Swamp Girl

That's an excellent eagle shot, Dwight. What camera did you use? I see eagles every time I fish, but don't bother photographing them because they'd be black specks, except when I'm paddling close to shore and surprise an eagle in a tree and they take flight, close enough for me to count their tail feathers, but I'd need a camera already in my hand, which I never have. I'm fishing today, tomorrow, and Monday. It's been too cold and windy to fish for the last five days or so and I encountered ice on my way to the bird feeders this morning, but it'll warm fast and I'll get back to bassin'! Good luck on the St. Lawrence, Dwight! Your latest bass are beautiful, @GreenPig!

Yeah, I scrubbed mine too. I was tempted to email Glenn, but figured he was being pounded with others in withdrawal.

@Dwight Hottle: HUGE!!!

I agree that speed kills, but it also sells boats. Because I buy fishing gear, the algorithm keeps playing the same Bass Pro shop ad, which features speeding boats far more than anglers fishing or catching. For me, the ads say, "Buy a boat! Go FAST!"

To be honest, I've never seen any living crawdad in Maine, but I know they're here because I've seen their bleached exoskeletons on the bottom. I tend to cycle through the colors. For example, white and chartreuse were hot at the end of 2025, but silver and black were hot at the beginning. Have you ever used the Yamamoto craws (Yama Craw)? I like the Crush City Cleanup Craws too. Although they're quite popular, I have less success with the Crush City Bronco Bug. My local bass like the swimming craw action of the Yama Craw and Cleanup Craw.

I caught the three above trolling in 10' of water, another three in one laydown, and two casting to the shrubby edge of a bog in about three feet of water. It was the edge of a bog where I lost one that took line and spun my canoe. I caught all of them with a VMC heavy duty 5/0 underspin with a Yamamoto orange craw with *Barbie Magic Sparkles (NTM). * Not a real thing NTM = Not Trademarked Seriously, they really like the orange craw. The other lures I've tried (Ned rig, T-Rigged orange worm, jerkbait, lipless, black and silver Keitech on a swim jig, etc.) haven't produced. They only want the big orange craw with silver sparkles. It's just so c-c-c-cold! I was expecting to skunk.

In two hours, I caught three thick ones out of eight total. I'm surprised I did so well given the temps.

It was 28 degrees this morning when I awoke and the last few days have had lows in the twenties and highs in the thirties. So, I didn't know whether to launch or not. It didn't help that it was 38 degrees, sunny, and blustery, but I launched and I'm glad I did. However, they weren't on the edge of the bog where I'd been catching them. Not a bite. So, I fished deeper and caught a Wes Unseld bass. Not long, but broad. Here are two pics of Wes: Then I caught three bass from a laydown. I could hear @casts_by_fly coaching me to keep my distance lest a bass pull me into the tree, so I did. Then I moved to the south shore and hooked a VERY strong bass that took drag and spun my canoe, but came free. Dang it! Then I caught this slender 18-incher: Then I caught Wes's two cousins, Stout Steve and Husky Harry: Eight bass on a cool, blustery day in two hours of fishing. I saw Buffleheads, loons, ospreys, eagles, ducks, and geese. I've caught 63 total bass in 2026. I've caught a total of two 19-inchers.

Those are nice ones, AA!

Y-y-y-you were f-f-f-fishing last n-n-n-night??? Hardcore. I got a pic of you with my trail cam, just after you shined a light into the water and saw all those easy-pickins trout:

Sigh. It's 25 degrees right now. I'll probably still launch this morning, but the cold is starting to feel eternal. We've been above 60 degrees just twice in 2026. One day it reached 62 degrees for about an hour and the other time, it reached 64 degrees, but it's almost May! That's two, measly warm days in nearly four months. Can I catch cold water bass? Yes. Do I want to fish cold water? No.

Well done, Jax. Please don't be a one and done poster. Keep posting!

What a year you're having! I love how you keep plugging until you're hooking.

Man, you sure can dance, and gosh, she sure can catch fish!

I also wouldn't have known its purpose, but good ol' Jar sure did.

Some sweet smallies coming over the gunnels, guys!

Me too. I'm only catching bass with red lures. Speaking of catching bass, I"m launching tomorrow at 10;20 a.m. It'll be 38 degrees and will only warm to 43 degrees, so with last night's hard freeze, I figure the water will be cold and the bass sluggish. Fingers crossed I can coax a few to bite.

Gosh, that's rude. Plus, they have a boat, so they can go EVERYWHERE to find the bass. You can't.

I'd go back for those bluegills!

I am willing to sell the handles from my old, beat-up reels for $999. Yep, you can save a buck when you buy from ol' Swampy!

Solid. And turtles too! I would have loved seeing hundreds. In all my decades on the water, I've never seen so many. Dinkdom depends upon where you fish. At my pond, the bass range in size within a narrow band, from a rare 15-incher to an even rarer 19-incher.

It's hard to catch sluggish bass. We had several days in the fifties and one in the sixties this past week, but I expect the water to chill again with days in the low forties and nights in the twenties and thirties. Sigh.

Can someone please find the thermostat for New England and crank up the temp ten or fifteen degrees? PLEASE!!!

Dwight, that wind with that sky and those bass, well, that's hardcore.

You could have won many tournaments twice with those two bags. Well angled!