Swamp Girl

I've told the story of being a kid unwilling to wait for warmth to begin bass fishing and riding my bike in the snow with my brothers to try and catch bass. That lesson stuck with me, so I waited until I was 66 years old to fish early again, nudged by watching all you southern fishers post your big fish through the winter and early spring. Here's what I learned: 1. Spring fishing can be hard. I was never skunked, but four times I caught only one bass. 2. Spring fishing is dangerous. Being a solitary paddler, I stuck close to shores whenever possible, lest I tip and die. I did wear neoprene through early spring. 3. Spring fishing doesn't deliver hot bites in Maine...at least for me. If I caught 15 bass, i was doing relatively great, but I oftentimes settled for three fish. I never got close to my 35-57-bass mornings of late summer/fall 2023. 4. Spring fishing meant more sub-surface fishing. My best sub-surface lure was a Rage Swimmer with a shaft-weighted hook. 5. Spring fishing also means catching big bass on the surface. My love of surface fishing had me pitching surface lures sooner than conventional wisdom suggests and they worked. Two of the three fish below were caught on a Whopper Plopper. 5. Spring fishing is confusing. Three times, I sat in the middle of berserk bass and couldn't coax a single hit. The last time, I didn't move. I just watched. And I had bass swirling and thrashing RIGHT BESIDE MY CANOE. If I'd tried, I could have touched them. 6. Spring fishing ponies up fat bass. I didn't post any of my ten or so four-pounders, just the five-pound-class-bass:

Yikes!

For your buddy's ^son.^

I took a couple friends to an area pond. The husband was fishing and the wife was paddling, so I did some fishing and some paddling, about 50/50. It was fun visiting with the wife and fun seeing the husband so happy, but he was fishing with 6 lb. test and lost a couple nice ones. I told him he needs to upgrade, that 6 lb. test in open water works for smallmouth, but not for the thickets were so many largemouth live. I caught a nice one, 21". Nice belly too and she had those strange bulging eyes like Alex's fish have. She took a Whopper Plopper in the Loon pattern right beside a laydown. I caught some smaller, fat ones too. It was cool to have the photo taken by someone else for a different perspective. I included a pic of a smaller bass so you can see they're all chunky, plus one of my friend's bass with a nice belly. Well, ^now^ I'm happy too! I enjoyed your photos, @TnRiver46. I'm a sucker for photos of kids with fish.

@gimruis, your third bass is so fat it made me laugh! Way to go, @Cbump! @LrgmouthShad, I like the last photo of your big girl. I am terrible at discerning the size of a fish when the fisher's arms are extended, but your big fish right beside you really lets me appreciate her size. Cool how you caught her too. You are wily! @Woody B, I hope you're not reading this because you're sleeping and getting well. Cool that you're fishing new water, @BrianMDTX.

Go get 'em, Darth!

I was off the water by 9:15 this morning. I caught 22 fish: 2 pickerels, 10 smallmouth, and 10 largemouth. Seven of the smallmouth were at the back of a windblown bay. They were fun. My biggest lmb was 18.5" and she's at the bottom of the photos. I'm going fishing again tomorrow morning! I saw an osprey dive on a fish that was so big that the osprey was struggling to fly with it. I caught them on a bone-colored Whopper Plopper, a Yo-Zuri popper, a Golden shiner-colored lipless crankbait, and a shad-colored paddletail. I took nightcrawlers with me in case I saw the bass smacking the surface again that I couldn't catch, but they were gone, so I never used them. The 18.5-incher wasn't thick, but she didn't look unhealthy.

Ah, I've come to understand your screen name now. ? Jeff, your friend's beauty is still thick for post-spawn. Heck, she's thick for pre-spawn.

Whoa! Atta girl!

I agree with WRB. I'm a fidgety fisher, continually changing lures and locations. However, I watch fishing videos where much more highly skilled fishers are meticulous when working a location.

That most of been so exciting and nerve-wracking! Way to go, @Scott W!

How do we get Wanda to make coffee cake for us? If she could deliver them by drones each fishing morning from coast to coast, that would be ever so handy. Please ask her if this is doable. That water does look bouncy! I love those shorelines. Beautiful!

I am always deeply impressed by anglers who catch bass in city ponds. Good looking bass too!

@AJ Hauser, first off, great job of dadding! Second off, your youngest is a heckuva fisherboy. Please tell him that the Bass Resource gang is proud of him. Thirdly, I think what you experienced is pretty common. Spawning and nest guarding are both draining and all-consuming. One time, I was fishing smallmouth post-spawn and struggled for six days in northwestern Ontario to catch bass. Then, one day, they activated and I literally caught fish, bigger and bigger, until I set my rod down and smiled, not needing to catch one more. Maybe that will happen for you too.

Beautiful! And no gators!!!

Nice one, Murph! ^Sweet,^ @IcatchDinks! Beautiful bass, @Team9nine! Swimbaitpalooza, @GreenPig!

@keagbassr, you are so consistent at boating beautiful bass!

What a head on what a fish!

A-Jay, I don't know those members. Can you share a bit about they fish?

Whose shoes would you like to fish in? Of course, there are obvious picks, like @A-Jay and @king fisher with their giants, but pick the less obvious fisher and please explain your choice. I choose @Team9nine. I like that he fishes a variety of ponds. They're sized like the farm ponds of my childhood, so there's that nostalgic tug, but all the banks of the ponds he fishes are mowed, so it's like a walk in the park, unlike my mix of mud, boulders, and brush where I fish. I also envy his consistency. Plus, he has cool pants.

I assume they're chasing shiners. Golden shiners are the common forage where I live, so I bought various lures this winter, both surface and sub-surface, in a golden shiner finish. Of course, I cast those very lures, but nada. I'll keep plugging. I think I'll rig an outfit with 4 lb. mono and toss a tiny surface Rapala. If I hook a five-pounder, it's gonna feel like Alex's Great White Whale!

Gosh, ^this^ is funny! Me too! I'll chuck a new lure half a dozen times and if I don't get a bite, it's back to the Rage Swimmer or a Whopper Plopper. Heck, when I try a Whopper Plopper imitation or change the color of my Rage Swimmer, I feel like I'm fishing on the edge. Yeah, that's what PhishLI said and you guys are right. I've fished mostly braid the last few outings and I don't feel like my hits dropped off, but I sure feel more confident in weeds. Tim, you'd laugh if you knew how often I hear your voice in my head when I chuck my Rage Swimmer into weeds ("Tim says I can do it, so here goes."). And when I do and I feel my lure ticking off weeds, but not sticking, I'm still surprised it's working! However, now I'm wondering about the feeding frenzy. That was open water, in the same place both this morning and yesterday evening. I wonder if casting with six lb. mono would help. There have been times in my fishing life where I was fishing with the lightest line in lakes and it was a huge difference maker in what I caught versus what others caught.

Oh, yeah, I have that dang monkey on my back. I bought lures all winter. Something better work or I'm going or I'm going to die of a broken heart. Being in the middle of a frenzy with no working lures is like being surrounded by the very best of Brooklyn's pizza and you don't even have a couple bucks for a single slice. Hey, a shout-out to @T-Billy, who told me last fall to chuck my Rage Swimmer into heavy cover (I had no clue what it would come through.) and now that's one of my go-to techniques, plus it's thrilling to pull a big girl out of big grass. Also, thanks to @PhishLI, who told me that bass wouldn't shy from braid on moving lures, for without it, I don't think I could set the hooks on bass in grass/pads/reeds. Even then, I sometimes fail to pin them, but it sure is fun trying.

I wouldn't use minnows and risk introducing a new species to the pond, but I'm thinking a nightcrawler a foot or two under a slip bobber might work. I'll try it. I'm also going to try an A-Rig, which would simulate a school of fleeing shad and a spinnerbait. BTW, I have no hesitation to use live bait if that's what works. A bobber going down is thrilling.

I think you're right and I'm afraid it might be a fly. I was sure the weightless fluke would work because I could drop it right on a feeding bass's head without scaring them. I was also sure the Sammy would work because it mimics a dying shad. Maybe live bait would work. Has anyone used live bait in a feeding frenzy? Amen to that, brother! What's weird is that when I move away from the frenzy, I can catch bass again. What was frustrating was the some of the bass sounded big, i.e. they were moving a lot of water like only big bass can do. It's going to be windy and cold the next two days, so I'll have time to ponder this and watch some videos. And REST!