Swamp Girl

This sky/front killed the bite yesterday. It announced pelting rain: However, I'll launch tomorrow morning and I expect to catch some good bass. It won't be the clear skies/calm that Glenn mentioned in the video, which can clamp bass mouths. It will be a 4 mph to 9 mph wind and overcast. In other words, the perfect sky for me and today's clear skies will probably suppress their feeding and have them hungry for me tomorrow morning. Even better, it'll be cloudy all night tonight, so my fingers won't be freezing tomorrow morning and the pretty steady temps should encourage even more feeding.

Yeah, I can imagine. However, many people think their mansions are prettier than a natural shoreline. Freshwater shoreline lots here in mid-coast Maine are increasing exponentially in cost. I bought my five acres for $75,000. There's a same-sized lot listed now just down the road for $850,000, which is why the realtor who sold me my lot whispered into my ear after the deal closed, "You understand that when you sell your lot one day, you won't sell it for what you just paid." I assume your coastline was slammed with those two king tides and gale force winds a couple winters back. The consequence is that area oceanfront lots, which used to be covered, are now lingering on the market...and I think only fools are buying them. I saw seawalls comprised of boulders the size of F-150s dismantled by those king tide waves. So, the wiser rich folks are looking inland and building the mansions that they used to build on the sea on freshwater lakes instead.

I love it even more now, Al! FWIW, you have an amazing memory.

"...religious comments in any form are prohibited."

This makes me so sad. At my pond, all houses must be set back 250' and three of the four shorelines are wetlands. I wish all ponds and lakes had the same protections, both manmade (250' back) and natural (wetlands) in place.

And Al will continue to catch them. That man sure can cowboy. Heck, he caught them yesterday with a Bomber lure that is likely decades old.

My approach isn't Andy's. I don't fish with anchors. Plus, I fish a lightweight (32 pounds), long (15' 6"), high-riding boat that is moved by every breeze. So, when I paddle, I think about Isaac Newton: "An object set it motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by another force." As I approach a casting spot, I hit the brakes with my paddle. I don't want any movement. If there is, my canoe will keep moving and invariably it will move in the least convenient direction. Take a couple secs to set your boat in place. Sure, once you hook a bass, aka "another force," your kayak/canoe will start moving again, but I get a kick out of being pulled by fish. @DaubsNU1 is so right about the failings of a canoe. Everything he wrote is true. However, that upper-twenties-bag I landed last fall couldn't have even been reached by one of the "miniature battle cruiser" kayaks because I had to launch by going down boulders and a mud-slickened slope in the dark. Maybe a strong man could have dragged a battle cruiser down that slope, but good luck dragging it up the slope. Heck, I struggled with my 32-pound canoe. Every craft has pluses and minuses. I used to write a column for Canoe and Kayak magazine where I interviewed paddlers about their favorite boat and I always asked about what it didn't do well. Before buying a boat, everyone should ask that same question. If a seller says that a watercraft does everything well, you've met a liar or an ignoramus.

Good job, Bazoo! A 3.5-pounder can sure stretch your line.

Prime feeding spots do reload. I once camped on an island across from a small waterfall. I'd ask my fishing partner, "Want to go catch ten fish?" "Sure!" she'd reply. So, we paddled over to that waterfall and would catch ten fish, a walleye and smallie mix. And we'd do that three or four times each day, catching ten fish in about 20 minutes. One day, we tried to catch an 11th fish and it took us a good ten minutes to do so. It took about an hour for it to reload with ten new fish. I assume the fish at that Canadian waterfall and the fish using your stumpy, weedy ridge to eat get their fill and move to adjacent deeper water, staying close until they're hungry again.

I love reading your trip reports, PDX, and always marvel at your memory and how many different lures you employ. I wish we could fish together. I'd learn a lot from you.

Love it! Quality plus quantity! Your bass are so beautiful, Al.

Well, I had another quick fishing trip. I was going to fish my pal's pond, but then a forecast of lightning sent me to my pond for a short trip. I caught five bass in a flurry, four 17-inchers and a 16-incher. Then the sky grew darker and darker and I scooted home just in time. @Bazoo started a thread about the effect of fronts. Well, this cold front killed the fishing. I caught the first five in 45 minutes. I caught nothing the next 45 minutes as the sky darkened. The five bass give me 1,037 for the year and the bass were caught on an underspin with a purple and blue Keitech or an underspin with a black crawdad.

Ha! You're right. Choppo = Plopper

Between 18 and 19 inches. I didn't measure her, but I've caught a lot of smallies that size (and bigger) in northwestern Ontario. She's my first in Maine over 18 inches. She was bonkers in my net and canoe, which is why I passed on measuring her, but I'm good at estimating weight and length. I watch YouTube videos of guys catching bass. They guess what their bass will weigh and then put them on the scale. I often guess within an ounce or two. Here's a Canadian 19-incher. She's not full-armed or even half-armed. I've got my elbow behind my head. She's not quite as fat as this morning's bass, but she's a tad longer:

I don't know if that's true everywhere and with everyone. There's a guy with a mustache that I've learned to trust when it comes to fishing. Hint: It's not Sam Elliott and it's not Wilford Brimley. I trust the former when it comes to the Dude and the latter when it comes to oatmeal.

Thanks, Gary! I watch Hank Parker's videos of catching smallies in Maine and the YouTuber, Old Lady Angler, and I don't see either of these fine fisherfolk catching smallies like @A-Jay's, @Dwight Hottle's, etc. For whatever reason (no gobies?), Maine's smallmouth just don't reach five, six, or seven pounds here. As others have noted, we can only catch the bass that are available to us and having caught a few brown bass in Maine, she's my biggest yet. She put on quite a show, tail-walking like a tarpon and even when I had her in the net, she launched out of it.

Thanks, Bob. The few smallmouth I catch in my pond are typically thick. I've just never caught one as long as this morning's smallie. I think they're eating mostly crawdads, yellow perch, and golden shiners. My pond doesn't have bluegills, white perch, or gobies. It does have big eels. A Maine guide said he's caught them up to three feet long, but I don't expect to catch one because that's night fishing with bait. They wear me out, for sure! I'm glad I quit early. I think I have enough gas still in my tank to launch, paddle, and fish some more this evening.

I caught my biggest Maine smallmouth this morning. She launched out of the water a couple times and even once out of the net, so I got an early look at how long she was. She was thick too. She hit a Whopper Plopper, a lure I don't use much anymore. Of course, she wouldn't be still for a photo:

I did something weird this morning. I quit fishing at seven a.m. Why? Well, I hope to fish my pal's pond this evening and I only have so much energy in a day and my hands were soooooo cold. Plus, I caught as big a smallmouth and as big a largemouth as I've ever caught at my pond, both on the surface. I didn't measure either and neither was willing to sit still for a photo, but both are north of 18" and maybe nudging four pounds. The largemouth had a big head that doesn't really show in the photo: When I decided to quit, I trolled back to my dock and caught this fine solid fish: I caught seven total, giving me 1,032 for the year. I know that @Joedodge can understand why I quit early. He caught his PB this year and has been less driven. Well, catching my PB smallmouth and largemouth for my pond this morning sent me home happy...and early.

I'm fishing my pond tomorrow morning for 3.5 hours. The bass aren't long, but they're thick and strong. The longer bass at my pal's pond have been off-shore, but I'm going to start tomorrow morning casting to cover on the eastern, shaded shoreline and start with a popper. Then I'll work some drop-offs with underspins and a crawfish. Fingers crossed I find some fighters! Then I'll troll the deep water and cast if I hook one.

Pre-cold front can be incredible. Fishing the very worst of a cold front, I.e. a wind-pounded shoreline, can also be incredible. So can the sudden arrival of a warm front. These conditions can activate more than just bass: I've caught muskies, lake trout, walleye, etc. when the weather is dynamic.

When you say a front killed the bite, I assume it was a cold front. Am I right? I launched yesterday at four in the afternoon and the temp was 64 degrees. The other cold front symptoms were there too: clouds, rain, and wind. I fished off-shore and six times, while trolling two rods, I had two bass hit at once. The key yesterday was fishing off-shore. I think bass hunker under cold fronts, so you have to fish in their lairs. Sadly, this doesn't help you, well not until you launch your boat again, Mr. Bazoo.

Clayton, your mouth pic of your PB Sauger is cool.

I bought an EGO zero turn mower. It was too much for me. I begged the local hardware store to return it and they let me. I traded for an EGO rider with a steering wheel and I love it.

I need to cast my top waters more now that it's almost September. They were ***** last fall.