weird bass behavior

[G. M. Zimmermann]

Went fishing yesterday afternoon for the first time in about a month. I went
to a small lake I have fished many times before. The water level was about a
foot or two higher than normal from heavy rains this past week, but it was
pretty clear. The air was cool, low 70's Id guess, and the water was even
cooler, I'd say mid to high 60's. There were TONS of small fish, minnows, baby
sunfish, baby bass, and baby pickerel, etc., in the shallow water. I mean
really shallow, like most of these fish were in water 2 to 4 inches deep. I
also saw some adult sunfish that were near the bank, usually in water about a
foot deep. I saw lots of small bass (8 to 12 inches) in groups of 3 to 5 fish,
cruising the shallows at fairly high speed (if I followed them down the bank, I
had to walk pretty fast to keep up). All the fish were very spooky, If i
walked right up to the waterline, fish 20 yards in either direction spooked.
Needles to say, i did most of my fishing well back from the bank. But I
neither saw or caught a fish over 10 inches. Where were the larger fish
hiding? Has anyone ever seen fish behavior like this before?

-Zimmy