Dr. Seuss Trip Report

[Swamp Girl]

Well, I'm back to catching good quantity (39) and I continue catching good quality. I launched at Crickety o'clock in a heavy rain and finished in sunshine. Think of Dr. Seuss's "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" as you read this trip report.

 

Bright bass.

 

 

Light bass.

 

 

First bass.

 

 

Last bass.

 

 

 

Curvy bass.

 

 

Skinny bass.

 

 

Pretty bass.

 

 

Reedy Bass.

 

 

Small Smallie.

 

 

Small Largie.

 

 

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish!

 

And now the March of the Brunhildas (The reedy fish above is actually a Brunhilda too.)! The first bass below was the longest at 19.375 inches, but a couple of the 18+-inchers might outweigh her:

 

 

 

The great news is that I'm losing fewer fish. I'm focusing on my mechanics and I've upped my 3/0 underspins to 5/0 underspins. I caught bass on a Whopper Plopper, popper, Crush City Mayors in chartreuse and red, and a T-Rigged green pumpkin KVD worm. I close with a shoreline shot.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed going on my Dr. Seuss fishing trip. And you didn't have to bail the canoe at the beginning and end of the trip! Note the two bailers in the first four Brunhilda photos. It rained all night and rained half the morning. 

[Functional]

@ol'crickety you clearly have lures that work, I'd like to see what a jitterbug would do on that lake of yours though. Especially at the early times you launch. 

[Swamp Girl]

10 minutes ago, Functional said:

@ol'crickety you clearly have lures that work, I'd like to see what a jitterbug would do on that lake of yours though. Especially at the early times you launch. 

 

This morning's pond was a pal's pond. He has a cabin and I use his canoe. It has quite a few cabins on it, but I don't use the cabins as backdrops because they're not as pretty as undeveloped shoreline. I fish five ponds in all.

 

One of these trips, I'm going retro. I'll use old lures like a River Runt, Plunker, Jelly Worm, and Jitterbug, as well as a Zebco Cardinal and Dam Quick reels. So, we'll see how the Jitterbug works! I will put new hooks on my old lures first.

 

What really worked well this morning was the green pumpkin KVD worm. I'd worked a small bay with a Whopper Plopper and my underspin, but wondered if I'd caught all the active bass. So, I tossed that skinny worm and caught six more bass that had sniffed at my bigger, faster lures. 

[GaryH]

Good job EB.. keep it going

[islandbass]

Well done and great report. Maybe your next book titles could be “Green bass and Ham,” or, “The Basslorax.” 😇

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, islandbass said:

“Green bass and Ham,”

 

So clever.

 

Hey, wait a sec, are you saying I'm the ham? 😉

[islandbass]

14 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

So clever.

 

Hey, wait a sec, are you saying I'm the ham? 😉

No, but I can see how that can be construed. I suppose you would be Sam, Sam I am. 😇

I reckon I’m the ham because I took nearly 20 years to catch a bass with a jig and trailer. 😞

 

Luckily Sam, like my name, Alex is a name for male or female. 

BTW, I used to love reading Dr. Seuss books as a kid. My favorites were The Sneetches and The Lorax. 

[IcatchDinks]

That's a lotta nice fish. Glad to hear of your success and how you continue to improve! Also, a great homage to one of the premier children's authors. Maybe I'll read this to my little boy alongside the original. 😄

 

 

[NorcalBassin]

Congrats on the incredible trip!

[casts_by_fly]

very nice.  You are now officially in the post post spawn period.  All your fish are going to be skinny as rails but starting to fatten up.  You're not going to catch a PB right now, but they are sure going to be eating just about every trip out.  Its bluegill chomping season (did you see any bluegill beds?) for those bass now.  No surprise that the green pumpkin worm did well given that.

 

Enjoy!

[Swamp Girl]

@casts_by_fly: I never see beds, neither bass nor bluegills. This might be due to my lack of perch as I'm in low boats.

 

As far as catching a PB, I don't think that will ever happen again. I caught my unicorn this spring. Pat Brown thought she reached eight pounds. That's equivalent to a 12.5-pounder in the South. Not many eight-pounders in the North and I'm not far from Canada. So, I'm happy with her being my PB. 

 

I have a three-hour wind window tomorrow morning, but I think I'll pass. I've caught a lot of 2024 bass. I'll catch some shut-eye instead. 

[IcatchDinks]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

@casts_by_fly

 

As far as catching a PB, I don't think that will ever happen again. I caught my unicorn this spring. Pat Brown thought she reached eight pounds. That's equivalent to a 12.5-pounder in the South. Not many eight-pounders in the North and I'm not far from Canada. So, I'm happy with her being my PB. 

 

Did I miss this when you posted her? Or did I just forget? I must go find this unicorn and gaze at her beauty. 

[Swamp Girl]

 

 

She is and will likely be my lifetime PB. Her belly draws the eyes at first, but it's her back that most impresses me. She's like the 2023 bass below, back-wise, but longer and fatter:

 

 

[IcatchDinks]

Ooh, yeah, I remember seeing that photo. Such a fat hawg. 😂 Congrats again on the fish. What a catch! 

[Swamp Girl]

@IcatchDinks:

 

Thanks, ICD. I'm good to go with her. I wanted to have that big bass craving, ala Dwight, Tom, Andy, Alex, Pat, etc., but I just don't. I'm content to go out and catch half a dozen or so three to four-pounders and a passel of 2.5-pounders. Of course, when I catch my next six-pounder, I'll be PLENTY pleased, but in the meantime, I'm still plenty happy.

[casts_by_fly]

57 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@casts_by_fly: I never see beds, neither bass nor bluegills. This might be due to my lack of perch as I'm in low boats.

 

As far as catching a PB, I don't think that will ever happen again. I caught my unicorn this spring. Pat Brown thought she reached eight pounds. That's equivalent to a 12.5-pounder in the South. Not many eight-pounders in the North and I'm not far from Canada. So, I'm happy with her being my PB. 

 

I have a three-hour wind window tomorrow morning, but I think I'll pass. I've caught a lot of 2024 bass. I'll catch some shut-eye instead. 

 

Next time you go and its sunny when you're finishing, take a paddle across the shallows where you can see bottom.  Bluegills only need a foot of water or so, but anything out to about 3' is good bluegill bedding water.  Just have a peek over the side and look for the honeycombs.  There should be a lot of dinner plate sized circles clustered together, often in a honeycomb pattern.  When you find them, mentally mark those spots to fish next time.  The bass will be hanging around them for a while to fatten up.  Some places the bluegill spawn all summer and the bass relate to them all summer.  Some (like my local) the bass are still around those spots but its not the same bluegillfest like right after the bass spawn.  My dad's local the bass move 'offshore' and don't relate to the beds as much (except at night) but they are still hammering the bluegills.

[pdxfisher]

Great report and really fun to read! Of course now I can't get one fish two fish red fish blue fish out of my head

 

Glad to see you had a killer day with so many quality fish!

[PhishLI]

11 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

She is and will likely be my lifetime PB

We'll see about that, missy. 😉

[BrianMDTX]

“Look at the lure, that I bought at the store

 

Did it catch bass? I will buy more and more

 

Did I lose it? On a log?

 

Did I lose it? In a bog?

 

Will I buy another lure?

 

Stupid question. I’ll buy more!!!”

 

 

 

[islandbass]

@BrianMDTX: Well done! It looks like your bait monkey inspired you  to make a Dr. Seuss like poem. 
 

I also did earlier today and posted in in the Everything Else section.