A tale of Two Basses

[Swamp Girl]

No, I didn't fish for LMBs and smallies or LMBs and spots. I fished for athletic LMBS, who live in a small river with good current and are kept wiry by it, and then fat bass, who live in a bog and are made hefty by their leisurely lives. I paddled up the primary feeder river for one of my favorite bogs and caught 24 bass, mostly on a shad-colored paddletail. The river started at ten yards wide and then narrowed to ten feet wide. I did hook and lose a five-pounder when it was only ten feet wide. That's a lot of bass for not much water. The bass came out of the water beside the canoe and threw the hook, so I got a good look at her.

 

I'll lead with a pic of the river at its widest, then pics of slender, river bass, then a pic of the river narrowing, then transitional bass where the river met the bog,  who are starting to thicken, one final river pic, and finally some fat bog bass, which I caught on a little, chrome Whopper Plopper, a lure I've been using less, so it was fun to pitch it again.

 

I apologize for all the blurred bass. This morning's bass did not want to pose for pics! I caught 41 in all and loved paddling up that little river, which reminded me of my childhood. When the river narrowed to five feet, I stopped catching bass. Turning my 15' 6" canoe to go boggin' was not easy in a five foot-wide river. 

 

Yes, I realize that some of the river bass have bellies, but I hope you can see the overall difference between bass in current, which have the physiques of river smallies, and bog bass. 

[gim]

That is a MUCH smaller river that I thought you were describing yesterday.  I'd almost say its more like a creek or stream rather than river.  Looks like you could jump across is in that one photo.

[Swamp Girl]

You're right, @gimruis. It was kind of river-y at the start, but quickly narrowed to a creek. However, on the map, it's called a river. It had a lot of current this morning and with nine straight days of rain in the forecast, it'll soon have a lot more current. Can you see how the bass fattened as I moved from current to calm or is that merely my imagination? 

 

Regarding jumping from one side to other, there's water under that tall grass and I heard bass feeding in it and tried @T-Billy's technique of vertical fishing in there and got my first bite doing that, but I think I waited too long to set the hook. The trees are where the riverbanks are, so I can sorta see why they call it a river.

[Kirtley Howe]

Gee...only FORTY ONE bass? You must be slipping.  I thought I had a great night last night when I caught 18.  Way to go.

[gim]

42 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

and with nine straight days of rain in the forecast

I see that Hurricane Lee may swing your direction later next week.  It might be a torrent in about 10 days.

 

Its currently a Cat 5 out in the Atlantic.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

I see that Hurricane Lee may swing your direction later next week.  It might be a torrent in about 10 days.

 

Its currently a Cat 5 out in the Atlantic.

 

I know. I've been watching its path. It's a beast and I live two miles from the coast. 

[gim]

Just now, ol'crickety said:

I know. I've been watching its path. It's a beast and I live two miles from the coast. 

Hopefully it steers eastward when it changes direction to the north.  A lot can happen between now and then.

[Swamp Girl]

11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hopefully it steers eastward when it changes direction to the north.  A lot can happen between now and then.

 

Yep. I've been looking at those "spaghetti" projections and only two have them hitting Maine head-on. A lot of them have it skirting us. If it does that, with all the other days of rain forecast, I'll be able to catch bass from my porch. 

[Blue Raider Bob]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

No, I didn't fish for LMBs and smallies or LMBs and spots. I fished for athletic LMBS, who live in a small river with good current and are kept wiry by it, and then fat bass, who live in a bog and are made hefty by their leisurely lives. I paddled up the primary feeder river for one of my favorite bogs and caught 24 bass, mostly on a shad-colored paddletail. The river started at ten yards wide and then narrowed to ten feet wide. I did hook and lose a five-pounder when it was only ten feet wide. That's a lot of bass for not much water. The bass came out of the water beside the canoe and threw the hook, so I got a good look at her.

 

I'll lead with a pic of the river at its widest, then pics of slender, river bass, then a pic of the river narrowing, then transitional bass where the river met the bog,  who are starting to thicken, one final river pic, and finally some fat bog bass, which I caught on a little, chrome Whopper Plopper, a lure I've been using less, so it was fun to pitch it again.

 

I apologize for all the blurred bass. This morning's bass did not want to pose for pics! I caught 41 in all and loved paddling up that little river, which reminded me of my childhood. When the river narrowed to five feet, I stopped catching bass. Turning my 15' 6" canoe to go boggin' was not easy in a five foot-wide river. 

 

Yes, I realize that some of the river bass have bellies, but I hope you can see the overall difference between bass in current, which have the physiques of river smallies, and bog bass. 

Now I've got a pretty good idea of what Heaven looks like. Hope I pass the test!

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Now I've got a pretty good idea of what Heaven looks like. Hope I pass the test!

 

Here's a song:

 

Almost Heaven

Coastal Maine

Appalachian Mountains

Penobscot River

 

Life is old there

But younger than the sea

Older than the lobstermen

Salt air so fresh and free.

 

Coastal roads

Take me home

To the place

I belong

Mid-coast Maine

Appalachian Mountains

Coastal roads

Take me home.

 

Now I just need a tune! Any ideas?

 

Seriously, @Blue Raider Bob, in our emails, I know that you love backwaters as much as me. I was so happy this morning. When I launched, there was a giant toad watching me. I petted him. Turkeys in a tree gobbled "Good morning!" and I saw four Great blue herons, as well as a bald eagle. I felt like a kid again, exploring that stream. I began the morning by squeezing under the road bridge and went a little ways into the swamp across the road, but it was too dark for me to read the water and I kept casting into flora. 

[TnRiver46]

That’s a great song you wrote @ol'crickety! Hahah. I lost count of how many bald eagles I saw today and that was in downtown, they are some crazy birds. Saw one fighting an Osprey 

[Swamp Girl]

I too saw an osprey/eagle fight. Twice. Like the Red Baron and Snoopy, huh?

 

Glad you liked the totally original song. 

 

[Alex from GA]

Send some of the rain you'll be getting down my way.  I had to take my boat out of the water yesterday due to no water in the dock.  I haven't fished anywhere else in about a year except rivers in my kayak so a change will be a good thing.

[Swamp Girl]

35 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

Send some of the rain you'll be getting down my way.  I had to take my boat out of the water yesterday due to no water in the dock.  I haven't fished anywhere else in about a year except rivers in my kayak so a change will be a good thing.

 

I wish I could, Alex. Fingers crossed for rain for you.

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I too saw an osprey/eagle fight. Twice. Like the Red Baron and Snoopy, huh?

 

Glad you liked the totally original song. 

 

I saw an eagle/Osprey battle yesterday 

[Susky River Rat]

Sounds like you had a great day.  I see heavy punching gear in your future.
 

That is one of the reason I love river fishing. The fish are almost a different breed. They are built different.  Smallies and musky in a river system don’t even compare to them in a lake system. Usually if a largemouth has gotten in a creek or river here it’s from a lake so that is not a fair comparison. 
 

That is not what I expected at all for a river. I was expecting something like the swatara creek or the juniata here in pa as your river.  How much current was in there? 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Darnold335 said:

They are built different.

 

That's what I saw too. I don't think my photos conveyed their difference. The bass in the little river reminded me of lanky teenage boys, all muscle. The bass in the bog reminded me of the teens' dads, quite a bit beefier. 

 

If I'd followed that stream farther, I would have reached a dam (A fallen tree blocked my way.) and beyond that dam is a lake with both smallmouth and largemouth. I'm surprised that a couple bitsy smallmouth haven't been carried over the dam's spillway and thrived in that little river, for it has good current, about 4 m.p.h. (Maybe more. It was clipping.), and that's normally a smallmouth's environment, not a largemouth's.  

 

I keep thinking about that five-pounder river LMB who jumped and threw my hook beside my canoe. I'm going to try and catch her tomorrow morning. I know exactly where she lives, which is the best ambush point in that little river. I think she'll still be there. 

1 hour ago, Darnold335 said:

 I see heavy punching gear in your future.

 

I used my froggin' rod to punch like Tim suggested. I did get a bite, but today, I'm going to increase the weight. I only had a tiny one on my Rage Tail and from the low seat of a canoe, I was having trouble hitting the openings I wanted and when I missed them, the light weight didn't punch through the mat. I used a tiny one because there's so little open water, maybe two or three feet before thick weeds all the way to the bottom.

[Susky River Rat]

@ol'crickety the thing is the probably aren’t full blown adapted river bass like I would encounter. The fish I go for have a century of evolution in how they adapted to their body of water.  None the less those fish were pure muscle in sure a hoot to catch.  

 

Disclaimer: I could always be wrong about evolution. I am purely a recreational fisherman. I have much experience in art of being skunk.

 

smallies do not like muck of soft bottoms. They prefer rock and gravel. Even on the weed beds I find them in at my river have a gravel base to them. That may be why you did not encounter any. I’m not saying you won’t just not as many as you might think.

 

i am not a punching expert i never do it so I can’t help with suggestions.

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

That may be why you did not encounter any.

 

Sounds right.

 

2 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

the thing is the probably aren’t full blown adapted river bass like I would encounter.

 

I lived on the Wisconsin River and fished smallies every summer morning. Those long, lean LMBs in that little river looked like those "teenage boy" SMBs in the Wisconsin River. 

[TnRiver46]

Kind of sounds like the rivers we paddled that flow into Lake Michigan 

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 9/8/2023 at 4:35 PM, ol'crickety said:

 

Here's a song:

 

Almost Heaven

Coastal Maine

Appalachian Mountains

Penobscot River

 

Life is old there

But younger than the sea

Older than the lobstermen

Salt air so fresh and free.

 

Coastal roads

Take me home

To the place

I belong

Mid-coast Maine

Appalachian Mountains

Coastal roads

Take me home.

 

Now I just need a tune! Any ideas?

 

Seriously, @Blue Raider Bob, in our emails, I know that you love backwaters as much as me. I was so happy this morning. When I launched, there was a giant toad watching me. I petted him. Turkeys in a tree gobbled "Good morning!" and I saw four Great blue herons, as well as a bald eagle. I felt like a kid again, exploring that stream. I began the morning by squeezing under the road bridge and went a little ways into the swamp across the road, but it was too dark for me to read the water and I kept casting into flora. 

I might have mentioned that I have played guitar nearly all my life. My wife and I really crank up the vocals on the John Denver songs like the one "similar" to the one you wrote. This one and Rocky Mountain High. They are both great strumming songs as well. Glad you are surrounded by the wonderful flora and fauna. Surrounded by nature "as the sea surrounds the shore". An old Cat Stevens lyric.