Catching Bass at a Culvert w/ Spinnerbait: Chilly Rain Drops Water Temperature

I had thought mud would flow from the stream culvert into my little local pond, but surprise caught me anyway when I saw it. Had it been warm, muddy water, my first cast might have yielded a bass. My fifth or sixth cast I placed beyond the edge of clear water you can see in the photograph. I buzzed the little spinnerbait and a good fish took it off the surface, dove and gave strong resistance, then pulled off. Soon I walked around the concrete and began casting down the edge and in that area of clarity near the mud. I missed five hits--another surface bust, and four very light takes. Besides those two topside turns, the bass behaved quite as if reluctant in suddenly chilled water, not reduced so much from chilly air as from cold rain.

Not out for long, I fished along the edge of shoreline where the mud flowed to the dam behind the division of cattails I mentioned in an earlier blog. Two hits, both stirring the surface--water very shallow here--but not fully engulfing the small lure. Then I placed it right between the cattails and worked it back near the bank to have it savaged after half a dozen cranks. Good fight. This bass close to two pounds, its coloration had faded in the muddy water.