Swamp Girl

Beautiful smallmouth, but I'm haunted by Mike's beast that "didn’t turn the slightest bit."

Here's my Joe-Bear as a pup: Today, he's ripped. He has the drive and intellect of a Border Collie, swims like a Lab, and leaps like a 25-year old Michael Jordan. If he were human, he'd be a five-sport Olympian.

Al, the bass on the left of your first photo has a big belly and the bass on the right in the same photo has a big back. I love the various ways that bass add weight. Congrats, my friend!

If they missed a hard lure, I follow with soft plastic. If they missed a soft plastic lure, I throw it again.

Thank you, Brian. Say, I lost a big bass the other day and I thought of you and yours again. As exciting as it is to catch a big bass, I think it's more exciting to lose one. She was parked on a bushy point in about 12 inches of water. She made a feint at my underspin on the first pass, but tucked herself back under cover. On my second pass, she charged it and I could see the line of her attack in the water. The water was so shallow that she couldn't jump, but she kept wallowing like big bass do, making waves. Then she ran for some lily pads, but I turned her and then she came back hard at me and I think she gained enough slack to throw the hook. As I already said, so exciting. I've thought a lot about what I could have done differently, but I don't think I made a mistake...this time. Sometimes they just win.

With only 16 acres, you'll learn it quickly by simply fishing it. When I guide people on my pond (170 acres) and my pal's pond (360 acres) and they're sitting in the bow, I can aim them at a fish-holding spot and tell them, "Cast there and you should catch one." I don't always know why this spot and that hold bass because I also lack electronics, but I do know there's something about this spot and that that attract bass. You'll soon know that too by simply fishing.

Roses in December. Love it! I focus on the water so that I can remember when that's all I'll have. So true. I just wish I could launch, but the wind won't stop blowing. I have perhaps half a dozen calm windows to launch this month. The first is this Saturday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Then I have 3.5 hours to fish Sunday morning. A canoe is a heckuva fishing platform EXCEPT that I can't fish windy days. Yeah, I've tricked out my canoe a little more than many might expect. The kayakers do it! Why not canoeists too?!?

If you buy a canoe or kayak and you're willing to bushwhack, you can fish water with no boat traffic. Another reason you might not be catching fish is that they're hitting and you don't realize it. A bass hit doesn't feel like one thing. Sometimes it feels like nothing at all. They inhale the lures so lightly that you can't feel the hit. You must have streams in your area full of smaller fish that aren't targeted. Those smaller fish will train you in all the ways a bass can hit a lure. You can then take that knowledge and apply it to catch bigger bass.

Thanks, Al. I do concede that my average size bass is above average. I catch a 19-incher on more than half my trips and 17-18.75-inchers are about half my bass. I could catch bigger bass. I know where they swim, but rising at three in the morning, launching at four, carrying or rolling the canoe through the woods, launching in a swamp, and paddling miles has become too much for me to do more than a handful of times each year. So, I happily settle for 17-inch to 19-inch bass. However, IF I could turn back time, I'd say, "Al, let's go to northwestern Ontario. I know a lake deep in the wilderness that holds smallies. We'll have to bounce down a logging road, portage twice, and slog through a swamp, but it has three waterfalls, and we'll be the only ones there. We'll catch a four-pounder or more each day and have a shot at a five-pounder and 20-pound pike." However, those days are done. Still, you're in Heaven at your green pasture pond with its beasts and I'm in Heaven at my quiet pond with its ever-growing bass. Below is me singing about turning back time. I'm standing on my canoe. My canoe is a little more than you imagined, yes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n3A_-HRFfc

So generous of you to say, but @WRB-2.0 has caught single bass that weigh as much as my 18-pound bags and @Dwight Hottle catches HUGE brown and green bass and on and on. As I've said many times, I enjoy a busy boat. I do catch a six or seven-pounder here and there, but I'm more than happy with my three-to-four-pounders. I'm in Heaven on Earth.

I wouldn't worry about talking as much as these: 1990 Evinrude 9.9/15 2020 Powerdrive 50 LB thrust 2022 Garmin Echomap 73sv All these make noise and to a degree, it's unavoidable noise, but heavy footfalls on your boat and dropping anything on your deck is avoidable noise. I've been sitting in a lily pad field and bumped my boat and seen five swirls, all within feet of my canoe, as bass fled. There are situations when a paddled boat will outfish a motor boat. And vice versa. My canoe on a big Texas reservoir would be pathetic. But my canoe thrives in places like below. Look at the weeds behind this bass: Now imagine a trolling motor churning through that. So, keep a paddled boat in mind one day.

The first hour was soooooo slow because I was fishing eel grass, which is where they HAD been, but then I found them TIGHT* to shorelines, which is where they HADN'T been. If I fish this weekend, who knows where they'll be? Not me. Good fishing comes from good finding. If they retreat to deep water, I won't catch them because I'm not venturing out there anymore. I dip my hand in the water and I'm afraid. *I was catching them on casts that punched through the woody bushes as the lure fell, the bushes that overhang the water's edge. They were parked under those bushes. When they hit the underspin, I generally felt nothing. I just saw my line moving in an unexpected direction, so I reeled down and set the hook. Sometimes the lure popped free.

Crush City Mayor, Keitech, and Zako.

Ike, it's soooooo green there still. Big difference between NJ and ME's climates.

This all sounds very hard. I sometimes lip and grip my bigger bass for a photo over my net in case they flop free. You've probably noticed that many of my lip and grip bass were flopping while photographed.

If you were marking arches, you were hunting deep bass, but most of my bass yesterday were caught in inches of water. They were so shallow I had to start retrieving my underspin before it even hit the water and many of the bass, when they hit, created a line in the water as they attacked because they were that shallow. However, until the last week or so, I was catching bass deep and I'm guessing they're still there, but the cold water scares me and so I'm clinging to the shorelines. Luckily for me, there are bass shallow in Maine.

Most of the guys at Bass Resource know much more about lures, techniques, rods, and reels than me, but I do pretty well by fishing quietly. Some of the Bass Resource guys maintain that silence is overrated, but I fished this afternoon and repeatedly spooked bass who weren't aware of my approach. When I spook them, I note where they were and spend extra time casting to similar-looking spots. I agree with @Reel: Find someone who is catching fish and ask them to fish with you. Then instead of fishing, watch them fish. Fish-catching skills can be learned.

Hey, Dana. I hope to see you posting more at Bass Resource.

Hey, Evan! You write well and I assert this as a former writing teacher and professional writer. It's cool that you've caught so many species already and are exploring various facets of fishing. The guys at Bass Resource are always helpful...and they know a lot. One guy here has caught multiple bass between 17 and 19+ pounds. Crazy, huh?!? Can you share a few pics of your fish?

I caught 27 this afternoon at my pond and 13 were at least 17 inches long. Here's one: The smallies at my pond are crazy thick, even the short ones like this:

You catch such dark and beautiful bass! It's been a long time since I've caught 43 bass and a 26 mph wind would overwhelm me!

The world record smallmouth was 27 inches long. 26 inches seems a stretch.

After years of trying to catch a 19-incher at my pond, I've caught two in consecutive trips. My first 19-incher was a filly in her prime. This afternoon's 19-incher was an old mare with a bucketmouth and a skinny body, but she fought like a veteran warrior. Here: I started fishing with the goal of catching at least bass to reach 1,400 for 2025. I caught this short, thick smallie after just a few casts: Then I stalled, catching nothing for about an hour. I eventually caught a couple shorter largies on the edge of a floppy grass weed bed. Here's one: That gave me 1,400 for the year, so I went bigger bass hunting. I scored at a tiny river mouth, catching bigger bass in about a foot of water, including the skinny 19-incher. When I exhausted the river mouth, I moved down the shoreline. I was mostly casting an underspin, which lands more lightly than a spinnerbait. It's perhaps my favorite way to fish, for shoreline casting lets me use my two best skills; stealthy paddling and accurate casting. I had good luck laying my underspin within inches of the shoreline bushes. I caught a lot of beautiful bass between 17 inches and nearly 19 inches. Many of them hit so lightly that I felt nothing. I set the hook because I saw my line moving in an unexpected direction. Here are the best of the bass I caught. I am soooo lucky to live five minutes from the pond where I own five acres, a pond where the bass keep getting bigger and bigger: Of course, this New England pond was beautiful on this October afternoon: This is the plant that I call floppy grass. Does anyone know its real name? I'm at 1,424 for the year, having caught 27 this afternoon. If I fish again, it won't be until Saturday as the next three days are forecast to be too windy for a canoe.

That's a long smallie. Your photo really shows off its gorgeous length. Beautiful markings on your musky too!

I made it, catching 27 bass, for a current total of 1,424. I wrote "current" because I might fish again this year. I don't want to commit to quitting yet because fishing was so good this afternoon and they were tight to the shore, which lets me fish safely. I'll share the pics in a stand-alone report. If there are a few more warm days and fishing stays hot and they stick tight to the shorelines, I might reach my original goal of 1,500.