Swamp Girl

You're a heckuva fisherman. You'll crack the code. We got about four inches in 20 hours and it turned a trickling creek into a Class IV torrent. It's not all the sudden water that's keeping me off the water, but nights still dipping into the thirties and days that don't rise above the forties.However, come Saturday, it'll be warm and stay warm and I think the bass will finally, fully rouse.

I love your fishing reports, Mr. 86. You are a versatile fisherman and you land so many beautiful fish.

I was raised in central Ohio, so I know the lakes you fish. Welcome and I hope to see you in the threads!

I believe it was a DD simply because you caught two fish close to a DD. You know when a fish is bigger, unlike me, who has never whiffed a DD and therefore haven't a clue. If I ever hooked and lost a seven-pounder, I'd likely say, "It was a DD for sure!" Congrats on those BIG fish! I encourage you to spend more time here. It's a great group of guys.

Great ideas, Woody! I can't wait to try 'em, but it'll have to wait a few days. It's crazy windy and wet there right now. More than three inches of rain today and tonight. Tomorrow the high will be in the forties and the wind will gust to the forties.

@The Baron, I like your list!

^That's^ the best attitude.

Thanks, @T-Billy, for the thorough explanation. I understand...I think. Well fished, @Cbump!

I kid you not, Tim, on a couple casts, the SHADOW and MOVEMENT from my lure in the air spooked them. Being sunny and mid-day didn't help. I did see three, different bald eagles. With the water that shallow and pterodactyls in the air, they probably need to stay spooked. Thanks for the advice, Tim. Now I have to remember what's been suggested if I'm in this situation again. Bog fishing:

You might be right, Alex. Maybe they just didn't want to eat yesterday. I didn't spook them. When I say that they swirled in front of my canoe, my canoe was a foot or two away before they knew I was there. One time, to test, I glided into a shallow area and thumped my paddle on the side of my canoe. There were swirls everywhere, so I was casting to fish that just wouldn't hit.

@LrgmouthShad, you catch big bass and that ain't no lie! Plus, you're a paddler, i.e. my tribe. Thanks, @PhishLI. I replied in Messages.

My day yesterday was utterly unlike A-Jay's casual day of catching trophies. I fished a new bog. It was 450 acres. I fished it midday after two mornings of fishing in the thirties. To launch my canoe, I had to enter negotiations with some boulders. They agreed to not break my neck, legs, and back if I agreed to slow the launching. I paddled miles and even though it was a bird refuge, I only saw a few eagles and ducks. The wind kept changing directions like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. It came out of thisa way and then out of thatta way. It literally came from all four cardinal directions and the ordinal directions too. Most of the bog was merely one to three feet deep. I spooked a lot of fish in the one-foot depth, but could. not. catch. them. I tried: 1. a bluegill swimbait 2. a Rage Swimmer retrieved fast in the shallows and slower in the rare 5'-6' water 3. a Mepps spinner 4. a wacky-hooked Senko 5. a jerkbait 6. a Senko floater on a Shakey jighead 7. three colors of Senko floaters fished weightless, which looked great in the water and coasted over the weeds, but didn't elicit a strike 8. a Whopper Plopper Yeah, I fished a Whopper Plopper out of desperation and it caught my only bass. So, mostly it was five hours of paddling in an ever-shifting wind, which is something I do as well as A-Jay casually catches trophies. On the plus side, it was a beautiful bog, with zero shoreline homes and islands and bays every which way, so many that I could lose my bearings, so I kept my head swiveling like the wind. I was also, like usual, the only one on the water. So, I appeal to the Bass Resource Brain Trust: I spooked scores of fish in the shallows. The bog has largemouth, pickerel, pumpkinseed, and yellow perch. Some of the swirls seemed to be made by catchable fish and I was fishing right where those fish were located, but could only provoke three strikes in five hours. How would you have fished that bog, with zombie weeds everywhere and some algae blooming? There was a lot of wood, even far from shore, and I peppered that without luck. I considered going to a fluke, but my weightless Senko looked like a fluke in the water.

Atta, Blue. I had a 57-bass evening late last summer. I've had many 33ish-bass mornings in Maine. All I had to do that day was put the two together.

I've had 100-fish days and if you can't keep count or don't have a counter, looking at your thumb and thinking, "Dang, I can't fish tomorrow!" is a pretty reliable indicator.

I'm out of reactions, so here's my reaction (That's me on the far right.), @PhishLI:

@NorcalBassin, I'm the president of the Maine Chapter of the Pops Fan Club. We have chapters in all 50 states. Our mission is to celebrate Pops' fish and to down a beer every time we see Pops smile with a fish. If you're reading this and not a member, I urge you to join. It's a great organization. Katie Crickety, President and member since 2021

Yeah, I know fishers at your level don't care about quantity. I'm embarrassed to admit that I do, that I enjoy a busy morning or evening. However, I like catching the big gals too...well, big for me, but small for you! ?

And lo, the clouds parted, and a Mighty Voice said, "Let it be Bob!"

You are such a good man that I know ^THIS^ to be 100% true. ^Another fine and solid man.^

If the stars align, what's your attainable goal(s) for 2023? By attainable, I mean that there might be a few DD bass in Maine, ancient and wise, but I'm not going to catch them. However, I could, in 2023, have: 1. a hundred-bass day 2. catch a 25 lb. bag. I'd be thrilled with either, but I'm hoping for both.

@PhishLI, makes us all look like sissies. At least I'm atop the water. Phish is in it! At night. Plus, there are bad men at some of the lakes he fishes. If you're going to war, take Phish. I'll be fishing a big bog tomorrow, about 500 acres. It'll be my first time, so I'm excited! I agree that this thread is best when we're seeing bass from coast to coast and bottom to top. ' Full confession: Whenever I see green backgrounds, I get jealous!

Ain't it cool how we're catching bass all over the country? Alex, the thirties is too cold for me! If it were dry, I'd be fine, but as I've stated in the past, a canoe is a wet boat and the wet thirties has me casting, but thinking about hot tea and dry sweats.

I fished a bog this morning. I saw my first geese, two V's heading north. I also heard peepers, had three loons quite close for most of the morning, and had swallows swirling around me. I caught seven fish. Five were bass and all were thick. I caught my first two bass on a swimbait and I caught a 19-incher and weighed it. She weighed 3.97 pounds. I also caught a 17.75-incher. The two bigger bass hit a shad-colored Rage Swimmer on a swim jig and altogether, I caught fish on four different lures: the Bluegill swimbait, a brass Blue Fox inline spinner, and a wacky-rigged Senko. The other three bass were in the 16" - 17" range, but my camera ran out of power, so no photos. It was soooo cold again, in the thirties for half the morning. I'm going fishing again tomorrow, but NOT IN THE MORNING! Tomorrow is supposed to reach the mid-sixties...for one day...then it's back to the forties on Sunday and another 36 hours or so of rain.

Alex, you've got another big girl streak going! You don't have to wait for next winter. You're thriving right now. We all catch big fish now and then, but you, A-Jay, and a few others catch big girls regularly.

^This is simply creepy.^ Placing a netting trap in public water to profit is a lesser version of placing a concrete reef in a lake to run boats aground so that you can plunder them.