Swamp Girl

@Woody B Thanks, Woody. Throwing what the other guys aren't sounds like 24K advice to me. I am just impressed by your consistency. It seems that nearly every time you fish, you catch an 18-inch bass and other bass too. I like that 14-inch fattie. Some of my favorite fish are the shorter, fatter ones.

@GRiver ^That is Spartan!^

I've only had one game warden ask me for my license and he was the most impressive game warden imaginable. I was fishing a lake in northern Ontario, miles down a fresh cut logging road. To reach the lake, you had to run four sets of rapids on four miles of river. Who would ever think a game warden would do that, much less a 70-something game warden, as lean and chewy as beef jerky. And he did chew me, chastising me for a dead walleye in my live well made of rocks forming a corral in the river. "I'll eat it," I said, telling the truth. "No, you won't," he said. "Okay, I'll toss it in the woods," I said. "No, you won't," he said. "Okay, I'll toss it in the river," I said. "No, you won't." "Well, if I can't eat it and I can't toss it in the woods and I can't toss it in the river, what do I do?" "That's up to you to figure out!" Yeah, that two-legged beef jerky chewed me up and spat me out. No ticket though.

@Woody B, you are consistently successful. To achieve your level of consistency, I'm guessing you're not a one-trick, Whopper Plopper-pony like me. However, you must have favorite lures and techniques. Mind sharing two or three?

I also bought a laminator. Twice in 2022, I printed a map of the pond I was fishing and within the first hour, the map was worthless because canoes get wet. So, in 2023, I will have maps of the ponds and bogs that are laminated.* *This is considered ultra high tech fishing in Maine.

Loon-colored 130 Whopper Plopper cast by a spinning reel spooled with 17 lb. mono, as well as spinning reels with 12 lb. and 10 lb. mono. 2nd place: Either a wacky-rigged Senko or a wakebait. 3rd place: jerkbaits, Mepps #3 brass-bladed spinners, Rage Swimmers, and lipless crankbaits. It's fascinating how we catch bass so differently. I favored the Whopper Plopper because it's fun and casts a long ways, plus its retrieve is fast so I cover a lot of water with it.

I placed orders at three companies, but didn't buy many new and sexy lures. Mostly the basics like hooks, sinkers, swivels, Senkos, etc. I did buy a few purty crankbaits and I'm think I'm all set for next year. For the first time in my life, I'll be dropshotting, Roboworming, and squarebilling and I'm excited to try all that, but even more excited to get back to froggin' and to fish, for the first time in my life, for pre-spawn bass. I bought a magic thermometer that you aim at the water and a wetsuit top. Ya hear that, Tim? A wetsuit top! I'm going to buy wetsuit boots too because I generally have to step into the water to launch my canoe and that water will be chilly in early May. The wetsuit top will keep my core warm as I swim to shore if I ever tip. I also bought a new headlamp, as my old headlamp died in the dark on my final fishing trip.

@LrgmouthShad

Alex, I once went musky fishing with about 20 guys in northwestern Ontario. One was an ex-fighter pilot. Two were bouncers. One played college football. One was a race car driver. And so on. I was the only nerdy English major there, but lawdy, they were so creative with language. Funny. Raw. Profane. Playful. Word-wise, I felt like a puppy playing with the big dawgs. But those men were so much than their words. The final evening, I got in trouble on the big lake in a lightning storm. They didn't sit around and fill the warm, dry cabins with words. They went to their boats in that storm and went looking for me, their searchlights making the lake look like London in the Blitz. And when they finally found me, after a couple hours of searching, those big, tough men were so tender. They didn't chastise for lingering in the storm to cast a few more times and then running out of gas. They were simply grateful that I was returning to the warm, dry cabins with them. And I was too. P. S. - I wrote another article for Bass Resource yesterday. I have to let it sit for a few days before I submit it.

Gosh, I LOVE ^this.^ I just followed you. No, Alex, you'll get the dinner if you land that DD. It will be a treat for me to treat you. I'm guessing that Walt Whitman would have known how you'll feel when you land another Scaly Mammoth. As Whitman wrote, "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. The last scud of day holds back for me,." I'm just hoping that I can hear your mighty yawp from Maine and if I do, I'll yawp too. So will Tim. So will Phish and Eric. We'll all rejoice with you. The bulges in your friend's bass made me laugh. The bass I catch don't ever get so big that they grow every which way. Heck, yeah, ^that's^ right. I wrote an essay for Gray's Sporting Journal where I shared how fish swim in my dreams and the uncertainty of dreams is in my fishing. We don't know what's down there and I love not knowing. As you age, you see the same comedy and tragedy play out again and again and I sigh for the sameness, but not fishing. Fishing keeps us wondering and thus, the wonderment of fishing.

I give thanks for Thanksgiving fish photos. Alex, if you land a DD this winter, I'll pay for your dinner. Promise. Woo-hoo, @LrgmouthShad!

I used 14 lb. mono on a spinning reel in 2022. I use my wacky-rigged Senko as a follow-up to missed surface lure hits. The bass hit the Senko a lot of the time. In 2023, I'm dropping to 10 and 12 lb. test. If the 10 and 12 lb. test allow me to control the fish, I'll likely drop again to 8 lb. test. As I shared in a thread, pulling bass out of weeds was a new challenge for me, so I'm thinking I went with heavier line than I needed. BIG fish, Toxic, on 6 lb. test! You are a heckuva fisherman. Here's a pike I caught on 6 lb. test. Every summer, I'd go north and catch some nice pike, but since I was fishing from a canoe, I'd release them in the water for safety and never get a photo. Well, one trip, we used an abandoned, leaking boat (See it listing to the side as it filled with more and more water?) and said, "As soon as we catch and photograph a nice pike, we'll go back to the non-leaking canoe." Luckily, I landed one the first evening as well as five smallmouth from 19.75" to 21", all on 6 lb. test. We were sure happy to drag that boat back to its final resting place! However, your fish are much heavier than my pike!

Just be careful, @T-Billy, if a grizzly bear sees you in your hat and there's a sudden twinkle in her eye.

Heck, yeah! I strive to give thanks. I fed the birds and squirrels this morning, as I always do, but I'm thankful to have them visit me, so I gave them a feast today. I'm also thankful for the Bass Resource guys. You guys are expensive for me, as you tout the lures you use to catch your big fish and then I go buy them, but Bass Resource is Bass College without tuition. What a deal! I've learned a lot here. I've a lot left to learn, but you guys are wise, patient, and gentle professors.

Sorry you lost your sure-footedness, Mr. 215, but hooray for your Classic Accessories Colorado Pontoon Boat. I think it's a wicked cool casting platform. Bonus: You can joust with your 98" kayak paddle.

Here's what I love about your ride: the height and stability. You're just the right height. Close enough to the water to have jumping bass splash you (I love when they do that!) and to make it easy to grab 'em. It looks like you could easily stand to look over reeds or stretch your legs. What's the purpose of the two handles on either side of the seat? BTW, I love that seat too. It looks so comfy. P. S. - I see that canoe too.

I'm out of likes, so thank you, Alex. I used up my likes in this thread because there are some seriously beautiful rides! I used to write a column for Canoe & Kayak magazine called "Rides," where I'd interview paddlers about their favorite boat, why they loved it, and where it had taken them. My favorite question was, "Where would you like to paddle one day?" I loved hearing about their dream paddles. One guy told me that he'd like to paddle the Thames River source-to-sea. Then one day he called me and said, "I'm going. Wanna go?" So, I did! We had to walk the first 15 miles because there wasn't enough water to float a canoe, even though a canoe only needs a few inches. There were so many sheep, swans, and herding dogs before London. So many pubs too! On the upper river, we had to operate the locks ourselves. I loved that! London doesn't permit canoes because of the jet-powered ferries and requires a guide to keep you alive, so we switched to kayaks for the end of the trip. But my favorite ride is my Rockstar. It's light enough for an old woman to carry and then it carries me to bass. And more bass. AND MORE BASS!

My ride is 15' 6" long. It's a discontinued Bell Rockstar. It's Kevlar, weighs 32 pounds, has a 27" beam, and walnut trim. It is not tricked out in anyway and isn't much to behold, since it's Kevlar, which a fingernail can nearly scratch, but it takes me to some fine places. It's on sawhorses now in my garage, as you can see, but a photo of "the Canoe of a Thousand Scratches" on equally beaten sawhorses doesn't convey what it does, what it means to me, its true value, and its true home. The other four pics are my Rockstar at home:

I've seen hundreds of bald eagles in my fishing and paddling paddling. Maybe thousands. However, at one lake just down the highway, there's a bald eagle that's the Dot of bald eagles. Remember ginormous Dot in California? This eagle is a feathered Dot. It's much bigger than any eagle I've ever seen. It drops my jaw every time I see it. It does low passes over me too, feeling like a pterodactyl. Watching that musky/eagle video has me a little worried now.

Sledgehammer! I'm so happy for you, Tim. I'm so sad for you too, with your season ending. Let's rent a bus and go live with Alex for a few months! P. S. - How big do you think the musky was?

I'm with you guys. My last fishing trip of 2022, I was bouncing in the dark, trying to see the shoreline before the wind pushed me into it and the hooks on my five rods snagged wood. My headlamp wasn't working, so I my only light was starlight. Luckily, there was a lot of starlight. My only companion was a hoot owl and we had a nice, long chat. I caught two dinks, but I'll never forget that trip. I loved it. When the Sun finally rose, I was shocked at how brown Maine had become and I'll remember that too. I paddled deep into a bay that is normally weed-choked, noting all the places that might hold bass next spring. And I dreamed of spring. Like GRiver, I love the tackle too. I remember my father walking in the door and laying four, just-purchased rods and reels on the kitchen table, with all the lures and bobbers and hooks. I was smitten. I still am. I remember my first fishing trip. We caught nothing, but I still loved it. I hooked nothing the second and third and fourth times too, but I was hooked. slonezp, I love your story. Thanks for telling it.

Next year, I'm going to pause longer, for sure. I'm a frenetic fisher, which is my weakness and strength.

Mostly long casts on a flat. I like your thinking, that the bass might not just be reaction striking to a lure landing near them, but also reacting to the change in the Whopper Plopper, first churning underwater and then breaking to the surface like an Orca.

I like sidetracks. No need to apologize. I'm wondering now if I shouldn't chuck my lures like Doug Flutie and his famous Hail Mary, but make shorter and MORE casts to trigger more reaction bites. T-Billy, come to Maine to catch loads of bass. I'll get a tandem canoe, put you in the bow, and park you on fish. I've scouted 19 new ponds for next year. So much to explore! One is a 450-acre bog. Geez, I could spend a week exploring that and still miss some nooks. I already mentioned the pond I scouted last week. You drive down a dead end road to a stop sign, explaining that the land is private and you must follow the rules, the first one being don't drive down to the pond. The landowner even erected a barrier to stop cars. Well, I bought wheels for my canoe, so I'll roll down to the pond and launch. The pond only has three cabins on it and connects by a mile-long swamp/creek to a bigger pond with another three cabins. Not completely wild, but close, since a lot of cabins are only inhabited for a week or two each summer. It looks great. And on the drive to this pond, I passed two swamps, so the first morning I go there, I'm going to stop and cast into both swamps. Another pond I'm aching to fish is one I already fished this year. It's almost all lily pads, but I caught two 18-inch bass and lost a 19-inch bass on my visit there. 90% of the pond is a mile of lily pads, but I've caught a few fish froggin' now and I think I'm ready for The Show. And I've been watching videos about how big bass can be caught pre-spawn. Spring will be my Christmas and I'll be like a kid whining to open the presents.

Okay, I've changed my mind. I think distance might still be in play, but now I'm going with Dwight, ironbjorn, and the other "it's a reaction strike" guys. The longer the lure's in the water, the more time the bass have to study it and find some fault with it. MassBass, I do vary my retrieve and try pauses, but I haven't found the pauses to be more triggering than a steady retrieve. It's not that I don't catch fish on a pause. It's that I catch the same number, more or less, and the pause means I'm covering less water. AaronH, I like your click counter. However, my boat is so wet that I keep my cell phone in plastic. It still sorta works in the plastic, but it's a pain.