Swamp Girl

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I have three baitcasting reels. I'm in Florida right now, but when I get home, would you mind if I listed them to have you suggest which one would be best for frogging? Anyone else, of course, is welcome to suggest too.

Nooo! Say it ain't sooo! I've already spent so much money. Why do I need an 8-speed reel? Great tip. I'm going to do this too.

Oh, I'm not 50%, but maybe. Someday. Someday way yonder. I hadn't considered turtles, but I fish in PickerelLandUSA and I know their strikes. They're T-Boners. Side-swipers. They don't rise from the depths like bass, Trident missiles, and the Kraken.

Froggin' has been Heaven and Heck. Here's what's heavenly: I love the challenge and being freed to fish the slop. I love the explosive strikes. I even love the improbability of it, i.e. pulling slabs of meat out of the salad. Here's what's heckish: I miss so many strikes. So, I've been reading bassresource.com articles and watching YouTube videos and bassresource.com videos. Last night, I bought a heavy action 7'4" rod and I'm upgrading my braid to 50 lb.These upgrades should help, but reading this also helped: "And speaking of lost fish, the biggest downside to frogging is it has a very low hookup ratio. Bass are somewhat blind in their attack on a frog, ambushing from below and through the weeds to get the lure. You’ll have some big blow ups that don’t even touch the bait, which can be disheartening. But remember you wouldn’t even be able to get to these fish without a frog so the fact that you even have a chance at them is something to smile about."

Mr. Dinks, here's my life motto: "Whenever you're frazzled, report to the pond."

Heck, yeah! And I love in a populated part of the state. Go up north and there are hundreds of ponds/lakes that they don't even bother naming and they're full of smallmouth, salmon, and brook trout. To reach them, you bounce down logging roads and then portage to the water. Then you're casting to fish that are seeing a lure for likely the first time.

T-Billy, I have no delusion about why I catch good numbers of thick fish: I'm simply catching bass that aren't pressured because most human beings don't like to sweat. As I wrote in another thread, I avoid water with boat ramps. I like where the approach to the lake is uneven terrain. I like where there are weeds and rocks to snare motors. I avoid lakes with houses and docks. And I love to fish on rainy days. Luckily, Maine has plenty of ponds and rivers that are lonely and lovely and a blessing of rainy days to chase folks away. However, it is clear that I don't know as much about fishing as most of you guys. You reference all kinds of lures and techniques that I don't know, but I wanna know, so I ask and you guys are kind enough to teach. I try to use a new lure or technique every time I go fishing. I'm still lousy at frog fishing, but I sure do love it. Next time I go, I'll be Super Fluking, which were explained to me in another thread, as I just ordered some from Cabela's. And I'll be plunging into those reeds. I did try to stand in my canoe on the edge of them to see if there was open water, but my balance just isn't what it was, so I quit that attempt when it became clear I was about to join the bass in their home. I also tried to scout openings from the shore, but the mud just about swallowed my sandal. I do think I'll find open pockets. Even a pocket a couple feet wide might hold a big ol' gal, I'm thinking. Well, I'm hoping. I'll see and I'll let you know.

I lived in western WI for 30 years and I've lived on the coast of Maine for 10 years, so I'm confident in asserting that MN is way colder than coastal Maine. We have winters where it doesn't drop below zero. However, I do love MN.

So far, my catching ratio with popping frogs is catch one and miss five.* So, well done! *It doesn't help that I can't cast far and so the bass explode right beside my canoe and my reaction is to yelp and yank.

It sounds like you already know a lot, at least compared to me. I don't know what stick rigging is. I do a lot of googling as I read this site, so now I'm off to google stick rigging!

They do, Gimruis, but they freezing doesn't kill the fish because there are deep pockets. I am so excited to fish this fall when the bass grow feistier! Sadly, I can't fish for the next four days as I'm flying to visit my mom. She actually lives on a lake in Florida and the lake has largemouth, but they're pale. I like the dark Maine bass.

Okay, I'm going to give it a go. Thanks, Mr. Account, for the precision! Mr. River, I did catch a 19-incher at the beginning of all those reeds yesterday, so you might be right.

Hi, JJM. The guys on this board are super helpful and knowledgeable. Pump them for info. They're generous. Congrats on that bass! How did you catch it? I live in Maine and have fallen in love with bog fishing for largemouth.

One of my favorite bogs in Maine for largemouth has open to somewhat open water for half of it. Then there's about another 200 yards of reeds, those stiff, thick reeds. Will there be bass all the way back, through all two hundred yards of reeds? I know you can't say for certain, but what's your best guess and why?

Thanks, Mike. I plan to use flukes more going forward.

N Florida Mike, when you Super Fluke, what weight line are you using? I ask because you said that you let your fluke drop into holes and I'm wondering if my 17 lb. test is enough to haul a bass out of a hole.

N Florida Mike, if you don't mind, will you share a photo of your fluke rig and a tip or two for using them? Aw, shucks, T-Billy!

First off, congrats and I too love your smile! If bass won't hit your normal lures, a nightcrawler just hooked in the head with zero weight is irresistible. It's hard to cast and hard to hook them, but lawdy, they love all that writhing.

Thanks, Mr. Warrior and Mr. SpotHunter. I too always thought of Maine as a smallmouth state and there are lots of smallmouth here and big ones, but I've fallen in love with bog fishing, which means largemouth. Bog fishing is like miniature golf with all the obstacles, but instead of windmills and tunnels, there are reeds and lily pads. Bog fishing is also great for my canoe. The smallmouth prefer the deeper lakes, which are more open and therefore windier. All that wind and water is fine if you have a big boat and motor, but bogs are cozier for a canoe. Hey, did you see my bolt cutters in three of the photos? I'm ready for the next mishap!

I drove to a new bog yesterday afternoon, but there wasn't enough water to float my canoe. I could see water yonder, about a hundred yards away, but there were a hundred yards of reeds between me and it. I asked the folks at the nearest house what happened to the bog and they said the dam broke. Dang dam! So, I went to a smaller bog this morning and for the first 45 minutes, I only caught one bass. Then I switched to nightcrawlers and caught two more, but I don't like worm fishing. It's not busy enough for me. I was getting hits on my Whopper Plopper, but not hooking fish. The bite slowly increased and I landed a 17.5-inch bass. I also caught some chain pickerel and took a photo of one in case you southern fishers wanna a look. The wind blew me into some reeds. Just last night, I watched a YouTube video where an accomplished frog fisher said that we should chuck our frogs into places where we don't think there's enough water for fish. Well, I'd been blown into the big salad bar at Caesar's Palace, but there was about two feet of open water, so I cast my frog there and KERSPLOOSH! There was so much water moved that I was confused, but my frog was gone, so I set the hook and luckily, there wasn't enough water for the bass to put up a big fight. She was 19 inches, the size I love. I caught 34 in all and lost a BIG bass at the end that I just couldn't control, not even with my 17-lb. line and MH rod. I could see she was headed for reeds as thick as a man's thumb and I tried to stop her, but couldn't. Even in the reeds, I had her hooked for a bit, but by the time I dug to my lure, she was gone. Sooo exciting. The first photo is a typical bass for the bog. Then the chain pickerel. Then the big girl. Then some others.

You're a good man, Spothunter, worrying about that Dachau fish. I just want to feed that fish, not catch it. Kyle, I like the shape of your big bass. It's it funny how bass come in so many different shapes, even from the same lake, within the same hour?

That bass in the photo is a beauty! Your emaciated bass would have disturbed me too. I once caught enormous bullheads from a drainage ditch, but they must have had some parasite in them. They were gruesome.

FWIW, I got a tetanus shot this afternoon and bought some baby bolt cutters. I do heed the advice of this board's members. And I'm going fishing again tomorrow morning, which is the sagest advice.

Great suggestion, Mr. Ruis. I just got a booster and some antibiotics. Sadly and seriously, I wasn't going to do much of anything other than shrug, but better safe than sorry.

Thanks, Gary. I worried that when the barb snapped, there might still be resistance extracting it from my hand, but it wasn't bad.