Swamp Girl

Fantastic, Pat!

Deal, Eric! #themonstersofthemidwayforme P. S. - However, if the Bears sign Rodgers, my fidelity will be fleeting because I simply can't cheer for Rodgers in the Bears backfield throwing from a hyperbaric, sensory-deprivation tank while shamen chant on the sidelines.

I'm actually so tired of Rodgers' waffling and theatrics that I might become a Bears fan too.

Those are beautiful bass!

I like gentle releases too. I've stopped watching videos when a bass gets chucked into the water.

Another thing I don't like is when a guy catches two bass and declares that that's a pattern and then he proceeds to lecture into the camera how to catch bass. Two bass aren't a pattern. Two bass don't merit a professorship. Getting published or having a fishing show used to be a meritocracy, but with YouTube, anyone can post anything. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Watch the top notch channels. Note what they do well. And then emulate them. Don't just strap a GoPro to your chest and think you're good to go as if you're a pro meriting our attention.

Did you move to WV or were you kicked out of Wisconsin? Or both?

That bottom lure looks like a child's toy. The top one looks so real.

I have been part of a paddling website for more than a decade and over there, the same topics are raised again and again. It bothers some of that website's users, but I just shrug too.

KYK, I lived in western Wisconsin for 30 years and loved fishing the Mississippi: below dams, the river proper, the backwaters, the pools, and Lake Pepin. I even paddled the river twice, from source-to-sea, in a kayak, and some other rivers too, like the Ohio and Thames. What are you catching in pools 7 & 8?

@Blue Raider Bob At least $250 is a reasonable rate for a guide and you did learn some new spots and hopefully electronically pinned them. Yeah, I am itchin' to fish. Catching largemouth again after a half century of fishing for smallies, muskies, pike, trout, and white bass has been a hoot and a half.

@Team9nine Good looking fish!

Phish, I think your bass is all-time favorite bass posted at Bass Resource. It is gorgeously colored! Thanks for the lure photo too. I remember the Hawaiian Wiggler.

@NorcalBassin, I follow your weather issues on the US Drought Monitor map. I check every week. I'm hoping your Sierra Nevada snow melting will be slow enough to another score or much more of lake level rise. Ah, I didn't think about your equation: trebles + puppy = OUCH! Okay, please tell Riggs: "C'mon, little dude! Get your act together! Life is short, but the fishing days will be long and lovely."

@NorcalBassin, I love when you post. I love your dad's joy, the fine fish you catch, and the backdrops. 90% of Maine is trees, the most of every state. Now, I understand that California has the world's greatest trees, but I also see your shorelines that aren't just tree free, but seemingly plant free. Your sky is even different than ours, a different shade of blue. It's just cool to see all the different places where we catch bass. Alex has shared a few times his surprise at the number of largemouth in Maine. I share that surprise. Maine is famous for smallmouth and trout. So, I'm in the land of spruce, cedar, white pine, and sugar maples catching bigmouths in bogs. Then there are the Great Lakes' fishers with their behemoths. And southern Florida fishers in the grass. The adaptability of bass will always amaze me. They're literally from coast to coast and bottom to top, thriving wherever they swim. P. S. - Don't forget Riggs next time.

@NorcalBassin I love how you fish with your pop. @TnRiver46

Will do, @king fisher!

Gosh, I hope you're right, MassBass!

Tom, that is so cool. You guys are all-the-way old school! Mobasser, I have some Lazy Ikes and Bombers too. I don't think I ever caught a single fish on either of them.

It's fascinating how we use so many different lures to catch the same fish.

I hope I don't regret it, but I have multiple Plunkers, River Runts, Lucky 13s, and Spin-I-Diddees, so if lose one, I won't lose sleep, but I might swap another lure for the Pumpkinseed simply because I love the look of that lure.

What did the guide say about the skunk, Bob? I keep worrying I'm going to get skunked the first time I go fishing because the fish will be so cold their teeth will be chattering and my only chance to catch one will be if I happen to reel a lure through a mouth as it's open and then closes from chattering cold. I'm also worried I'll catch lots of fish and big fish too and wonder why I waited so long to go fishing!

On one of my fishing mornings or evenings, I'm going to only use the lures of my childhood. I'll tie the following lures onto five rods, after swapping the old hooks for modern hooks: A South Bend Spin-I-Diddee (surface lure with front and rear propellers) A Heddon Lucky 13 (surface chugging lure) A Creek Chub Plunker (a popper lure) A Heddon River Runt (subsurface wiggler) A Heddon Pumpkinseed (subsurface wiggler) I expect I'll do well. It'll be fun to see which one catches the most fish. I suspect it'll be the Plunker. Has anyone else ever done this? I know it'll be expensive to lose one of the above, but they're not doing me any good in my old tackleboxes and they were made to catch fish, not collect dust and rust. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I'll photograph the lures too.