quantity bog this morning. I launched at four in the morning in the rain. For the first hour, it was neither quality nor quantity. Then a bass hit my 130-size Loon-color Whopper Plopper. At first, I thought it was an ordinary 2.5 lb. bass, but then she came out of the water and emptied my adrenal gland. She took out line three times by the boat. I felt so lucky to land her. She was just over 21.5 inches. Then, a half hour later, I had another ordinary hit, followed by a size-revealing leap, followed by her burrowing by my boat too. Again, so lucky to land her. She was just over 21.25 inches. They sure are fat! After that, I caught four Maine butterballs, i.e. short, round bass. I also caught seven pickerels. I was going to fish another quality bog tomorrow, but my heart can't take it. Instead, I'm going to fish a quantity pond. I am amazed at the difference in the jaws of 21-inch fish versus 19-inch fish. I was thinking that soft plastics would be the trick this morning, but I caught everything on the big Whopper Plopper. I kept trying my big wacky and T-rigged Senkos and my paddletail, but nothing. Here are photos of my big gals followed by one of the Maine butterballs and finally, a photo of the bog.

@herder: Beautiful bass, trip, campsite, boat, smile, and brewery! @Jmurphy87: What Alex said times two. Believe them.

When I was a kid, we fished a feeder creek to a nearby reservoir. We reached it by bicycles and hiking through heavy brush. We never caught anything of any size, but always caught something interesting. If I could go catch those tiny fish again, I would with all due gratitude, but it's likely been developed into lawns and streets. Sigh.