Swamp Girl

Alex, I can see those "nice bellies" and it's cool that the weight gain is giving them more power and pep. I also like how specific you are on how you caught them. Your photos' quality is also high. Well done!

Alex, I HATE that moment when the bass is beside my canoe and I can choose to play it with two hands or lose one hand to reach for the net.

Mr. Shad, I don't fish enough! ? Alex, you can see my net in the first photo. And I am tuckered. Lifting the canoe on and off the car and carrying it to the water and paddling for miles drains my tank. Luckily, it also fills my tank! Clayton, great fishing, great photos, and great storytelling! I am proud of you and happy for you too. I love the shape of that 18.25 inch bass.

Roadwarrior, if I ever hook AND land three four-pound bass in consecutive casts, I'll be Irish dancing on my canoe seat. See them? I could have kissed them! That's how close they were.

A bass hooked my finger a couple weeks ago. This morning, a pond gut hooked me. It was a new pond and because I have some great ponds in my fishing rotation, a pond has to be pretty special to make the cut. Well, I caught 27 fish this morning, 23 bass and 4 pickerel, with quite a few in the 15"-17" range. And I had about ten blow-ups on my frog and didn't hook a one. I think the heavy action rod I ordered will help. I also lost lots of fish with my fluke, but what gut hooked me was something that has never happened in my life before this morning and likely never will again: In three casts, I hooked three four-pound fish. Two jumped right beside my canoe and threw the lure and the third one was inches from my net when it came unbuttoned. I know what you're thinking: "Old Crickety is exaggerating. She doesn't know what a four-pound bass looks like. They were probably pound and a halfers." But they were four-pounders! No lie. I was inches from all three and I had every advantage: deep water, no reeds or pads, no trees, etc. So, I'll be going back to that pond. I'm totally sleep deprived and I think that's why I missed so many fish. I even missed a dozen or so fish on my Whopper Plopper and that thing bristles with hooks.

I know where Mr. 46 lives! Hawg City, USA.

What do you like about urban fishing?

I think you're right. I think you caught a Coosa bass. I've always wanted to catch one of those and an Aurora trout too.

The top one was bigger. I could feel it in her jaw and when I lifted her. She was half an inch longer too. I'm guessing they're both four-pound fish, more or less. Maine bass are thicker than some of the bass I see posted on this board, so I don't know how much I should trust length to weight charts. I just might buy a scale someday. I won't call you Jelly. I like Alex better.

I fished the bog right down the road this evening. I caught 22 fish. 19 were largemouth and 3 were chain pickerel. One chain pickerel was thick enough to fight like a hefty largemouth. I did use the fluke and got half a dozen fish that I hooked for a second or two. I know I'm setting the hook too soon. I also caught a couple bass on the fluke. Again, the Whopper Plopper was the most successful lure for me. I caught a 18.75 inch bass and a 19.25 inch bass. I'm kind of stuck on two big bass each morning or evening. I did have a third big fish hooked, but lost it to reeds. Here are the two big gals. Tomorrow morning I'm fishing a gully. It's a river that runs deep through a gully and then widens with some weeds on the edges. I'm excited and a little intimidated. It's just so different than any water I've fished this summer. I figure I'll troll my Whopper Plopper through the gully with the deep water and then frog and fluke fish the wide, shallower, weedier part. Gosh, you catch beautiful fish!

Thanks, Alex. You get it. You truly do.

Heck, yeah, Alex! Now I'm going to tie a double uni knot. I HATE that knot.

10, 9, 8, 7.... Don't you just love the countdown to a fishing trip? I've been in Sarasota and D.C. the last four days, so I've been in a world of cars, cars, and more cars. Now I'm counting down to traffic/strip malls/fast food franchises detoxification, which happens on a lonesome pond or bog with my paddle and my rods. I'm going bog fishing tonight and then gully fishing tomorrow morning. I can hear the countdown in my head, as exciting as any at Cape Kennedy. I'll let you know how I do tonight and again tomorrow. I spent part of the morning changing line, retying, and rigging some flukes, which I plan to use tonight and tomorrow morning, as well as my green frog, a loon-colored Whopper Plopper, a red spinnerbait, and wacky Senkos. Gosh, I hope I catch a 19-incher or bigger. They make my heart race! 6, 5, 4, 3....

You are so right about loose lips sinking the best bass trips. When I was young, my brothers and I pedaled to farm ponds and over the years, we saw some fine ponds reduced to Dink Towns by gluttons. What's your first name, Mr. SpotHunter? I'm Katie.

Well done, Mr. Spothunter. That big one's a beauty!

The next best thing to fishing is not fishing and seeing the fish that others are catching!

Thanks, T-Billy. I'll compare the three reels.

You can learn so much here. One member told me to troll a Whopper Plopper, others have been tutoring me in frogging, and I'm going fluking tomorrow morning. Roboworming is in the batting circle!

Do tell the story of the lost fish. I lived in Mass, but now live in Maine.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I have three baitcasting reels. I'm in Florida right now, but when I get home, would you mind if I listed them to have you suggest which one would be best for frogging? Anyone else, of course, is welcome to suggest too.

Nooo! Say it ain't sooo! I've already spent so much money. Why do I need an 8-speed reel? Great tip. I'm going to do this too.

Oh, I'm not 50%, but maybe. Someday. Someday way yonder. I hadn't considered turtles, but I fish in PickerelLandUSA and I know their strikes. They're T-Boners. Side-swipers. They don't rise from the depths like bass, Trident missiles, and the Kraken.

Froggin' has been Heaven and Heck. Here's what's heavenly: I love the challenge and being freed to fish the slop. I love the explosive strikes. I even love the improbability of it, i.e. pulling slabs of meat out of the salad. Here's what's heckish: I miss so many strikes. So, I've been reading bassresource.com articles and watching YouTube videos and bassresource.com videos. Last night, I bought a heavy action 7'4" rod and I'm upgrading my braid to 50 lb.These upgrades should help, but reading this also helped: "And speaking of lost fish, the biggest downside to frogging is it has a very low hookup ratio. Bass are somewhat blind in their attack on a frog, ambushing from below and through the weeds to get the lure. You’ll have some big blow ups that don’t even touch the bait, which can be disheartening. But remember you wouldn’t even be able to get to these fish without a frog so the fact that you even have a chance at them is something to smile about."

Mr. Dinks, here's my life motto: "Whenever you're frazzled, report to the pond."

Heck, yeah! And I love in a populated part of the state. Go up north and there are hundreds of ponds/lakes that they don't even bother naming and they're full of smallmouth, salmon, and brook trout. To reach them, you bounce down logging roads and then portage to the water. Then you're casting to fish that are seeing a lure for likely the first time.