Crick gets her grove back.

[Swamp Girl]

Two fine things happened this morning.

 

I had to wait a bit for both to happen. I launched this morning in perfect weather at 4:30 a.m., but struggled to consistently catch bass. I did cobble 15 fish in the first three hours, but couldn't dial in to a particular pattern, using five lures to catch those bass. Then, in the last two hours, I found a pattern, which was retrieving my underspin with a Crush City Mayor in pearl and chartreuse parallel to the shore and about two feet from it. Earlier this year, I could drop my lures on their heads and they'd immediately gobble, but today, if I landed a lure on them, they'd bolt. I think they wanted a little look at what I was offering before they bit.

 

The other fine thing that happened is that I kicked my landing percentage up a couple notches. I'm using a 5/0 hook and I finally realized I have to set the hook as if I'm trying to yank the ravenous Kraken off some puppies. Then I have to keep the rod high and reel like a dervish to keep them buttoned.

 

I finished with 49.

 

I start with a couple pretty pics of the lake, which is the pond where I own a 5-acre lot (The listing said 4.5 acres, but the plat map says 5 acres.):

 

 

 

 

Then a wonderfully fat smallie. She's only 17" and change, but a blimp!

 

 

Then some chunky lmbs!

 

 

I think this was the longest, a fine 18-incher:

 

 

But plenty were solid, hard-fighting fish and you can see in these photos how I was tight to the shore for those parallel casts. The fourth one down is a fatty, but they were all-shaped and well-fed:

 

 

For the first three hours, I was worried my 40-60 bass sessions were done, so it was peachy to have the bass awaken and keep me busy. You guys know I love a busy boat. One last pretty pic to finish this trip report and thanks for taking a ride in my canoe!

 

[IcatchDinks]

Beautiful fish!! I especially love that smallie! 😍

[Pat Brown]

On em'!!!

 

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😎😎😎🎣🎣🎣

[Swamp Girl]

10 minutes ago, IcatchDinks said:

Beautiful fish!! I especially love that smallie! 😍

 

Me too! However, she didn't fight much, which is very, very weird. She was a brown version of my big, green girl who also didn't fight much. 

 

Pat, I had my 50th hooked at the takeout, but it jumped and threw the lure and I shrugged my shoulders and went home. 

[Fishlegs]

Nice fish, & beautiful pond!

[roadwarrior]

 

 

                                                                

[MN Fisher]

[Pogues2300]

Good movie…. “When ol crickety got her groove back”. !

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Pogues2300 said:

Good movie…. “When ol crickety got her groove back”. !

 

This is me grooving in my canoe. Yes, my canoe is quite stable:

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

thanks for taking a ride in my canoe!

Thank you for taking us!

[Siebert Outdoors]

Awesome.

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Then I have to keep the rod high and reel like a dervish to keep them buttoned.

First, congrats on an awesome trip!!! I'll second Bob in thanking you for taking us along.

 Pertaining to the quote, you don't have to keep the rod high, just keep it loaded up and reel as fast as you need to, to keep pressure on 'em. If you can keep the tip low to the water, or even in it, it makes it harder for them to jump and throw the hook. 

 That's what's worked best for me over the years anyhow. 

[Swamp Girl]

I think reeling fast is essential. So many of them charge the boat. Then they pull like bulls from the boat. It amazes me that a 3-pound bass can pull my 85-pound canoe.

 

If a bass jumps once, I drop the rod to discourage a second jump.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Awesome day Katie!   Always love seeing the unmolested nature you get to fish in.

 

I have no idea how your thumbs last through the summer though.....I bet they look like a piece of mangled sand paper 😁

[GaryH]

Great job 👏

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Having caught hundreds of bass at my pond, I'm pretty sure of the following: 

 

The bass are bigger than the ones I caught three years ago.

 

The bass are healthy and well fed, so even bigger bass are ahead.

 

I haven't caught the biggest bass in the pond yet.

 

15 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Awesome day Katie!   Always love seeing the unmolested nature you get to fish in.

 

I have no idea how your thumbs last through the summer though.....I bet they look like a piece of mangled sand paper 😁

 

I wear a glove on my left hand.

 

It is beautiful, isn't it? I wish you could smell the pines, hear the loons, and watch the gusts of swallows

 

[Bankbeater]

Nice!  That smallie is a chunk.

[Swamp Girl]

52 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Nice!  That smallie is a chunk.

 

She must be a heckuva hunter, huh?

[Swamp Girl]

18 hours ago, T-Billy said:

That's what's worked best for me over the years anyhow. 

 

I love the humility in ^this.^

 

We all grew up watching Al Lindner or Jimmy Houston explaining how to catch bass and we all dreamed of being those guys, i.e. being paid to fish, but cockiness is too common for wanna-be's. You see it in so many angling YouTubers, where they'll catch ONE, measly fish and then address the camera to explain how we too can catch a bass if we just do everything they do. And every thing they say, they say with such surety, as opposed to Musky Tim, who opined above with rare, shining humility. In case ya can't tell, I'm a fan of humility. 

 

My other point is that one bass doesn't make a pattern. Nor do two. Catch a dozen or thirty in the same way and then talk about a pattern. When I was young and could fish mornings and evenings in northwestern Ontario, from four in the morning until eleven and again from five in the afternoon until ten, I'd average a hundred bass every day using the same lures and fishing the same places. That's a pattern deserving a YouTube channel, but I have no interest in that nowadays. Too old. I just want to catch fish, not explain how to catch fish in a boat that bristles with as many cameras as fishing rods.

 

[T-Billy]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

as opposed to Musky Tim, who opined above with rare, shining humility.

Thank you for the kind words Katie. It hasn't always been that way. Before Jesus made me a disciple, he first had to humble me. He's VERY good at that. Lol. I still get a little big for my britches now and then, and when I do, he always lets me know. 😉

[Swamp Girl]

You're the best, Tim.

 

Hey, apropos of nothing, I'm taking my state senator fishing tomorrow morning. I was his driver yesterday and he was in the area of my pond and I told him about it and he said he'd like to see it, so I took him there and now I'm taking him fishing tomorrow because he liked it so much. How cool is that? 

[Eric 26]

@ol'crickety That is definitely a slice of heaven imho. Thanks for sharing the photos and of course your reporting makes it feel like being in a canoe next to you, at least for me 😃

[Pogues2300]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I love the humility in ^this.^

 

We all grew up watching Al Lindner or Jimmy Houston explaining how to catch bass and we all dreamed of being those guys, i.e. being paid to fish, but cockiness is too common for wanna-be's. You see it in so many angling YouTubers, where they'll catch ONE, measly fish and then address the camera to explain how we too can catch a bass if we just do everything they do. And every thing they say, they say with such surety, as opposed to Musky Tim, who opined above with rare, shining humility. In case ya can't tell, I'm a fan of humility. 

 

My other point is that one bass doesn't make a pattern. Nor do two. Catch a dozen or thirty in the same way and then talk about a pattern. When I was young and could fish mornings and evenings in northwestern Ontario, from four in the morning until eleven and again from five in the afternoon until ten, I'd average a hundred bass every day using the same lures and fishing the same places. That's a pattern deserving a YouTube channel, but I have no interest in that nowadays. Too old. I just want to catch fish, not explain how to catch fish in a boat that bristles with as many cameras as fishing rods.

 

I love al Lindner and his family. Life long Minnesota I am a bit biased or possibly just fortunate to have seen him forever.

21 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

This is me grooving in my canoe. Yes, my canoe is quite stable:

Prelude to my survival stroke practice

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Eric 26 said:

@ol'crickety That is definitely a slice of heaven imho. Thanks for sharing the photos and of course your reporting makes it feel like being in a canoe next to you, at least for me 😃

 

Eric, over the years, I have always enjoyed your comments. Glad you came along on my little fishing trip!

 

1 hour ago, Pogues2300 said:

I love al Lindner and his family. Life long Minnesota I am a bit biased or possibly just fortunate to have seen him forever.

 

I ran into him once on Lake Superior when we were both fishing smallmouth. I knew his name was Al, of course, but out of respect, I could only call him Mr. Lindner. 

[Pogues2300]

51 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Eric, over the years, I have always enjoyed your comments. Glad you came along on my little fishing trip!

 

 

I ran into him once on Lake Superior when we were both fishing smallmouth. I knew his name was Al, of course, but out of respect, I could only call him Mr. Lindner. 

My sister keeps trying to get me to move up to two harbors where she works in radio…. I’d have to learn about small mouth but walking out the front door and walking two blocks to Lake Superior is tempting!