Swamp Girl

Mr. Chef, for a newspaper article, I once fished with an accomplished female fisher. That day, we only caught small smallies, but I will never forget what she said as we boated each one: "They're all good."

I nearly had the same night. I had five rods in my boat and would sometimes cast each one just once in succession trying to determine what they wanted. I'd switch lures too, but nada. I even paddled to the ends of bays to the shallowest water, hoping to find them there. I fished deep too. The only pattern I could find was beaver dams. They seemed to be holed up in the dams themselves. Finally, I caught two out of the dams and lost two, but mostly I just held a casting practice. However, it was an evening as pretty as Brad Pitt times Audrey Hepburn, so I did land that hog in the bog. If we can just land his address, we can all crash one of his cookouts. Accidentally, of course.

This is the best fishing report of the year! It's got it all: drama, surprise, big bass, scenery, and a great father/daughter fishing team.If we could vote for best fishing report, you'd have my vote.

Alex, that bass's mouth is so big it looks like it could eat its entire body, like a snake swallowing itself, starting at the tail.

Regarding the cray-cray bog-fishing requirement, I did bonk a rock. I saw other rocks, but the rock I hit was a complete surprise. If I'd been in a bigger, faster boat, I might have permanently docked that boat on the bottom of the bog. I'm about to leave for fishing again and it looks like rain. Hooray for that! I love overcast skies because bass like overcast skies and I've had some big fish hit my surface lures when rain is pelting the surface.

No cheese grating. I was wearing a glove...thanks to you guys! I also had my scale for the first time, but no fish big enough to weigh. Dang it! Oh, well. I'm going fishing again for a couple hours this evening, so fingers crossed I get to weigh my first fish EVER! Alex, you'd catch 30 fish if you fished my bogs. They're too small and weed-cluttered for most fishers, which means more fish ready to punch my dance card.

Alex, it's fall in Maine, which made for some pretty fishing this morning. It was also pretty tough fishing. I fished the shallowest of my bogs and it was even shallower, which puzzles me, as it's been raining steadily. I had to search for water where I could cast. A stretch might look open, but then there'd be weeds half an inch below the surface. There were also stretches with leaves floating on the water, which I liked. I caught 29 fish, two pickerel and 27 bass, but nothing big. I did have one nicer fish single hooked by the canoe, but it unbuttoned. Earlier in the summer, I lost a Whopper Plopper to a poorly tied knot. That fish kindly returned it. It happened again this morning (Dumb to not check my knot, huh?), so I waited for the bass to return it and it did (Smart to be patient, huh?), coming out of the water and shaking it free. T-Billy (Tim) once called me a "hammer." This morning, I was a tack hammer. Some fall color followed by a perfect hornets' nest in the rain followed by a few fish:

Doc, did you get a measurement on that fish?

Update: I've fallen in love with bog fishing. Over the last month, I used my Whopper Plopper a lot in the bogs, casting between the pads and using my frog and wacky worms. I'll be bog fishing again tomorrow at two different bogs. My last outing, I only caught three bass and that was six or seven days ago. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, to see if I can crack autumnal bog bass. Someone suggested dropping a heavy fig with plastic into the pads, so I'm going to try that. I'm also going to try a wake bait.

So many bassiful fish!

There are some hog farmers in the house!

Ha!

I'd love that no-motor rule.

Gorgeous, Tim!

Alex, I've done a fair of amount of outdoor writing (Gray's Sporting Journal, Field and Stream, Musky Hunter, etc.) and you've got the requisite tone, command of language, good humor, and observational powers to write professionally. If you limit your writing to bassresource.com, that's great too and I'll continue to enjoy your posts. I have a guest from Tennessee for five days and he doesn't fish, so right now, I don't fish. Dang it!

Ahhhh. No wonder I couldn't solve it: IT'S BEYOND ME!

I give up. I kept trying to guess what a DD bass is. I failed. A little help?

I've seen seals compress mackerel, alternating between a picket line and Pickett's Charge, but seals are mammals' big brains to coordinate. Dolphins do the same thing, compressing prey into bite-sized balls. And I've fished for white bass when you could chuck a roll of nickels into the water and they'd eat every one, but to do it with spots?!? What an evening! I laughed at your casting, in your overwhelming excitement and joy, hither and yon. Nobody "getting it" reminds me of the Beetles' song: "When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead." If you're not thrilled by bonkers banzai spots, you might as well be dead!

What an evening! And what a bass! I sure would have loved to see the spots herding shad, but thanks to your explanation, I kinda did.

Nooooo, Alex! However, I think about the Twilight Zone episode where the gambler dies and thinks he's gone to Heaven because he wins at every game he plays, but then he's told that he's not in Heaven, but Lucifer's pad, for there's no elation in winning when we always win. Your two lost hogs will make your next caught hog so much sweeter. However, I get that those lost fish gut hook us. Remember when I lost three four-pound bass in consecutive casts a couple weeks back? I still pine for such a chance again.

Thanks, Bassman. I've selected three colors. I LOVE vicious strikes and am excited to use them. Thanks too for the hook swapping tip. Well, I fished this evening and caught two bass. I threw my tackle box at them and they threw it back in my canoe. The water felt cool as the bite, but the evening was gorgeous. A Maine bog with gin clear air and sugar maples beginning to blaze. At times, I just drifted, witnessed, and gave thanks.

Dang Father Time!

I'm going to buy one of those Azuma Wake-Zs. I bet the Yankee bass will love it. Any tips on retrieving it or where I should cast it?

Crazy striping, Dwight. Keep that fish away from tigers lest they too turn jelly.

^That is a perfect fish. I've loved them all, but I think I love ^THIS^ fish most of all.^