Some Small Bass on Jerkbait and Topwater Plug

A day that defied spinners. 

Bedminster Pond remained calm the entire hour and fifteen minutes I fished. Fifty-nine degrees when I arrived, 52 when I left.  Maybe it was cooler in the damp shadows than by the highway. 

I first made my way to the pond's edge at a corner, the surface exploded in dozens of boils, though the fish weren't large. Maybe a few nine or 10-inch bass. I couldn't tell. I cast one of the two large spinners I made the other night, which throbbed heavily as I expected it would, a good rendition of the Savko Special I caught an 18-incher on three years ago here, a big blade and a string of lightweight beads on the wire. Nothing went for it and I quickly advanced to the next spot.

It blew up with four times more fish basking in the sun. Dramatic. "Holy shit," I said out loud. But again, none very large. 

Nothing hit the spinner and I wondered if I had a Rebel Minnow in my box. I did not, but among other sinking plugs, I had one about an inch-and-a-half-inch long that sinks very slowly. On the first cast, I caught a little eight-inch largemouth. Nothing else would hit, so I moved on, once fish quit regrouping and boiling the surface as I cast over them.

Subsequent spots had no fish basking, but I did catch a smaller bass on the plug as I made my way back, switching to a little surface plug. That exercise resulted in two more bass of about eight inches.

Like last year--small bass. And though I did see small fish out in the middle get busted, I saw no other evidence of larger. They must be in the pond, because the last few years have involved no thick ice that could have resulted in a fish kill. 

Smallest bass