Color Differences for Largemouth Bass at a Private Pond

Fred arrived and fished before me, catching a lot of bass, one four pounds, another three. This is our annual Scout picnic and opportunity to fish a private pond of 15 acres or so.

I fished with Fred down along the spillway, first with a bright red spinnerbait, then quickly snapping on a Senko-type worm as soon as Fred began getting hits, by changing his white worm to black as shadows had overtaken us. It was the same sort of difference in color triggering strikes I recently wrote about after fishing Round Valley Reservoir.

I lost a bass of about three pounds on my first cast, hooked in about six to eight feet of water. I got a good look at the fish, really good sized, could have been a few ounces more than three. Then we casually caught and released bass for about 20 minutes, until we began to head for the dining area.

There was a fallen tree we accessed by climbing down an embankment and fighting off briars. At first, nothing would hit. We must have covered the range with a dozen casts. Then I caught the largest pumpkinseed of my life, must have weighed a pound. It took the five-inch Senko-type with a size 3/0 inset hook. I switched to a slow worm, a traditional Chompers in watermelon, rigged on an inset. This worked. Fred switched to a watermelon Senko-type and we caught a few more bass, and I caught a pickerel also.

After dinner, we cast topwaters for 15 minutes. I nailed another bass, but that was all.