The baby bass are biting like crazy, much to the delight of professional angler and guide Debra Hengst, less than a year after the lake was stocked with 203,768 largemouth Florida hybrid fingerlings.

“I’ve been fishing on Medina Lake since I was little — I cut my teeth on this lake,” Hengst said. “I have a lot of love for this lake and I have to say (the stocking) was really a shot in the arm for the bass fishing and the whole community. The water is so clear that when you hook into one bass, you might see four or five more following it to the boat trying to grab the lure. There was one trip where I know I caught 75 or more.

“Normally the fingerlings (measuring about 1½ to 2 inches long) grow about 8 inches during their first year, but we are seeing lots of 12-inch fish that I know are from the stocking because I was there when they put them out.”

Hengst, who operates out of Joe’s Marina and participated in the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department stocking effort last June, said she expects the largemouth bass bonanza to continue as long as the lake level is maintained.