The bullfrog chorus heralded my arrival at a favorite pond. I assembled an 8 wt. under heavily overcast skies and knotted a size-2 olive Bully’s Diving Frog to 12-lb. tippet. From my float tube, I side-armed a skip-cast that landed the fly under an over-hanging willow branch. The first strip caused it to dive under the surface with wildly kicking legs where it was greeted by a water churning strike, answered by an aggressive hook-set. Employing the force fins, I kicked away from shore while stripping line to prevent the bass from returning to his entangled lair. Over open water, the huge predator dove for the pond’s deepest water before charging the surface to execute a gill-rattling tail-walk. A minutes-long head-shaking stalemate ended with a series of surface wallows before it was lipped and laid across the float tube’s measured apron. It measured 17 inches, but my celebration was interrupted by the nearby sound of another surface thrashing bass. It served as a moment of transition from that thrilling first fight to a memorable evening that left 15 bass from 12 to 17 inches with sore jaws. Each was admired and, of course, released to fight again and pass along the unique genetic makeup that enables them to grow to large sizes. I drove home toward a crimson sunset that faded into pastels.
Frogs and Bass: What an Evening!
