Swamp Girl

Whitewater + Bass = Heaven on Earth I know the Yough has both. So does the Potomac. What's your river?

Mr. 46, I'm thinking about buying a wetsuit long-sleeved shirt, wetsuit booties, and wetsuit shorts. I don't think I'd try to pull my canoe to shore. I'd swim to shore and hopefully survive with the wet suit. It's cool that you whitewater canoe. I did that in my youth. It's as exciting as bass fishing.

The problem, Tim, is getting back into a tipped canoe. It's possible, but difficult.

In a pinch, we could replace the fishing articles and fishing shows and YouTube videos with this gem: You are right about the quality of the fishing today, Alex. You know how guys say, "You should have been here yesterday?" "Yesterday" was today! Tim, I'm thinking about buying a dry suit.* *Correction: Make that a wetsuit. I just shopped dry suits and they are above my pay grade.

Thanks for the play-by-play, TriRiver. It was thrilling! I especially liked the moment when you were skiing in the pontoon chop. Great pics too! I also like how the bass got to bite you. They deserve to bite us from time to time.

The average size was good this morning, Alex. I don't remember a single dink. I've been grinning ever since. Fishing in the dark fog was also cool. Literally cool, as it was 41 degrees and I was wearing shorts, but also figuratively cool and thrilling. I'd put barbless hooks on two of my lures and that helped a lot in the dark. I hope to fish two more times this week. Ironically, what makes my fishing possible, given my age, is also what makes my fishing dangerous. I paddle a light (32 pound), swift canoe. Because it's light and speedy, it's tippy. As far as paying for mornings like mine today, there are plenty of places where you can catch plenty of bass. I used to fish Lake Michigan's north shore and tributaries like the Whitefish River. They're LOADED with bass.

Eric, you are so kind. I'm a professional writer, which means I've written millions of words. It's like fishing: Do it a lot and you learn some tricks. Glenn has my first article for bassresource.com. It's about fishing northwestern Ontario for smallmouth out of a canoe. That trip would be within your reach. The fishing is even better than Maine's fishing. I had a couple two-hundred-plus smallmouth days up there. I fished from can until can't because the bass were bonkers. I once caught seven fish in seven casts and had many two, three, four, and five-fish in a row. On the third day, I rested. My hands looked like they'd been hammered with a meat tenderizer. I've had many 100-fish days up there too. This morning, I also had a Bald Eagle do a low flyover...twice. I wouldn't have been more thrilled it had been its titanium cousin, an F-22 Raptor. And I saw a couple Great Blue Herons, who are simultaneously ungainly and glorious. Fishing rewards paying attention, so when we're on the water, I think we see the critters and the shoreline as vividly as we watch the water. That's a long fish, Mike! What did she hit? How did she fight? Steve, I hope to catch a peacock bass before I die. Do they outfight our native bass? GreenPig, I'm a little piggy when it comes to bass!

Heck, yeah, brown bass are addictive. For years, I only fished for brownies. Now I'm happy with either largemouth or smallmouth. Good luck with your kid!

Mr. 127, I just looked at your city on the map. I can see why fishing could be tough due to a lot of people nearby and not much water. However, have you tried accessing those ponds on I-65 that were created when they built ramps? I fished similar ponds outside of Columbus, OH and caught lots of bass. The trick is gaining access.

I was so excited to fish this morning that I didn't fall asleep until 2:00 a.m. I had the alarm clock set for 5:15 a.m., which was stupid because I haven't adjusted to the perpetually later sunrises. So, I arrived at the lake in the dark. It was Stephen King foggy too. I actually waited a few minutes in the car for the merest light. My flashlight was useless because its light bounced off the fog. Speaking of Stephen King, I had one of his creepy moments. I thought I saw something advancing on me. There was a beaver tail slapping, but this was too wide and high for a beaver. "It's your imagination," I chided myself. But it kept coming closer and closer. "The fog is tricking your eyes," I told myself. And it kept coming and coming. Again, my flashlight was worthless. "Are those birds?" I wondered. And they were. Three waterfowl in a tight formation. They were curious about me, I think. And fearless. I've never had that happen before this morning. I don't think they read me as human in the dark and fog. I used three stand-bys: A Whopper Plopper, a brass-bladed Mepps #3, and a pumpkin-colored wacky worm with a yellow tip. I also used three lures I haven't used much: a jerkbait, a swimbait, and lipless crankbait. Everything caught fish. For the first three hours, I averaged about 13 bass an hour. For the last two, I caught three bass an hour. The early bird really does get the bass! The smallmouth were aerobatic. Not long, but thick. This morning's pond is a numbers pond, but I still managed to catch a 17.75-incher. Most were in the 15-16.5-inch range. Fun, strong fish. I didn't catch a single pickerel and hooray for that! I know I said I was done fishing two or three weeks back, not because the fish had stopped feeding, but because I was afraid of the chilling water. I still am. Fear is good. It keeps me low and careful in the canoe. I caught 45 bass in total, which makes me Kate 45. You've heard of the Colt 45, an American classic. Well, Kate 45 is a Maine classic fisher in a canoe with no electronics. I can see that some of you are catching BIG fish. Sadly, I'm not. However, if I were to duct tape my fish together, tail to head to tail to..., I would have caught a HUGE fish this morning. I sometimes look at the shore and wonder, "If I were to tip right now, could I reach the shore? And then could I reach warmth?" I often don't know. Lastly, bassresource.com wouldn't let me upload a lot of the photos, but here are the ones it did permit.

I wish I'd been in the boat with you, North Bass Guy. Your day had everything: fat fish, lots of the fish, and no other boats on the lake!

Tim! Tim, Tim, TIM! What a day! What a bass! What a musky! What a wife! I love the head on that fish. And this is the gratitude that Alex and were discussing:

I will post a link! Speaking of fishing, I'm going tomorrow morning. As always, so excited! I'm going to start with a jerkbait. I've been watching the videos and I think I'm good to go. I'm also going to put a trailer on a spinbait and use that. I'm returning to the pond where they loved my wakebait last time, so I'll try that too. As far as the energy I put into fishing, when I lived in Boston, I walked to work. It was four miles each way, summer and winter, dawn and dark. If I was walking at rush hour, I'd walk as fast as the cars. I'd see the same drivers, again and again, at the intersections. They looked stressed. They were stressed. After all, at the end of the day, they had to reach the health club to stay fit. I needed no health club because I was a walking health club. It's the same with carrying and paddling a canoe. It's a full upper body workout: And it burns 300 to 500 calories per hour. For my lower body, there's the portaging. And like walking, it makes me happy. A well-executed paddle stroke is as beautiful as a well-placed Rapala. I take a lot of pride in tracking my canoe as straight as an arrow in flight and zig-zagging it through the reeds.

Coincidentally, I just wrote a fishing article for bassresource.com called, "This is Spartan." There was a boat show down on our town's harborwalk and there was a nifty, red Alumacraft with a 30 horse Honda four-stroke engine. So pretty. I ran my hand along its gunnel. A salesman approached me and I got the price ($16,500) and I considered it for about six seconds, but what decided it was this: I won't catch more fish with it. I'll likely catch fewer fish. I won't be able to fish some great ponds with it. Sure, it would be more comfortable and I wouldn't have to work as hard. I might be Ol' Crickety, but I'm not so ol' that I can't work hard. A wise man once wrote: And I like the whole of this so much that I copied it and now I'm pasting it:

Whoa, Alex! And, WOW! Alex, I love how you get sooooo excited. The fish deserve our joy.

I'm guessing, given the dispositions and power of spots and smallies, that a meanmouth smallie/spot hybrid wouldn't be this equation: A smallie + a spot = a meanmouth Rather, it would be this equation: A smallie x a spot = a MEANMOUTH!

Check out this meanmouth:

I think you're right. Okay, I won't worry anymore.

It didn't work. Sigh. I was sure that was going to solve it. Any other ideas?

It's weird. And embarrassing. It looks like I'm trying to fill a thread with white static.

I have spent years at a particular paddling and fishing website and there are posters whose ONLY threads include links to their YouTube videos. These posters don't appear in other people's threads to encourage them or congratulate them. They only use that website as place for their free-of-cost commercials. It's annoying as Heck and they add zero value to that community. So, I standing-applaud bassresource.com's position. P. S. - Does anyone know why my posts have lots of white space below the text?

Alex, if you ever get a 300-pound spot boatside, don't, in your supreme joy and terror, get tangled up in your line and have it drag you into the deep. Don't be Alex Ahab!

Alex, you are right about the fun of catching fish with new lures. I was so proud of my first froggin' bass. The best I ever did was seven bass on a frog, but that was right before they quit hitting my frog, so I'm super excited about next summer and surpassing that number. I once went to a musky lake north of Lake of the Woods with 21 guys. Many were young, large, and muscular, and even they were beaten down by heaving those billy clubs with hooks. If I were to do it again, I'd fish with heavy bass gear and smaller lures. I once did that froggin' for muskies and you see the V coming for your frog. I had 21 hits and only caught two, but what a day that was! When whalers used to harpoon a whale and the whale would pull their boat, they called it a Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Well, in my solo canoe, I've been on a few Ontario sleigh rides when musky fishing and that's probably the greatest thrill I've ever had fishing. A tarpon or mako jumping might surpass that, but not by much. Mr. 86, since I fish in a 15' canoe that's not loaded with gear and is therefore light and easily windblown, even a 15 mph wind means I spend more time with a paddle in my hand than a fishing rod. P. S. - You guys are funny in this thread!

Beautiful fish, Phish! Alex, I had musky fever for about three years, but casting big lures is so hard on a body. I was smallmouth focused for about 30 years. As a kid, I loved bluegills. I've done some walleye fishing too, but nowadays, it's bass, bass, and BASS. Smallie or largies doesn't matter, much like largies or spots doesn't matter to you. I have yet to fish a chatterbait. Or a roboworm. Or a swimbait. Sigh.

Alex, next time, go Mako shark fishing at the same lake and see what you catch.