Fall Bass In The Hidden Valley It was an upcoming weekend with a doubtful weather forecast and a close friend, who, hadn't had the fly rod in his hands for several months. We knew we were daring the meteorologist but that didn't matter. It was time to go and we weren't going to let the weather stop us. We were going to fish our little gem in north central Nebraska and see if the trout would cooperate. Well.....the water was as low as I've ever seen it and we had no idea what was in store. Surprisingly a few undercut banks held some trout. Average trout and a couple that were 16 inches or so cooperated the first day which was washed in sunshine. We knew it wouldn't hold and it didn't. The next day the rains came and persisted, more or less, for the next three days. We were having a snack when we noticed a ruckus in one of the three ponds on the place. Some very large bass were hearding minnows and small panfish into a corner and methodically charging them and filling their gullets. It happened every few minutes and created some pretty impressive wakes when they moved. My friend had been fishing for trout with our favorite baby woolly buggers that he ties and have proven effective for me on trout everywhere I fish. He kept it on and moved over to the pond and started catching bass everywhere. Soon, he moved into the corner and waited for the big bass to charge their lunch. I was pretty sure that the little baby bugger wouldn't get their attention while they were working fresh baitfish. Boy, was I wrong! As soon as the bass started to charge the baitfish, he dropped the bugger in the middle and the biggest bass in the bunch, probably a 6 to 7 pounder, grabbed it with fury. I was standing right there and couldn't believe it. My partner uses fairly stout tippet, at least 6 pound, but, that wasn't nearly strong enough. The big bass made a run or two the shook his head and broke off. We were so excited we stopped fishing just to discuss it. I just didn't think that these bass would fool around with a trout fly while eating fish that were five times the size of this little offering. I guess I was wrong. Everything was a bit anticlimactic after that short episode. We went back to fishing but didn't experience anything like that again the next day or so. I got an education that day in our secret little place among the oak trees that I will never forget. Steve Westphal deaddrift.com
Labels: Such A Cute Little Pond
by Steve Westphal
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