Swamp Girl

Too funny, Dwight!

I'm with ya, Jar, pining for bass, but grateful for the guys who are still catching and not just catching any old bass, but one fat bass after another. If @AlabamaSpothunter suddenly decided to keep his fish like the old timey guys who'd keep a hundred bass, his little boat would sink. The headline? Local Man Drowns due to TOO Successful Fishing Alex, that thumb is: A. Nasty B. Whoa! C. Impressive D. All of the above. Of course, the answer is D. I did that to my thumb a couple times and went through three gloves before I found one I liked. Now I use that glove all the time. Thanks for the heads-up, Alex, on the lousy hook. I've been ordering new hooks all spring. I lost too many fish last year and hope to do better in 2023. My prayer for 2023 is this: Dear Bass Resource Group Overall Director, aka Glenn, please let me catch as many big bass as Alex in 2023. I have watched the videos and read the articles and fed the Bait Monkey, month after snowy month. The Bait Monkey is now so fat he can barely cling to my back. All I ask is for some Alex-sized bass. Amen.

I bought three Damiki Axe Blades.

@T-Billy

21 baitcasters??? Whoa! And 18 with braid? You are the Braided Wonder. Seriously impressed, The Hammer P. S. - However, you are not this braided Wonder and thank goodness for that:

"Alabamaslamma." I like that, All-knowing Giver of Nicknames.

I'm so excited to fish that bog. I'm going to spend a night on one of those islands so that I can fish deep into the dark and then begin again in the dark. Alex, I'm so glad you feel supported by your peers/pals at Bass Resource, but if you keep catching more and bigger fish, you won't have any fishing peers anymore!

^Funniest post I've ever read at Bass Resource^ Psychologists could use your post to better understand our fevered sickness.

Okay, I'm going to go try an Axe Blade today. We'll see if Maine bass really, really want it. If they truly do, they'll bust through the ice to reach it.

I just went to buy a 1 oz. Damiki Axe Blade at Tackle Warehouse in Holo Shad and they're sold out and that's the only size and color that are sold out. Alex, Damiki should send you a check. Better yet, Damiki should send you more Axe Blades. Alex, I have never caught 30 fish with the size you caught. Never. If I'm catching quantity, there's less quality. If I'm catching more quality, there's less quantity. You did both and I'm wowed and happy for you. You deserve it. Again and again, I watch your videos where you're the only one on the water. I was once paddling the Mississippi on a cold, blustery day in October and I saw a fisherman with two huge walleyes in his live well. I was wowed that day too. "What's your secret?" I asked him. "Well, all the guys think I've got a secret bait or technique, but my secret is no secret for anyone can see it and it's that I'm out here long after everyone else has garaged their boats." You've got the same open secret, Alex, and here's how you spell it: P L U C K. You make your luck with pluck. BTW, we hit 17 below zero last night and more than 40 below with windchill, so that's my excuse for having my canoe in the garage. Remember that video of Bluebasser with what looked like howling mist? And he was fishing in a kayak, a couple inches above the water. He was catching fat, Alex-sized bass too. The two of you are brothers by different mothers. Alex and others, do you think the Axe Blades will work for pre-spawn bass too? I'm thinking April/early May bass in Maine.

I used 4 lb. test on Lake Pepin, a natural widening of the Mississippi, about 20 miles long and a mile wide. There weren't weeds and wood, so it sufficed for walleyes, white bass, largemouth, crappies, sheepshead, and smallmouth. I caught a LOT of fish, so many fish that other boats would anchor next to me and some would even troll around me, but they caught few fish. I think the four-pound test was the difference maker. There's no way I could use it in the weeds and wood I fish in Maine.

I haven't heard a sheepshead grunt for decades. Never thought I'd miss it, but I do! 4 lb. test is the great equalizer, isn't it?

That is good news, Gimruis. They do many things right in MN.

This is the saddest thread. I even teared up reading king fisher's account. This line is heart-breaking. I wish I could make your dream come true, king fisher. I know it's not the same, but I can put you on pristine water chock full of bass in Maine if you ever want. I was born in Washington state, so I speak from experience when I say that this side of the country is just as pretty as the Pacific side. I moved too much in my life to see water lost to development, but there are two local lakes here in Maine that have been blocked by rich people. They can't own the lakes, but they do own the access. I emailed both the landowners requesting permission and both replied, but they're deeply suspicious...of an old woman in a canoe. Both moved here from New York City, buying hundreds of acres and both post pics of their paradises on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc., flaunting what they have. However, here's your positive story, Gera: I think I can reach one of the lakes by driving down a power line cut, which they don't own, and mucking my way through a swamp, which they don't own. I think I can reach the other through a mile of tiny creek paddling, which they don't own, and likely dragging my canoe over beaver dams. If I run into them, they can photograph me all soggy, muddy, scratched, and grinning, and post me on their idyllic social media accounts, beside their pretty pics of them pretending to live the northwoods life.

1'??? Whoa! That must have been a sight when all that bass realized she was hooked.

Speaking further about what's wonderful about this place, the thing that continues to drop my jaw is the amount of info warehoused here. It's like the warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones. It's the National Bass Archives. And unlike the warehouse in Indiana Jones, it's not boxes on boxes with no one having any notion of what's inside them. Everything is cataloged and cross-referenced, grouped and ordered. And it's easy-peasy to navigate, thanks to the Bass Resource Group Overall Director, who must have spent half of forever designing this site, based upon its breadth and depth. I also appreciate how welcoming all of you have been. I'm an (old) Babe in Boyland and came here after a 50-year hiatus from catching largemouth. When I first started reading the threads, I didn't know even know that FFS and Spotlock and chatterbaits existed. I still know less than half of the lures you guys reference, but you're always willing to cast light on my many shadows.

@AlabamaSpothunter Nah, Alex, you say, "Oh, this is a nice one." or "This is a big one."

I hate when the headline is "MONSTER BASS Blah blah blah" and you wait for it and wait for it and it's a four-pounder, which is a nice fish, but it's not an all caps MONSTER BASS!!!!!!!!!

I was on a musky fishing trip in northwestern Ontario when one guy buried his MUSKY LURE right above the other guy's eye. They had to go, of course, to a hospital, which was a long drive. Then, as one would expect of a musky fisher, the hooked guy went right back to fishing the next morning.

Ah, T-Billy, you're 24K. And more great bass, Alex. You're a heckuva fisherman.

Hear, hear!

Will do!

Man, you guys catch BIG fish.

I always think of Tony Soprano when I read or hear "degenerate gambler."