Swamp Girl

Heck, yeah, they are! I think of 16.5" bass as teenagers. Remember the energy and recklessness you had as a teen? Well, they have that. Those 16.5-inchers are some of my favorite bass to catch. I've had many of them turn my canoe and they often fool me when they near the canoe and run under it and I think they're 18-or-19-inchers based upon their pulling power.

Let us know how that goes. As I grow older and older, I think more and more about a lighter boat and especially a boat I could wear on my back when bushwhacking woods to reach a pond. I've been looking an Origami Kayak that weighs 18 pounds. Strong bass can already turn my canoe. I think they'd take the Origami Kayak for a spin. Gosh, ^this^ sounds exciting. I love cracking those tight spots. Do you own the pond?

Fishing with your pop and your dog? Man, you scored! Sorry I couldn't leave a reaction. I'm all out. What was it like fishing in that raft? Was it stiff enough to give you some support?

So true. This is why I love my bump board. #bumpboarddon'tlie The bump board also cradles the fish. They feel cozy in it and rarely flip out. A quick dunk in the water first, a trick I learned from the YouTuber, Old Lady Angler, and it also protects their slime coat.

Gorgeous fish! You and I had pretty much the same day yesterday, as I caught a 6.5-lber. and a likely 5-lber. You just caught yours in the southwest and I caught mine in the northeast. It's great to see you smiling so wide!

Thank you! But I have to take a break. I used to be able to fish all day for a week straight, but those days are long gone. Yeah, I love those bonkers days where the bass shred my thumb. Sorry I can't leave a reaction for you. All out!

I know. Throughout the fight, I kept thinking I was going to lose. She ran, she jumped, she tried to burrow into weeds. I'm still surprised she ended up in my net.

I returned to this morning's bog where I caught my PB this morning. I fished two hours and landed 13 fish, a mix of pickerel and bass. The first bass weighed 2.57 pounds. The second bass hit a 7" green pumpkin Senko that was T-rigged and weightless. I don't know that I've ever fought a stronger bass. I made a point of keeping her out of the weeds, but man, that wasn't easy. You can see that she's almost 20 inches, but I didn't get a weight because my scale stopped working right when I tried to weigh her. Texas.gov length to weight chart says that she'd weigh 4.68 pounds at her length, but she's so thick, top and bottom, that I'm guessing she weighed five pounds. Now I am tired after fishing this morning (rising at three) and this evening and won't fish for a few days. Whew!

Yeah, but IF I do catch a 7-lber., then I'll have to catch an 8-lber. and then....one day, I'll be 98-years old and you'll be telling me, "Even Older Crickety, you just have to catch a 32-lber. now. You can do it."

@Woody B: Four times this year, I caught only one bass. Plus, I haven't caught a catfish for years and have never caught a white perch. So, the way I see it, you're twice the bass fisher that I am, many times the catfish fisher I am, and infinity times better at catching white perch than me. Now it is time for me to do this:

That big girl made you shake didn't it? She sure did!

I actually have two quality bogs. And I have three ponds that produce quality and quantity. And then there are several quantity bodies of water. I do understand your point that I should focus, but I can't. I'm too willy-nilly. However, listening to Phish and you, I do spend more time on quality water than I once did, but I still crave those 30/40/50 bass days.

I think you're right. She didn't have that typical concave gut of post-spawn females, but her belly also didn't bulge like some of the girls I've caught this spring. I should have caught her last week, but it's been too windy for my canoe! I've also throwing a huge Whopper Plopper now. It didn't work this morning, but it worked on last week's big girl. Thanks to all of you for the encouragement. It means a lot to me.

Great thread. I vote for white bass or striped bass, but agree that a ten-pound bluegill would pull a bass boat if hooked. For a 20-lb. bluegill, you'd need a fighting chair. For a 30-lb. bluegill, you'd need your boat's engine to wear it down.

Yeah, 7" is a lot of Senko. It makes quite a plop when it hits the water. And it makes my wacky-hook look tiny.

Thanks so much, Alex! According to the texas.gov length to weight chart, a typical Texas largemouth that's 21 and 3/8ths inches long weighs 5.82 lbs. but my girl had linebacker shoulders. Also, you can't see it in the photo, but her tail was shredded. Does this mean she already spawned? If so, I missed out on a gut to go with her shoulders. I'm going back to the same bog this evening. I hope to fish for 2.5 hours. I actually think I caught a 6-pounder last week, but didn't adjust "My PB" because I didn't weigh her. This is her:

Quite a story and quite a catch!

I agree: The eagle is allowed to kill bass because he's the boss. He's also not an ordinary eagle. He's the biggest eagle I've ever seen. I like fishing this particular bog just to see him. He's a pterodactgle. For whatever reason, he let me drift right under his tree. The tree was an ancient, dead sugar maple, which shucked its bark years ago. It was bleached white by time. And I was beneath this black and white pterodactyl in this white tree that looked like it was made of whale bone, and I got to witness its eating. It had one eye of me and the other eye on its delicious bass. Like Murph said, we get to see amazing things when we venture out.

I'm so happy you landed today's hog!

Man, that's a sad story. I wanted you to grab that bass so bad.

First off, thanks to all the BR guys who've coached me in 2022 and 2023, aka PhishLI, Alex, T-Billy, Murph, etc. So, I returned to a quality/not quantity bog. Much of it is 4' feet deep with weeds everywhere. I hooked a 3.48 lb. bass, but mostly caught smaller bass. I could not catch a single bass on the surface. They were hitting a 7" green pumpkin wacky Senko and a paddletail with a weighted-shaft hook. I HATE deep hooking bass, so I was setting the hook sooner rather than later all morning and lost quite a few fish, but that's okay with me. I'd rather lose fish than hurt them. When the big girl hit, at first I was confused. She was just so heavy. She felt like a musky. Then she became even heavier as she burrowed into weeds. I usually lose bass at that point, but I muscled her up and all I could see was a big ball of weeds and her Kim Kardashian big lips. It took about 30 seconds to clear the weeds enough to see her. I weighed her at 6.54 lbs. and considered photographing the scale, but you can see she's a goblin. She was calm in the boat, but when I released her, she flashed her power one more time, which pleased me, for she told me that she was a-okay. I barely hooked her with the 7" Senko. BARELY. I was so lucky to land her. I also saw an eagle kill a bass and watched the eagle eat its breakfast in a tree. That was also cool. The first bass is the 3.48-pounder. Then the big girl. Then a pic of the bog.

Great photos, Murph!

This describes all y'all: I've been land bound for two long. First wind and cool. Then a friend was rushed into surgery. But I just loaded the canoe and am going tomorrow morning, hoping I catch a fish like the ones ^above.^ Fishers like you and me consider it an honor to tussle with and then hold something wild for a few seconds.

Me too! And they are like old friends.