It’s late in the afternoon on a Saturday in mid-May. It’s the cusp of the short, hot, desert summer, and the dike along the northern edge of Hinkson Slough is deserted. The trout guys who flocked here in the early spring looking for trophy rainbows and browns have all moved on to higher, cooler waters.

The trout are still here, of course. They aren’t very active in the summer. The thick aquatic growth makes it tough to present a fly. But in the late spring, the largemouth bass that share this shallow, gin-clear cattail marsh with the trout go on a binge.

It’s too bad so few people fish for them. On second thought, maybe that’s a good thing!

Leave your rig parked alone on the dike and push off in your tube. Start working a Carolina-rigged worm parallel to the edge of the cattails on the far side of the channel along the dike.

Don’t forget to appreciate the beauty of this improbable little oasis in the high desert.

Be patient on your retrieve, and you’ll release one 10- to 13-incher after another. Bass grow slowly here in western Nevada, with its long winters and relatively high elevation.

But in this slough, there are also plenty of 3- to 5-pounders. And what better way to pass the time while waiting for one to turn up?

This is bass fishing western Nevada-style. I wish I could say it rivaled the world-class bassin’ at Lake Mead and Lake Mohave in southern Nevada, but I can’t.

I can say that even up here in trout country, there are a few reliable spots within 90 minutes of Reno where bass addicts can get their fix. Double-digit fish are rarer than royal flushes. But there are enough of them weighing more than 3 pounds to keep things interesting.

Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area, where Hinkson Slough is located, is one of those reliable spots.