Swamp Girl

I had a few spook last night when my lure landed. Like you, I've seen my mid-air lure spook bass.

Clayton could fish a mud paddle and catch bass.

WaskaCrank, that's longer than ANY smallie I've ever caught in Maine. Well done!

Thanks for the tip, Joe. I didn't know about this product. I'll be buying some!

Even though I'll likely never fish in Mexico (So far away and so much money!), I still like to hear the strategy and reasoning of an expert. Your humor and humility might keep you from conceding that you're an expert, but a lifetime of guiding, plus your ability to pull DDs out of barb wire-laced water from a little boat in 30 mph winds make my case.

There is a tidal river holding bass two miles from me, but I've never fished it. Our tides are soooo strong that they spook me. If I had a boat with a motor, I'd give it a go. In the meantime, I'm glad that Spankey is giving it a go. Spankey, is your screen name a Little Rascals reference or your nickname IRL?

Big Hands, it's the same when I'm casting to open and deep water looking for wolf packing bass.

I caught a couple last night without a trailer, but I do plan to buy some split tails.

I launched at my pond for 1.5 hours and caught nine, which is a good clip for me at this point in the season. The last three were the best, all 17 to 18 inches. Two were caught on a spinnerbait with no trailer and one was caught on a big, blue Yamamoto crawdad. I'm at 1,193 bass for 2025 and I'll be fishing a bog tomorrow afternoon, the bog where I caught my PB in 2024.

I'm much more impressed by a 24-pound bag without FFS than a 29-pound bag with FFS. FFS is like killing a bear with a high-powered rifle with a scope. Fishing without it is akin to killing a bear with a spear. Yeah, in both cases, someone killed a bear, but that doesn't make the kills equal...or even close to equal. I look forward to you catching more of those huge smallmouth!

@The Baron: That's about a 24-pound bag!!! Landing one big fish deserves a beer, but landing five, fine fish deserves a brewery. So happy for you. So proud of you and your lads too.

I love it too. Two weird things about this wagon: It was made from a repurposed old vehicle. It was perhaps the first cross-over ever made. https://www.makesthatdidntmakeit.com/powell

Brian, you sure had an exciting day!

Fished my pal's pond this morning. Nothing big, but I caught another 17 to bring my 2025 total to 1,184. I brought my Kevlar canoe home to start fishing some bogs again. Maybe I can catch more bass in the swamps. Three guys launched after me, but were skunked. I gave them lures that were working for me, two walking baits and some T-rigged crawdads.

I caught one bass with my Uncle Joshy split tail, but it wasn't staying upright with it and I was having more fun with my walking bait anyway.

1956 Powell Brothers Sport Wagon with pull out drawers for fishing rods and rifles.

I don't own any split tails (never used one), but I did find a trailer that looks like an Uncle Josh pork rind with two, long, skinny tails and it's chartreuse. If that doesn't work, I'll try a small Keitech.

I'm fishing tomorrow morning in Maine. I'm going to use a smaller white spinnerbait. What trailer would you suggest? It'll be 45 degrees when I launch, so it's no longer summer here. I'm not looking for a particular trailer, but rather a general suggestion, such as a crawfish or swimbait.

That is a great photo of a great fish!

Thank you, Handsome One.

I'd like to hear the stories of your two best days, ElGuapo.

And I like the lures you sent me, cast_by_fly and have already caught fish with them too, so we scored a win-win!

@woolleyfooley: Try your saltwater for smallies.

F3, what does "do an Ish Monroe on him" mean?

A. Fish like waterboarding. They call it breathing. B. Thanks, Sucky. I am an intuitive angler. I score on my hunches a lot. As much as I enjoy fishing with the kid and other pals, I fish best alone. I've shared how I fish with my head on a swivel. There are clues everywhere, but beyond the clues, I do have a sense of where bass might be. I don't know if that's innate or the ripe fruit of decades of catching fish. PhishLI once said that not everyone can catch bass and I think that's so.