[vash]

i think i was 8 years old..i was reading an OUTDOOR LIFE magazine. there was an article on how to develop a bass farm pond. i read that thing maybe a hundred times. i remember the graphics on how a pond developed..with the big bass running the show at the end. i was fascinated and dreamed of having my own pond one day. now i live outside san francisco..something went horribly wrong with my childhood dream. hahah.

near my home in el paso texas..there was a run off reservoir. we noticed year after year, this one reservoir never ran dry. so we did the only logical thing. i had just gotten my driver's license. we cast netted a bunch of baby bass and bluegill..(very illegal, i think) and stocked this pond. we caught crawfish from the local canals. we let the thing ride for several years. my brothers first cast, a top water..produced a BEAUTIFUL 3lb black bass..i almost cried. our friend that lived near the pond opened his big mouth..and it got fished out. the utility company that ran the thing, locked the gate for good. it was as close as i ever got. damn.