Bass in the Shallows Feed, Cattail Cover

Again, just after sundown, I grabbed my favorite St. Croix. Minutes later, approaching the bank of the same nearby Bedminster pond, I startled a bass in water so shallow as to narrowly cover its back. To the right of its receding wake, the cattails would invite my third or fourth cast, and what I thought at first was a sunfish gave the same chartreuse spinnerbait I had used a couple days ago a light take. Same for the next cast, but the following cast drew a big surface boil--I had roused a good-sized bass. The next cast was more than the fish could stand, and it connected solidly. I unhooked it, the bass a couple ounces or so over a pound, and tossed it back without thinking to capture a photo.

Working my way to the second corner, I tried deeper water to no avail. Most of the bass are surely there. But the few in the shallows were in position to feed, although not with such abandon as the other day. Again, a light take. And the next cast--solid connection, this bass perhaps slightly under 11 inches in length.

I went around the corner, crossing a small feeder stream with a three foot deep hole linked to the pond by a narrow sluice. Two days ago no fish swam in it. Today, half a dozen sunfish darted about. Perhaps once fish discover shallows in the spring, they are more likely to stay related to them regardless of drops in water temperature. Today the water probably never rose over 50. But unless I hadn't noticed sunfish that were present here, they made their way into the hole sometime after Monday when temperatures reached into the 70s.

Nice to have a pond nearby. Sometimes the freedom of striking off for a short breather is enough to circulate the blood--home from work, but an opportunity to run on.