Swamp Girl

I wish I could place an order and pay 1937 prices. The cover makes me laugh, since they're pushing fishing as a way to stay fit, but 1937 was a time when many anglers were rowing boats, which does take muscle.

I bought a 1937 South Bend fishing catalog. Oh, how times have changed. The catalog is a hybrid of a book about fishing, as it shares info about different species, a fishing magazine, as it has articles about fishing, and a catalog. Here is the cover and four pages. I like how they put the species beneath their lures that the lures might attract. There are pages showing rods and reels too and photos of big, recent catches. If you'd like me to share anything I just mentioned, let me know and I'll photograph and post those pages.

I'm glad they're trying this new format.

There are unpressured bass in other places. It's just that most anglers either aren't willing to do the work to reach those places or have purchased boats that can't reach such places. However, there are easily reached places that are also great. I had fishing sessions in Wisconsin that equal what I've enjoyed in Maine. The Mississippi River is a fish factory. I caught big bass on Lake Pepin, as well as big walleye, pike, crappie, bluegills, and white bass. Lakes Superior and Michigan are great too. Living in Minnesota, you sit right below northwestern Ontario, where I enjoyed the greatest fishing of my life. 100-bass-days-per-angler were common there, but those weren't lodge lakes. They were bush/backcountry lakes with portages and running whitewater rivers and crossing swamps, all challenges that many anglers avoid, but if you're willing to do the work, you can reach Nirvana. Up north, Pain = Gain. I have observed other anglers catching far fewer bass than I catch while fishing the same water. It's not just where you fish, but having a knack for catching bass. You've heard my stories of being surrounded by other boats on the Mississippi and the Great Lakes when I was catching fish and they weren't. Not everyone has the knack and sidling up to a craft where fish are being boated is no guarantee that you too will catch 'em.

Whew, @Pat Brown! Unfortunately, there are no bass still in Maine. I go down to my dock, cast my popper, twitch it across the ice, and fail to provoke a single strike.

I keep inviting folks to fish at my pond and keep fish to eat...and I'm thankful it has acres of wetlands.

If you had looked behind you as you roared away, you'd have seen that I'd attached a rope to your stern cleat and that my canoe was bouncing along in your wake. I was thankful too, for I got to compete without buying gas. I didn't even have to bother with prefishing, for I simply fished near you and you didn't even bother to notice an old woman in a canoe. You didn't actually notice me until I held the trophy aloft. Note: This story is not entirely true.

Welcome, Mr. Zero. There are some guys here who whisper to bass. I've learned so much from them..

I didn't think about this, but now that I do, having watched the anglers waiting for the tournament to begin, that would drive me crazy. When I reach water, I want to fish...immediately.

I hear ya. When I took people to northwestern Ontario, not only would I tell you how I was catching bass, but I'd give you the same lure and position the canoe to give you the best casts.

Imagine I'm there, casting beside you, okay?

🥰

I don't notice that big a difference when I fish a new pond versus a familiar pond. In May and June, I might catch 20 to 30 bass at a new pond versus 30 to 50 bass at a familiar pond. Wait, I suppose that is a pretty big difference. Never mind.

I kid you not: I actually had a BR member PM me and asked me why I didn't give his post a reaction when I'd given all the prior posts reactions. I had simply run out of gas, i.e. reactions!

SO TRUE! Listen to Mr. 12 and Mr. 12's Papa!!!

I sit in the bow seat and paddle stern first to place my body closer to the middle of the canoe. It's a common practice.

In a perfect world, we'd all get to borrow Bob for one summer and we'd get to pick one thing for Bob to build and while he was doing that, we'd be in Tennessee, wrestling otters and stocking his pond with five-pounders. I'm always running out of reactions too. I wish we could buy some more. Calling @Glenn, calling @Glenn.

I'll finish your sentence. Clearly, it was an unfinished thought. I'm guessing you ran out of time to finish your pro-grade advice: "...but I’ve went with the real veterans many times, guys that wear overalls everyday and chew twist and who know that strapping torpedo tubes to bass and loading those tubes with nuclear warheads is the prudent solution."

I paddle my tandem backwards too.

If I never drive another tractor before I die, I'll be sad. Every time I see a neighbor's tractor, I sigh with longing. ME TOO!

I'll be sure to throw them early. Last spring, I was throwing an underspin into the emerging weeds. I'll try a bladed jig in the same place this spring.

Be doubly shocked. I've only caught one bass using them, but I've promised @AlabamaSpothunter that I'll be using them more in 2025.

Bob's Bob, Part III: It is paradise! And Bob built it!!!

If you don't fish tournaments, why not? I have never fished a tournament, so I'm opining from ignorance, but I did a little writing for fishing magazines and I didn't like that because a writer who's assigned an article is under pressure to produce a big fish photo and your guide is pressured too because he wants to be the one who put you on a big fish. Additionally, when I was in the boat, I was constantly thinking about converting what I was seeing and feeling and doing into words. So, I've imagined tournaments as something similar, with pressure and being distracted by my standing and who was doing what and was their tactic and spot producing fish. I'm happier just paddling along, trying this and that, grateful to catch bass and when I'm not, grateful to simply be on the water. If you've tried tournaments and quit, why? If you haven't tried them, why not?

Another Bob video: