Working from home now and then has some benefits, especially when it’s sunny and 75 degrees on Feb. 15 in Texas. Looking out the window at the 5-acre fishing pond was tough — until 5 p.m., that is.
Before the rains came, the McLennan County pond was smaller than two acres. We didn’t see any dead fish, but knew the population had to have taken a hit.
Rigging spinnerbaits on two ultralight spinning rigs — and wearing a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops — I hopped on the four-wheeler and made the half-mile trek to the jonboat, thinking the bass would be aggressive with an incoming cold front.
They weren’t — but they did bite — the small ones at least. I missed one on the first cast and realized the bite was going to be subtle, so it was time to slow down.
In the one-hour trip, six small — some really small — bass softly took the bait. At one point the phone rang — not really sure why the phone was in the boat — so the rod had to be set down. After the call, a small bass had taken hold of the spinnerbait while it rested on the bottom.
At 6:00, after breaking off one of the baits on a snag, the last cast on the other rig created the biggest bird’s nest ever. I remembered why the experts say to re-spool your reels every spring.
Hopefully the bigger bass made it and were simply inactive, but that’s for another day. Overall, it was a fun hour in the sun.
