Swamp Girl

Alex, whenever I see the eagles, ospreys, and loons, I think, "I wish Alex were here. He'd like to see and hear these great birds." And when I catch a dark and beautiful fish, I think of you too! The smallmouth did have great shapes and color. I can tell within a second or two if I've hooked a smallmouth or largemouth. The smallmouth like lateral runs, whereas the largemouth are bulldoggy, hunkering and holding their ground. I'm going to fish my big fish swamp tomorrow morning. It's an A-Jay place, with quality over quantity, so I might just catch three fish and I'm hoping one of them is scale-worthy. I'm going to use my new Rage Swimmers tomorrow morning. I've got a pumpkin-colored one and one that's red and blue.

I fished a pumpkin 4.75" Rage Swimmer. It's ribbed and has a paddle tail. I paired it with an Eagle Claw Tro Kar weighted swimbait hook in 3/0. Do you wait a sec to set the hook with this setup? I ask because I lost several fish before a pickerel cut my line and that setup was my only one in the canoe.

I keep thinking I'm done fishing for 2022 and then a warm, calm morning yanks me out of the sack. Plus, we got 4.5" of rain yesterday and last night and I thought that all the new water might stir some fish. The day started out well with a strike on my Whopper Plopper on the my first cast, but for the first 1.5 hours, they were pecking at my lures. I caught more smallmouth than I usually do and they were chunky and hard fighting. I also caught six largemouth bass on a wacky worm, cast to the swirl where they just hit my Whopper Plopper. I couldn't catch a single fish on my wake bait and recently, that was the only thing they'd hit. I also did well with a jointed, shallow-running crankbait and a pumpkin-colored paddle tail swimbait. I couldn't buy a bite with my normally reliable Mepps. I was not the only fisher on the lake. There were eagles, ospreys, and loons. The loons are singing fishers. As is nearly always the case, there were no other fishers in boats, banging and clanging like they ain't got no sense. I caught 41 fish. Only one pickerel. I don't know how the other fishers fared. I looked at them and thought, "I wish I were a feathered fisher too." Maybe they looked at me and thought, "I wish I were fishing from a canoe too."

Heck, yeah! I do too. I caught 41 this morning, just three miles from my house. So. Much. Fun!

I envy you year-round fishers. I tried ice fishing once. One and done. Sitting on a bucket staring at a hole ain't fishing.

I agree with roadwarrior. That's incredible fishing.

Bob, I was steadily froggin' and getting hits on just about every other cast (I didn't catch most of those bass.). Then, one day, nada. I tried a couple more times and still zip. So, I quit. Yeah, we have a wealth of water and bass aren't even the top prize here. Brookies and landlocked Atlantic salmon are. And, yes, it can be pricey. That's because rich New Yorkers and Bostonians buy their summer homes here. However, there are affordable properties too. I bought my five wooded acres with a 2,000 square foot house for $243,000 just 1.5 years ago and I'm close enough to the ocean to smell it and feel it.

Missouri and Massachusetts sound great. This thread is eye-opening.

What's cool, Bob, is that the rivers are filling with striped bass too, coming up to our warmer and warmer Gulf of Mexico. We even had a great white shark death a summer back. If you get a chance, cruise the ponds and lakes of Aroostook County, which Mainers call "the county." It's the top third of Maine and it is loaded with water holding smallmouth, brook trout, and landlocked salmon. I'm sure many of its smaller bodies of water never see a fisher all summer. The ponds of "the county" would make the water I fish look as busy as 5th Ave. at rush hour. I'm going to mosey up there soon and cast to those utterly wild fish. Do play hooky!

No, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. No, Florida. No,.... King Fisher, that sounds like Nirvana.

Yeah, Bob, we're freckled with water. I actually fished Fish Pond yesterday. That was my first visit. According to Maine Fish and Wildlife, Fish Pond has a boat ramp maintained by the local Fish and Game Club. However, that info about the boat ramp is 21 years old and I'm guessing the codgers who maintained that boat ramp are dead or watching "The Price is Right" in a nursing home nowadays, because what I saw yesterday morning is too shallow, weed-choked, and muddy to launch any boat bigger than a canoe. And thank goodness for that, for limited access means more strike-happy bass. Grassy Pond is nearby. That too looks promising. I've added it to my list of water to fish next year. Google Upper Mason Pond.That's real close to my home. It's so weed-choked that I can only use surface lures,* but it's good for 35 or so bass every morning or evening with the chance of a 19-inch plus bass. Like Fish Pond, it has a parking lot, but it's only canoe-launchable, which really limits interest in a pond because canoeing is work. What most people don't realize is that canoeing is also play. They are nifty, nimble boats, perfect for slipping through reeds in search of enough of an opening to cast. Lower Mason also holds hogs, as well as jumbo perch. I've never seen anyone else fishing them. They're just three of the dozen ponds I fished this year. I plan to fish another dozen next year. I'm super excited to fish Carlton Bog next spring. It's only spring-fishable with the snow melt, but it's huge and weedy. I scouted it and it looks wonderful. *Even stretches of what appears to be open water have weeds right below the surface. P.S. - I didn't even know what LiveScope was until I googled it a few days ago. Again, paddle sonar is high tech up here.

Is anyone else reading these accounts and wanting to move to ten other states at once? If I had to pick one, it would be Missouri. No, Michigan. No, New York. No, California. No,....

It's gin clear, so clear that I look over the side of my canoe and it looks a foot deep. I'm always testing depth with my paddle.* I was fishing close to Camden yesterday, which is called mid-coast. Camden is where Peyton Place was filmed because it's considered the quintessential New England town. Google Camden. It's ridiculously pretty. Its harbor is filled with 1800s sailing ships and it has twin waterfalls tumbling into that harbor, with a mountain as a backdrop. *Testing depth with a paddle is high tech in Maine. We're behind the times and we like it that way!

Norcal, the thing I loved about yesterday's pond was the vast flats of lily pads. It's too late for froggin', but the thoughts of fishing those pads next year already has me whining like a puppy for her favorite toy. I didn't catch any big fish yesterday, but that's been my story all fall, so I'm thinking there might be bigger fish there. We'll see!

Yep, a lot of walleye anglers sneer at bass.

Here's what I love I about Maine: 1.3 and #1 in trees Yeah, 1.3 million people with the largest percentage of old people of the 50 states and the most trees of all the states. Plus, we have a lot of ponds, bogs, lakes, and rivers. So, with fewer people and a lot of old folks and freshwater, you're less likely to have to share your fishing with other fishers. Much of the water has undeveloped shorelines and I'd much rather have trees as my backdrop than lake homes, which Mainers call camps. Additionally, unlike Wisconsin, where lake homes are often McMansions, Maine camps tend to be small, unheated, and without lawns dumping herbicides into the water. Up north and inland, they haven't even bothered to name all the lakes, just like you find in Ontario. All this adds up to quiet water with uneducated fish. Ahhhh!

Beautiful bass and tree. Alex, I'm surprised at how red that tree is. I would have guessed that your fall would come weeks or even a couple months after ours.

You're welcome! I try to live a grateful life and it's clear that you do too. Agreed. Ontario is Heaven on Earth.

Whoa! That's a stat. It makes DiMaggio's streak look as long as an inchworm.

Ahhh, thanks, Eric!

What do you love about your state's bass fishing? You may do more than one state if you've lived hither and yon. For example, I lived in Wisconsin on the Wisconsin River. So, there were smallmouth in my backyard. Then there was Chequamegon Bay, chock full of big smallmouth, and Lake Michigan too. On the western border, there was the magnificent Mississippi, which grows big bass and everything else.

Alex, the photos I took have Maine looking a lot like Vermont, but Maine is mostly trees. We have more trees than any other state. We also have more coastline than California with all our indentations. So, we're trees and waves crashing into cliffs. AND BASS! Thanks, Mr. Bass and Mr. 5/0.

Okay, so I loaded the canoe one more time because I couldn't stand wasting a warm day. Driving to the pond is one of the best parts of the day, for there's so much SUGAH!* I passed three general stores that look and operate as if it were 1922 instead of 2022. Then I saw the cows** used to make Maine's Whoopie Pies***, as well as Oreo cookies. Finally, the pond. It is right off the highway. You launch from a cobbled dam and worm your way through weeds to the pond. I paddled up one side of the pond and caught 33 fish. "This is going to be a great day!" I thought. Then I paddled down the other side of the pond and caught three fish. "This is a great day!" I thought. I caught one smallmouth, two pickerels, and 32 largemouth. None were big, but I will fish this pond again. It only has two homes on it, which is how I like 'em. The last fish is crazy skinny, huh? I caught most of the fish on a chrome Whopper Plopper. I caught one on a Mepps size 4, two on a Wake Bait, one of a bluegill-colored crankbait, two on a shad-colored crankbait, and the rest on the Whopper Plopper. That's what they wanted, even though I kept trying other lures. *sugar maples **They're actually Scottish Belted Galloways, which are pretty common in Maine. ***Whoopie Pies look like giant Oreo cookies.

I love fishing Ontario for smallies. You caught some fine, FINE fish!

Jack, that fish is a looker: nice belly, wide tail, and as healthy as can be.