Swamp Girl

Thank you for doing that. I too hate to waste or to witness it. Congrats on the coming rain too. We're also in drought in Maine, but got more than an inch last night.

Holy-moly, Mr. 46!

Gosh, that lake is beautiful! Thanks so much for the story of your trip and the many fine photos.

I'm thinking of fishing for striped bass in our harbor in my canoe, but I'm a little scared. I've caught 40"-plus musky and pike in my canoe, but a striped bass, fighting the tides all day, is like a 35" river smallmouth.

Yeah, huh. I love the quiet, both for its own sake and for sneaking up on Mr. Bass. As I paddled through weeds this morning, I saw bass swirling as they made their getaway, mere inches from the bow because they didn't hear me coming. I even love the paddling and it's, of course, the traditional northwoods fishing craft. I like carrying on the tradition.

BTW, I ordered everything you guys suggested and when they arrive, I'll let you know how they work. I'm also rigging a baitcasting outfit with braid for the new lures.

Caught 37 this morning, 25 bass and 12 big perch, fishing from a canoe in a shallow pond with beavers.

I fished for three hours this morning and landed 37. At least a dozen were yellow perch with bulging foreheads, i.e. eaters. I released them all, but now I know where to go for a yummy perch dinner. Here's a pic of the pond and one of the fish I caught. It's the ONLY fish I caught on a Whopper Plopper, as I was trying to branch out and be effective with other lures. I also hooked a bass that felt like a bowfin, peeling line, but it came unbuttoned. Double dang it! This was the first time I've fished this pond, making six ponds I've fished this summer. My next pond will hold smallmouth and brown trout. It's so fun to keep fishing different water. Isn't the pond pretty? I heard an owl and saw eagles, a hawk, a heron, ducks, swallows, gulls, and beaver.

Wow! What a fish!!!

I'd find it deeply gratifying to fish a lake that's hard to fish and that had spooked me for decades. Clear and deep sounds like a tough nut to crack, but you cracked it!

So, if a city is de facto swallowed because businesses and houses abut, then Boston is northern NYC. Hey, Sox Nation, how 'bout them Yankees?

Heh. I fear that this is my fate. Oh, well, they'll hit other lures if that happens.

I'm persuaded by numbers. These are the cities with the highest per capita gun deaths: Jackson, Mississippi -- 69 gun homicides per 100,000 people. Gary, Indiana -- 64. St. Louis -- 50. New Orleans -- 48. Memphis, Tennessee -- 47 And these are the states with the highest per capita gun deaths: Mississippi -- 28.6. Louisiana -- 26.3. Wyoming -- 25.9. Missouri -- 23.9. Alabama -- 23.6. Alaska -- 23.5. Everything is else is apocryphal narrative.

So, there's a dam at the end of the swampy pond I fished. Below that dam is more pond, which I could see with Google Earth. Well, I cased that pond this morning and found a narrow, bumpy, dirt road to it. It looks amazing, just the right mix of open water and weeds. I'll be fishing it Monday morning, rising at 4:15. So excited! I won't return to the swamp until my new frogs arrive. I did dig out my baitcasting outfit and need to put some braid on it. The lure and hook manufacturers must love you guys, since you keep sending me to the Internet to buy, buy, buy! Will do. I've also had really good luck this year trolling my Mepps #3 brass spinner through the open stretches. The bass love that little lure and I love to fish while paddling to the next spot.

Whoa! That sounds like a great frog. I'll get it too. Trade-offs for sure. I see you southern boys catch bass that could swallow my biggest fish.

I've never fished below a dam, but I'm sure I'd love it. Thanks for sharing the pics of the cool fish!

Whadda day, throttleplate!

I actually own a pair, but left them at home the last two times. Dang it!

I already googled the Sprinker frog. It looks great. I'm going to order a couple. I'm going to use a buzz bait, fluke, and spinnerbait too. And no more 8-lb. test and spinning rod. I've never used 40-lb. test, not even for muskies. I'll continue to use the Whopper Plopper where there's open water. I've caught fish in the middle of the lake in the middle of the afternoon with it. It's a dinner bell in Maine. I'm going to continue to fish new lakes/ponds too. I've fished five so far this summer and have another three in the queue. I love fishing freshwater that's fresh water to me! I looked at the lake/swamp I fished yesterday evening on Google Earth. It goes on for miles and is a mile wide. I paddled it for a couple miles, but left most of it unfished. Human beings are lazy, so I can't imagine many people have fished it deeply, for it's a maze with dead ends and a motor wouldn't work. But first, I have to heal my bass thumb. It feels like sandpaper. I'm a 66-year old female and my thumb takes such a beating, so no fishing until next week.

Thanks for all the great advice. I'll have to do some googling to locate some of the baits you mentioned, but I wanna learn. I didn't know I had placed my fish backwards, so thanks for that too. I will quit the Whopper Plopper in weeds. I became addicted to that lure when I caught two bass at once four times in a ten-day period. Here was the best pair, a 19-inch fish and a 17-inch fish at once. To be frank, I'm not sure that the bigger one was 19 inches, as I didn't measure it, but it looks like it's that big.

Mike, what specifically works for you in thick cover? I assume I shouldn't use my spinning rods and 8 lb. test. My assumption is based upon my not being able to keep the big bass I hooked out of the lily pads, where I lost him. I further assume that those pencil-thick reeds don't hold bass. Are my assumptions correct? What weeds do you prefer? In northwestern Ontario, cabbage held pike. What weeds do bass like?

The problem is that more than half of my casts were ruined by weeds. I removed more weeds from my lures than bass. At this point, I'm sorry I asked. I do appreciate MN Fisher's suggestions.

Okay, okay, northern lakes are weedy and most southern lakes aren't. The first photo is the weedy, northern "lake." The last photo is the largely open lake I fished this morning. In between are a few of the fish. They're all about the same size so I didn't post all the pics. That fish measuring board works great. When I set the bass on it, not a one flopped off. They felt cradled, I think, because they were. The Whopper Plopper, being so big and heavy, caught weeds more than half the time on its landing, so it wasn't the best choice. However, I tried a light frog for a few casts and it didn't interest them. Gimruis, I didn't think I was complaining. I thought I was asking for advice. "How do you Southern boys do it?" is a question. In that first photo, you're seeing the "lake" at its most open. It really closed up a few hundred yards into it and there were times I was struggling to move the boat through reeds. I couldn't paddle and the reeds offered considerable resistance, so I had to use my paddle like a pole.

I've watched so many fishing shows where guys with southern accents are fishing in salad. The preponderance of oligotrophic lakes in the north, i.e. rocky bottom lakes means fewer weeds. The fishing is amazing here. That weedy pond I fished last night is right off the highway. Thousands of people drive past it, even though it's chock full o' fish.

I went fishing last night and this morning in two, deeply different ponds. One was called a pond, but it was a marsh with lily pads on the surface and other weeds just below the surface in most places. I spent more time removing weeds from my lures than I did removing fish. I still caught 24 fish in less than three hours. All were largemouth except for two chain pickerel, one the biggest chain pickerel I've ever caught. I also used my new yellow measuring board with sides, like a trough. It worked great. The bass were calm when I lay them in it. Nearly every fish on a cast Whopper Plopper. I lost a big one that jumped twice and bulldozed into weeds right by the canoe, coming free. Dang it! This morning's pond was open with rocks. Much easier fishing not having to fight weeds. I caught 29 there with good consistent size from 15" to 17". I have LOTS of pics from both ponds which I'll load later. Caught fish on a trolled and cast Whopper Plopper, a trolled and cast Mepps #3 spinner, a weightless Texas-rigged Senko, a Ned jig, and even a couple on a nightcrawler. All strong fish who knew how to dance in three hours of fishing! Again, how do you Southern boys do it? Those weeds were rough! Also saw three bald eagles, four herons, a kingfisher, swallows, many geese, three turkeys, and two loons. The loons sang too. Again, pics to come.