In the story "The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant" what does the bass represent in relation to the theme of values in the story?

W. D. Wetherell's story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” is about an unnamed fourteen year-old-boy who is torn between two loves—fishing and the beautiful seventeen-year-old Sheila Mant.

“Values” as a theme is a bit broad, you could probably apply that concept to just about any story ever written, but it isn't too difficult to see how the bass in the story relates to the turmoil going on in the mind and body of the narrator.

We can surmise that the focus of the narrator's life was fishing. But, as will happen with boys of that age, when he sees Sheila this focus wavers. Wetherell shows us this in the very first sentence:

There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant.

So, in terms of values, the narrator changes that summer, at least at first. Later, on his date with Sheila, his conflict intensifies when he accidentally hooks a huge bass and tries to hide the fact from Sheila. Sheila's beauty is more than his fourteen-year-old hormone ravaged body can handle, and he chooses Sheila over the bass by secretly cutting it loose. So, at this point, his values have shifted—he prefers the girl over his first love: fishing.

However, by the end of the story we see that the narrator has learned something from the experience. Sheila turns out to be a disappointment, and the narrator realizes that he never should have strayed from what he really loves:

There would be other Sheila Mants in my life, other fish, and though I came close once or twice, it was these secret, hidden tuggings in the night that claimed me, and I never made the same mistake again.

Thus, he has come full circle, returned to the values he possessed originally, before being led astray by his desire for Sheila. We could identify the “value” in this story as something along the lines of “people should remain loyal to their true selves.”

So, to finally answer your question directly: The bass represents his innermost desire and what he values most in his life. Sheila represents worldly experience, which can sometimes pull any of us away from our "bass," our innermost desire.