Swamp Girl

There's this. If you added a trough board to something similar, you could sell it for about $30: https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Ozeri-Precision-Pro-White-Stainless-Steel-Digital-Kitchen-Scale-with-Oversized-Weighing-Platform-ZK011/203725596?g_store=&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-HDH-GGL-D59H-029_029_HOUSEWARES-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-kitchen_tools_smart_pla_test&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-HDH-GGL-D59H-029_029_HOUSEWARES-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-kitchen_tools_smart_pla_test-71700000087623968-58700007447146479-92700068477512577&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqoibBhDUARIsAH2OpWhYOnNr4XMIRF395vOxbvjx7zEbEBK7iab9TlblGsl6xyR-J2n5QO8aAo3jEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yoo-hoo, Alex! Your photos are so sharp. What's your camera?

I played one video game in my life and that was so addictive that I'd be up until four in the morning, my head buzzing with fatigue, but I couldn't stop. So, when I finally stopped playing that game, I never started another. However, I admire your gaming station. Captain Kirk would too. I'm glad you're counter-balancing your life with fishing, which is both calming and exciting. So exciting.

You misunderstand. My Tetris has most of its buttons still. Plus, as recently as 1989, it sorta worked.

New question: How many of you would buy a trough board that also electronically weighed your fish? I sure would.

Hey, where is the heli-pad?

Welcome, J. The guys here are so kind and helpful. Pose some questions and they'll increase the quantity and quality of the fish you'll catch. Say, would you be willing to swap your gaming setup for my old, handheld, broken Tetris? Of course, you'd have to sweeten the pot with a couple grand, simply to be fair.

I love my hog trough measuring board, but it only measures length. How about a combo measuring board/weight scale? You set the fish on the board and it gives you the weight as you note its length. Better for the fish since it shortens the whole process!

You guys could start a tv show called, "I Tricked Out my Canoe!"

I didn't fish for the last five years due to someone needing caregiving, which kept me from northwestern Ontario, but then I discovered that there are bass pretty much in my backyard. Lots of 'em! So, I'm back to fishing. A four-year old attached to an 18-inch carp, given their power, must have been fun to see!

Phish, you're my coach, my mentor and my Yoda. I will fish that pond again next year! I wasn't sure I would, but with your encouragement, I'm sure now. I'm thinking about using one of these final days to return to the pond where I caught that fat fish. There's a ridge running out into the deep lake. I read that bass ambush prey on the sides of such ridges, so that's where I worked my Whopper Plopper, but I'd like to slowly work a soft plastic swimbait there too, like you suggested.

Phish, I will nearly do as you suggest. I won't use the exact baits and hooks you suggested, but I have baits and hooks that are almost identical. ^This sounds sooo right to me.^ Thank you. My problem is me. I thought I'd found the pond of ponds, down a wet and bumpy road that would deter many, without a boat ramp, with zero cabins, and abutting the pond that had some fat gals. My expectations were over the moon. And Venus and Mars too. What is wicked cool about this pond that I didn't mention is that there's an old bridge made of railroad ties over one of the waterfalls that Google Earth doesn't show. One day, I'll climb that bridge and follow its road.

Well, the new pond was a little anti-climatic. It was fed by the pond where I caught that 19-incher with the big belly a few days ago and it has ZERO cabins, so I figured it would be amazing. I did catch 29 fish, one pickerel and 28 bass. It was also gorgeous with a couple small waterfalls, beavers, an eagle, and cathedral white pines. I loved the approach too, down a bouncy dirt road with mud and pools. And I loved that I couldn't hear any cars. However, I was expecting/hoping to catch at least two 19-inchers. I did catch two 18-inchers, but one was so skinny I couldn't bear to photograph it. I caught three super skinny fish this year and wonder if they didn't have a parasite in them. I'll start the photos with some small fish, then some lake photos, one with a beaver, and finally some longer fish. I am amazed that it's November and I can still go out and catch bass in Maine. I figure we'll have snow in a couple weeks. Most of the bass hit the Whopper Plopper, but about eight hit the wacky worm and one hit the wake bait. I couldn't catch a fish on a lipless crankbait or jerkbait.

^This is why I decided against a swimbait.^ The dead bass would bug me too. In Maine, it would have fed an eagle. I was fishing a river mouth in Canada and I hooked a little smallie. There was an eagle there watching. It was there every morning. For some reason, the smallie was hurt. I didn't hook it badly or keep it out of the water for long, but when I released it, it was on its side, flopping. Five minutes later, it was in that eagle.

The Chicago River and the Illinois River connect Lake Michigan and the Mississippi.

^I love these.^

This is the third time I've looked at the photos that lead this thread! I also love the song, which is perfect for the trip.

A Canadian Shield lake in northwestern Ontario.

You bet your sweet bippie, Baron! I don't just agree with what you wrote. I agree with pom-poms.

You were the thunder and lightning!

The rods are ready and in the car. The canoe's atop the car. Now I just have to manage some sleep, which is hard for me when there's a new pond waiting for me come morning.

Heck, yeah! I like that balance too, of plumbing a pond deeply, and casting in utter ignorance. Blue, if I lived in northern Maine all my life, I still don't think I'd fish all that water. There are that many places to cast.

I imagined it would be like that. I kayaked the Mississippi a couple times, from northern MN and again from Cincinnati, one time to New Orleans and the other to Baton Rogue, and I'd cross the wakes of the tow boats, some longer than aircraft carriers, just for fun. You'd climb the wet hill and then descend it, and then do another and another and another....

I like your photos Bob because: A. Nice fish. B. You look so darn happy to have landed nice fish, as you SHOULD BE! C. ?

Way to go, Bob!