Swamp Girl

Bass 2. OLD CREAKety 0 I failed again to catch one in the feeding frenzy, much less entice a hit. The fluke failed. The clear Sammy (walk the dog bait) failed. The jerkbait failed. Next time I'll try a Ned and an Axe Blade. I though I had an Axe Blade with me this morning, but I didn't. After a bass-less half hour, I moseyed and caught 16 and lost at least that many, which comes from fishing the morning after fishing the prior evening, thus I'm OLD CREAKety. My biggest was 18.5". I caught an especially fat 17.5-incher and several 17-inchers. The top baits were the big, black Whopper Plopper and the shad-colored Rage Swimmer. The SMB were frisky. I saw an osprey catch a fish and a bald eagle flew overhead with its catch too.

It's 3:45 a.m. and I'm back out to try to make sense of them again. I'll be fluking, jerkbaiting, and Axe Blading. We'll see! It's 41 degrees. Brrrr!

Oh, I'll keep going, but a 24" fish is beyond my ken. Great idea! I'll try it. I think this lake will cough up 50 fish too IF I can find the bait. I have a very good feeling about the fluke.

Well, I don't know who won tonight, the bass or me. I did catch a 4.5 pounder and a 4.1 pounder. I also caught some beautiful smallmouth, but they weren't big. I also caught a few 17" LMBs. 18 fish in all. HOWEVER, I was in the middle of a feeding frenzy and I caught ZERO of those bass. I threw seven different lures at them, but I think the lure that would have caught them would be a fluke. Maybe a jerkbait. Possibly a small floating Rapala. I fished an unusual body of water...for me. A pond with developed shorelines. For the first time this year, I shared the water with another fisher. I could only load a few photos, but I did load the two big girls, a couple 17-inchers, and a representative smallmouth.

Alex, I like those popping lures too and used them a LOT as a kid. I've used buzzbaits mostly for muskies. Muskies make a V when they're chasing a buzzbait. One of the great fishing moments of my life was when I had TWO V's, one of each side, chasing my buzzbait.

It's heresy to say this at BR, but I like pup pics even more than bass pics. I hope you guys can forgive me and don't burn me as a witch.

As Jim Carrey said, you guys are "smokin'!" @king fisher, I suggest a trade. Your water is amazing, chock full of manatee-sized bass. However, your shorelines are sad. So sad, brown, and barren. Here's my sweet deal: Bring some of your Big Berthas up north to drop in my local bogs and you may return with one tree for each bass you deliver over five pounds. I have thousands of trees on my property and you have a seemingly endless supply of walruses with fins. Let's do this deal!

Whoa! And this is why you, Tim, and ONLY YOU, get to wear the Grizzly Adams hat.

Bullhead on a Whopper Plopper:

I dream of the bass equivalent of this:

Spot on, Phish!

^ This ^ and v this v belong together.

Alas, the bass won. And one. Yes, I only caught one. I did have a big one erupt beside my canoe as I lifted a Livingston Bull Nose out of the water and it seemed big based upon the noise and violence, but since this is a tale told by an idiot, it might have been just sound and fury signifying nothing.* *I apologize for going full nerd in this sentence. Anyway, here's the one fish. It's beautifully dark, but a Chicken McNugget for Alex's toads.

You're right about intentional harvesting of game to sustain our lives and accidentally killing being different. The latter is the worst. But, in the end, you don't know her fate. You cited a 100% mortality rate, but there's no such thing. There are always survivors. Heck, we've all seen the photos of fish maimed by muskies and Great Blue Herons who live on and there are so many stories of our species who inexplicably recover from 100% mortality situations. Well, I'm off, and fingers crossed that I don't get hurt nor hurt and I hope I get to dance with a great goblin or two like the mighty Alex just did!

5+, 6.6, and 7 lbers??????? And you still have something in reserve to love the lovely Warmouth! Alex, I'm so proud of you. I have never had a fishing session like that and likely never will. Incredible. That's Mexico resort-grade fishing. As far as the fish surviving, I fish around bald eagles. When I fished below waterfalls in northwestern Ontario, there were often eagles there watching, waiting, and hoping. One time, I hooked a little smallie and when I released it, it was clearly hurt. Not bleeding, but hurt. So, I went back to fishing and within a couple minutes, an eagle descended and grabbed it. I've caught thousands of bass in Ontario over decades and that was the ONLY TIME I've ever seen an eagle swoop to a fish I hurt. My point is that bass are pretty sturdy. In the video, you return that goblin to the water ASAP. I think that's the MOST IMPORTANT thing we can do to protect them. They're drowning in our air, just as we'd be drowning in their water if something took us down. And if the bass dies, it will be eaten. Nothing is wasted in nature. And she's already reproduced several times, so her genetics aren't lost. Still, after all I just wrote, I love that you're affected. I would be too.

Well fished, @gimruis! Those are beautifully marked bass, @Bird.

@Blue Raider Bob, Yeah, 24 is the most I've caught in 2023. I'm thinking they'll become friskier and friskier. I lost quite a few at the end. It's so tough to play a fish when the wind is howling and my canoe is skittering. I appreciated how they were all fat. This pond doesn't grow long bass. The longest I've ever caught was 18", but it does grow one fat bass after another. Of course, Bob, you're welcome to fish this pond anytime you want to vacay in Maine. I'll be your guide! Gosh, I hope so. Big fish are so unforgiving. They're wily and strong and if I make one mistake, I likely lost my only chance for that session. I am excited to use my just-arrived Livingston Bull Nose wakebaits. There's a big flat with emerging vegetation and I think the Bull Nose will skim the tops of the weeds.

I launched at five this morning on a quantity pond. I could only fish three hours because the wind rose around 7:30 and the pond was whitecapping when I left at eight. Still, I caught 24 bass, averaging eight an hour, and they were between two and three pounds and fifteen to seventeen inches, as I weighed and measured a few. Two were smallmouth and the rest were largemouth. I didn't load all the photos, as the bass were pretty much the same size. My primary lures were a wacky Senko in pumpkin with a chartreuse tip, a wakebait worked just under the surface (Thanks, @PhishLI!), and a Rage Swimmer in gray with a weighted hook. They would hit a Choppo, but not hard, but once they hit it, I knew a bass was there and would catch it with my Senko. Fun morning, even though it was in the forties and I was cold once the wind blew. Tomorrow, I'm fishing a quality pond, where I'll likely catch three to five fish, but I'll also likely hook a four to six pounder. Whether I land that old gal or not, we shall see!

Murph, I hope good thoughts amount to something because I'm thinking a heap of good thoughts for your wife, you, and your two-year-old.

Well done, Pat. You observed. You deduced. But most of all, you persevered.

What a goal, what a guy! Brrrrr! We got that weather too. Just a little inland, they had snow last night. On May 17th!

Thanks for taking us fishing with you! Good numbers and size! I lose nice fish too.

Wow! The bass, the elk, and the divebomber are a Triple Crown.

Jeff, you and I love the same weather for fishing.

There's no better bed than a riverbank and no better bass than a river smallie.