Swamp Girl

It looks bigger than your weighed measurement.

Short, but chunky.

I fished a different pond last night and caught 14: seven largemouth, six smallmouth, and one chain pickerel, but nothing big. The smallmouth sure like to dance in the air, but d**n, those chunky largemouth are rod-bending bulldogs. Pics to come! I fished from a tricked-out sit-on-top fishing kayak, which was a first for me. It was stable, but a heavy paddle.

Heck, yeah! I caught most of them a weird way, i.e. trolling a #3 Mepps brass-bladed, undressed spinner, and paddling randomly in the middle of the lake.

I went to a pond near my Maine home yesterday evening. I fished from an L.L. Bean kayak. I caught 21 fish. 20 were smallmouth and largemouth. My biggest was a 21.5 inch largemouth, but I was so excited that I forgot to photograph it. I did get photos of the first two fish. Sorry for the lousy quality, but I was holding a wriggling fish with one hand and the camera with the other. When I released the 21.5 inch largemouth that I didn't photograph, my hands were trembling. It drowned my spinning rod a couple times, bending nearly all of it into the water. It went on two short runs too. I also caught one chain pickerel, my first ever. So pretty! The smallmouth rocketed out of the water like Trident missiles. It's great having this kind of fishing five minutes from my home. I also saw a baby loon and its parents, heard them song, heard an owl too, saw lots of geese and one eagle.

I was wading for smallies on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Thanks to zebra mussels, the water was clear as glass, so I could see every bit of the battle as the smallmouth neared. A couple smallmouth jumped right in front of me and seriously splashed me, which I loved. I've had them splash me on a jump beside my canoe too.

A-Jay and Dwight are the Twin Bronze Gods. Thanks for the link, A-Jay. Spot on, Y-Tone!

I'm with ya, Bob. Jumps give me the heebie-jeebies. I also use that "bowing to the fish" trick, but as with you, it doesn't always work. Yikes, Toxic!

That's kind of you to say, Dwight, but I've seen the fish you catch. I caught what you would describe as bait.

I'll try that, Chris. I was surprised about the quantity and quality of the fish, Bob. The best fishing of my life has been wilderness lakes on Crown Land in northwestern Ontario and it was comparable to that. It's only a five miles from my house, so I'll fish it again, but there are so many other ponds (That's what they call lakes in Maine.) I also want to fish, as I drive past them and have never seen anyone else fishing them.

Your GIF made me laugh, Glenn. It was a pretty good afternoon, Chris, but I missed the evening bite, which is my favorite, as I was out of lures. I also missed a lot of fish. I'd set the hook, feel their weight, reel for two seconds, and then they'd be free. I think I need to switch from 6-lb. mono to braid with a fluorocarbon leader.

I fished a 383 acre pond from a canoe this afternoon. It was my first time fishing in about five years. Maybe that's why I forgot my tackle box! I did have two lures with me, the ones tied to my two outfits. One was a #3 Mepps spinner and the other was a Z-Man in pearl. In two hours and fifteen minutes, I caught 24 bass. Two reached 19 inches. Then I had to stop because I'd lost my two lures. Yes, I am dumb. I had a camera with me, but the battery was dead. Did I tell ya I'm dumb?

My biggest river smallie was 14". I don't have any photographic proof and I expect all of you doubt me, but it was a true 14". Maybe 13".

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Dink's fish looks like a river fish and river fish work all day to contest current, making them wiry and tough and lean. The three fish I posted all came from the same lake, where they grow fat and lazy.

If the fish you measured was 18", here are a couple 19" fish, as you can see from the tape. However, when it comes to weight, I look to the foreheads and both these fish have that weight-adding bulge. I don't carry a scale, but I'm guessing that these two 19-inchers are both four-pound bass. Here's another 19" fish that probably weights four pounds, but has achieved that weight through a fullness in its body. My arm is not extended, so you can get a true sense of its length.

What a great day! I like the idea of sitting atop the water and fishing. I've done a couple long kayaking trips (more than 4,000 miles in total), but didn't fish. I fish out of a canoe, but that elevates you a little above the action. I also love river fishing, river smallmouth, and oodles of action!

I have caught thousands of smallmouth on F11 Rapalas. They do seem to prefer this color or that, but that color preference changes, so i go with various colors, like orange, yellow, or the plainer ones. I let it land, wait a couple seconds, and then repeat. I do that five or six times and then simply retrieve it. On a retrieve, I'll rarely catch a fish. 80% of my fish come in the first three twitches.

I would try fishing in Dwight Hottie's livewell. You will have to board his boat and I don't know how he'll feel about that. I suggest this disguise: https://www.amazon.com/Forum-Novelties-Pirate-Costume-Standard/dp/B00FP5T98Y/ref=sr_1_40?keywords=pirate+costume+men&qid=1565868915&s=gateway&sr=8-40

Your son has a great smile. His smile made me smile! When I was a kid, my brothers and I would fish a pool in a tiny creek. We caught all small fish, but loved them all.

That's what I read, Dink, but when you do pinch the tail, how much length does it add? Those are huge bass in your photo. Wowza!

In a great day, I'll catch five smallmouth bass 19" or bigger, most being at 19" or 19.5", so when I catch anything 20" or bigger, it's a big deal. Anyway, I was looking for an example of a bad fish shot and I came across this photo. There's something in the foreground, plus my "great idea" of taping a measuring tape to the bottom of my canoe makes for lousy shots, with all the crap that accumulates in the bottom of a canoe. I figured this fish was one of my 19"ers, but it's over 20" and I'm wondering if I'd pinched the tail like the DNR says we can when measuring, would it reach 21"?

Word.

"The DNR often stocks lakes to repair ecosystems after winter kill or over fishing, but Vanderbosch said the bulk of his job involves creating walleye fisheries where they don't naturally exist. Thanks to stocking, most Minnesotans live less than half an hour from a good walleye lake. In all, there are 1,400 walleye-rich lakes in the state, only 270 of which are naturally self-sustaining." This begs the question: "If a fish isn't native to a lake, but to an area, does introducing that fish to that lake make it invasive?" I think so.

If you've ever fished in Minnesota, you might have bumped against guys who hate smallmouth. They call them "scaly rats." Their hatred stems from their love of walleye, a mostly indigenous species in Minnesota, and the proliferation of smallmouth that compete with walleye.