Swamp Girl

Thanks to @webertime, I just bought these (three bright colors, two in shad, and one with everything, i.e. Pepper Prizm): Quantity1 Bayruf BR Fish Pepper Prizm / 5 inch 1 $8.99 Quantity1 Bayruf BR Fish Bay White / 5 inch 1 $8.99 Quantity1 Bayruf BR Fish Lime Gold / 5 inch 1 $8.99 Quantity1 Bayruf BR Fish Gold Red / 5 inch 1 $8.99 Quantity2 Bayruf BR Fish Seguro Katakuchi / 5 inch 2 $17.98

Yeah, five for me, for sure. Anyone have a link for five-inchers?

I'm a consistent angler for three reasons: 1. Good paddler. 2. Accurate caster. 3. I remember where I caught bass.

Dang it. It's pineapple season here!

P. S. - I'm going to wear a PFD for everyone who doesn't. I'll be so buoyant that I won't even need a canoe.

Bob shoots, he SCORES! And the crowd goes crazy!!!

@AlabamaSpothunter suggested I buy the following and I'm super excited to try them come spring. You fish them like an underwater walking bait that also dives: Duo Realis Bayruf BR Head × 1 3/16 oz Duo Realis Bayruf BR Head × 1 1/4 oz Duo Realis Bayruf BR Head × 1 5/16 oz Duo Realis Bayruf BR Fish × 1 Chartreuse / 3.3" Duo Realis Bayruf BR Fish × 1 Chart Silver / 3.3" Duo Realis Bayruf BR Fish × 3 Seguro Katakuchi / 3.3"

Hey, Mike. Bass Resource is a great place to add to your skill set.

Same rule in my canoe. And twice, I was resisted, once by a teenage boy and once by my dad, but I held firm and they relented. None of us love North Korea.

Hey, @Bluebasser86, quit stealing @Team9nine's crappie! Where's an LEO when you need one? Seriously, that switch turning on is something I've enjoyed. It's the sweet can't catch-can't catch-can't catch-CAN catch!

I understand the sentiment, but our choices can ripple outward. As others noted above, if you die because you didn't don a PFD, the searchers now have to find your corpse...and it won't be pretty. If you chose other reckless behaviors that move you from the workforce to someone who's medically dependent, that ripples through insurance premiums and your family until you draw your final breath. I worked on a spinal injury ward. Our patients were predominately young men. I haven't tipped a canoe since I was a kid until 2023 when I was in the water so suddenly that I have no memory of tipping nor even striking the water. I was in the air and then I was underwater, stunned. So, I experienced how quickly one can go under. I had no time to formulate a plan. The only plan I had in play was to already be wearing my PFD.

If I were a talented painter and I wanted to paint a perfect smallmouth, it would be @TnRiver46's.

Back when I had a couple columns for the now-defunct "Canoe & Kayak" magazine and was their travel writer too, I happened upon a guy who was doing some amazing moves without a paddle in a roaring reverse falls, where the extreme tides we have in Maine create whitewater in a strait. He was showboating directly below a bridge, so I got some great shots being above him. Then I interviewed him, confident that my editor would make space for him, but the editor immediately declined because the guy wasn't wearing a life jacket. "We won't put that bad example out there for our readership," he said. We all should be good examples.

@TnRiver46: That first smallmouth is perfect.

If you guys don't mind, don't use this thread anymore and go back to reporting your fish in the latest catch thread. I feel this thread has siphoned some of its traffic. Thanks and Merry Christmas!

I could post my PB, but instead, I'll post the girl below. I caught her on my third trip from the last. To reach her home, I drove a ridge line in the dark, down a gravel road, and then down a narrow, dangerous drive to launch beside a dam. I had to carry my canoe down a slippery slope to launch. I then paddled down a gorge in creepy blackness, skirting fallen, spectral trees. That led to a long flat and I had to follow the old riverbed to find water deep enough to float my canoe. It was hard and several times I paddled onto a mud flat and I had to use my paddle as a pole to extricate myself. A couple of miles of mis-directions later, I reached the widest and deepest part of the river and proceeded to catch 56 bass and two jumbo perch. I'd caught more bass in a morning in 2024 and I'd caught bigger bass too in 2024, but I'd never caught so many big bass as I did that morning, about a dozen in total and this gal was the thickest of them. I think I caught her on a big walking bait. Black and gold. She has everything I love in a bass. My everything isn't much: just a big head followed by a big body. She didn't look beaten down by life, but thriving despite its myriad challenges, and I saw five of them: three bald eagles in a V cruising over her home and two ospreys too. I didn't weigh or measure her, but if you really need a number, here's one: A perfect 10.

Glenn, I'm happy to watch your videos whenever they're filmed. I was just expressing some soft water envy.

I came back to have another look at Pat's bass. It's just as whoa-y today as it was when I first saw it.

Michael Neal is a trickster. He's talking about winter bass fishing, but it's clearly summer behind him. See the water??? It's soft!!!

There are more of us crescent wrench-ers than I would have guessed. Well, this wrench wench is happy for the company!

I am in love with @FryDog62's organization. They say opposites attract and anyone who's seen photos of my canoe know that I'm the utter opposite. If you haven't seen any pics of my messy canoes, here's one: Still, I'm in love @FryDog62's boat. I will grab a different rod for smallies. I'd use a ML or M, but I quickly learned that you can't keep an lmb from weeds with merely a M, so all my lmb rods are MH and all about 7' 2" long.

What if I gave you a buck-fifty to change your mind? #fingerscrossedyou'recheap Seriously, I remember zig-zagging canoe down rivers as a kid. It was probably half due to paddling crummy canoes and half due to my being a lousy paddler. Thousands of miles later, I bend it like Beckham.

Other than a fiberglass rod I prefer for surface baits, I use all my other rods with all my lures. Yep, I fish with crescent wrenches and make them work.

Whoa, that bass is FAT! And look at the muscle in her tail. W-O-W!

If he did that, I'd back that play...on drums perhaps? Good point. Most of the time I'm under the speed limit, but even old lady drivers sometimes speed. Another good point.