Swamp Girl

I wish I could help you, Pat, but I don't know nothin' 'bout catchin' cold water bass.

It seems like bass love black and blue. And I stocked up on white and chartreuse spinnerbaits and other lures this winter. Dang it! I agree times 3,000.

When I fly into Florida, I'm amazed at the number of lakes down below. They are everywhere.

I have never observed this, but I don't doubt Professor Pat. Only a fool would doubt Pat and my mama didn't raise fools. I do love the inexplicable.

It's intelligence, motivated by emotion. Now, when I drive to my friend's house, I use cues not available to my dog. I know the street names. I know that my friend's house has a sloped bed of Japanese Splurge in front. I know that there's a Blood good Japanese maple on the corner of her house. I know the look of her home's portico. It has two dormers in front and distinctive corbels. So, words are assisting me. My dog has none of these aids. However, motivated by emotion (He LOVES my friend and she LOVES him.), he has learned to discern. I found @casts_by_fly's study to shine a searchlight on bass. The part about knowledge being transferred was wicked cool. Who knew? Not me, for sure. It reminds me of whale song, where humpbacks on one side of the world will change their song and humpbacks on the other side of the world do so at the same time. How? Again, who knows?

A dog wouldn't infer that a burger with a string was a trap, BUT a dog that had been hooked by a burger with a string might avoid all burgers with strings going forward. I visited a friend yesterday, a friend my dog loves. We approached her house from a different direction. Her house is a white house with black shutters on a street of white houses with black shutters, but when he saw her house, he started squealing. That's discernment of a higher order than a burger with a string because all the houses look the same.

Agree. What works for me might fail you and vice-versa. Sure. Most the guys at Bass Resource talk about how Whoppers Ploppers don't work for them. Many bass have learned to avoid them.

As I wrote once, here and there, every old woman needs arms long enough to reach a top shelf and a back strong enough to move 50 pounds from here to there. Good plan. As far as signs, the ponds where I now own property has a farm on it with two BIG signs saying, "Absolutely no pond access!" Not those little red signs that every hardware store sells, but professionally-made, scary signs. So, I went to the farm with a plate of homemade cookies and a couple-signed children's books and introduced myself. And every time I drove past those signs, I delivered more cookies and come Christmas, I gave them big bags of pecans and cashews. Even today, when I no longer need to cross their land, I drop by here and there with more cookies.

I have placed multiple orders for hooks, soft plastics, and lures at Tackle Warehouse's 12 Days of Christmas sale.

He looks so strong that if he prefers, he could drag a bog to my canoe.

I catch a lot of bass with chartreuse and white too and there's nothing in the water that's chartreuse and white other than my lures. So, whereas matching the hatch is sometimes in play, it's not always in play. Yes, but this position holds as much weight for me as a peanut because bass are ancient, instinctive animals. Their genus goes back 26,000,000 years. The fine-tuning of their instinct is beyond our ken because we can't conceptualize 26,000,000 years. There is genius in their genus because of this unfathomable time span. I think about caribou calves when I consider the power of instinct. They can rise and run within minutes of being born. Minutes. It takes our species between, on average, between 18 and 24 months to learn how to run. And a sparrow can fly through a forest and not hit a branch. Our species have been here for 200,000 to 300,000 years and we still haven't invented a drone that can do that, much less birthed a pilot who can do that. Instinct is breathtakingly powerful, which is why bass best us so often.

@Glenn: Please tell your trainer that if likes to carry canoes at four a.m. through the woods, I'm happy to take him fishing.

My comment about weight was the length-to-weight ratio. It's only 11' long. That's a pretty short boat. its weight would overwhelm me even without the battery. Heck, at this point, I can barely manage my 32-pound canoe.

PDX is a man Yes, a big man! With an eye like an eagle And as tall as a mountain is he! PDX is a man Yes, a big man! He is brave, he is fearless And as tough as a mighty oak tree! From the warp-around cap on the top of ol′ X To the heel of his Keen shoe The rippin'est, roarin′est, fishin'est man The northwest ever knew!

Mike, this woman lives behind two gates, so security might be a concern. Security is your profession, so I'd mention that. She sounds rich, so she can hire someone to prune her bushes, but as a fellow old woman, there are times when I simply need a strong back for five minutes and most tradesmen don't want to do a five-minute lifting job, so offer that. Tell her, "I'm minutes away. Call me and I'll be there."

With zero fishing pressure, the lake may be overpopulated with giants. Thinking of that possibility won't let you sleep better at night.

I visited the website. It's a good price, but at 11', 88 pounds is pretty heavy. Would you tow it?

I'd also consider offering labor. I'm guessing she's old and she might love the prospect of a big, strong guy with skills being nearby.

I remember those days. They do make for trickier fishing. Speaking of fishing, I'm grateful some of us are still fishing.

Whew!

You're a Joe Dirter, as you just keep on keeping on.

I'm with you. I have to use lures that work in weeds, like the underspin you see here:

I'd cast into measly water. By measly, I mean water so sad and small that it's ignored by most other anglers. Cast and then hang on because you'll catch something!