Swamp Girl

Pat, I really like the quality of your bass AND the quality of your photos. They're suffused with color. What's your camera?

@TnRiver46, "we're gonna need a bigger livewell." I LOVE white bass and for years, I focused on them. I caught them mostly at Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River, two and three at a time. I'd drift with two minnows on 4 lb. test, hook two, and then cast a jig for my third. Such fun! Speaking of fun, I'm going quantity fishing tonight for a couple hours (a pond with good numbers but they top out at 18") and quality fishing tomorrow morning, (a pond with few fish, but they grow big there).

Dang it, Alex. Those lost big fish haunt me too. Still, you caught some fine fish.

I can guarantee you guys that my first smallie of 2023 won't look like ^these!^ Nor will my last smallie of 2023 nor will any of the smallies in-between. You guys catch big SMBs!

I would be ashamed to do ^this.^ It would be like choosing to be a leech. Thank you for explaining and I'm sorry that this was done to you.

You sure did!

@A-Jay, are other fishers deducing where you fish from your videos and fishing your spots?

I suspect that we've all dragged lures past genius, BIG bass and here was their response: You are being kind and I thank you for that.

Yeah, I fish for grade school dropout bass.

Whoa, Daubs, that's an ambitious list. Let us know come the winter how you did.

This winter, I loaded up with surface lures other than the Whopper Plopper in case this is true. I'm excited to try a Rapala wakebait. I think they'll love that.

G2! Unlike you, Phish, I like the rain. It makes me even sneakier with those raindrops thudding the surface. No way can they see nor hear me!

The Wind and Mighty Dwight Howl! The wind howls The waves heave The masses flee But Dwight won't leave. He bounces like A rubber ball His bum goes up And then it falls. The mighty bass Must ever eat They see the flash A tasty treat? Some weight, A strike, The set, The fight! Dwight might live With largemouth now But it's smallmouths that Make him howl!

The WP strikes are addictive, huh, Alex?!?

Brian, I'm just happy to see bass. Thanks for posting.

50-inchers are rare. You could, however, go to Florida, pick pert near any pond, walk the bank until you see a good-sized gator, and foul hook it. That would give you the 50-inch musky experience.

Muskies make me fraidy! I've caught scores from my canoe and with each one, I've been too scared to shake. This is me realizing I've hooked another musky.

^THIS!^

I'm leaning your way. I do waffle on big bass versus what I call a busy boat. I also waffle on impressive numbers versus enjoying the feathered and furry wildlife. My number one moment last year was fishing in a pounding rain and having a massive eagle, the biggest eagle of my life,, fly over me twice. I didn't even know that eagles fly in downpours. It was just the two of us, loving that rain. A big bass is thrilling, for sure. They empty my adrenal gland and make my hands shake and make me seriously stupid for a few minutes. They make me happy when I reflect on them, but I don't know if I want to nurture the need to catch more and more and more. I just can't decide which road I'll walk, launching with a laser focus on bigger bass or launching on Come What May Bog.

Heck, yeah! ^This^ made me smile. True. It has been in the thirties most mornings when I launched and there was thick ice on some shorelines, but next year, I'll do it again. A lonesome lake or bog is my happy place and even catching one bass is fun. Unlike A-Jay, it doesn't have to be a big bass. I'm grateful for all of them. The cool weather is finally coming to an end. Starting with Saturday, there will be a string of sixty-day degrees with nights in the upper forties. That should warm our water lickety-split.

I like when my fellow fishers report on skunks, dinks, and near skunks. On three of my 2023 trips, I caught a single fish. Late last summer and through mid-fall of 2022, I frequently caught thirty-some bass in a morning or evening. For me, the humbling sets up the giddy days and it also reveals that even with the advantage of my fishing less-fished lakes, I sometimes can't solve the puzzle that is bass. In other words, sometimes the fish win, no matter how much you know or how sweet the water is. Anyone else here like to read those trips when a fellow fisher brought down to Earth like a Mercury astronaut? If you like to tell your tales of woe, why? I do. For me, it might be a Catholic thing, as I was raised to confess my failings. I'm certain I would feel guilty if I didn't, if I suggested by omission that I always best the bass.

I once saw a nature show where the narrator said that otters have the energy to play because they're faster, smarter, and more nimble than their prey. Unlike most predators, who miss a kill a lot more than they make one, otters can eat whenever they want, thus they spend a lot of their lives just goofing.

Noooo, Bob! Don't let anyone fish for your pets!

Atta boy, @thediscochef! #persistencecan'tbedenied