After years of trying to catch a 19-incher at my pond, I've caught two in consecutive trips. My first 19-incher was a filly in her prime. This afternoon's 19-incher was an old mare with a bucketmouth and a skinny body, but she fought like a veteran warrior. Here:

 

 

I started fishing with the goal of catching at least bass to reach 1,400 for 2025. I caught this short, thick smallie after just a few casts:

 

 

Then I stalled, catching nothing for about an hour. I eventually caught a couple shorter largies on the edge of a floppy grass weed bed. Here's one:

 

 

That gave me 1,400 for the year, so I went bigger bass hunting. I scored at a tiny river mouth, catching bigger bass in about a foot of water, including the skinny 19-incher. When I exhausted the river mouth, I moved down the shoreline. I was mostly casting an underspin, which lands more lightly than a spinnerbait. It's perhaps my favorite way to fish, for shoreline casting lets me use my two best skills; stealthy paddling and accurate casting. I had good luck laying my underspin within inches of the shoreline bushes. I caught a lot of beautiful bass between 17 inches and nearly 19 inches. Many of them hit so lightly that I felt nothing. I set the hook because I saw my line moving in an unexpected direction. Here are the best of the bass I caught. I am soooo lucky to live five minutes from the pond where I own five acres, a pond where the bass keep getting bigger and bigger:

 

 

Of course, this New England pond was beautiful on this October afternoon:

 

 

This is the plant that I call floppy grass. Does anyone know its real name?

 

 

I'm at 1,424 for the year, having caught 27 this afternoon. If I fish again, it won't be until Saturday as the next three days are forecast to be too windy for a canoe.

Best guess from the pic is either some type of burreed or Vallisneria (a.k.a. wild celery, eel grass).

Congratulations, Katie!  1,424, WOW!

Awesome day of fishing. Beautiful fish, beautiful trees.

Congratulations indeed!

 

I think Swamp Girl is the most successful catcher on this forum! She is leaving the rest of us in the dust!

34 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

I think Swamp Girl is the most successful catcher on this forum!

 

So generous of you to say, but @WRB-2.0 has caught single bass that weigh as much as my 18-pound bags and @Dwight Hottle catches HUGE brown and green bass and on and on. As I've said many times, I enjoy a busy boat. I do catch a six or seven-pounder here and there, but I'm more than happy with my three-to-four-pounders. I'm in Heaven on Earth.

 

"I think Swamp Girl is the most successful catcher on this forum! She is leaving the rest of us in the dust!"

Katie catches more bass, and good ones, than anyone I know! 

She does it in a short Maine season, too!

2 hours ago, Lottabass said:

Katie catches more bass, and good ones, than anyone I know! 

She does it in a short Maine season, too!

 

Thanks, Al. I do concede that my average size bass is above average. I catch a 19-incher on more than half my trips and 17-18.75-inchers are about half my bass. I could catch bigger bass. I know where they swim, but rising at three in the morning, launching at four, carrying or rolling the canoe through the woods, launching in a swamp, and paddling miles has become too much for me to do more than a handful of times each year. So, I happily settle for 17-inch to 19-inch bass. 

 

However, IF I could turn back time, I'd say, "Al, let's go to northwestern Ontario. I know a lake deep in the wilderness that holds smallies. We'll have to bounce down a logging road, portage twice, and slog through a swamp, but it has three waterfalls, and we'll be the only ones there. We'll catch a four-pounder or more each day and have a shot at a five-pounder and 20-pound pike."

 

However, those days are done.

 

Still, you're in Heaven at your green pasture pond with its beasts and I'm in Heaven at my quiet pond with its ever-growing bass. 

 

Below is me singing about turning back time. I'm standing on my canoe. My canoe is a little more than you imagined, yes?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n3A_-HRFfc

 

 

Congrats on another awesome year Katie!!! 

@Swamp Girl "However, those days are done."

They are Katie, but God gave us memory so we can have roses in December.

Being a crone and a codger, we are getting closer to Heaven every day, but we are pretty darn close on the water!

Love the video!  A canoe with guns, love that too!

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

God gave us memory so we can have roses in December.

 

Roses in December. Love it! I focus on the water so that I can remember when that's all I'll have.

 

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

Being a crone and a codger, we are getting closer to Heaven every day, but we are pretty darn close on the water!

 

So true. I just wish I could launch, but the wind won't stop blowing. I have perhaps half a dozen calm windows to launch this month. The first is this Saturday from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Then I have 3.5 hours to fish Sunday morning. A canoe is a heckuva fishing platform EXCEPT that I can't fish windy days. 

 

1 hour ago, Lottabass said:

A canoe with guns, love that too!

 

Yeah, I've tricked out my canoe a little more than many might expect. The kayakers do it! Why not canoeists too?!?

22 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

So generous of you to say, but @WRB-2.0 has caught single bass that weigh as much as my 18-pound bags and @Dwight Hottle catches HUGE brown and green bass and on and on. As I've said many times, I enjoy a busy boat. I do catch a six or seven-pounder here and there, but I'm more than happy with my three-to-four-pounders. I'm in Heaven on Earth.

Don’t poo-poo your success. You catch bass that even those in bigger bass states would be happy to catch. Yes, you are never going to hook and land an 18 lb. bass in Maine. Simply because they don’t grow that big in northern climes. But if they did, you’d probably catch them. Your dedication is second to none here. 

53 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Your dedication is second to none here. 

 

Thank you, Brian.

 

Say, I lost a big bass the other day and I thought of you and yours again. As exciting as it is to catch a big bass, I think it's more exciting to lose one. She was parked on a bushy point in about 12 inches of water. She made a feint at my underspin on the first pass, but tucked herself back under cover. On my second pass, she charged it and I could see the line of her attack in the water. The water was so shallow that she couldn't jump, but she kept wallowing like big bass do, making waves. Then she ran for some lily pads, but I turned her and then she came back hard at me and I think she gained enough slack to throw the hook. As I already said, so exciting. I've thought a lot about what I could have done differently, but I don't think I made a mistake...this time. Sometimes they just win. 

Beautiful fish and an impressive yearly total!