Swamp Girl

WakeBait Queen is no better.

Lake Erie @Dwight Hottle Michigan @A-Jay Spots! @AlabamaSpothunter Whopper Ploppers @ol'crickety

Hayward? Holy smokes! For those who don't know Hayward, it's Fish City, U.S.A.

Thanks for the suggestion, txchaser, but I sold my musky gear because it just hurt too much to lob those big lures.

They are exactly that, Alex. I love your glee at catching bass. Alex, I think that bass fishers don't troll enough. I always troll when I'm paddling from spot to spot I catch as many bass trolling as I do casting. All four of my two-bass-at-once doubles were trolling and one double was 19" and 17". I especially like to troll weed lines where I can, with careful paddling, keep my lure inches from the weeds for a long time, but I've had excellent luck in open water too. I caught a 21.5" bass and a 20" bass in 2022 trolling a Mepps in the middle of a pond, crossing from one side to another. With your trolling motor, you can do things I can't do as both my hands are on the paddle. Thanks for sharing the specifics of what you're doing on retrieves. I even mix-up the retrieves of my Whopper Ploppers.

I know this discussion was off-topic, but I found it useful and funny! Thanks, GoProMonkey!

You sound like Humphrey Bogurt! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMOBxjIvLBE Thanks for the suggestion and the link too. That's just what I'll buy. One more question: Can you suggest a clamp to attach it to my canoe?

You are the Smallmouth God, A-Jay. I will buy a Go-Pro. Gotta model suggestion?

Alex, I'll upgrade to a GoPro at some point, but will likely just use it for photos. It's a slippery slope, I fear. You buy one GoPro and then mount it on your boat and then you buy another and another and and then your boat bristles like a WWII heavy cruiser, albeit with electronics. Then you have to manage the batteries too and you get home and spend hours editing and on and on. I've been watching a lot of Kristine Fischer's and Old Lady Angler's videos and I just described their kayaks. It's too much for me to manage. I fish best with my lightweight canoe. That's my niche, but I'm grateful to fishers like A-Jay and you who do create videos. I have a couple small hacks in mind to improve the quality of my photos. I hate that I have half a dozen blurry 19" or bigger bass photos from last year. Then there are others where I didn't photograph the tips of their tails, so there's no confirmation of their size. I'll be fishing 2023 with several upgrades: A new net that's not rubberized, but rubber. It also has a strong aluminum handle as I broke a plastic-handled one last year. A waterproof tackle box. Reels with mono, braid, and fluoro, lots of new lures, a thermometer, a rod holder for trolling, etc. I even have the scale that I bought, but never used. I want to practice with it at home before trying it with a wriggling bass.

Your videos are helpful to me, Alex, because you focus on your hands. I hate the fishing videos where there's a cinematographer who's standing behind the fisher so that I can't see how they're working the reel.

Alex, you continually change your retrieve. Do you try to note in your head the retrieve that catches each fish?

Are you guys ever struck by how beautiful some bass are? It might be color, shape, both. ^This" smallie is a beauty.

I understand, Tom, that your mountains might be without peers when it comes to snow dumps. That's what you get when you park mountains next to a warm ocean. Dang those drainers! #bogsarethebest

A good joke!

I like ^this^ strategy, @papajoe222. I might start doing that too. Maine has so many big lakes up north and even fewer people up north. Oh, I'm going to fish them all and many more. I was just wondering which one would have the most appeal for others and why. I've never seen alewives run other than videos, so I want to witness that. The big bog also draws me because I've come to love fishing weeds. One winter in Maine, I left a car parked outside and the snow completely buried it. I'll find that photo and post it for you. The snow snapped off my driver side rear view mirror. Each morning, I rose to rake the roof and fight the ice dams. That was Maine's snowiest winter on record, more than 10', which never melted until the spring. So, yeah, we can "survive 8' of snow pack."

Dang it, Alex! That lost bass could have easily eaten the caught bass.

@Darth-Baiter Living in sunny CA, you aren't driven to scouting out of winter's desperation.

"catch the hatch"

Gosh, you had a great day, Bluebasser! You catch a lot of solid fish.

I know! The second one is two-fer with a side of salad.

I want to be your stowaway!

So, you've found Heaven and it's on Earth. Gosh, I hope you do fish it. I love all its features: few camps, literal tons of structure, and a lousy launch at the end of the dirt road. Please, oh, please fish it and let us know how it goes. And PICS, please. So many PICS!

^This^ line made me laugh! The big bog holds big bass, at least big bass for me, i.e. four-pounders and up. I know this because I saw a guy on YouTube catching a couple there. I have only fished one body of water in Maine where I only caught small bass and that pond bugs me because I'm thinking I simply failed to fish where the thicker, longer fish were. It's a pretty pond with only one camp, so I might return to it this summer. Phish, I really appreciate your posts. You are so specific. I just bought three of the lures you suggested. I'm not surprised that an alewife-imitating lure wouldn't work, not when they have a million of the real thing right beside it. @Darnold335 Oh, I'll fish them all for sure, and many others. It's just that those four of the 32 bodies I've water I've scouted seem the most promising to me, thus they have me the most excited. I'm even going to fish a swamp that's downtown in a nearby town. I've never seen anyone fish it, but I've walked down to its banks and it sure looks deep enough and bassy. I've had good luck in the past catching bass from water that others overlook. I also scouted below a waterfall behind a fire station. That spot looks perfect because the slope is steep and the bounders on the bank would spook the less committed. Google Earth is the best, isn't it? If I'm unsure of the approach, I drive to the water, which is easier to scout in the winter when you can see the best approach better with fewer leaves. That's a LOT of water to learn. I'm excited for you. I love exploring. Sounds like you do too!