IcatchDinks

@Swamp Girl looks like you're still pretty bundled up in those pictures. What temps are you guys getting over there in Maine? Lovely fish, btw. And as I've mentioned before, the haze rising from the water in the early morning sun is one of the lovelier bits of scenery available to the early morning angler. @Peacedivision, my PB is slightly smaller than that one. Because it's the only one I've ever caught.

3 hours beating the banks and only one bass, caught in 6 inches of water. But me and the toddler had fun together the whole time.

Is there anything this man doesn't hate? He's not wrong tho. They were almost hunted to extinction because of it. They're still one of my favorite birds. Edit: forgot to add my picture. A foot pedal for the shear at work that I had to rewire:

I concur. We recently had our old apartment complex try to hit us for $300+ for normal wear and tear. We responded with a kindly worded, yet firm letter explaining our complaints and desire for an amicable solution. They cut the bill in half, and we decided to work with them rather than fight them further. Sorry you're dealing with this @jbmaine. That's some nonsense.

Poly is also lighter.

I popped a lure free from a snag the other day and turned my head just in time to catch it square in the temple. I wear glasses, so I probably would've been ok even if it hit me in the face, but I'm glad I didn't have to find out. It's a danger you don't even think about much until it happens.

Fishing is still hard, but managed to hook up with two smallies this morning. I tried the pond first, but couldn't get any action, and moved to the river. Hooked up right away. Nothing massive, but it was nice to feel the tug again. As I let him go, he flopped free of my hands and dropped headfirst into the water. I didn't give him much thought and hooked up with a tiny little guy on my next cast. As I'm unhooking the little guy, I glance over and notice that the first bass I'd caught had dove headfirst into the mud at the bank, completely trapping himself. Never seen a fish do this before, but he was completely trapped. After snapping a photo, I was able to reach down and pull him free. He swam away to deeper water with a grateful flip of his tail. (Actually it was probably a panicked flip of his tail, but I like to anthropomorphize my catches.) Felt like I could have caught more, but my wife texted that the kids were up and I still had to do a grocery run before I went home. Might get back out this evening.

I would just like to jump on the "Katie is awesome" trend by calling to attention that almost everyone here is a guy, and it only takes one woman to outfish all of us. Also, @Swamp Girl, please give your redundant recommendations. I have never fished with a rage bug, and will definitely give it a try at the next opportunity.

Same! Except it was my arm that I cut on a tree branch.

That's it!

Woke up at 5 this morning to try a newish pond. Hit the water by 5:30 and fished it for about an hour. I planned on spending the whole morning fishing this pond, but we had a good rain last night, and everything was really soaked. So, rather than fill my shoes with water and saturate my jeans, I drove a few minutes away to a pond I'm more familiar with and spent the rest of my time there. I don't know what it was this morning, but I couldn't get any fish interested. I even saw some lazily chase my bait back to shore, only to turn away in apparent disgust. The local carp kept leaping and splashing, mocking me with their activity. Some days are just skunk days, but it hits extra hard when all the signs point to it being a good morning, and you walk away empty handed. I got 4.5 hours of sleep last night, and I know I'm gonna feel it in my body this afternoon. At least it's no longer cold in the mornings. This year has been really slow fishing for me. Finding time to get out to the water is a big enough challenge, and then when I do, it's even tougher to find a bite.

You're right. It wasn't a beetlespin. It was very similar, but with an underspin configuration, not the spinnerbait style. Guess IDK what it was.

First underspin type lure I ever used was a beetlespin. Then I saw several people on here, yourself included, talking about using The Mayor on an underspin hook, and I've been burning through them far too fast. I hang up a lot on submerged cover.

There's a retention pond behind the TJ Max in town. I've fish it a handful of times every year, but have never caught anything other than super healthy bluegill/pumpkinseed hybrids out of it. And then I was surprised one day late last summer to hook into a rambunctious little rock bass. It gave me hope that maybe there were other species swimming about. I'd heard a rumor that several years ago, a local guy pulled a five pounder largemouth out of it. So, even though I'd only caught sunfish, I kept going back, usually when I only had a little time to spare and wanted a little tug from some pumpkinseed. Today I finally got confirmation that bigger bass do live here. I hooked and landed possibly the fatest smallmouth I've ever seen. Only 14" long, but swollen as a football. I feel like I could probably get a pretty good spiral if I threw this thing. I plan on going back tomorrow morning and circling the entire pond on foot, trying to see what else I can get to bite. But look at those beautiful markings!! Smallies are definitely the beauty queens of the bass world.

@HawkeyeSmallie, that's a very nice fish. I know some of the guys here consider that size to be bait, but if I catch anything over 15, I'm happy. Congrats!

Bluegill and worms. Only time I've gotten close to that.

P.s. I would love to take my boy fishing to a place where when he asked for "more Dewee" I could just go, "sure bud. Let me put my line back in the water!" 😆

If I'm doing my math correctly, isn't that something like 1 bass every five minutes? I know you're well aware of it, but you are truly blessed to have the fishery you do. That is an incredible rate of catch. I can count on two hands a two feet the number of fish I've caught this year. All fish. Not just bass. Keep it up @Swamp Girl! You're killing it! Also, is that a little island in the last pic? Beautiful scenery.

This is why I prefer length over weight. Last summer I caught my PB Largemouth: 21.75 inches. It only weighed 4+ lbs. Skinny fellow, but still a huge fish (especially considering the small urban pond I caught it in doesn't get any deeper than five feet.).

I'll do you one better @king fisherand @Pat Brown, I don't like swim jigs OR spinnerbaits. I've never caught a single fish on a jig of any sort (barring standard jigheads of course). And I've only caught a couple on spinnerbaits. I know that most of everyone seems to have great success, but I've never been able to do well with either. So I stick to my inline spinners, and nail fish after fish with 'em. For lures I like that aren't as popular: It's very fashionable to hate on the whopper plopper. But I love em. Easiest topwater lure you'll ever fish. And they still get bit, even if they have become a fishing trope. An uncommon lure that I will never stop hyping up is the Rebel Wee Crawfish. It's a small, shallow diving crank bait, that is perfectly suited for the streams and rivers I frequent. It seems that thing will always get bit when nothing else will. It's also super buoyant, so I can work it in and around the brush and laydowns, letting it pop to the surface to avoid snags.

3+ for both types of bass. I catch pa couple 2 lb smallies every year, but they're always an event when I catch them. I consider those "nice" or "solid" fish. Anything bigger I would consider "big." Although, I usually go by inches. 17+ inches is big in my book for smallies. I have yet to catch one that size, as I fish small streams, ponds, and rivers. Largemouth probably have to be 20+ for me to consider it "big." Although, I'm very happy with 15+ with both species.

I just thought it reinforced what you were discovering: kayaks can be used as big water vessels. Also, I'm not one to judge: despite growing up surrounded by the Great Lakes, I'm as big a landlubber as you'll meet. 😆

Didn't the Inuit peoples traverse the ocean and do wale hunts and stuff in kayaks?

I spent two hours this morning fishing the pond. Couldn't get so much as a snag. Later this afternoon, we took the kids to the park and walked alongside the river. I fished a little, but mostly we just strolled and tried to enjoy nature in between the clouds of marijuana smoke. Right before we had to leave I managed a very nice river smallie. My toddler boy about lost his mind with excitement when he saw it jump out of the water at the end of my line. "DEWEE! DEWEE! DEWEE!" (His best attempt to say "fishing.") I didn't measure it. I'm guessing it was 15 or 16 inches, and fat as a sow.

You've got some really healthy fish, @Swamp Girl. Twenty-five fish in two hours is one heckuva good rate! Keep it up!