Swamp Girl

I hear ya, georgeyew. It is overwhelming, which is why I sometimes settle for a leech, a splitshot, and a hook, which, by the way, catches a LOT of bass.

My job puts me in front of oodles of people. Fishing puts me in front of trees and reeds and fish. It's the rebalancing.

Great video! The fish catching is really well framed. I'm impressed.

Thank you, sir. I rechristian thee "SirGoodHeartedandSuccinctExplainer".

I have a carved, antique prow from a New Guinea war canoe. I should give it to you!

Good point about not asking if I don't weigh them.

Okay, what's the full editor? And thanks for the guesses. I guessed four pounds and change too just looking at pics of weighed fish and comparing it to that one.

I don't carry a scale because it would be yet one more thing to carry through the woods and sometimes, there aren't even portgage trails, plus I've already got a boat atop my shoulders and seven-foot one piece rods that are forever getting caught on trees. So, I've never weighed the bass I catch in western Ontario. Heck, I've never weighed any bass ever. If they're near 19 inches, I measure them. To get a sense of visual scale, I crank my arm back and try to get the fish as close to my head as possible. Plus, I'm nearly six feet. It looks like I'm floating on water, but that's because I'm sitting in a canoe. I was trying to add this pic to the personal best thread, but I wasn't able to attach it because...of my ignorance. So, I was going to ask about how one attaches a photo and when I was starting that thread, I saw an attachment link below. So, I'm now killing two birds with one stone, getting a sense of weight and hopefully, someone can tell me how to attach a photo in my post in someone else's thread.

A 20-incher is a big fish, so congrats. Isn't it weird how we remember the ones we lose more than the ones we catch, aka the wons?

The fishers here catch huge bass, so you're in the right place.

Wow. Huge, huge fish.

You got it, A-Jay. However, there's always the lee of islands and if it's a solo canoe, the wind won't catch the bow and slap you sideways.

You know you're a serious bass fisherwoman when you couldn't persuade any of the boys to go out fishing because the wind was howling and the water was whitecapping, so you went alone and loved it.

What a story, ChrisFish. And I love this line: "Apparently it just came unbuttoned."

Jigs. I own a thicket of them and bags and bags of grubs, lizards, tubes, and frogs, but other than Senkos, I've caught fewer than five smallies with them, which is weird and wrong, since soft baits are many fishers' best baits. I went fishing with another outdoor writer in September and I had him talk me through a couple bass in about five minutes. After the first few bottom bumps, it wasn't that hard to differentiate a hit and a hard spot, but it also wasn't that fun. I like the visuals of a surface bait and the range of spinners. Still, I'll keep buying soft baits. Sigh.

Big fish. I've fished with a couple folks I've met through the 'net and that's cool too.

@ Bluebasser86 I love those days when the bass are unleashed, unfettered, and uninhibited. I stumble over rocks with my canoe on my shoulders to reach unlearned fish. All hail foolish fish! Wow, roadwarrior. However, for what it's worth, IF you had altered your line, you likely would never had hooked that fish because cutting the end of your line would have changed everything else. Your bait wouldn't have been at that precise depth in that precise place because every action changes every subsequent action to some degree and even if we're talking about some shifts of millimeters, that slight distance might have precluded a hit from a bass as worldly as that one. I'm trying to make you feel a bit better, but my attempt is probably as nicked as your line was.

Awesome link. Thanks so much!

They can be tippy, Fishes in Trees. I slipped getting into one last June and carried the shin cut through the summer. I've still got the scar and likely always will. They're tippiest in the morning, when the day is still gray and I'm as supple as a two-by-four.

What a fish, Will! I also admire your recall. I think acute observation and memory are two tackle essentials, as important as fresh line and a smooth drag. In short, a good watcher makes a good fisher. I've never caught a six pounder, but I wanna and till then, I'll make do with your story. Feel free to appropriate!

I've been looking at the pics of the smallies you guys catch. You don't catch smallies. You catch biggies. No, you catch the Kraken. Rather, you likely catch and release the Kraken. My best stories are about small smallmouths, but I'd love to hear a story or three about catching a seven or eight pounder. Does it fight twice as hard as a four-pounder? I suppose they're too big to jump. Is that right?

It's a beauty, Jeff! And you're one tough hombre to be fishing at those temps.

So, do you have a best day ever...or two? One was on the north shore of Lake Michigan. When I was a kid, I found an old Field and Stream from the sixties and I read about these smallie fishers finding this rock that held scores of bass. So, I went there and waded and waded and casted and casted, looking for that rock. I didn't catch a single bass for two days and then I found it...or its twin. It was the size of a VW Bug and nearly every cast triggered a strike. The waves were sloshing over my waders and when the smallies jumped, they sometimes were higher than my head. It was a beautiful place to fish, the smallmouth were ready to dance, and no hive holds honey as sweet as the one halfway up a mountain. The second was on a numbers lake in Canada that I've fished for years. Hundred fish per person per day is the norm, but on one two day stretch, the smallmouth wouldn't quit hitting. We normally fish from fourish in the morning until ten or so and then nap until the evening, when we'd fish another five or so hours. On this lake on these two days, they didn't quit, so we didn't quit. They especially liked a plain Mepps spinner and it was so consistent that if I cast and didn't catch a bass, I'd examine the spinner to see if something were wrong. They reverted to normal aggressiveness after the two days and I've always wondered what made them banzai berserkers for a bit.

@ Christian M A canoe is amazingly stealthy. This summer, I was fishing in about 4 feet of very clear water. There was a shallow stream that ran along a cliffside and right where the stream emptied into the lake, smallmouth bunched. I caught a few on the surface, but figured there were more there, so I paddled upstream, let the current catch my canoe and slid over that particular, small spot, leading with my rod and leech. I caught five more in a row that way and those fish could see my canoe, but they didn't care. @ Fishing Rhino I agree with efficiency, which is why I like three rods with three lures. If my canoe were bigger, I'd be tempted to take a few more.