Swamp Girl

It wasn't you. It was the conditions. A higher water level can work to one's advantage if you can find current. I've caught big bass stacked exactly where the water is exiting. Then, when the water drops and the current dissapates, the bass leave that spot. Going the other way, when water really drops, it concentrates fish and that situation is when I caught my only 25-pound-plus bag.

Same here. Your bass look like my bass. Our bass are so much darker than Pat's bass too. FWIW, I don't watch bass tournament, but I'd love to watch Pat (@Pat Brown) versus Clayton (@Bluebasser86). East versus West! The clash of the Titans!

Been there, done that! I love happy endings. I like your bass splash shot!

I'm sorry that happened to you, Mike. @IcatchDinks nailed it when he wrote: Here, Mainers share ownership of all bodies of water over ten acres. You can own shoreline, but you can't own water over ten acres. Woody Guthrie nearly wrote a song about it: "This water is your water, this water is my water, from Portsmouth, NH, clear to Canada, from the 'lantic Ocean, to the Hampshire border, this water was made for you and me."

One high enough so that she can't even seen the big Maine loon in her canoe...as well as the pond and the little loons. I don't cast at docks for that reason. I'm good at casting, but not perfect.

DONE!

She did. I was oblivious of her. She thrust herself into my space. I wonder how long she'd been secretly watching and judging me. She's a creep. Ironically, her house is the newest house on the pond. She's only been there for two years and seems to have already claimed the water. I might skirt her place in the future. I wish I knew how much of the pond she's claiming.

I never did. I think our water's too dark and I'm too low. Plus, my cataracts might be in play. Shoreline people become this:

There she was, sipping coffee on her screen porch, waiting for some loons to paddle by and who arrives??? Why, Maine's biggest loon! Thanks, buddy. She had boats at her property, making me wonder if she launches and stays 200 yards from every other property. They just finished spawning. They'll beef up in a month or two. So true. Such people aren't happy unless they're unhappy. You are so right! However, I'm having my canoe fitted with one of the 16-inch turrets from an Iowa-class battleship. I'll be prepared to return fire.

I sometimes watch YouTube videos of anglers being harassed by shoreline owners. Well, it happened to me this morning. I fished my pal's pond again, which has houses on two of the four shores. I was fishing about 25 yards off the shoreline of the last house, which was set 100' from the water, the required setback for new builds on this pond. I was busy fishing and not looking at the house. Then I heard someone yell something. It was unintelligible. Then I heard, "Excuse me, may I have some privacy here?" I thought maybe I'd happened upon someone skinny-dipping, but then I realized the woman was yelling from her screen porch. The screens were black and I could only make out her outline. I realized she didn't want me in front of her house, but I felt her request was ridiculous. So, I replied, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm 60 yards from you." "Oh, you know," she answered, "and if you don't know, maybe you can figure it out. Thank you!" And in case I missed her sarcasm, she said "Thank you!" again and went inside her home, slamming the door. Of course, if I was walking on a public street in front of her home and she said, "Excuse me, may I have some privacy here," her request would be ludicrous. I wish I'd seen her face. Then if I were to see her in my town, I'd ask for some privacy too. Anyway, I caught 32 bass, bringing my 2025 total to 615 and the best five would have given me a 15-pound bag or thereabouts. I also caught three 17" smallies, but didn't photograph them. I did photograph some of the lmb and I caught most of them on an underspins with a white Crush City Mayor and a golden shiner 6" Deps Sakamata Shad on an Owner Twist Loc 4/0 hook. Here are the bigger bass: And here are some smaller ones: I'd share more, but a car just drove past my house and I want to chase it to ask for some privacy in my home.

@BluegillsTightlines: Your post makes me sad, but it sounds like you gave it a solid effort. It's never too hot to fish in Maine. It is, however, too...

Why not?

@HawkeyeSmallie: I wasn't casting into anything that thick, but not far from it!

I can only wish I'd landed half of yesterday's bass. It was 48 degrees when I launched and I wondered if the cool temps cooled their appetites. I got lots of half bites.

Thanks, Jesse. I'm also thinking of using EWGs for even my skinny lures too. I think I have a higher hookup percentage with them.

I bought two kinds of hooks for T-rigging. The EWG hooks like this: And the standard t-rigging hooks like this: I use the EWGs for my fatter soft plastics, like Rage Bugs, and the standard hooks for my thinner plastics, like worms. Am I doing the right thing?

A bit back, someone at Bass Resource commented how our human sensibilities might deter us from casting into icky water, but it's not icky to bass; it's simply their home. Well, some plant matter had fallen on the pond I was fishing this morning and it had started to decay, forming a film atop the windblown shore. I remembered what the BR member had said and thought, "They might like being under that scummy film, as it'll hide them from the dinosaurs (raptors)." Well, whoever said that the bass don't care is right. They were under the scum and I caught them on the surface and below the film. So, thanks to whoever said that!

A fifteen-pound bag with a four-pounder is a solid morning. Well angled! FWIW, I also caught bass on a Rage Bug this morning.

Yeah, I fish fertile water. It also helps that I can fish when others can't or won't, like at five in the morning or workday evenings.

You like a busy bank and I like a busy boat!

@Joedodge: You've become Lord Choppo!

Ha! I simply forgot it and hated fishing without it. You're so right about my eyes. @LrgmouthShad: Bass numbers two and five are beauties!

Like @Joedodge, I was dazzled by the strength of the bass I caught this morning. However, I didn't have the counter-strength and lost at least two bass for every bass I landed. I did manage to boat 27, bringing my total for 2025 to 582. I'm taking fewer photos nowadays because so many of my bass look the same, but I did take a few photos of representative fish. I also caught three pickerel. This is the pond where I caught what I believe was the Maine state record pickerel last year. I didn't catch any that size, but the ones I did catch fought as hard as a big bass. Here's one: And here are some of the bass I caught: I had something confusing happen. I was fishing a shallow, weedy bay. I cast a T-rigged Rage Bug and snagged. I pulled hard, hoping it was just a weed. It felt like a rock. However, when I was setting my rod down to pick up a paddle, the rock took off and broke free. Many of you have stories of a snag moving, but I didn't until this morning. I wonder how many bass @Bluebasser86 has caught this year. He's shooting for 2025 bass, but if he makes it, I don't think I will as I have two, separate cataract surgeries scheduled for August and my doc doesn't want me to paddle. Plus, I just lost eight days of prime fishing for a funeral. Lastly, I caught a 17" smallie, as well as other shorter brown bass.

That's a BIG, FIRST smallie. No wonder you're hooked.

They fool me sometimes. I'll cast to rocks and hook a bass and assume it's brown, but then it's green. Or a bass will rocket out of the water and I'll assume it's brown again, but it'll be green again.