Swamp Girl

To repeat myself, you're a heckuva fisherman, Team9nine. You catch consistently and you do it from the shore in all weather.

I totally get this. When I had kids with me, I was fearless. Alert, ready, and fearless. We have to be fearless when we're guardians. Cowardice is a luxury guardians can't afford. Cool story about the coyote. Beavers make a lot of noise at night, but they've never messed with me. Early one morning, I had a huge one swim under my canoe. I loved that moment. So cool that you've caught a 12+ lb. bass! Can you share the photo?

Welcome, Mr. 365! Beautiful bass. It deserves a "Whoa!"

Heck, yeah! It's a pity cowboys never heard loon song, since they love lonesome songs. My all-time favorite moment of the 2022 fishing season was fishing in a steady rain and having the biggest bald eagle of my life fly low over me twice.

You are young, Grasshopper. In most of my fishing reports, I report on more than just fish caught. I note the eagles and herons seen. One of my favorite moments is launching my canoe in the dark. For me, a solo woman, there's a bit of danger arriving at a launch site in the dark. However, once I push my canoe away from the shore, even though it's dark, I immediately feel safe and beyond that, it's thrilling. I have caught so many bass on my first cast. Second and third casts too. I know that most people would feel unsafe in a tippy canoe in the cool dark, but bad men aren't on water at four in the morning. It would scare them. They'd want lights and noise and company. I like being alone in the night, when the creatures don't fear me. Beaver and geese come up to me, their innate caution erased by the lack of light. There's a long time between first light and sunrise and that stretch is my favorite time to fish.

Old school! Hey, you used the word, "pedantic," so I smiled when I read your original post. As a nerd, albeit a fairly rare woods-and-water-loving nerd, I love the rare words.

For LM, I fish on the edges of wild rice reeds, laydowns, and lily pads. They all hold fish, but I like the lily pads the best because a tree might hold one or two bass, but the lily pads hold dozens of bass. It seems like here's a bass every yard or so. They're hard to catch with my frog, but they're eager to strike. When I fished smallmouth, it was rocks and laydowns, but mostly bowling ball-sized rocks.

It's a yoga pose. He's multi-tasking. Tom Brady and LeBron James also stretch A LOT to extend their careers. I figure Mr. 46 will still be fishing when the rest of us are being wheeled around nursing homes. #46getsthelastlaughandthelastbass

@PhishLI, I know we've talked about alewives already, but I'm hoping you can give me a little more direction. I did buy all the lures you suggested for alewives, but I've looked at video of the alewives entering a pond I'll be fishing and they are beyond counting. The water is blackened by them. Will a bass hit a lure when there's so much live bait or is the best fishing to be had in the week or two after they're gone, when the bass are fattened and the easy eating is gone? @AlabamaSpothunter, I do think I'll catch a lot of four and five-pounders in 2023, but I'm guessing that six and seven-pounders are rare in Maine. I'd like a new PB, but I'm guessing that for every 20 or 30 four-to-five pounders, I might catch one six-pounder. We'll see. I love them all, so a new PB won't make or break my season. I am much better equipped for largemouth fishing. I started fishing around late August last year, which means I missed the pre-spawn and most of the summer. I also have much more largemouth tackle, thanks to you guys and your suggestions. And I've read a lot of articles and watched a lot of videos. Regarding my PB, since I haven't weighed any fish all the decades I've fished, that's just a guess. I told this story already, but I think my PB is a smallmouth deformed by feeding, a smallmouth that bulged and belly-hung like a fat largemouth. I caught it after the Sun had set, so it was extremely low light and when I saw it beside my canoe, I swore at its size. I've caught thousands of smallmouth and scores in the 19": - 21" range, but that fish was different than any of the others. I think it weighed more than five pounds, but I'll never know. I also caught a 21.5 largemouth in 2022, but I was so excited and shaky that I released it without photographing it. I think that was five-to-six pounds. At least, that's what the length-to-weight charts say.

Nice bass, Phish. Nice pickerel too. Pickerel don't usually impress me. They're lure thieves, but your pickerel has length and girth. I've caught them as long as yours, but never as heavy as yours. Love the belly on that first bass, Alex. I am so looking forward to seeing my Shimano. It's been mailed. And even more excited to fish it!

@T-Billy, well then, I'm in good company. If someone says, "Anyone else smellin' a skunk at BR," I can say, "I'm with Mr. Musky." And you can say, "Whatever you've got to say to her, you say to me." And give that skunk sniffer a snarl worthy of your hat.

I'm guessing Little Katy won't be little for long! Bluegills and bass in my backyard would be my dream come true, but we all know how hard you worked for your dream come true, Bob, so you deserve every bit of it, down to the tiniest bluegill's smallest scale.

That sounds great. Say, it might sound strange that I would be so California-obsessed since I live nearly as far away from you as a fellow American can, but I check your weather radar everyday and I am so happy for you, despite your floods and landslides, that your reservoirs and aquifer are filling again. I also check the US Drought Monitor Map and more than half of California is out of drought, with more water coming.

If I ever visit you Bob, we'll have to catch some smallies, white bass, and even Tennessee Tarpon, which sound a lot like a fish we called Mooneye.

Whoa, Bob, two 19-inchers in one trip is impressive. Fishing big current is even more impressive. I love white bass too and miss them. I haven't caught one for decades.

@GreenPig, you found the only thing better than catching bass.

Bass Resource does that automatically. I think Glenn, the creator, designed it this way to keep things tidy. Yeah, big lake walleye chasing is hardcore. I've paddled some big lakes on frosty days in my YOUTH, which can be best described like this: You go up. You go down. You go up. You go down. Now, like you, I wait for warm, calm days.

@Jeff Zurawski, those are huge smallmouth and even more impressive because they're river fish, meaning they fight 25% harder. I also admire you for fishing when they're no leaves on the trees, which means you don't fear the frost.

@Bluebasser86 You catch such fat fish and you take your kids fishing, making you the complete package. Dang it, at @ATA, your catching your first 2023 bass means I have less and less company in the 2023 Lonely Hearts Catchin' Bass Club. Since we've had some sunny days in the low forties in Maine, I visited a couple nearby ponds yesterday, but saw nothing but ice.

Nice work at the lakehouse. I enjoy when you guys share what you do when you're not catching bass.

@Jeff Zurawski Jeff, I'm chompin' at my bit too. I live in Maine, so our water is still hard, but daytime highs are hitting the low forties some days, so it won't be that much longer before out water is soft and then hopefully just a few weeks longer before it's warm enough to wake the bass.

Mighty nice of you to offer! Please start posting your fish in the Latest Catch Pics thread so that we can give you some "Atta, boy"(s).

@Functional: Beauties! @Team9nine, 20 fish from the shore is impressive. So is your consistency. You are a fine fisher. @AlabamaSpothunter and @ScottW:

Hi, Kurrent. Virginia is beautiful. I walked across it on the Appalachian Trail and always wanted to live there since.

Hey, Jeff! We have a lot in common. I started fishing in ponds for largemouth and then shifted to smallmouth. I've fished Little and Big Bays de Noc, as well as Green Bay. And I've paddled many rivers in WV, like the Yough, New, and Cassleman. I'm back to catching largemouth, but I catch some smallies too. Float fishing sounds fun! Wading is my favorite way to fish, but I canoe-fish nowadays.