Swamp Girl

Way to go, Murph! I'm glad your Scumbag-O-Meter was working, Woody. Beauty, Cbump. @gimruis, you haven't yet achieved critical mas-s-s-s-s with Whopper Ploppers-s-s-s-s. You need to buy at leas-s-s-s-st ten before they work. Maybe twenty. Trus-s-s-s-s-t me! S-s-s-s-s-sincerely,

Way to go, Gimruis! That is a fat one and what a good dog. You're a good dog dad too to take him along.

@Pat Brown, guys like you (and Alex, Phish, and many others) who catch so many fine fish are utterly persuasive when you say that you hooked and lost a behemoth. You'll hook another beast one day and your upgrades might land it. And if you do, we'll be so happy with you.

If A-Jay ever figures how to fly, he'll fish like ^this.^

Incredible video, @AlabamaSpothunter. I wouldn't have believed it unless I'd watched it.

Dwight and A-Jay aren't the best fishers. Ospreys are: Barbed pads on the sole of an osprey’s feet help them grip fish. An osprey makes a catch on average one in every four dives. Imagine those odds on each of your casts. They have a treble hook of the natural world. Ospreys have an unusual feature among hawks, a reversible outer toe. This lets them sink two talons into a fish in front and back. An osprey has the dexterity to line up their prey head first into the wind while in flight to create less drag. They need little time to get their limit. The average time an osprey spends hunting before making a catch is just 12 minutes. I sometimes fish under ospreys. Now I know what they're thinking as they watch me: "Amateur!"

Thanks, Phish. I love fishing pads. I just didn't expect them to pop up so soon, so I didn't know if they were exceptionally healthy looking zombie pads or not. I went back and looked at this morning's bass photos and laughed at the last two. The water drop on my camera's lens makes it look like I fuzzed the faces of the bass to protect their identities.

For LMB in Maine, right now it's the biggest, black Whopper Plopper, a wacky-rigged Senko, and a shad-colored Rage Swimmer.

Ha! I'm all about the wind too. The wind tells me when I go fishing. I like that buoy fish anecdote. I once cast to a VW-sized rock for a couple hours and caught scores of smallmouth. The longer I fished, the bigger the bass. I think the younger fish were friskier and I had to catch them first for my lure to reach the older fish. I share this because when you cast to those two boulders again, work all sides of the pair just in case they're stacked with bass like the one I fished.

Regarding my losing the four-to-five-pounder that jumped, I'm making an equipment change. I was using a paddletail with a big hook, I think 5/0, with 10 lb. mono and a medium light rod. I'm switching to a medium rod and BRAID. After I lost that fish, I replayed how I played it and lost it and I think that I just couldn't stick that big hook all the way into its mouth with stretchy line and a wimpy rod. I don't know if you remember the 5.5 lber. I caught early this year, but it was also on a paddletail with a big hook and when I had her in the net, that lure fell out of her mouth. Tension alone kept us connected. I was doing a good job maintaining tension with this morning's fish, but she dove into some zombie weeds right beside my canoe. I hesitated a half sec, thinking about how much pressure I should apply, and she used my hesitation's slack to pop free. Private Katie reporting for duty in the Straight Braid Brigade, General @T-Billy! P. S. - I like that you guys like the Pumpkinseed. I loved it too.

I went fishing again this morning. I rose at 3:45 because the Sun is rising sooner and sooner, but the fish weren't hitting when I launched. I didn't start to catch fish until the Sun was well up. I caught 15, a mix of LMB and Pickerel with one Pumpkinseed that hit a bass popper. Maine bass tend to be fairly good-sized, but I caught mostly bitsy bass this morning and photographed three of them. I also caught a 17.5" 3.21 lber. and lost a four to five-pounder that came completely out of the water to break my heart. I was surprised to see lily pads. I think they're 2023 pads, as I don't think the 2022 pads would look so fresh after a winter. What do you think. I caught fish on a Senko, a paddletail, a lipless crankbait, a popper, and the ol' Whopper Plopper.

That bass is too cool for a school!

Yep. Not everyone can catch fish. Good advice. Thanks! Thanks for this video. I subscribed.

98% of the time, I'm the only boater and if there is another boater, 99% of the time, it's another paddler, so a collision would be a bitsy bump. Still, a flashlight makes sense, maybe a tiny, but high-powered LED flashlight that I can wear.

As much as I love Maine's ponds and bogs, I love rivers even more. Current tugs at me. Thanks Katie but don't be sad. I did get to go fishin'! Atta, Bob! I'm the same way. This spring, three times, I caught only one bass. At least three other times, I've caught only three bass. All those times, I was happy on the water and happy remembering where I was and what I saw and heard. ^This,^ however would snuff my happiness. There are men in Maine who aren't happy unless they're making noise. They buy after-market exhausts to make their trucks louder than the next guy. I hear them pass and think, "I gotta buy some Miracle Ear stock." I hope to see that cat someday!

I have no problem with the ethics of it, but some people suck at catching fish. They might have caught a fish there three hours before or even the day or week before and so they keep pounding that spot because catching a fish is a big deal for them. Then other people who suck at fishing drive across that bridge and see them there and they fish it too and catch a fish or two and also glue themselves there. Last year, I fished a creek mouth. I'd caught 15 and a motorized boat with three men casting asked me if I'd caught any. "Fifteen," I answered. Their body language told me that: A. They didn't believe me. B. They hadn't caught any bass.

Dang it, Bob! I'm happy when you've got a five-pounder in your net and sad when you don't boat a beast.

Ha! I've never seen a game warden, but they used to have their own tv show called, "North Woods Law." Four is my usual time to begin a fishing morning. Fishing can be great then. I have caught a bass on many first casts. As far as a flashlight, I rarely carry one. I do, however, always carry a Rapala digital scale now thanks to Alex! And I always carry hook cutters too thanks to another BR poster.

I rose at four to fish a new pond. Some landowners permit passage to reach water, but this landowner didn't allow fishers to drive down to the water. I had to park beside a stone wall and then go under a barrier bristling with signs. I strapped a pair of wheels under my canoe and rolled it down the road. The wheels worked great. I only caught six bass, using a loon-colored Whopper Plopper, a wacky-hooked Senko in green pumpkin with a chartreuse tip, and a Rage Swimmer in shad colors. I took photos of the trail after the fishing when it was light, hoping you guys would find the approach to be interesting. Sorry about the water on the lens. Canoes are wet.

@PhishLI, please tell the story of your Great Green Whale. When did you realize she was a trophy. What did she hit? How was the fight? Did you ever feel she might free herself? @hokiehunter373, I love dog pics as much as bass pics.

PHISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice bass and my kind of pond!

I saw ^this^ movie. It was called "Alien."

I had five beavers slapping last night. #whosaidnatureisquiet???