It freaks me out every time I flip a whacky worm there but it’s reliability as a hot spot is undeniable.

    I am talking about a pipe that transports treated sewage into a local bayou.

    As you can imagine there are lots of funny local names for this location, none of which are really fit for print here but the fact is it holds bass. And occasionally one of them will be a nice one.

    That is a nice one by local standards.

    You cannot measure the fish of Adams, Hillebrandt, Taylor, Cow or Little Cypress Bayous or even the Sabine or Neches Rivers up to those in Toledo Bend or Lake Conroe. A two-pounder is a good solid fish and a five is an absolute monster.

     Despite the size differences between bass in our part of the world and the big reservoirs, seeking them is a passion for many local anglers. And catching them in sort of unusual places is commonplace.

    Take sight casting to some pretty decent-sized largemouths in the back of the Keith Lake Chain back in 1997 during a redfish-seeking trip with the late, great Ed Holder.

    The water was tap clear and I could see the Sea Rim State Park headquarters in the background and there were a number of bass hanging out with redfish.

    There are a surprising number of nice fish between Interstate 10 and the Port of Beaumont and on the Sabine from the bridge to the Port of Orange.

    And tactics for our brackish water bass can be unusual.

    My cousin Frank Moore developed a great technique for taking a clear-colored DOA shrimp and skipping it across the surface like a topwater and catching some pretty nice fish.

    We used to catch bass up to two pounds in Adams Bayou fishing an eel imitation called the Sabine Snake that is unfortunately no longer on the market on a Texas rig. This lure was designed for dredging Sabine’s southern reef but we found it better for bayou bass.

    This winter and spring I will be spending a lot of time pursuing bayou bass and sharing some techniques I am hoping will yield some local lunkers.

    And I look forward to seeing the catches all of you report. Perhaps by sharing information we can create a pool of resources on local bass that will gain them a little more respect and perhaps enhanced conservation efforts.

    Our bass are a bit different than the monster fish on the reservoirs but are plenty of fun to pursue.

    In fact, the “different” part is what I think makes them so fun.