I was supposed to fish with a pal this morning, but he bailed when he thought a bit about stumbling through the woods in the wee light. So, I fished alone and caught 19, giving me 914 bass for 2025. I'm way behind last year and I won't catch last year's 2,044 total.

 

My plan was to fish the edges of the mid-lake pondweed again, but between the blue sky and a breeze, I struggled to see the pondweed. So, I fished the pondweed when I stumbled upon it, but also fished the easy-to-see lily pads and a drop-off. I caught the bass mostly with a Senko wacky-hooked on a jig, but also caught two bass with my underspin with a dark blue Mayor and a T-rigged green and orange crawdad. Here are the two underspin bass, both caught trolling:

 

 

Here are my biggest bass:

 

 

When I just couldn't see the pondweed anymore, I fished some lily pads in a bay and caught three. The bass there weren't as big, but they were healthy. Here's one:

 

 

Here's some other fine fish I caught:

 

 

A clear sky made for harder fishing, but it sure gussied the pond:

 

 

I won't fish for all of August per my cataract surgery doc's orders, so when I launch again, I'll have been away from the bass so long that I won't know where they are and what they'll want. Launching with only some hunches sounds exciting! In the meantime, you guys keep posting your bass so that I don't go into full withdrawal. 

 

 

Best wishes for good results on your surgery @Swamp Girl! I'm sure the fish will miss you while you're on your break, and be especially eager to bit your hook when you get back to fishing.

3 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I won't fish for all of August per my cataract surgery doc's orders

Obviously your doctor doesn't fish! No way you're following those orders. My money is on one week at best!

 

@FreakinquackeyedoctorletKatiefish!

7 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Obviously your doctor doesn't fish! No way you're following those orders. My money is on one week at best!

 

@FreakinquackeyedoctorletKatiefish!

 

Ha! If it weren't my eyes in play, I'd probably fish on, but....

 

I have half a dozen books to read. And I can organize my fishing gear. Plus, I've already caught a thousand or so bass this year and I'll enter the fall fresh and raring to catch some big girls.

A few yeas back I had cataract surgery...one eye at a time, a week apart. At the time the surgeon also fixed my sever nearsightedness. I had regular knife surgery, not Lazer surgery. I was told not to bend over for several days, and to avoid lifting anything over 25lbs for a week. And the big thing he really emphasize was to wear polarized sunglasses at all times when outside during the day, and to limit my exposure to strong sunlight for a week or so after each operation. So basically, I was not able to fish during the day for a month. That did NOT stop me from fishing during the low light hours or at night. I carried one rod and reel, and one small box of lures and a few packages of plastics and terminal tackle. Since I am primarily a back fisherman, I didn't have to worry about launching a boat or canoe. What really amazed me was the fact that my vision was almost perfectly clear within 2 days of the surgery.  I am sure you will be amazed at how fast your vision returns, and you will really understand how much you have been missing. I wish you the best of luck with your surgery. You will be back fishing soon I am sure, and it will be better than ever for you.

17 minutes ago, Kirtley Howe said:

You will be back fishing soon I am sure, and it will be better than ever for you.

 

When it comes to Mr. Howe,

Never was heard

A discouraging word

And his skies are not cloudy

All day!

 

Thanks, Kirtley!

 

Say, guys, I really am coming to trust my orange and green crawdad. I don't know the maker, but I expect they're all similar.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I really am coming to trust my orange and green crawdad. I don't know the maker, but I expect they're all similar.

Show a pic and it'll be sleuthed out in no time.

In case you're wondering about lengths, nearly every bass I post is at least 17 inches. I remember @gim stating that 17" is his cutoff and I thought, what's good for Gim is good for Swampy. The bigger bass that I post from my pond run up to 19". If a bass exceeds 19", I usually share its exact length.

 

Sometimes, I post a smaller bass if it has a funny shape, like this one, which was probably 16.5":

 

45 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

In case you're wondering about lengths, nearly every bass I post is at least 17 inches. I remember @gim stating that 17" is his cutoff and I thought, what's good for Gim is good for Swampy.

We’ve all seen your photos of them laying on the yellow measuring board more than once, so I don’t think anyone doubts you. I assumed they were somewhere in that range you stated.

 

Some of them don’t seem as plump as they normally are though, at least to me. Is that my imagination or is that reality?

42 minutes ago, gim said:

 

Some of them don’t seem as plump as they normally are though, at least to me. Is that my imagination or is that reality?

 

You are correct. I've been pond fishing this summer. The fatter bass are in the bogs, but the bogs are a lot more work for me. For example, these are bog bass of varying lengths, but what's weird is that the thinner bass from my pond outfight these chunks:

 

@gim: What's weird is that a few Bass Resource guys have described my bass as "very short," "thin," and "skinny." You put those descriptors together and one would think I'm catching bass you could hide in your hand. Here's one of my dinks, but not even it could be hidden in my hand:

 

13 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Here's one of my dinks, but not even it could be hidden in my hand

The ironic aspect of that is that the bass in that photo is still bigger than half the bass posted in the pics thread.

Excellent. The month will fly by and you and the bass will rested and ready for battle.

You'll be back at it in no time.  My dad had his done 6 weeks ago, both eyes one week apart, lazer.  Within 2 days his vision was better than it had been in years.  He had a little bit of light starring in one eye for a couple days, but before the end of the second week he was back to fishing already.  Considering he missed 8 weeks of prime time this prespawn, he wasn't missing anymore good fishing.

 

18 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Say, guys, I really am coming to trust my orange and green crawdad. I don't know the maker, but I expect they're all similar.

 

I'll echo phishLI.  We all love a good sleuthing.  

 

11 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

@gim: What's weird is that a few Bass Resource guys have described my bass as "very short," "thin," and "skinny." You put those descriptors together and one would think I'm catching bass you could hide in your hand. Here's one of my dinks, but not even it could be hidden in my hand:

 

 

Holding the bass vertical is the least flattering way to show the full size of the fish.  There is no scale for perspective, the fish is usually slightly turned away so you lose a little height (belly to dorsal) but you don't loose any length.  In the extreme, the fish will look half as tall, and the ful length which makes them look skinny that way.  On a dink board they get the full length AND a full girth, maybe even moreso because they are overflowing the board.  In hand like the picture above you can get a good scale based on your hand (looks about 14-15" and bigger than most of the ones above).

 

My preferred way to do it myself is the opposite side hold.  For one, I'm not craning my wrist to thumb the lip and get the fish up high enough to get it all in the picture.  Two, I'm not risking hyperextending the jaw of the fish if it jumps around.  I've got my thumb firmly inside the jaw and not relying on clamping down on the actual jawbone itself while also getting two solid fingers opposite it on the outside.  It's a natural position for me and doesn't put extra stress on the fish.  As a side benefit, you get to see the full fish pretty well, get my hand for scale, and it is pretty flattering if I get the angle right (I usually just take a quick snap without looking too hard).  You can take it a step further and zoom out on your phone first which distorts the perspective a little and makes close things seem bigger.  I don't do that unless I want to get scenery in the shot also.

 

You'd have never thought this was a 13-14" fish.  

 

Or that this was only a just about 4# fish.

 

 

 

Glad your last trip for a while was a good one! Your pond bass look healthy and athletic. Your bog bass look like they would be most easily caught using a bag of dorotos or a slice of cake as bait

 

Good luck with your surgery!

@casts_by_fly: That's a cool hold. I'll give it a try. Thanks for all the photos illustrating the hold too. 

 

4 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

Your pond bass look healthy and athletic.

 

They are! They've really refined my fighting technique. They can pull so hard and so suddenly that they pull free. The other morning, I hooked someone's broken line and twice this year, I found a broken, abandoned rod.

 

So, I try to be as elastic as possible when fighting them, using one hand to hold my rod; I extend the rod to them by stretching my arm when they run. As the drag slips, I try to slip too. Heck, even my boat slips too, as they turn it and pull it.

 

For me, the art in fighting bass is deciding how much I should slip and when I should apply all needed pressure, with weeds in play in most fights.

 

4 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

Your bog bass look like they would be most easily caught using a bag of dorotos or a slice of cake as bait

 

Ha! They are piggies!

 

Well, I slept twelve hours today and I'm about to go to bed...AGAIN! When I talked to the doctors and nurses this morning about what I intended to do today, they kept saying that today would be my 'rest day." They were right. The eye shield will be removed tomorrow morning and I look forward to that 7:30 appointment.

13 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Holding the bass vertical is the least flattering way to show the full size of the fish.  There is no scale for perspective, the fish is usually slightly turned away so you lose a little height (belly to dorsal) but you don't loose any length.  In the extreme, the fish will look half as tall, and the ful length which makes them look skinny that way.  On a dink board they get the full length AND a full girth, maybe even moreso because they are overflowing the board.  In hand like the picture above you can get a good scale based on your hand (looks about 14-15" and bigger than most of the ones above).

 

My preferred way to do it myself is the opposite side hold.  For one, I'm not craning my wrist to thumb the lip and get the fish up high enough to get it all in the picture.  Two, I'm not risking hyperextending the jaw of the fish if it jumps around.  I've got my thumb firmly inside the jaw and not relying on clamping down on the actual jawbone itself while also getting two solid fingers opposite it on the outside.  It's a natural position for me and doesn't put extra stress on the fish.  As a side benefit, you get to see the full fish pretty well, get my hand for scale, and it is pretty flattering if I get the angle right (I usually just take a quick snap without looking too hard).  You can take it a step further and zoom out on your phone first which distorts the perspective a little and makes close things seem bigger.  I don't do that unless I want to get scenery in the shot also.

 

This is interesting. I may try it.  I'm very guilty of poor-quality pictures.

My wife and I both have had our eyes done with good results. It’ll be fine.

Well, I just had my shield removed and I can't wait to have the other eye done. The doc said my vision will continue to improve for a month, but it's already better than my vision with glasses. 

 

 

 

 

Those poor bass did not realize that up till now you were fishing with one hand tied behind your back - they are in deep trouble