Favorite Bass Pond Visit

Got to my favorite bass pond of about 15 acres, surface wind-chopped, so I began with a spinnerbait. With sun breaking through clouds, I guess I should have brought along a few more in chartreuse and fire-red, but absent mindedness is a trait I just have to live with. I caught three on a black quarter-ounce, all of them well over two pounds, one of them about three.

This pond always fishes slowly, except once in June last year, my son and I caught nine, five of my seven bass over three pounds, and one of his just making that mark. Almost always the bass weigh more than two pounds, many of them in the three pound class, which makes the fishing good for the rate of return. I fished less than two hours this afternoon, and then beat the traffic down to Morris County Library, looking for back issues of the Boston Globe Magazine. The world-class newspaper has a personal essay opportunity, and I need to read a about two dozen before I make the attempt.

One of these three bass I caught struck about 20 yards straight out from the bank. Two years ago, the sunlight hit the water just right so I could see a different shade of color hue, so I inferred shallows. I cast my Chompers far out and got a take. Every time I've fished towards the pond's back, I've done the same to no avail, until today.

When I arrived today, no one else fished, but as I got all the way into the pond's rear, I noticed two pickups had come in, and two guys fished where I hoped to finish. I fished the front anyhow where they had pounded the water with whatever, finally switching to my favorite Chompers, getting a take, but missing the hit.