I don't catch the biggest bass. @Bluebasser86 and others catch bigger bass than me. I don't even catch the most bass anymore. @pdxfisher catches more bass than me in individual trips and Clayton catches more bass per year. However, one thing I do well is consistently landing good bags. For example, my best five bag today was about 95 inches, but if I'd taken my second biggest five, that would have been in the high eighties. Even my third best five could have won some tournaments and my fourth best five wasn't shabby.

I caught 54 altogether at my pal's pond and my biggest this morning was over 20 inches. She was tucked under a tangle of wood and weeds at the pond's outlet. I landed a T-rigged Zoom worm about about a foot from the tangle. I saw the line as she darted out and luckily, she didn't run downriver. Had she, I couldn't have followed for the river is narrow and a gantlet of bushes. This is her:

I also caught a couple 19-inchers, one on a gold Shimano Flashboost popper and the other on the Zoom worm. Here they are:

I caught lots of bass between 17 inches and 18.75 inches. Here are some of them:

I caught smaller ones too, like this one:

And I caught some brown bass, all about the same size and all feisty and dogged:

I even caught a chain pickerel:

I heard a kersploosh behind me and saw an osprey rising from the water with a bass, hounded by a crow. I saw fuzzy goslings, loons, and eagles too. I saw wolfpacking bass chasing shad and actually managed to catch a couple, which is rare for me.

I've never fished T-rigged worms much, but I am loving them. My local bass hit them harder than my paddletails, craws, and lizards.

I've never considered myself a big bass fisherman as much as I wish I was. I'm really good at making fish bite, even when they don't want to, which makes me consistent, and if you catch enough fish, a few of them are bound to be a little bigger.

I love how many different lures you've cycled through over the past couple years to catch fish. I remember when the plopper was your big numbers bait a couple years back, and a paddle tail before that. Now it's a texas rig. Who knows what the next one will be and that's the fun of fishing.

You also have me thinking about my next trip challenge. First it was the all soft plastics, then it was the all spinning rods, and then all finesse. I think I might have to do a 'trick worm challenge'. Any rigging, any color or mods, any rods. But only a trick worm for an entire evening. Maybe next week.

1 minute ago, Bluebasser86 said:

if you catch enough fish, a few of them are bound to be a little bigger.

We have the same strategy. I try to catch a lot of bass and hope a few are bigger.

1 minute ago, casts_by_fly said:

I love how many different lures you've cycled through over the past couple years to catch fish.

I'm a kid in a candy shop. I also went through a popper stretch. And a walking the dog stretch. And a spinnerbait stretch. And....

But for now, I love T-rigging. I've just started using trick worms, but I'm T-rigging them too. Bass love 'em.

Give a magnum trick worm a try. They work well in Mexico, don't know how well they will work in Maine.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

I don't catch the biggest bass. @Bluebasser86 and others catch bigger bass than me. I don't even catch the most bass anymore. @pdxfisher catches more bass than me in individual trips and Clayton catches more bass per year. However, one thing I do well is consistently landing good bags. For example, my best five bag today was about 95 inches, but if I'd taken my second biggest five, that would have been in the high eighties. Even my third best five could have won some tournaments and my fourth best five wasn't shabby.

I caught 54 altogether at my pal's pond and my biggest this morning was over 20 inches. She was tucked under a tangle of wood and weeds at the pond's outlet. I landed a T-rigged Zoom worm about about a foot from the tangle. I saw the line as she darted out and luckily, she didn't run downriver. Had she, I couldn't have followed for the river is narrow and a gantlet of bushes. This is her:

I also caught a couple 19-inchers, one on a gold Shimano Flashboost popper and the other on the Zoom worm. Here they are:

I caught lots of bass between 17 inches and 18.75 inches. Here are some of them:

I caught smaller ones too, like this one:

And I caught some brown bass, all about the same size and all feisty and dogged:

I even caught a chain pickerel:

I heard a kersploosh behind me and saw an osprey rising from the water with a bass, hounded by a crow. I saw fuzzy goslings, loons, and eagles too. I saw wolfpacking bass chasing shad and actually managed to catch a couple, which is rare for me.

I've never fished T-rigged worms much, but I am loving them. My local bass hit them harder than my paddletails, craws, and lizards.

See what happens when you don't have a clumsy seed tick sitting in the bow making all kinds of racket! You catch 50 instead of 40! 😁 I'll still be your net man anytime you want, (even though you didn't trust me to net last time) 🙂 maybe with some practice, I can earn your trust. But, honestly Katie, I don't get any practice here. It's only in Maine where the bass are so generous with their favors! My net will die of old age before I'll ever need it!

Signed Rusty Old Gimpy Net Man from Tennessee

41 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Give a magnum trick worm a try. They work well in Mexico, don't know how well they will work in Maine.

They're what I was using this morning. I love 'em!

2 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Rusty Old Gimpy Net Man from Tennessee

Just focus on healing your shoulder and then we'll go big bass hunting in bogs!

1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm really good at making fish bite, even when they don't want to, which makes me consistent

Clayton, you remind me of @Lottabass/Al in your command of lures. You use so many different lures to catch bass. I keep adding different kinds of arrows to my lure quiver, but your quiver and Al's quiver is the size of Montana.

Swamp Girl it never hurts to rotate lures, you never know what the fish are going to love.

Sometimes I go out and fish new and different lures. Some are promising others not so much.

One thing for sure! You got BIG bags 👍

3 minutes ago, Dooger said:

Swamp Girl it never hurts to rotate lures, you never know what the fish are going to love.

Great advice. Thanks for the reminder. I used to tie different lures on each rod, but I've slipped into the habit of tying the same lure on four rods, another lure on three rods, and perhaps a surface lures on one rod. I'll launch with more variety tomorrow.

I just checked the weather forecast and it's going to be foggy. YES! I love fishing in fog. I'm going to tie on a couple walking the dog baits. Fingers crossed they work. I'll try a surface with spinners too and a little pink popper.