47.5 degrees

[Swamp Girl]

My car was heavily frosted this morning. I wheeled my new, 85-pound canoe down to my pond. That was hard with all the bumpy rocks and branches. I have wheels, but the canoe tipped three times and once the wheels fell off and had to be restrapped. When I arrived at the water, I could see it had dropped so my canoe wouldn't float. I had to muck through the mud and haul it over a low rock wall that strangely extends into the water. So, I was panting before my first cast.

 

I went fishless for the first hour and a half. They weren't where they were a week ago, about 100' from the shore in 8' of water. Plus, a couple clear, cold nights had dropped the water temperature to 47.5 degrees. So, I fired up my FFS, i.e. my Female Finding Sonar, and went looking. I found them in about 12" of water, up against a rocky shoreline. All hit my Keitechs and between fishing yesterday and hauling my canoe through the woods, I fished tired and lost about 20 bass. Still, I caught 13 and some were fine, including a small, handsome smallie (1st pic) and a nice smallie (6th photo) that refused to pose for my photo, flopping non-stop, but you still get a sense of her size. They all fought so hard and were great fun. A couple even turned my new, heavy canoe.

[IcatchDinks]

Some very nice fish, my friend!

[Alex from GA]

Congrats, those SM have nice markings.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Where might I procure one of these newfangled Female Finding Sonars?......I tried Drakkar Noir without any luck  🤣

 

Beautiful fish as always Katie, awesome to see the mixed bag as well.   

[Swamp Girl]

Alex, I thought of you when I caught my two smallies. 

 

I thought, "Alex would enjoy catching a mixed bag too."

 

No lie. 

 

As far as my FFS, it was mostly paying attention. I hooked my first bass along an underwater hump. I could see the rock a couple feet under my canoe.

 

Then, when I caught my second bass near a hump, I thought, "They're shallow."

 

So, I started casting within inches of the shoreline and that's where they were,  which confused me, as I thought that was a summertime pattern.

 

Unfortunately, I had to meet some friends for brunch, so I left sooner than I would have liked.

[A-Jay]

Nice Bass ~

Congrats on braving the elements

and over coming the challenges needed to get on those bass.

btw, does you're camera have a circus mirror for a lens ?

Upside down & backwards ?

#myneckhurts.

Might be time to step up your fish photo game Katie.

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

@A-Jay: I did weigh yesterday's two 4.25-pounders. Surely I get some credit for that! 

 

Maybe I should go back to bump board photos. They don't load the wrong way. 

 

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Congrats on braving the elements

and over coming the challenges needed to get on those bass.

 

When that mud was sucking at my legs, I thought, "How many 68-year olds work this hard to catch bass?"

 

However, you know and I know it's worth it. Now I'm off to fetch some pallets to create a poor woman's boardwalk to launch my canoe.

[T-Billy]

16 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

How many 68-year olds work this hard to catch bass?"

68 years young is a better term in your case. You go girl!!! 😉 

[LrgmouthShad]

@ol'crickety there are two ways that I get a photo to upload upright every time. 

1. Send from phone to computer and upload via computer.

2. Crop the photo just slightly. Doesn't matter where or how much. Just snip off a tiny bit of the photo and save as a new copy. Upload via phone.

 

Nice fishing!!

[Woody B]

4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Where might I procure one of these newfangled Female Finding Sonars?......I tried Drakkar Noir without any luck  🤣

 

Beautiful fish as always Katie, awesome to see the mixed bag as well.   

 

 

A million years ago when I was single I found that a guitar and my raspy singing voice worked better than Drakka Noir.   

 

 

Super nice Bass Katie.   

 

[Jmilburn76]

All of those are some nice ones, that always makes the extra time and effort worth it at the end of the day.

[TnRiver46]

[pdxfisher]

Thanks for that report! I have not felt well enough to get out these past few weeks and have been living vicariously through everyone else's reports. Pics were great and I really felt you on the struggle to get launched!

 

Glad you were able to dial in your FFS.

[Swamp Girl]

I'm going to try a different underspin, one with a more exposed hook. I love my Owner underspins, but they do keep the hook point tight to the body of the Keitech, which I love for its near weedlessness, but it reduces my hook-setting percentage. 

[MediumMouthBass]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm going to try a different underspin, one with a more exposed hook. I love my Owner underspins, but they do keep the hook point tight to the body of the Keitech, which I love for its near weedlessness, but it reduces my hook-setting percentage. 

If you really like using the Owner ones try slightly bending the hook up more, should give you exactly what you are looking for.

[TnRiver46]

@ol'crickety, I disassembled some pallets and nailed them back together with the boards touching for a walkway into my shed , works well but they are put together a lot better than I imagined 😂. I was crowbar and hammering for a while