Backyard Bass


A thin sheen of oil covered the surface of the dark slough, but you could still see the tips of the swamp grasses clogging the waters beneath. Not that the surface was at all smooth—tips of bush and broken limbs broke the surface every few feet. If you cast out into the middle of the 60- foot wide backwater, you’d have no chance in the world of getting back your gear.

Only the first couple of feet from shore were clear of the slime, grass and brush, so I dropped my naked worm just a couple of feet from my shoes. The worm slid slowly into the murky mess, dropping a foot to the bottom and lying there wriggling. I lifted my rod tip, pulled it into the air and dropped it at the edge of the swamp grass a couple of feet to my left. At least there the grasses kept my worm out of my sight. The line gave a slight twitch. I raised my rod skyward and the whole slough seemed to explode!

A bright chunk of green and black madness frothed up the surface as it dashed from side to side. My borrowed reel was stuck, giving no drag, but the heavy line held firm. Jeff, my host for the outing, grabbed a net and dipped up my flailing catch. Up to the bank came five pounds of beautiful bass, the biggest I had ever caught!

Last Big One
I have to admit to being no great shakes of a bass fisherman. I’ve tried the little lakes and ponds over the years but with little success. I’d managed to hook a few small foot-long critters but never one of the “bucketmouths” that real bassers battle. I can recall, some fifty years back, looking in my grandmother’s laundry basin as a five-pound bass swam along its cement sides. My grandpa and a buddy had brought it back from a big reservoir after two days of trolling, and were showing it off to the neighbors before it was served for dinner. But that was the last real big one I’d seen up close.

While we have a lot of bass waters in the Northwest, I spend most of my time chasing sturgeon, salmon and steelhead, but they surely aren’t the only show available.

I’d gotten word on this “bass heaven” from a longtime neighbor and bait boy who now runs a manufacturing plant. Jeff had just rented a new place and made a major discovery in his backyard. He got the place because it had a big backyard for his dogs, but found that, behind the blackberries that bordered the place was the shoreline of a slough.

Surprise Find
One day he was looking down into the waters and saw a huge fish swim by. “At first I thought it must be a carp, but then I got a good look at its shape. It was a really big bass!” And it had friends, lots of them. In a few weeks of fishing, Jeff caught dozens of bass, a bathtub full of huge carp and even a hefty catfish. “That ol’ slough is just full of fish, you ought to come over and give it a try,” he said.

Not one to pass on an invitation like that, I called Jeff to set up a fishing time. “C’mon over now,” he responded. “ I have an hour or so before my nephew’s birthday party—that will be plenty of time.”

I found that remark a little hard to believe. I haven’t had any hot fishing in awhile and an hour was a short shift. But I trust Jeff, so I packed up my camera and headed down. When I got to his place I couldn’t believe how ugly the water looked. Jeff laughed when my disappointment was obvious. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and Jeff insisted that this mudhole would make a believer out of me.

Lessons Learned
After that first bass hit, I put on a bobber so I could see the line movement better, and soon had up on the bank a second bass of at least equal size. While I was unhooking my fish, Jeff gave a holler. He was working another big slab through the berries up to the bank. After we took pictures and released the lunkers, it was time for Jeff to leave for the party. I took off my chewed up worm and threw it into the murk. Before it had sunk an inch, a huge bass shot out of the muck and grabbed it.

“Give me just a minute to catch that one!” I pleaded. Jeff laughed. “What do you think of my backyard fishing now?” he kidded. I put on a new worm, threw out, and hooked my third big bass in less than a half hour. “It’s amazing!” I shouted, and so it was.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this adventure. There are a million sloughs, ponds and backwaters scattered around the country and it would probably be a big mistake to pass them up on your way to the big-name lakes and streams, at least if you want to catch the big ones like grandpa put in the sink!

Bob Ellsberg’s column, Fishin’, appears monthly in RV Life and rvlife.com.