Swamp Girl

@Fishingmickey: Thanks, Mick! I drove past China Lake yesterday and thought of you. There's a little pond just down the road from China Lake called Beech Pond, right off 3, and I've long wanted to fish it. There's a parking lot and then a little hike down a path.

Newest canoe and my fourth current canoe. Here are my four: A Bell Rockstar, which is aptly named. It's solo, Kevlar, thin, tippy, and fast. It's the canoe I use when car topping and carrying a canoe through the woods or wheeling it over a meadow. An Old Town Charles River: tandem, heavy, and stable. Kept at my pond. The NEXT canoe, which is half kayak/half canoe. Also to be kept at my pond. A long, heavy canoe behind my shed. Don't know the maker nor model because it's too heavy for me to lift. A gift. Yeah, I have a fleet.

Me too. I paddle miles every fishing trip and I don't want paddle even more because I'm zig-zagging everywhere. "Smaller lakes that aren't accessible to larger rigs" are my bliss: See those top three bass? I had to drag my canoe a couple times over water that was too skinny to float even my canoe to reach them.

Again and again, Pat dispenses 24K advice. I'm also a fast reeler, rod tip-upper, long caster, and I too park my canoe on the weeds so it'll stick to that spot.

Thank you. I have some, but have yet to use them. Ever. I really should because I fish grass a lot and it often intimidates me.

What does it feel like when a bass hits a Silver Minnow?

I winced I wrote the above because many paddlers have only paddled one or two canoes and as I read those reviews, I understood that they were speaking from inexperience. This is true of many reviews, regardless of what is being reviewed. A boat that tracks well will be harder to turn. A boat that turns easily won't track well. You get one or the other. It's like sportscars and trucks. You can build a nimble, quick vehicle (sportscar) or a vehicle that carries and pulls a lot (truck), but you can't build vehicle that does all that equally well.

I like the looks of the Old Town NEXT. It's a little lighter and longer than most Fishin' kayaks and I like its carrying capacity. I haven't paddled it yet, but it gets good reviews for both tracking and turning.

Interesting, King. I know nothing about any of the above, so when a pro like you talks, I listen.

Nah, I stick with my original assessment.

Okay, I've thought of something I want to learn this winter. I bought a new solo canoe and it's kind of kayak-y, so I want to research my options for tricking it out and how to attach those modifications. I'll base it at my pond property and it'll sit in the water from April to November, so it can be heavy, allowing multiple modifications. I'll start with attaching a couple tracks on a thwart for rod holders for trolling when I'm paddling to a casting area. It'll be great to not troll with a fishing rod pinned under my thigh and braced by a knee.

Gosh, it looks rough out there. You are quite a man.

Bob, I know you tried a fluke, but I've had some luck skittering a fluke over grass, retrieving it so fast that you might think a bass wouldn't have a chance to hit it.

Nope, G, too cold and windy for a test paddle. Here's a gift for you! It's worth a shot:

@Bird: I also like the color orange. In case I tip, I'll be easier to spot.

I wish nothing but the best for the butt-in-skis. By best, I hope they hook a beast beyond their imagining, like this: Hey, I also have a brain the size of a pea, which is likely why I'm pretty good at finding bass.

Sad, but I believe it's true. I wonder what they'd think of me in my scuffed canoe.

@JHoss: Tournament fishing would make me shudder. Loud speakers and loud boats wouldn't float my canoe. However, I once loved competition, so I get that. Being old, I want to fish the quiet places, although when ospreys screech, geese honk, loons sing, and beavers whap the water, it's not exactly quiet. And I agree with what @Catt just wrote!

I don't think that nostalgia has been specifically mentioned. I love the piney forests of Maine, but when I return to flinty gorges in Ohio, with ridges topped with beach trees, that familiar rock and flora of my childhood plucks my heartstrings. So do bass, which I caught as a kid. Also, because bass are so abundant, they were within reach of a former 1969 kid with a Zebco 404 and a steel pole on a used bike. Now I catch 40 bass instead of the one I might have managed in 1969, but inside, I'm still that kid, so I thrill to such abundance.

@JHoss's thread about why we target bass yanked me down the rabbit hole of strongest fish and the Giant Trevally is up there. Read this: "I had one trip to the Marshall Islands where every single Giant Trevally I hooked broke me off in the rocks. I was only using 50lb braided line and that was not enough to land a single one, even ones that I could see were only in the 10lb range. The water was too shallow and the reef was too sharp. That was very humbling. Giant Trevally top out around 200lbs but fish that size are nearly impossible to land on sportfishing tackle because there is almost no way to keep them out of the reef. The hook will bend, the line or rod will snap, or something will give before a fish that size will. Anything over 100lbs is a real trophy." Giant Trevally pull like gorillas and are very adept at heading straight to the reef and breaking your heart and your line. These are one of the toughest fish to land on rod and reel. You need to use the best and heaviest tackle and you still will not land them all. If you bring 50lb braid and are fishing for them in the reef, you might as well just throw your stuff into the ocean because that is where it is all going to end up.

Maybe not, but I do catch bass quite close to my canoe and the water I fish is quite clear, plus a can of spray paint only costs ten bucks, so I'm going to do it.

@JHoss, I have also enjoyed this thread because it prompted some backstories, like @king fisher's and @Catt's. @king fisher's is the most persuasive for why an angler prefers bass, for he's caught other species professionally from the Arctic to the subtropical seas, many much larger and stronger than bass, but he still chooses bass on his free days. As impressive as @Pat Brown's bass are, there are single marlin and tuna whose strength far surpasses the combined strength of every one of Pat's posted bass. The highest leaping bass that ever swam could only dream of equaling the least leap of a mako shark. Bonefish and wahoo make bass seem pokey. And so on. So, to have an angler with @king fisher's experience say that he prefers bass, well, that makes me say:

That settles it. Thanks!

Wow, Pat. First-rate storytelling about a first-rate bass. Thanks so much for taking the time to put us there with you.

And you almost did: 5 top LMB in lbs; 17.4 & 18.6 Casitas, 17.4, 17.6 & 19.3 Castiac. I do this too. I have quantity days and quality days.