Pondpalooza!

[Swamp Girl]

I took a break from swamp fishing to fish a pond. I caught 24 and the five biggest were close to 20 pounds (19.71 pounds on the length to weight conversion chart). I launched in the dark. It was cool too. I know some of you believe that fall fishing is best when the Sun warms the water a bit after a cool night, but the 47 degree night didn't suppress their appetites. I headed off to fish a bay, trolling a Dobyn's Beast spinnerbait with an orange Crush City Mayor along the way. This girl hit:

 

 

I chucked my spinnerbait back to where I caught her, hoping she had a big sis. She did!

 

 

One more cast and one more big gal:

 

 

The next bass was smaller, but I photographed her with a lip and grip to show you how dark it was:

 

 

Then I caught another two, one on the spinnerbait and the other with a Yo-Zuri popper:

 

'

 

A gal pal with a home on the pond waved me to shore for coffee and cookies. Yum! I'd caught 13 at that point. Returning to the pond, I wondered if I'd left my mojo was killed by the coffee and cookies for I couldn't muster single hit for about 20 minutes, but working a reed line with my popper started to trigger some hits, including this double:

 

 

This was the bigger of the two, about 17 inches:

 

 

Then I caught a 17.5-incher:

 

 

And another solid popper bass, thick and long, over 18 inches:

 

 

At this point, I'd caught four smallmouth, but didn't get any photos because they're on the skinny side. So, I took a photo of this standard-sized one, between 15 and 16 inches:

 

 

And then I caught a rare 17-incher smallie. Rare for Maine and me, that is, as I don't catch big smallies in Maine:

 

 

I've caught heavier smallies in Maine, as my pond grows thick brown bass, but most of my Maine smallies are 15 to 16 inches.

 

Anyway, I finished my trip with a couple solid lmbs, the first 17.5 inches and the second, 18.25 inches.

 

 

Until last spring, I felt I was mostly a one-trick pony, i.e. a bass angler who only excelled in the summer. Then I fared well last spring and now I'm faring well this fall. It's good to be improving. Thanks, @Glenn, for your videos and thanks again to the rest of you who've coached me over the years. You might remember that I caught 70 bass on Monday morning, but this morning's 24 sure didn't feel like a letdown. It was great fun!

 

I know a couple of you guys want all my bass on the bump board, but those photos aren't nearly as pretty...to me...as the lip and grips. So, I did a mix of lip and grip and bump boarding.

 

P. S. - So, I go out and land a five-bass bag that's around 19.5 pounds and am feeling pretty proud and THEN I remember that @WRB landed a 19.5-pound bass.

 

And I imagine Tom chuckling and saying, "Yeah, keep pluggin', kid. Keep pluggin'."

 

P. P. S. - I fixed my camera by replacing the battery. The rechargeable battery was about 25 years old and evidently had lost its ability to recharge. Easy-peasy fix. 

 

[Functional]

Ol' Swampy Cricket is still putting in big numbers and good weights! Its nice to see a mix of bump boards and lip pics. Get to see a bit more of your daily POV making me look for conferences held in Maine so I can expense a trip up there!

 

Everyone here was once a one trick pony until we learned a new trick. I'd certainly say if there isn't ice you have faired well all year. 

[Rockhopper]

41 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I caught 24 and the five biggest were close to 20 pounds.

 

PS I knew what you meant.  Just thought it was funny.

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, Functional said:

Get to see a bit more of your daily POV making me look for conferences held in Maine so I can expense a trip up there!

 

If you do schedule a trip, I'd be happy to take you fishing if you're not too cool to fish from a canoe with an old swamp gal. My only rule is no paddling. When two people paddle a canoe, it's too fast for trolling, plus my job is to put you on fish and I know where they lurk, so I don't need a paddling partner.

 

Your job will be to catch bass.

 

My jobs are paddle and net. 

 

12 minutes ago, Functional said:

Get to see a bit more of your daily POV making me

 

Exactly why I like lip and grips.

[Functional]

6 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

If you do schedule a trip, I'd be happy to take you fishing if you're not too cool to fish from a canoe with an old swamp gal. My only rule is no paddling. When two people paddle a canoe, it's too fast for trolling, plus my job is to put you on fish and I know where they lurk, so I don't need a paddling partner.

 

Your job will be to catch bass.

 

My jobs are paddle and net. 

I went sledding sitting on a toilet bolted to a upside down car hood....cool went out the window LONG ago!

[Swamp Girl]

It's cool that you're not cool.

 

That toilet seat bolted to a car hood sounds like wicked fun!

 

I also am not cool. You've seen the photos of my weed-streaked canoes. Imagine roaring across a lake at 70 mph in a bass boat bristling with electronics. That is utterly not me. I'm pretty close to sitting on a toilet seat bolted to a car hood and paddling that. 

 

Remember that I fish with spinning outfits, some as old as 40 years. So not cool.

 

To be serious for a sec, one thing that's really helped me improve as an lmb angler is fishing my swampy pond. It's wide-open water in the middle, but it's got swamp along three sides and that's where the bass most often lie. There are a lot of woody bushes and laydowns in the swamp, so there's wood with the weeds, meaning you have to control your fish or they break free. Plus, the bass in my pond are stronger than the bass in the other water I fish. They top out at 18.5 inches, but they're thick, muscular, and strong and playing them all summer makes landing 19" and 20" bass in more open water nowhere near as hard as it once was. 

[WRB]

Amazing Kate you keep consistently catch big northern bass trip after trip👍

Tom

[Swamp Girl]

14 minutes ago, WRB said:

Amazing Kate you keep consistently catch big northern bass trip after trip👍

Tom

 

You've fished northern bass, Tom. You know they're slow to grow. We've got to get some of those California trucks of trout. That'll giddy-up their growth, as would gobies!

 

One thing that wouldn't work this morning, Tom, was a Heddon Spook. I had high hopes for it. One strike was all it could muster. All the bass came on two lures: spinnerbait and popper. They wouldn't even sniff my little pink wacky worm. 

[pdxfisher]

Great report! Awesome that you caught so many nice fish. They definitely look like they are fattening up for winter.

 

It is interesting that caught them on the popper but not the spook. I watched an episode of Major League Fishing where they were in WV in the fall and a popper was the money bait. They anglers said they thought that its smaller profile better mimic-ed the size of the fall bait. 

 

Was your popper smaller than your spook? I have not been out in a few weeks but maybe next trip out I will have to tie on a popper if my walking bait is not getting bit.

[Swamp Girl]

15 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

 

Was your popper smaller than your spook?

 

Smaller than the Spook, for sure. It was the lure that caught the vast majority of the 70 bass on Monday morning too. It's a Yo-Zuri that's clear with gold and black. I added extra 0-rings and changed the hooks. 

 

15 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

Great report!

 

Thanks!

 

Here's a typical small mouth bass from my pond. They are built so much thicker than the bass from my pal's pond. I wish there were more of them, but I'm lucky to catch one smallie for every 40 lmb.

 

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 9/25/2024 at 11:08 AM, Functional said:

I went sledding sitting on a toilet bolted to a upside down car hood.

Tell me your just kidding....right?

[Swamp Girl]

15 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Tell me your just kidding....right?

 

I hope he's not kidding. It's hip to be square and that's a seriously square thing to do. 

[Swamp Girl]

I think I could have caught more bass from that big bass school, but it was dark and foggy and none of the camps on the shorelines were lighted. So, I had zero sense of direction and the bass spun my canoe, so I lost any idea of where they were. I should have 360-cast, but I didn't. Mistake. 

[Functional]

7 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Tell me your just kidding....right?

Oh no. Not one bit. Pro tip....take the tank lid off before you go down,  the back of your head will thank you when you hit your first snow mound. 

 

We did it only twice though,  was pretty heavy getting it back up the hill. After the second time we tied it to the back of a truck and flung eachother around in a field for a while like we were on a water tube. Good times and only a little blood. 

[Swamp Girl]

I'm returning to my pal's pond tomorrow to fish the afternoon. I avoid afternoons because of wind, but it'll only be 6 mph and I've a plan to use the wind. I'll let it blow me across the pond and fan cast along the way. Then I'll paddle back into the wind and troll along the way. Then repeat.

 

I've done a lot of drift fishing for walleyes and white bass. I'm good at setting up a drift, I.e. reading the wind and picking the right starting point.

 

There's a big girl school out there somewhere and with enough passes and some luck, I might find it and land another 20-lb. bag. 

 

I'm different than a lot of you. If I could choose between one six-pound bass or a 20-lb. bag, I'd take the latter. I take pride in consistency of fishing, rather than happening upon one rare bass. Plus, five fine bass that constitute a 20-lb. bag is five times the fight. It's been my experience that six and seven-pounders don't fight that much harder than four-pounders.  

[TnRiver46]

The biggest largemouth I’ve caught fought the hardest , 3 8 lb class ones. One in particular about pulled me off the front deck of a boat 

[MIbassyaker]

On 9/25/2024 at 12:08 PM, Functional said:

I went sledding sitting on a toilet bolted to a upside down car hood.

 

True 'Merican ingenuity right there, that is.