It was 48 degrees when I launched at my pond this morning at 6:00 a.m. and 54 degrees when I finished fishing at 9:40 a.m. However, it felt different than it's felt all spring and I attribute that to the south wind. I finished with 25, the most I've caught this year. The bass were just more active and I saw some surface feeding for the first time in 2025. I had good luck at two stream mouths, a particular laydown, and along the edge of a wetland. For a change, I caught a lot of my bass on a wacky worm. It was Junebug-colored with a chartreuse tip. I caught my first 2025 Whopper Plopper bass and some nice fish on my underspin with a chartreuse and white Zako. I also dropped my net into the water, HOWEVER I managed to hook it with my underspin. Whew! It was about eight feet down, but I hooked it on my first attempt.

 

This fish made me laugh, for she was short and chubby. (That's the only laydown behind her that produces bass on my pond. I caught six on it this morning and lost two.):

 

 

Here are couple thick ones:

 

 

Most of the bass looked like these (The first bass is small, but I include it so that you can see how deep the marshland is that borders the pond. You can't see it, but there is a warren of water in there, i.e. inlets and tiny ponds.):

 

 

Here's one of the stream mouths were I caught some:

 

 

I saw beavers, ospreys, Canada geese, red-winged blackbirds, and swallows. Thanks again, Alex, for the suggestion to use a wacky worm. It was my best producer. I went through a whole pack and then was down to a third of a worm and even caught a bass with that. When I did, I thought, "I'm fishing like Russ," for I can imagine him catching fish with next to nothing. 

Nice catchin, and nice report!

Here's a shot of the shoreline where I caught a lot of the bass:

 

 

And here's a wacky worm bass off that shoreline:

 

Awesome report. That first one is such a tub! Those fish are all so beautiful and healthy looking.  Plus getting to enjoy all the creatures of nature as you stealthily glide over the water. 

@Swamp Girl Love your reports and photos!

17 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

That first one is such a tub!

 

I know, huh? Every year, I catch a couple like that. I call 'em Kansas bass or Clayton (@Bluebasser86) bass.

 

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

Love your reports and photos!

 

Thanks! I love to include a pic or two of where I'm catching bass. It's my hope that those pics will be helpful, that a fellow angler will see something similar and give that a try. For example, see these woody bushes on the shoreline?

 

 

That's where I mine gold, err, green. The bass are literally under those bushes...and when I hook them, they go back to those bushes, sometimes to comedic effect. For example, there was a little island (perhaps 10' by 15') with those bushes. I wanted to cast beyond the island's point and retrieve my lure past it. Well, I missed and cast over the island and as luck would have it, a bass hit. The bass ran from the island and pulled me into it. Now I'm caught in the woody bushes on my side. Now the bass reverses course and plunges into the woody bushes on her side. So, we're both caught in the woody bushes, but on different sides of the little island. I had to laugh and I surprised myself when I freed myself, paddled around the island, and freed her. 

 

Say, is there anyone else still fishing shorelines as brown as Maine's? There is some green in the photo above, but those are white pines in the distance.

11 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I know, huh? Every year, I catch a couple like that. I call 'em Kansas bass or Clayton (@Bluebasser86) bass.

 

 

Thanks! I love to include a pic or two of where I'm catching bass. It's my hope that those pics will be helpful, that a fellow angler will see something similar and give that a try. For example, see these woody bushes on the shoreline?

 

 

That's where I mine gold, err, green. The bass are literally under those bushes...and when I hook them, they go back to those bushes, sometimes to comedic effect. For example, there was a little island (perhaps 10' by 15') with those bushes. I wanted to cast beyond the island's point and retrieve my lure past it. Well, I missed and cast over the island and as luck would have it, a bass hit. The bass ran from the island and pulled me into it. Now I'm caught in the woody bushes on my side. Now the bass reverses course and plunges into the woody bushes on her side. So, we're both caught in the woody bushes, but on different sides of the little island. I had to laugh and I surprised myself when I freed myself, paddled around the island, and freed her. 

 

Say, is there anyone else still fishing shorelines as brown as Maine's? There is some green in the photo above, but those are white pines in the distance.

Such a great adventure!  We are green, green, green here in Iowa.  Serviceberry and redbuds are blooming. Cool, cloudy weather has dropped the surface temps on the lakes I fish but warm up is coming!

10 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

We are green, green, green here in Iowa.  Serviceberry and redbuds are blooming.

 

Sounds like Heaven. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

Cool, cloudy weather has dropped the surface temps on the lakes I fish but warm up is coming!

 

Cool and cloudy here too, Al, but we're supposed to reach the mid-sixties next Saturday and it's my hope that the bass will start hitting surface lures. I've only caught two bass on the surface so far in 2025, but not for lack of trying!

8 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Sounds like Heaven. 

 

 

 

Cool and cloudy here too, Al, but we're supposed to reach the mid-sixties next Saturday and it's my hope that the bass will start hitting surface lures. I've only caught two bass on the surface so far in 2025, but not for lack of trying!

Oh Ya, Katie.....they are coming!!!!!!

Call me old fashioned: but I fish south winds and full moons with my game face in.  Great fishing Katy!  I see big big ones coming soon.

Man alive! 25 bass in a little over 3-1/2 hours.  Busy Saturday morning.

3 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Man alive! 25 bass in a little over 3-1/2 hours.  Busy Saturday morning.

 

I estimate in a week that I'll be boating 45 bass in a morning. When Maine's bass are finally warm enough to eat, they are soooo hungry after our long winter. 

 

7 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I fish south winds and full moons with my game face in.

 

I think of you as the BR Bass Wizard, so when you agree with me, I smile!

 

On 5/3/2025 at 9:41 AM, Swamp Girl said:

and I attribute that to the south wind

I am blessed to have multiple lakes to choose from when I fish.  I choose them based on wind direction as I think that's just about the most important daily environmental influence on my catch rate.  Some lakes like the west wind, some east, some prefer north wind believe it or not.  Almost all of them fish well on a south wind.  South wind is the "go fishing" day for me. 

Awesome report, and beautiful scenary and fish as always Katie!  

 

Since about mid March I've burned through 20 packs of Yamasenkos and 7 packs of VMC crossover rings.    Stupid expensive way of fishing, but the fun and results factor are well worth the cost.   

 

Stay on top of those water temps if you can, to me that's the single most important thing I want to know when starting off everyday for that winter through post spawn period.   If they're biting that whacky this good now, you're going to destroy them on it in a couple of weeks!

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Stay on top of those water temps if you can, to me that's the single most important thing I want to know when starting off everyday for that winter through post spawn period.

 

I want to take the temp, but I've already gone through two thermometers. A canoe is such a wet boat that they don't last. Sigh.

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 If they're biting that whacky this good now, you're going to destroy them on it in a couple of weeks!

 

Yesterday they really thumped them. I'd cast one and my line would twitch within two seconds. It is a FUN way to fish. I love the way they hit. A couple times, they gobbled and ran with it.

 

2 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

South wind is the "go fishing" day for me. 

 

Amen, BigAngus! I've got a south wind tomorrow evening and will launch again, this time at a pal's pond.