Sight fishing for bass

they're in there...
actually there are bass in the picture, but
they're hard to make out

On my way home today, I stopped by the pond to see what was up. I don't really know how to fish with the constantly changing weather, but I made some lures I really wanted to try out.

This one, which I'll call the bumble minnow, definitely needs another hook. It's way off-balance, and mostly just spins through the water. After a few casts, even using a swivel, I got some pretty severe line twist on my braided line. I spent about 5 minutes detangling it, and I was back fishing.

This guy is my attempt at a clown pattern. After I added the eyes, it occurred to me it looked kind of like a creek chub. Here's a picture of river guru Ken G holding a creek chub (I hope he doesn't mind I stole his picture):

(to read the post this picture comes from, go here)

My clown pattern lure works pretty well in the water, and has a very very tight wobble. At first I didn't there was any wobble, but upon closer examination I could see the feathers moving back and forth. The internet tells me crankbaits with a tight wobble are good for cold water. In the 15 minutes I fished the lure, nobody was interested... but I'm going to try again soon.

I fished an area of the pond far from where I usually fish, due to another fisherman at the pipe. I started casting, and suddenly I noticed a bass just hanging out extremely close to the shore. It was probably three feet from me. Could this be bass on their beds, i.e. spawning? Or getting ready to spawn? I've read a great deal about this, but so far I hadn't seen it happening. The internet tells me bass will attack anything that moves into their nest.

I bounced my wacky-rigged worm about an inch in front of a pair of bass, and they just watched it. They didn't move an inch.

Ok, I decided to try a different tactic. I was pretty sure crayfish liked to eat bass eggs, so perhaps these bass would try and kill something they thought was a crayfish. On my line went a texas-rigged chigger craw.

I bounced it past them, same routine. Another cast, and nothing. Another cast, the plastic critter landed directly on the back of one of the bass. Apparently startled, it moved a few feet and resumed it's hanging out. Another cast, and I let it sit in the weeds for a few seconds. I wiggled it a little. I watched a bass slowly swim over, look at it, and then in the blink of an eye it attacked the critter and immediately swam away. It just nipped the end of the plastic, didn't get the hook.

This was amazing- I've watched bluegill hanging out, but never have I been able to actually see bass interacting with my bait in the water.

I kept trying, and was perplexed by their disinterest. After all was said and done, I got 4 or 5 hits, all of them little nips. Maybe these were warning shots, telling the critter to get the hell away from the eggs. I was surprised the bass didn't just eat it!

Then the rain picked up (oh yeah, did I mention it was raining again? After Sunday's wet experience I don't mind it too much). As soon as that happened, suddenly about a million frogs started croaking. Never in all the times I've fished the pond- probably at least a hundred by now- have I ever seen or even heard a frog.

Where did they come from?

As I walked back to my car, soaking wet again, I thought about how I could make some frog lures. I hear bass love frogs.