Swamp Girl

Thanks, Dwight. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to improve my paddletail skills. Catching a lot of bass with one lure is a great way to learn. I'll be fishing a pond with bigger bass tomorrow morning and I hope my upgraded paddletail skill will land one. Whew!

@Blue Raider Bob: #Katiecatchesuneducatedbass Bob, I got a kick out of the water company's policy, which is "you leave your boat, it's our boat!"

It was so worth it, @AlabamaSpothunter! I love this new pond and I loved refining my paddletail technique. I do have what looks like road rash on the thigh. I think that when I tipped, I raked my thigh across the gunnel. Other than that, I'm fine. @Blue Raider Bob, the bottom right there was rock. In other places, it was mud. I was lucky I had rock beneath my sneakers. I think I can enjoy a 70-bass morning at this pond this summer. You know how you bumble the first couple times, learning where the bass hunker and what they want. Thanks, @Darnold335!

I tipped this morning. I cast my Rage Swimmer into a tree. As I paddled toward the tree, a wacky-Senko on a different rod snagged a bush. Now I'm stuck on two trees, one high and one at eye level. I tried to free the Senko, but it was quite stuck. So, I tried harder and fell into the pond. However, I had the presence of mind to simply fall into the water and not take the canoe with me, i.e. flip it. When I hit the water, I thought, "This is how canoeists die, but I'm wearing a PDF, so I don't die today!" I was by the shore, so I was chest-deep and I still had two rods stuck to branches. My canoe was heading off on a little cruise, so I went after it, holding it with one hand and trying to free my rods with the other. I got one rod free and I started to bail. That took some time. Then there was the challenge of getting back into the canoe. The shoreline rocks were slippery, so I was very, very careful and aborted the first attempt. Once I was back in the canoe, I caught a bass on the very next cast. I caught 49 bass in total and had a BLAST using my Rage Swimmer. I caught six bass on the surface early, but then they stopped hitting. I tried three lures before realizing the Rage Swimmer was the ticket. I also discovered that I've been fishing it wrong, retrieving it too fast. I'd get these tick-tick-ticks with it and think the braid was telling me when I was hitting rock, weeds, or wood, but it was fish trying to inhale it and failing. A slower retrieve was so productive and so was not setting the hook when they started biting it, but waiting for the line to move left or right or feeling the rod load up. I pulled bass out of major slop. To reach the pond, I had to go around a gate, down a gravel road, and then down a rutted portage trail. All the bass were about the same size, 15"-16.5". They were strong and so. much. fun. And I loved pitching my Rage Swimmer into the slop and wrangling the bass out of it.

I'd like to work up the courage to fish at night. How many lights and what kind do you use?

All of the above is aka Tim Country.

The pond with the 16-17-inch fish are nearly all fat. However, all that good eatin' doesn't seem to stretch them any longer. That's why I'm thinking genetics...at least for that pond.

Funny! However, you don't need me to adopt you. You're close enough to fish Maine. New Hampshire and Vermont too!

Eh, you can't please everyone.

There is a lovely, little pond near me that I fished once last year. I caught 15 bass in short order, but all were small, so I went deep and caught nothing. I asked a friend if she's fished it. She has, but she too only caught dinks. Another pond has a LOT of 16-17" fish. Rarely smaller. Rarely bigger. Then there are the ponds with a chance at five-pound fish. My point is that genetics rule. However, I also think culling smaller fish might help free up some forage for other fish to grow bigger.

@ironbjorn, I understand that Maine abounds in water, but not people, and since we're the oldest state population-wise, many Mainers are too old to fish anymore. Yes, this gives me an advantage. However, you have the Great Lakes and you also have Michigan sitting on top of you. The U.P. is a lot like Maine. Sitting on top of the U.P. is Ontario, which is where fishers, if they've lived good lives, go when they die. I've had many 100-bass days in Ontario and two 200-bass days. Rather than fritter your fishing time on local lakes that are pounded, perhaps you should gather your free time and drive to the great fishing that's within your reach.

Whadda day, @FishTank! I once saw a cigarette boat on Lake Michigan with FIVE 450 hp outboards. I didn't even know that a 450 hp outboard was made. Of course, I muttered, "Someone is compensating." Then a little later, I passed the boat again and the owner was there. It was still morning, but he was exhaling a haze of booze. His bulbous, red nose looked like it had been chewed by a puppy and he was as soft as a kitten. I remembered my first thought and was sad that I was so right.

@Jar11591, I laughed when you hooked that pickerel and said, "Oh, this nasty thing. I hate this." Been there. @cvaicunas69, what a day! Thanks for sharing.

@gunsinger, quick, buy a lottery ticket before the magic fades!

Yes, YouTube. He didn't name the spot. @Pat Brown, you use the PhishLI approach. PhishLI has encouraged me to focus my attention on one body of water. I want to follow his advice, but dang it, I love casting where I've never cast before. I caught a 5.5 lber. on Saturday and I could and should return to that pond, but there's another pond, a new pond, that I want to fish on Thursday morning, so that's where I'm going. However, I do think that if one wants to catch the biggest bass, one should focus on one lake and learn those fish like you have, Pat.

I watched a video recently of a kayaker paddling and fishing a narrow river from one lake to the next. That little river was loaded with bass.

As a former musky maniac, I can certify that seven in a season is solid.

Okay, staying within your parameters, I'd seek to cultivate relationships with the owners of private water. There was a thread recently about doing exactly this. Also, there is a lake near me with a big parking lot that is frequently full of trucks and trailers. I'd never fish it for that reason. I've scouted it winter and summer and there are always trucks there. However, the highway cuts across the tail of the lake, so there's 97% of the lake on one side, the side with the ramp and parking lot, and 3% of the lake on the other. Of course, there's no easy access to the orphaned 3%, but I could heft my canoe over the guardrail and lower it down the embankment, which is what I'm going to do. I've even scouted where I'll park my car, since I don't want to be looking for that at 4:30 in the morning. Most fishers don't want to work that hard and they don't want to leave their casting decks and electronics behind. Of course, I might catch nothing there if it's too shallow for bass to winter-over, but I'm still curious.

Thanks, Dwight, and I know that they don't compare to fish that feed year-round. I recently read that a Florida bass in perfect conditions can reach SEVEN POUNDS in two years. A seven-pounder in Maine would have age spots, hearing aids, and a walker.

I have to disagree. Many more developed places have fine fishing. Look at what T-Billy catches in Ohio and he doesn't even fish the mighty Erie. Pat Brown caught a nine-pounder and a "slew of eight-pounders" in North Carolina this spring. Alex had a more-than-fifty bass day this past winter in Alabama, as well as all his five, six, seven, and eight-pounders. When I lived in Wisconsin for 30 years, I had incredible fishing in Lakes Superior and Michigan and the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. On the Mississippi alone, I caught 20-lb. pike, 4-lb. largemouth and smallmouth, seven-lb. walleyes, two-lb. crappies, big bluegills, and on and on...and millions of people live on that river. PhishLI catches monsters in Manhattan's backyard, but lawdy, it isn't easy with poachers, gangbangers, and midnight's chill. My point is that there's fine fishing in many places, but you might have to winter fish or night fish or fish-fish-fish until you crack the code. @ironbjorn, have you ever actually used Google Earth to see what water is in your area? I don't always go out to fish. Yesterday, and other days, I go out to scout. I scouted a pond yesterday. I walked the bank, saw two bass cruising, and added it to my list. I have spent hours looking at little lakes through the Internet and continue to do that. I so agree with ^this." I had four outings this spring where I caught one bass, but I just kept looking. There's a bog I fished about six times this spring where my top quantity outing was three bass. I still don't know where the bass are, I'll return and keep looking.

Being a New Englander, I follow a fellow New Englander's advice: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." So, rather than park my car where the other fishers' park their cars and trailers, I find overlooked water with Google Earth and go down gravel roads and launch where there are no ramps. There's a new pond that I'll be fishing soon that is reached by driving down a powerline cut. Then I'll paddle about a mile up a stream to reach the pond. Most fishers aren't willing to work this hard to reach bass, but the reward isn't just catching fish. It's reaching a pond where you won't see anyone else. That means a lot to me, but not everyone wants to take the road less traveled.

Woody B noun 1. an all-weather angler who always catches fish 2. an angler who catches spots and lmb as easily as an eagle soars

An hour. I only have so many fishing hours and I don't want to waste them in a car.

Great anecdote and lesson. Thank you.