Best Bass of the Year

On Tuesday I took advantage of good fishing conditions and went out to spin-fish for bass, pickerel, and walleye in a good pond I know. I planned to throw a spinner bait first and then jigs into the deep water for walleye. I put on the biggest honkin' spinner bait I own and lobbed it to good structure. I pitched it so it would pass a fallen tree and hooked my first fish, a scrappy largemouth. The next spot was by a concrete culvert, no luck there. On a whim I chucked it over the sunken tree so that it bounced over the log on the retrieve. I felt this and then a solid hit. As I drove the hook home I assumed that it was a pickerel, until a big bass propelled it's fat body into the air. It was clearly quite big. I landed it and then realized the absolute magnificence of this fish. It had evidently just devoured a bird, as she had a huge lump in her stomach and feathers in her throat. I snapped some pics and allowed her to return to her log home. I had no luck the rest of the day. I wish I could have hooked her on the fly, it would have been some fight, but I only fish the long rod there from a kayak.

 First bass of the day. Not bad, but there are big ones in that pond.