Swamp Girl

Al, how often do you get stuck on a stump? And how often do you lose a lure to a stump?

I'm so glad you mentioned this short story, Al. I have loved it for half a century.

Tyler Brinks contributes so much to Bass Resource. If he reads this post, THANKS!!!

They are fun. I know that bass anglers who boat both brown and green fish commonly say that smallmouth are better fighters. Having caught thousands of each, I disagree. I think they fight differently. Hooking an lmb is like hooking a three-quarter ton pickup. Lots of low end torque for pulling power. Hooking a smallie is like hooking a mid-engine vette. Lots of high end rpms and the ability to corner like it's on rails. Different. Both fun.

^Al^ posts pics of his weedy honey hole and the big bass he pulls from it, often festooned with weeds. Listen to Al. I've been fishing the weeds this summer and for whatever reason, there are days the bass respond to a weighted, rapidly falling soft plastic and days they ONLY hit an unweighted soft plastic. I've just started using the Yamamoto Nukibug and their poop bait. I have some Deps poop baits on their way. These three baits are all chunky baits that let you cast without weights. So, as you punch like @gim suggested, you might want to have some unweighted, heavy soft plastics to chuck too. I'm also have good luck with Deps Sakamatashad, which are thick, heavy flukes. I use 5/0 to 7/0 hooks and I cast them right into heavy weeds. They're almost like fishing live bait in that you cast them and let them sloooowwwwwly sink. They mimic dying shad and your seven-pounders might love to hit the eight-inchers that I sometimes toss (I use the six and seven-inchers too.). I just reel a little to stay in contact with my lure and when the line tightens because a bass has it, I reel until I feel the fish and set the hook. @scaleface said what I said, but without all my jibber-jabber. So did Tackleholic.

That's a lot. Many lakefront homes have only 50'-100'.

I caught 31 this morning at my pond, giving me 1,259 for the year. I'm either improving as an angler or learning more and more about my pond. Probably both. I say this because 31 bass is an excellent catch for me in mid-July. I didn't catch a single bass off the shoreline and didn't even bother casting to the shore except for one cast at an abandoned beaver lodge, which didn't produce. I'm fishing mid-pond because that's where the bigger bass are. I couldn't find my first Pondweed patch because it was too dark, so I paddled to the my second set of weedbeds. I caught them with a wacky-rigged Senko with a jig for my hook, a trick I learned from @Glenn. As always, they were healthy bass: What was different was more smallies than normal. I think this is because I'm fishing mid-pond. A smaller one: A bigger brown: Perhaps my three biggest green bass: About mid-way through my morning, the jig and Senko stopped working and I switched to a 6", 7", and 8" Deps Sakamatashad, which is a thick fluke. I first I cast along the edges of the weeds and into the openings, but discovered I could cast into the thickets. At one point, I landed three bass in three casts. Here's my biggest smallie: And here's the prettiest corner of my pond, where I cast at an abandoned beaver lodge: I also caught a few bass trolling a Zoom Speed Worm that I T-rigged and casting a T-rigged Yamamoto Nuki Bug. The Nuki Bug is a great lure for casting weightless into heavy cover because it's chunky and doesn't need a weight to chuck it. I caught lots of other fine fish: I hope to reach 1,300 by the end of July and then catch another 800 by the end of October to give me 2,100 for the year, which would be my Maine PB in quantity. I'm quite happy with the quality of my bass. I catch few small ones.

Yoo-hoo, @casts_by_fly!!!

Have a great trip!

^This!^ I have a lot of walking baits (because they're fun to fish and pretty), but I lean on my Duo Realis baits because they chirp like a bird and my local bass seem to like that sound. My walking baits by other makers don't chirp.

Bob, I will tell you this: You'll see no kayaks in the bush lakes of northwestern Ontario. There are reasons it's called Canoe Country, one of which you'll understand on your first portage.

Eh, I don't know. I try different colors and whereas I usually chuck black in fog and white in bright light, I've never discerned a pattern. Sometimes I think anglers like to believe that if they do X, bass will strike, but bass are mysteries to me.

Me too!

Funny! Also funny! I catch old, beat-up bass too, but I also catch four, five, and six-pounders that look daisy fresh. It mystifies me. Thanks, @FryDog62, for this thread. Over the years, I've started a couple threads about how slowly northern bass grow, which is why I keep them out of the water as briefly as possible.

Me too. A kayak paddle takes up too much room, so I paddle my kayak with a canoe paddle and my backup paddle is runt paddle, a paddle with a shortened shaft. That's all I need to retrieve my lost paddle.