Swamp Girl

You are a loving husband.

I'm impressed. I fished more than you and don't think I caught that many over 20". I did catch scores of 19-inchers, but twenties are rare for me and 21-inchers even rarer. So, I give you an 8.713!

Yeah, it is long and drags on and on. Beyond tomorrow, I likely won't have a tight line again until late April of 2026.

What's the purpose of the bait box? Does it capture bait or bigger fish?

They're rare in Maine. I've caught a handful of 18-inchers, but nothing bigger. At least the 18-inchers I catch are bulgy: The one above was thrashing like yours. Still, bulgy or not, I'd rather be catching Michigan smallies, which I once did, as they were a blast!

@JonB2: Given the way you frame your bass, with each bass filling the frame, I have a hard time fingering your 21-inchers. Which one(s) was it? I don't catch many 21-inchers, but when I do, they don't look anything like my beloved 19-inchers: ' I actually weighed the one above. It was 6.54 pounds. She had a flat belly, but a big body. I didn't weigh these two, but they had bigger bellies. The bottom one was probably the heaviest of the three, with a big frame and belly: Anyway, beautiful bass, guys! Again, they're rare for me. I'll catch twenty-to-forty 19-inchers for every 21-incher.

@Bazoo: I don't catch many bass on traps. Wish I did. I've caught a few, but my traps catch more weeds than bass. @GreenPig: You caught a golden bass. You get to visit Willy Wonka's aquarium!

Yep, for sure.

@NorcalBassin: I love seeing the different places that bass live. Your lake is so very pretty and I'd love to fish there. I especially love that you fish with Pops. I took my dad into his eighties but then he just became too wobbly to fish from a canoe. I even bought a motorboat, thinking that it might extend his fishing, but he was too old for that too.

A 5-pound smallie by itself is a heckuva outing. At this point, I might launch one more time. It's been cool and windy and the wind is what's kept me shorebound, but it's abating a bit the last two hours of this Wednesday. I might be skunked because I'm not going to paddle far from shore and Al (@Lottabass) told me that bass bunch up at drop-offs this time of year. He suggested I use a jerkbait, but I saw in one of his recent photos that he's also caught some on crankbaits. If I catch one, I'll be happy, but they might be beyond my reach because I'm afraid of the cold water and won't paddle more than 50' from the shore. We'll soon see if I can reach one!

So true. I used to live on a smallmouth river with good current, but I've also caught thousands of lake smallmouth. A river smallmouth pulls harder, but the current pulls too.

We can only imagine what seven-plus-pounds of smallmouth feels like on the end of the line.

Thanks, Herder. What I've learned is that bass are always moving. So, I have to find them and determine what they want each time I launch. It helps to catch the first bass because when I do, I stop and note where I caught that bass and note my retrieve. Then I fish similar places and employ the retrieve that caught the first bass, but until that first fish, I'm a drunk, staggering gunslinger, shooting in all directions in Dodge City. And if that first fish's location doesn't produce more bass, I revert to firing various lures in all directions.

If we get an Indian summer day, I too might launch again. This Thursday is a possibility with a high of 56 degrees. However, I'll stick close to shorelines, which limits my options. If they aren't tight to the shorelines too, I won't catch them.

There are harder jobs than being a diesel mechanic, but not many. I'm so happy you found your happy place on the bank of a pond where you can rest your back and heal your hands.

If Dwight were a cat, he'd be a big cat:

Even with an injured wing, you flew high and had a peachy year. Happy for you!

It's a good article. I was catching them up top my last trip.

Yeah, Maine Fish and Wildlife hate lmb today, but no entity spread as many lmb than them, as they stocked them for years in hundreds of Maine's waters.

I too have collected a file of memories of where and how I've caught bass in the past, but like you, I've learned that past success doesn't guarantee future success. Pretty much the only thing I've learned about bass is that they're always moving and wanting something different and if I'm going to catch them, I have to find them again and again and again.

That's an astounding average size for your latitude. Please share pics or do you average 20-inch bass and therefore don't bother with pics?

Vast. They are vast.

Those strong, gorgeous markings remind me of wildcats.

Whoa! Lotta fish on thin line!

Knowing this makes fishing exciting, trying to puzzle through what bass might love best. I need to do this. There are mornings they barely bite and I shrug and think, "They're not biting hard today," as opposed to thinking, "What might make them bite hard?" Oh, they have told me one day and the next day, they turn all flipsy-tricksy on me and I strike The Thinker's pose in my canoe.