Swamp Girl

I used 14 lb. mono on a spinning reel in 2022. I use my wacky-rigged Senko as a follow-up to missed surface lure hits. The bass hit the Senko a lot of the time. In 2023, I'm dropping to 10 and 12 lb. test. If the 10 and 12 lb. test allow me to control the fish, I'll likely drop again to 8 lb. test. As I shared in a thread, pulling bass out of weeds was a new challenge for me, so I'm thinking I went with heavier line than I needed. BIG fish, Toxic, on 6 lb. test! You are a heckuva fisherman. Here's a pike I caught on 6 lb. test. Every summer, I'd go north and catch some nice pike, but since I was fishing from a canoe, I'd release them in the water for safety and never get a photo. Well, one trip, we used an abandoned, leaking boat (See it listing to the side as it filled with more and more water?) and said, "As soon as we catch and photograph a nice pike, we'll go back to the non-leaking canoe." Luckily, I landed one the first evening as well as five smallmouth from 19.75" to 21", all on 6 lb. test. We were sure happy to drag that boat back to its final resting place! However, your fish are much heavier than my pike!

Just be careful, @T-Billy, if a grizzly bear sees you in your hat and there's a sudden twinkle in her eye.

Heck, yeah! I strive to give thanks. I fed the birds and squirrels this morning, as I always do, but I'm thankful to have them visit me, so I gave them a feast today. I'm also thankful for the Bass Resource guys. You guys are expensive for me, as you tout the lures you use to catch your big fish and then I go buy them, but Bass Resource is Bass College without tuition. What a deal! I've learned a lot here. I've a lot left to learn, but you guys are wise, patient, and gentle professors.

Sorry you lost your sure-footedness, Mr. 215, but hooray for your Classic Accessories Colorado Pontoon Boat. I think it's a wicked cool casting platform. Bonus: You can joust with your 98" kayak paddle.

Here's what I love about your ride: the height and stability. You're just the right height. Close enough to the water to have jumping bass splash you (I love when they do that!) and to make it easy to grab 'em. It looks like you could easily stand to look over reeds or stretch your legs. What's the purpose of the two handles on either side of the seat? BTW, I love that seat too. It looks so comfy. P. S. - I see that canoe too.

I'm out of likes, so thank you, Alex. I used up my likes in this thread because there are some seriously beautiful rides! I used to write a column for Canoe & Kayak magazine called "Rides," where I'd interview paddlers about their favorite boat, why they loved it, and where it had taken them. My favorite question was, "Where would you like to paddle one day?" I loved hearing about their dream paddles. One guy told me that he'd like to paddle the Thames River source-to-sea. Then one day he called me and said, "I'm going. Wanna go?" So, I did! We had to walk the first 15 miles because there wasn't enough water to float a canoe, even though a canoe only needs a few inches. There were so many sheep, swans, and herding dogs before London. So many pubs too! On the upper river, we had to operate the locks ourselves. I loved that! London doesn't permit canoes because of the jet-powered ferries and requires a guide to keep you alive, so we switched to kayaks for the end of the trip. But my favorite ride is my Rockstar. It's light enough for an old woman to carry and then it carries me to bass. And more bass. AND MORE BASS!

My ride is 15' 6" long. It's a discontinued Bell Rockstar. It's Kevlar, weighs 32 pounds, has a 27" beam, and walnut trim. It is not tricked out in anyway and isn't much to behold, since it's Kevlar, which a fingernail can nearly scratch, but it takes me to some fine places. It's on sawhorses now in my garage, as you can see, but a photo of "the Canoe of a Thousand Scratches" on equally beaten sawhorses doesn't convey what it does, what it means to me, its true value, and its true home. The other four pics are my Rockstar at home:

I've seen hundreds of bald eagles in my fishing and paddling paddling. Maybe thousands. However, at one lake just down the highway, there's a bald eagle that's the Dot of bald eagles. Remember ginormous Dot in California? This eagle is a feathered Dot. It's much bigger than any eagle I've ever seen. It drops my jaw every time I see it. It does low passes over me too, feeling like a pterodactyl. Watching that musky/eagle video has me a little worried now.

Sledgehammer! I'm so happy for you, Tim. I'm so sad for you too, with your season ending. Let's rent a bus and go live with Alex for a few months! P. S. - How big do you think the musky was?

I'm with you guys. My last fishing trip of 2022, I was bouncing in the dark, trying to see the shoreline before the wind pushed me into it and the hooks on my five rods snagged wood. My headlamp wasn't working, so I my only light was starlight. Luckily, there was a lot of starlight. My only companion was a hoot owl and we had a nice, long chat. I caught two dinks, but I'll never forget that trip. I loved it. When the Sun finally rose, I was shocked at how brown Maine had become and I'll remember that too. I paddled deep into a bay that is normally weed-choked, noting all the places that might hold bass next spring. And I dreamed of spring. Like GRiver, I love the tackle too. I remember my father walking in the door and laying four, just-purchased rods and reels on the kitchen table, with all the lures and bobbers and hooks. I was smitten. I still am. I remember my first fishing trip. We caught nothing, but I still loved it. I hooked nothing the second and third and fourth times too, but I was hooked. slonezp, I love your story. Thanks for telling it.

Next year, I'm going to pause longer, for sure. I'm a frenetic fisher, which is my weakness and strength.

Mostly long casts on a flat. I like your thinking, that the bass might not just be reaction striking to a lure landing near them, but also reacting to the change in the Whopper Plopper, first churning underwater and then breaking to the surface like an Orca.

I like sidetracks. No need to apologize. I'm wondering now if I shouldn't chuck my lures like Doug Flutie and his famous Hail Mary, but make shorter and MORE casts to trigger more reaction bites. T-Billy, come to Maine to catch loads of bass. I'll get a tandem canoe, put you in the bow, and park you on fish. I've scouted 19 new ponds for next year. So much to explore! One is a 450-acre bog. Geez, I could spend a week exploring that and still miss some nooks. I already mentioned the pond I scouted last week. You drive down a dead end road to a stop sign, explaining that the land is private and you must follow the rules, the first one being don't drive down to the pond. The landowner even erected a barrier to stop cars. Well, I bought wheels for my canoe, so I'll roll down to the pond and launch. The pond only has three cabins on it and connects by a mile-long swamp/creek to a bigger pond with another three cabins. Not completely wild, but close, since a lot of cabins are only inhabited for a week or two each summer. It looks great. And on the drive to this pond, I passed two swamps, so the first morning I go there, I'm going to stop and cast into both swamps. Another pond I'm aching to fish is one I already fished this year. It's almost all lily pads, but I caught two 18-inch bass and lost a 19-inch bass on my visit there. 90% of the pond is a mile of lily pads, but I've caught a few fish froggin' now and I think I'm ready for The Show. And I've been watching videos about how big bass can be caught pre-spawn. Spring will be my Christmas and I'll be like a kid whining to open the presents.

Okay, I've changed my mind. I think distance might still be in play, but now I'm going with Dwight, ironbjorn, and the other "it's a reaction strike" guys. The longer the lure's in the water, the more time the bass have to study it and find some fault with it. MassBass, I do vary my retrieve and try pauses, but I haven't found the pauses to be more triggering than a steady retrieve. It's not that I don't catch fish on a pause. It's that I catch the same number, more or less, and the pause means I'm covering less water. AaronH, I like your click counter. However, my boat is so wet that I keep my cell phone in plastic. It still sorta works in the plastic, but it's a pain.

Most of you guys know I fish a lot of surface lures, primarily the Whopper Plopper and wake baits. I also fish with spinning reels because I can cast farther. A big Whopper Plopper with ten lb. mono can be slung a long ways, which means that there's a lot of water to plop before it returns to my canoe. What still surprises me, after decades of catching bass, largemouth and smallmouth, with surface lures, is that I catch 40% or so of my bass in the first two or three feet of where the lure lands. The chances of catching a fish diminish the closer I am to the canoe, unlike muskies, which are slap-happy to take a lure two feet from me. This is my best guess: First two to three feet from where the lure lands: 40% of the largemouth I catch Next five to ten feet after that: another 40% of the fish I catch The rest of the retrieve: the remaining 20% of the fish I catch Does it play this way, percentage-wise, for the rest of you? I think it works this way because even though I'm a quiet fisher, bass are less wary the farther they are from me and thus more willing to strike. It's not like I'm casting at rocks and logs, like I do with smallmouth in Ontario, here in Maine. I'm mostly fishing weed beds and lily pads and one would think that there are bass all along an edge or over submerged weeds...and I think there are, but a little more wary because I inevitably make a little noise in my canoe, which puts them on edge. For Ontario smallmouth, I catch 60%-70% of my fish in the first twitch or two of my Rapala.

I just read the original post. Great advice. In 2023, I will follow it and focus on the vibration. I'll also be ready to sweep set the hooks if there's a change. Heck, yeah! I'm your choir and you're preaching to me, pastor.

Nah, eat the salad. I have a friend who just died at 61 from 99% blockage in his arteries. No more fishing and hunting for him. Gosh, I miss him and I hated to witness his last couple years, when walking to the mailbox would exhaust him. Truthfully, A fellow fisher who eats a burger from time to time On the less serious side, that store sounds great!

Welcome! The guys on this site are great. So savvy and helpful. I'd write more, but I'm busy building a back-in-time communicator. I'll tell my childhood self to pedal to Indiana to fish that gravel pit with you. I'll be the skinny girl on the blue bike with the balloon tires. I'll have my fiberglass fishing rod strapped to the bike. The reel will be a Zebco 606. I will be wearing hand-me-down clothes.

I'm out of likes, but I ^like!^

Here's something beyond the line of what we're discussing:

All I know is that if I ever become a pro, I'm going to fish with a jet pack and use drone submarines to attach transponders to all the big fish.

I like the way you think, lunkerboss, and fish. When it comes to depth, I sometimes use Fish & Wildlife depth maps, but I don't take them fishing, though, because they get wet and worthless in my always wet canoe. However, one can determine depth with different lures, but in the end, depth doesn't matter to me as much as simply where the active bass are that moment. A boat is where we disagree. Yes, bank fishing is pure, but you're leashed to the land. In my little canoe, I can roam and I do roam. I paddle a couple strokes, position the canoe for my casting, and cast three to five times. Then I move, always looking for active bass and changing my lures. Even if one lure is consistently catching fish, I still switch because I'm curious about bass. I don't need much of a boat. My only requirement is that it's light enough for an old woman to lift. I also agree about a 25-pound sack. The best piece of fishing advice was given to me by an accomplished fly fisher who said, when I landed a tiny bass, "They're all good." She's right. We need to be grateful for them all, big and small. ^I really like this.^ I can read a reed line and see the gap and wriggle my canoe through it. That's a skill set that a pro might never develop and certainly not in their big, shiny boats. I'm so quiet in my canoe that there were a couple times this past summer when I worked deep into the lily pads and made a mistake and bumped the boat and I saw four or five swirls less than four feet from my canoe. They didn't know I was there until I blundered or if they did, I was stealthy enough that they felt secure. I'm almost always the only one on a lake, but if someone else arrives and they're half a mile away, I sure hear them again and again and I'm hearing them through the air, which doesn't conduct sound nearly as well as water. If I'm hearing the other fisher with my old ears, the bass sure are hearing them too.

Great analogy. I try to go through my progression of pass options fast too and that happens before I even reach the lake. It happens the evening before, when I'm thinking about the water I'll be fishing and rigging my five rods for it.

I just discovered this thread and only read the first and last page, but I look forward to reading and laughing more in the coming days. Sadly, I resemble a couple of the memes, like catching bass with spinning rods, which I use 90% of the time, and taking photos of pretty skies.