Reclusive bass emerge for spawning season

By Chester Allen | The Olympian • Published June 20, 2008

I’ve seen bass eat bluegills, ducklings, crayfish and each other. Every bass angler can tell tales of casting a 6-inch-long lure and catching a 5-inch-long bass.

Confession: I tried to hook the fish with my panfish tackle when I first saw them, but they had spotted me, so they were very, very wary. Bass, as fish go, are pretty smart. They do get very aggressive and cranky when it’s time to fool around and make baby bass, but they don’t lose all caution.

I had to leave, but I decided this was a great chance to take photographs of bass in the wild.

I went back the next morning with my camera — equipped with a polarized filter — and crawled through the bankside brush. I found myself on my stomach behind a clump of bankside grass — and about three feet from the bass.

It was very cool.

The bass hovered over his nest and tried to woo the big, egg-laden female. He also nipped and chased off a couple of other male bass.

Bass might be big voyeurs, as some fish just hovered nearby and stared at the shenanigans.

The weather made getting a good photo tough. The clouds kept blocking the sun, so the bass would turn into a shadow in the water.

The bass, which are mostly greenish fish, also liked to hover over a patch of green moss while keeping an eye on the nest.

But, every now and then, the bass would swim right over the clean gravel nest. It was like watching a stage spotlight shine onto a singing star. That bass would come into sharp view.

I took 378 photographs on my digital camera, but only nine or so were keepers.

Still, this new way of fishing without casting a line looks like a new addiction.

I found I didn’t want to catch the bass I spent an entire morning watching. I kind of liked the bad boy, and it didn’t seem fair.

Chester Allen’s fishing column appears Fridays in The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-4226 or callen@theolympian.com.