It was September 26, 2005 and a beautiful early fall morning. It seemed like a great day to spend on the lake hunting for America’s favorite game fish, the largemouth black bass. There was no wind so I decided to fish one of my favorite lakes from which internal combustion engines are banned.
I headed for Mason County’s Devereaux Lake. As I arrived I was absolutely amazed. The water level had dropped 6 or 7 feet since I had last fished it only a few weeks ago. The water was down to a point to where it was about 12 feet from the end of the concrete plank boat launching ramp. It was still possible to launch small hand carried boats but somewhat of a challenge to launch a trailered water craft. The deep tire holes in the loose gravel beside the ramp indicated that some had tried. Although I had my four wheel drive pickup, I decided not to launch here.
I then headed for Mason County’s Benson Lake which wasn’t very far away. The lake was beautiful as I arrived. No other fishermen were on the lake or fishing from the shoreline. The gin clear water was as flat as a mirror. As I checked out the excellent launching ramp I spotted a nice one pound bass lazing in the sun in the shallow water. I decided to make a couple casts before launching. On the 2nd cast, I hooked a small bass on a floating Rapala. It was not the one pounder I had spotted enjoying the sun.
I then launched my small boat with an electric positioning motor and started fishing the shoreline towards the north. I was casting a floating Rapala, a black jig and a crawfish crankbait.
I had hooked and released a few small bass before I spotted a couple of (estimated) three pounders casually cruising in about 4 feet of water. They of course saw me as well. It has long been my theory that once a bass spots you, they probably won’t bite. This fact, however, has never kept me from trying.
I picked up the rod with a black jig attached, applied a little fish formula and made a cast just past the two bass. I could clearly see both the jig and the fish in the clear water. I hopped the jig along the bottom a couple of times and one of the fish flared his gills, opened his mouth and sucked it in. I set the hook -- hard. That fish was 17 ½ inches and probably would have weighed just a little over 3 pounds. I thought the other fish had probably swam over to a nearby dock.
I moved the boat over to the dock and sure enough, there he was glaring up at me. I cast the jig down near him and he did the exact same thing as the other bass. I never felt him pick up the lure but once again, I visibly set the hook. The rod buckled as the big fish struggled but after a few seconds spit out the hook.
I continued fishing and hooking several small fish under a pound. On almost every cast I would have 3 or 4 small bass following the lure back to the boat. Most were quite small but others were pushing a pound.
At the northwest corner of the lake, a lakeshore resident came down to ask if I was catching anything. I admitted to catching a "few." While she was watching I made a long cast to a very shallow area, maybe less that a foot deep, near a private dock. A nice bass just smashed the floating Rapala on the surface as she watched. The bass was splashing and jumping but the lady left during the action saying she had to go split wood. Amazing! That fish was 15 inches long and about 2 pounds.
Near the Northwest corner of the lake there is an off shore float with an amazing amount of vegetation growing from it. I cast a jig to the float and let it fall straight down. I felt the delightful little tap-tap and set the hook. I felt a heavy fish briefly. I was about to cast again when a very large bass surfaced, glared at me and went back down under the float. I would hate to think what he would have done if he had a middle finger.
I fished another hour or so before calling it quits about noon. It was another great morning on one of the many beautiful lakes here in the great northwest.

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