I'm launching this afternoon and I need 18 bass to reach 1,400 bass for 2025. Today is mild and the wind will only be 4 mph, so the conditions are good, but I won't be paddling far from shore because the water is cool enough to kill me. However, being fall, they should be shallow. If I catch 18, I'll share those bass in this thread this evening. I haven't decided whether I'll fish my pal's pond or the new pond I secured permission to fish. The new pond is only 83 acres, so even though I don't know it, there's not a lot of water for the bass to hide. My pal's pond is 385 acres, but I know every weed bed and drop-off. 

 

If I have the energy, I might fish my pond for two hours tomorrow morning too before the wind kicks up, so I'm pretty hopeful about 1,400. I've pretty much given up on reaching 1,500. It's just too cold and windy going forward. HOWEVER, if we had a few, warm calm days at the end of October and I could launch at a bog, I might be able to do it. BIG IF.

Get it woman! 1400 ain't too bad.😁

Careful out there.

5 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Careful out there.

 

I will be and thanks. I'm scaredy of that water now. 

What’s the water temp there? It’s still in the 60’s here.

5 minutes ago, gim said:

What’s the water temp there? It’s still in the 60’s here.

 

It feels cooler than that to my touch. The two thermometers I bought both stopped working because a canoe is such a soggy vessel. 

Will you be giving us live updates from the water?

15 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Will you be giving us live updates from the water?

 

Ha! It might go like this: 

 

"Got one!"

 

"Never mind. Lost it."

 

"Got one!"

 

"Dang it."

 

 

My first laugh of the morning, thanks.  Go get em.

I could only catch ten, leaving me eight short. These three were well-shaped:

 

 

This was the big one:

 

 

Here she is lipped and gripped:

 

 

I saw her chasing shad in a foot of water and I tossed a pink Shimano Flash boost at her. I'm fishing my pond tomorrow morning, but then the weather shuts down fishing for a full week, so I'm hoping to catch my final eight at my pond in a few hours.

 

1,392 for the year.

Very nice, @Swamp Girl. 

I was rooting for you. I am sure 1400 will fall next trip!

6 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

I was rooting for you. I am sure 1400 will fall next trip!

 

I have been unabashedly clear about ending the season as a quantity basshead, but quality bass keep putting up roadblock after roadblock. Instead of catching lots of bass to roar me across the quantity finish line, I keep catching long bass and thick bass! Like these:

 

 

Where are the eager 15-inchers that can push me across the finish line???

I caught another five bass this morning at my pond, taking me to 1,397. Sooooo close!

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I caught another five bass this morning at my pond, taking me to 1,397. Sooooo close!

One more trip should do it! 2025 is in the bag! Congratulations!

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

One more trip should do it! 2025 is in the bag! Congratulations!

 

That's my hope. I'm ready to hibernate. I've got north blood flowing through me (German and Scot) and I think northerners are born to crawl into our dens and under our bear skins when the snow flies. 

^ Yep - German, Swedish and Finish here, and hibernating sound good to me.

How DIDN’T you run out of film catching & posting 1,397 bass pictures this year?!?!?!?

Three to 1,400. Three. 
 

if push came to shove, you could probably get three off the bank. I mean, ANYONE can catch 1,397 bass. But 1,400? Well, that’s special! 😂

Just now, BrianMDTX said:

I mean, ANYONE can catch 1,397 bass. But 1,400? Well, that’s special! 😂

 

^This^ literally made me laugh out loud! And you're right about bank fishing if I couldn't launch. 

I know overall that I will catch more bass on the water than off the bank. But sometimes it’s nice to set up on the bank and just work a TR nice and slow. No movement. No keeping the boat in one spot. Just a slow, methodical working of a soft plastic on the bottom. And the fact is, some of my largest bass have been caught that way. 

1 minute ago, BrianMDTX said:

I know overall that I will catch more bass on the water than off the bank. But sometimes it’s nice to set up on the bank and just work a TR nice and slow. No movement. No keeping the boat in one spot. Just a slow, methodical working of a soft plastic on the bottom. And the fact is, some of my largest bass have been caught that way. 

 

Do you still think about your lost Leviathan? I do, usually when I'm on the water. I think about that Kraken jumping three times. I've had pretty good luck this year thrusting my rod tip into the water when they're about to jump. 

 

Anyway, I just checked the weather and I can launch tomorrow afternoon, so I'll put 2025 to bed then. It'll be 62 degrees too, so I won't be freezing like I was yesterday morning when I launched a frosty canoe.

 

I caught more than 600 more bass last year, but I lost fishing time this year and I also fished the bogs much more in 2024. I don't expect to fish the bogs much in 2026, as much as I love them. It's just sooooo much easier to drive to the waiting canoe at my pond five minutes away or the the waiting canoe at my pal's pond twelve minutes away. And whereas my pond and my pal's pond don't grow six, seven, and eight-pound bass like the bogs do, I'm still so happy on them three and four-pounders.

It’s all I thought about on Saturday lol. Especially when I went to resharpen the hook and noticed the gap had been bent open. Definitely not from pulling on a snag lol. So either that big gal bent it, or it got bent some other unknown way. Either way, it would have made it a lot easier for a bass to throw the hook. 
 

I bent it back into shape, but not sure if that’s wise. If I hook another and the hook breaks, I may break lol. 

24 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

It’s all I thought about on Saturday

 

You're not alone, buddy. We all know "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."

I would be VERY surprised if I don't pass 1,400 bass today. I'm three away from 1,400 and if I could have designed a day to cross the finish line, it would be today.  Conditions when I launch:

 

Cloudy

 

62 degrees

 

4 mph wind dropping to 2 mph from the north

 

A "Great" rating on the Solunar calendar

 

I'll fish from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and if/when I catch three bass, I'll keep fishing. I've got my lures tied and my rods lined up in the garage! I checked my fishing reports for the fall of 2024 and I caught a dozen bass on Nov. 1st throwing an underspin with a chartreuse and white trailer, so I'll be throwing that again. I throw such big lures, which is likely why my quantity is down, but my quality is solid...literally.