other water birds, as well as mammals like white-tailed deer, beavers, otters, mink and muskrats. To a realestate agent, a weedy, undeveloped shoreline means red ink at the bank. To a slop angler - and the bass and other wildlife that live there - a remote shoreline is priceless. I’ll always remember a particular slop fishing foray that took place a few years ago. You know you’re having a fun day when a leaping largemouth bass on the end of a friend’s fishing line frightens a whitetail buck feeding along a nearby shoreline. My friend was perched in the front of his boat casting to weedy bank. I was in the back of the boat with camera trained toward a nearby whitetail buck that was knee deep in water, nonchalantly feeding on aquatic vegetation. As I spun the focus ring on my
“THE BUCK LOOKED UP...JUST IN TIME TO SEE THE BASS LEAP HIGH IN THE AIR...”
A plus to fishing bass along remote, undisturbed shorelines is the wildlife you’ll encounter. Ducks, loons and yes, even the occasional whitetail buck.
12
MINNESOTA SPORTING JOURNAL