My 2023 Season-ending Report

[Swamp Girl]

In April, after I landed my first big girl, Alex(@AlabamaSpothunter) wrote, "Me and Phishli have talked about it in PMs......big girls are coming your way, and it started today." Alex should be a fortune teller. I can't show them all, but here are some of them. Some are skinny and some are finned hippos:

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

What an incredible season Katie!   So many fat Maine beauties.......if I come back as a Largemouth, I hope it's in one of your bogs.   

 

Your unique style, tenacity, and extreme desire to learn made it obvious you'd crush the big girls this year, and clearly you did that and then some.    

 

All those big girls will keep you warm all winter long remembering them, and maybe next year you can get the GoPro aspect incorporated into your game.   

 

Congrats Katie, next season will be even better given your trajectory in the sport.  

[gim]

Great season, some dandies in there for sure.

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks, Alex! I slipped some skinny ones into the group because they really punctuate the fat ones. The most satisfying thing about this season was recently landing the big ones that I'd been losing just a few weeks ago.

 

Being reincarnated as a Maine bog bass is a good move, since it takes super sharp hooks, stout rods, and strong line to winch them out of the weeds. Plus, you can see that the bog bass eat well. The fatties were the bog fish. The skinny bass came from ponds. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

That, and if I do slip up and get caught, I know you'll put me back quickly ?

 

I'll come back as this fat bellied slaunch donkey ?

 

[T-Billy]

What a year Katie!!! Congrats!!!

[Woody B]

It breaks my heart that you're done fishing for the year.  Your a bass catching machine.   Come on down here.  You and Mrs B can hang out at the casino during the week and you can show me how to catch bass on the weekends.   

[Mike L]

Whew!!

Great Job!

Didn't realize you guys had LM like that up there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Swamp Girl]

@Woody B: I have nothing to teach you, except maybe how to sneak up on bass with a paddle. You're a bass-catching machine too, Woody, one of THE most consistent fishers at BR and you fish MUCH BUSIER water than me.  I might fish one more time Friday evening, wind permitting. Then our temps drop and I really do need to rest and recover. As @AlabamaSpothunter noted, I've got all my trip reports to recall, which will warm me in the winter, and all the coming southern bass to witness. @Pat Brown, @Dwight Hottle, and gang are just getting started. 

 

Here are some more, some a little shorter, but so fat they're funny. Isn't it strange and cool how they range in shape and coloration. I like when they form a mound of muscle on my bump board. The one I'm lippin' and grippin' near that's third from the bottom was especially fat, but she was long and athletic:

 

[Functional]

Is it really that cold up there its the end of your season?

 

Incredible year for you for sure! There are some heavy ladies in that lineup of yours. 

[MIbassyaker]

Holy smokes what a bunch of chunks you have tangled with this year! Congrats on a terrific summer! 

 

What will happen on next year's installment of Bassin' with Crickety?  Is there an 8lber in there? We may find out...

[roadwarrior]

 

 

                                           

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, Functional said:

Is it really that cold up there its the end of your season?

 

Incredible year for you for sure! There are some heavy ladies in that lineup of yours. 

 

It'll bottom out at 41 degrees next week and only reach the high fifties. That's warm enough to still catch bass, but I tipped once this year and if I were to tip again as the water cools and cools, this cricket might never chirp again. 

[Swamp Girl]

Here are some more four-poundish, 2023 fish. I caught a lot of bass this year, so it's taking time to find all the bigger girls:

 

 

 

 

[GreenPig]

Great season no doubt. You deserve a little break.

[Fishlegs]

Congrats on a great year @ol'crickety!

[Swamp Girl]

Some more and I promise that these are the last I'll post, as I have hundreds more photos to sift, but I reckon that all y'all have seen enough.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bankbeater]

Good job!  I think you found the hawg bog.

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Bankbeater said:

Good job!  I think you found the hawg bog.

 

Thanks! They actually came from six ponds and bogs. I have a list of more than 40 more local bodies of water I want to fish, but following @PhishLI's and @AlabamaSpothunter's advice, I focused on fewer ponds to learn them and that gave me the greatest fishing year of my life. 

 

I'm pretty good at fishing. I'm pretty good at writing. What I don't do well is technology, so finding all the bigger bass in my scores of files with photos of hundreds and hundreds of bass eventually overwhelmed me and I quit looking, but next year, I might create a separate folder for the bigger fish and just add to that over the year.  

[Jar11591]

BR AOY candidate over here. Awesome season!

[TnRiver46]

57 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

BR AOY candidate over here. Awesome season!

Runaway champ 

[T-Billy]

Congrats on the AOY Katie!!! You certainly earned it, Hammer. 😉

[AlabamaSpothunter]

AOY & ROY (pretty sure Katie has only been chasing green tunas for a bit over a year):   Katie

 

Big Fish: Pat 

 

Biggest single day bag:  Kingfisher  

 

Now tell Glenn to send them their swag bags and checks 😁

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

AOY & ROY (pretty sure Katie has only been chasing green tunas for a bit over a year):   Katie

 

Big Fish: Pat 

 

Biggest single day bag:  Kingfisher  

 

Now tell Glenn to send them their swag bags and checks 😁

 

Swag? I'm hoping that SWAG abbreviates Surface(lures) Will Always Get('er done). 

[T-Billy]

S.W.A.G   Some women always get'm.