Largemouth Bass

The locations Piney Run: Using small plastic worms will intrigue largemouth bass in the 3-pound range, say Jim Gronaw and Loren Lustig at the park office. Fish near the hydrilla beds for the optimum results. Jessica Lintner of Reisterstown reeled in a 3-pound, 17-inch largemouth bass on a 5-inch Sinko worm. Prettyboy Reservoir: Prettyboy Reservoir is down 34.48 feet, so launching a trailerable boat continues to be chancy. Plastic worms, surface lures, crankbaits and pig and jigs are solid options.

Largemouth bass fishing continues to be big business in the recreational fishing industry.I remember when largemouth bass fishing came of age -- or rage -- in the early 1970s. You couldn't catch a bass on an ordinary rod; it had to be a bass rod or worming stick that felt more like a pool cue than a fishing rod.And spinning reels were out -- only conventional, bait casting reels could catch them big hawgs (bass).Everyone had to be a member of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS), and no BASS member would be caught dead fishing in anything other than a bass boat.

David Navarre made a long cast that barely kept his quarter-ounce Rattletrap crankbait wet and began a fast retrieve. Twenty feet from the north shoreline of Mattawoman Creek, a nearly 4-pound largemouth bass nailed the lure with the force of waterborne tank.The fish peeled line from Navarre's reel and put a huge bend to his graphite rod, but this battle's outcome was a sure bet. As the bass was pulled within reach of the boat, professional bass guide Dale Knupp dipped a net under the beautiful bronzeback and hoisted it aboard.

Anne Arundel County is blessed with an eastern border tha consists almost entirely of the Chesapeake Bay. This makes the fishing and boating and swimming prospects almost unlimited and within the reach of nearly every county resident.But do you know that a lot of quality freshwater fishing also is available from one end of the county to the other? It's not exactly Canada's Land-O-Lakes region, which I enjoy each summer, nor will you find smallmouth bassing like that found in the upper Potomac.

EAGLE, Pa. -- Fishermen who chase the largemouth bass are different, and they have the T-shirts to prove it. Who else would wear something emblazoned with a greenish fish and the slogan, "Kiss my bass"? And who else would get up at 2 a.m., drive to a lake and sit there in a boat, flicking a fake worm into the water? And who, after seven hours of effort, would then throw back every fish they caught? Plenty, apparently, and 30 of them belong to the Marsh Creek Bass Club in this southeastern Pennsylvania community.

During the dead of winter, most Harford County anglers would rather be someplace else -- a location where they could enjoy balmy tropical breezes, swaying palm trees and crystal-clear water that's warm enough for bathing.In some instances, many nonmigratory species of fish have the same fantasies -- with a distinct difference. When water temperature dips to a bone-chilling 35 degrees, fish go where conditions are similar to those found in South Florida -- not Harford County.They don't exit Chesapeake Bay and head south, but instead travel a few miles to the nearest power plant, where they'll spend the winter basking in water warmer than normal for this time of year.

On Feb. 15, a federal grand jury returned indictments against four Maryland men, charging them with conspiracy to take and sell large quantities of largemouth bass from the Potomac River and its tributaries.In its simplest terms, the alleged largemouth bass network -- which investigators say operated from Maryland to Ontario and to New York, Georgia, Michigan and other states -- would be poaching on an ignominious scale.The case -- which has drawn the attention of state and federal enforcement agencies, has seen the use of radio transmitters implanted in wild bass to track their movement and has been spurred on by representatives of recreational fishermen -- seems to be an example of enforcement on a grand scale.