Midwest Finesse Fishing: February 2023

Mar 24, 2023

Feb. 6

Steve Reideler of Denton, Texas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about his Feb. 6 outing with Roger Farish of Highland Village, Texas.

Here is an edited version of their log.

North-central Texas was lambasted with an ice storm on Jan. 30 and 31, and the ice remained intact through Feb. 2. Fortunately, a warming trend began on Feb. 3, and all of the ice from the ice storm had melted by Feb. 4. The warming trend continued through Feb. 6.

With the weather more stable and mild-mannered, I joined Roger Farish of Highland Village, Texas, for a bank-walking excursion at two community reservoirs in north-central Texas.

The sky was clear on Feb. 6, and Roger and I relished the spring-like warmth from the bright sunshine. The morning's low temperature was 49 degrees. The afternoon's high temperature peaked at 74 degrees. The wind was troublesome, and it blew incessantly out of the south at 20 to 30 mph. The barometric pressure measured 29.98 at 11:00 a.m. and 29.86 at 6:00 p.m.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar indicated that the best fishing periods would occur between 10:52 a.m. and 12:52 a.m., 4:41 a.m. and 6:41 a.m., and 5:03 p.m. to 7:03 p.m. It also noted that the fishing would be excellent.

We fished at the first community reservoir from 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., and then we decided to take a break and get some lunch. After our lunch break, we fished at the second community reservoir from 3:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.

The underwater terrains of these two impoundments are similar. They are composed of gravel, red clay, and some sand. Numerous bald-cypress trees, bald-cypress tree roots, tree limbs, and other wood debris litter the shorelines and shallow-water areas. They are also embellished with shallow ledges that consist of gravel and red clay, and these ledges extend from three to five feet from their waters' edges The slopes of the shorelines vary from 10- to 45-degrees. We were also delighted to discover that the second impoundment possesses a couple of new patches of green hydrilla.

At the first community reservoir, the water exhibited about 14 to 16 inches of clarity. The water temperature was 48 degrees. The water level appeared to be normal.

It was a grind for us to catch five largemouth bass. All five of these largemouth bass were caught in four to seven feet of water in the northeast corner of the impoundment, where the steep northern shoreline transitions into the flatter gradient of the east shoreline.

Four of these five largemouth bass were caught on a Z-Man's Junebug TRD TicklerZ rigged on a chartreuse 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Finesse ShroomZ jig. The other one was caught on a Z-Man's Bama-bug TRD BugZ affixed on a chartreuse 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Finesse ShroomZ jig. These two combos were slowly dragged across the bottom in about one-foot increments with 10- to 15-second pauses between drags. All of the strikes occurred while the lures were paused during the retrieve.

The second reservoir was much more fruitful than the first one; it relinquished 20 largemouth bass. The water temperature was 55 degrees. The water level appeared to be normal. The water exhibited about 12 inches of visibility.

Fifteen of these 20 largemouth bass were caught in three to six feet of water near the deep-water sides of the ledges along the windblown sections of the east and west shorelines. Five were caught in three to five feet of water around two small patches of green hydrilla that are situated on a large clay flat on the north end of the reservoir.

We failed to generate any strikes from the south end of the reservoir, which encompasses a decorative rock dam and an adjoining concrete spillway.

Twelve largemouth bass were enticed by the Z-Man's Junebug TRD TicklerZ rig and a slow drag-and-deadstick presentation. Four largemouth bass were induced by a Z-Man's coppertreuse Finesse TRD affixed on a chartreuse 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Finesse ShroomZ jig. This combo was employed with a slow-and-constant-shaking swimming retrieve. Two more were tempted by a slow drag-and-deadstick presentation with the Z-Man's Bama-bug TRD BugZ combo. And two largemouth bass were caught on a slow-and-steady swimming retrieve with a Z-Man's The Deal Baby Goat fastened on a chartreuse 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Finesse ShroomZ jig.

This five-hour endeavor yielded 25 largemouth bass.

Unfortunately, our trend of warm-and-stable weather will be coming to an end. Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days, and we're hoping it won't negatively affect the community reservoirs in north-central Texas.

Feb. 7

Bob Gum of Kansas City, Kansas, filed a brief log on the Finesse News Network about his outing to one of northeastern Kansas's power-plant reservoirs.

Here is an edited version of his log.

The National Weather Service reported that the morning's low temperature was 33 degrees. The afternoon's high temperature was 54 degrees. The wind was calm at 6:53 a.m., and before and after that short spell, it angled out of the north and northwest at 6 to 23 mph. The conditions of the sky fluctuated from being fair to partly cloudy. The barometric pressure was 29.92 at 12:53 a.m., 30.06 at 5:53 a.m., 30.21 at 11:53 a.m., and 30.19 at 2:53 p.m.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar indicated that the best fishing periods would occur between 11:09 a.m. and 1:09 p.m., 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., and 5:19 a.m. to 7:19 a.m.

The water level looked to be normal. The water exhibited about 12 inches of visibility, and it was slightly dingier in the areas that were waylaid by the 23 to 51 mph wind gusts out of the south on Feb. 6. The surface temperature inside the warm-water plume ranged from 49 to 52 degrees.

I spent the entire outing fishing inside the warm-water plume.

This reservoir used to be our standard bearer for catching significant numbers of largemouth bass during the late fall, throughout the winter, and during the early spring. But something has gone awry during the past six years, and it has become an extremely trying venue. On Feb. 7, however, the community and state reservoirs that grace the various landscapes of northeastern Kansas were either partially or almost totally covered with ice, making this once glorious waterway the only largemouth bass venue available for me to fish.

When I launched my boat around sunrise at 7:21 a.m., there was only one boat trailer in the parking lot, which is another indication of how trying this reservoir has become.

I began this outing by thoroughly dissecting a massive steep shoreline, which we call a bluff, that is situated in the heart of the warm-water plume. I fished nearly every yard of it twice, and I failed to elicit a strike.

After that disheartening endeavor, I failed to garner a strike around a shallow and gravel-laden point that is situated northwest of the mouth of the warm-water outlet.

But I did manage to catch a dinky largemouth bass from a slack-water area along the shoreline that lies about 50 yards from the mouth of the warm-water outlet.

Eventually, I caught five largemouth bass and one freshwater drum along a riprap shoreline that is the outside edge of the warm-water canal. This shoreline looks to be more than 500 yards long. These fish were caught from about 50 to 100 yards from the mouth of the warm-water outlet. After I caught these fish, I continued to fish the rest of this shoreline without eliciting another strike.

On my last cast at 1:30 p.m., I caught a largemouth bass around a main-lake point that is located at the beginning of a steep or bluff-like shoreline. This point lies near the outside edge of the warm-water plume.

Five of the six largemouth bass were caught on a 2 ½-inch Z-Man's coppertreuse ZinkerZ affixed on a black 1/16-ounce mushroom-style jig with a swim-glide-and-constant-shake presentation. One largemouth bass was caught on a Z-Man's The Deal TRD MinnowZ affixed to a red 1/20-ounce mushroom-style jig with a swim-glide-and-constant-shake presentation. They were caught in two to six feet of water.

Feb. 13

Ned Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about his Feb. 13 outing at one of northeastern Kansas' state reservoirs with his cousin Rick Hebernstreit of Shawnee, Kansas.

Here is an edited version of their log.

The National Weather Service reported that the morning's low temperature was 25 degrees, and the afternoon's high temperature was 60 degrees. The wind fluctuated from being calm to variable to angling out of the northwest, west, southeast, and south at 3 to 10 mph. The sky was fair. The barometric pressure was 29.92 at 12:52 a.m., 29.99 at 5:52 a.m., 30.00 at 11:52 a.m., and 29.89 at 3:52 p.m.

The water level looked to be about six inches below normal, which was about an 18-inch rise since December. The water exhibited a strange greenish hue, which looked to be an unusual wintertime algal bloom that might have been spawned by the significant amounts of rain and snow that fell upon this reservoir's watershed on Feb. 8-9. Our Seechi stick measured the visibility as varying from about 1 ½ feet in the backs of two feeder-creek arms to about three feet in the vicinity of the dam. The surface temperature ranged from 39 to 40 degrees. We crossed paths with two small and thin sheets of ice.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar noted that the best fishing would take place from 3:49 a.m. to 5:49 a.m., 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., and 10:02 a.m. to 2:02 p.m.

Since the last two weeks of December until about Feb. 12, the community, federal, and state reservoirs in northeastern Kansas have fluctuated from being totally covered with ice to being about 50 percent covered with ice to being 15 to 20 percent covered with ice. Consequently, I have not caught a largemouth bass since Dec. 18.

Rick and I tried to catch some largemouth bass on Jan. 10 at this state reservoir, but to our chagrin, all of its productive wintertime lairs were covered with ice. Thus, we fished around, across, and along the areas that were not covered with ice, and we failed to elicit a strike.

But on our Feb. 13 outing, this reservoir's finest wintertime lair was ice-free, and it ultimately yielded 20 largemouth bass and two crappie. We also hooked five fish that quickly liberated themselves. And it took us three hours and 20 minutes to accomplish this catch, which would impress tournament anglers and producers of television shows about fishing.

We made our first casts at 11:07 a.m. and the last ones at 2:27 p.m.

We spent about 40 minutes of this three-hour and 20-minute outing

searching for patches of submerged aquatic vegetation on two shallow-water flats inside two feeder-creek arms. We were hoping to find patches of sago pondweeds, but we failed to find any of them. The patches of coontail that grace these two shallow-water flats were exhibiting their wintertime wilt, which rarely yields a largemouth bass, and they failed to yield one on this outing.

The only patches of sago pondweeds that we found were situated on a shallow-water flat in the back of this reservoir's primary feeder-creek arm. This flat looks to be about the size of six football fields. A submerged creek channel meanders along the west side of this flat. Its underwater terrain was endowed with patches of sago pondweeds and winter-wilted coontail that are in three to eight feet of water. There are many man-made piles of eastern red cedar trees, which are set in three to 10 feet of water.

The patches of sago pondweeds were exhibiting their wintertime wilt, too, but not as severely as the patches of coontail.

We spent about two hours and 40 minutes on this flat searching for the patches of sago pondweeds and fishing around, across, and inside these patches.

We found six significant patches of sago pondweeds, and they yielded the 20 largemouth bass and two crappie. The piles of eastern red cedar trees and patches of winter-wilted coontail were fruitless.

The patches of sago pondweeds were in four to seven feet of water. And we thoroughly dissected each patch by using six Midwest finesse rigs, which were a slightly shortened Z-Man's Junebug TRD MinnowZ affixed to a chartreuse 1/32 Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, a Z-Man's green-pumpkin-goby Finesse TRD affixed to a red 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, a Z-Man's hot snakes Finesse TRD affixed to a red 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, a Z-Man's Junebug TRD BugZ affixed to a baby-blue 1/32 Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, a Z-Man's green-pumpkin Finesse TRD affixed to a red 1/16-ounce mushroom-style jig, and a Z-Man's Canada-craw Finesse TRD affixed to a chartreuse 1/16-ounce mushroom-style rig.

The Junebug BugZ rig failed to garner a strike. The green-pumpkin Finesse TRD rig caught one largemouth bass. The Canada-craw Finesse TRD rig caught two largemouth bass. The hot-snakes Finesse TRD rig caught three largemouth bass. The green-pumpkin-goby Finesse TRD rig caught six largemouth bass. The Junebug TRD MinnowZ rig caught 8 largemouth bass.

We were hoping to use several of Z-Man's Micro Finesse BaitZ and Micro Finesse ShroomZ jigs. But the water clarity, in our eyes, was too stained. Thus, we didn't make a cast with them.

All of the fish were caught on either a drag-and-shake presentation or a drag-shake-and-short-deadstick presentation in five to seven feet of water around the patches of sago pondweeds.

This outing proved once again how important it is to have submerged aquatic vegetation adorning the flatland reservoirs in northeastern Kansas -- especially during the cold-water months. We hope that the reservoir managers will consider planting and cultivating patches of sago pondweeds in all of our community and state reservoirs.

For the next five days, the weather forecasts are hinting that we old codgers probably will not be afloat. Some of these days will be mixed with rain, sleet, snow, wind, and a low temperature of nine degrees.

Feb. 20

Ned and Pat Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about their Feb. 20 outing at one of northeastern Kansas' state reservoirs.

Here is an edited version of their log.

The National Weather Service reported that the morning's low temperature was 23 degrees, and the afternoon's high temperature was 65 degrees. The wind fluctuated from being calm to variable to angling out of the northwest and west at 3 to 21 mph. The sky was primarily fair, but there were a few clouds and some freezing fog, and by 5:52 p.m., it was mostly cloudy. The barometric pressure was 29.86 at 12:52 a.m., 29.81 at 5:52 a.m., 29.81 at 11:52 a.m., and 29.74 at 2:52 p.m.

The water level looked to be about normal. At some locales, the water exhibited a greenish hue, which looked to be an unusual wintertime algal bloom that might have been spawned by the significant amounts of rain and snow that fell upon this reservoir's watershed in recent weeks. The water exhibited about four feet of visibility. The surface temperature was 40 degrees.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar noted that the best fishing would take place from 9:54 a.m. to 11:54 a.m., 4:11 a.m. to 6:11 a.m., and 4:39 p.m. to 6:39 p.m.

This was Patty's first outing in 2023. We made our first casts at 12:40 p.m. and our last one when Patty caught largemouth bass number 25 at 2:18 p.m.

We spent the entire 98 minutes fishing on a massive shallow-water flat in the back of a large feeder-creek arm, searching for largemouth bass abiding around winter-wilted patches of sago pondweeds and coontail. The patches of coontail were more severely wilted than the patches of sago pondweed. And we crossed paths with some extremely wilted patches of bushy pondweeds that were entwined with wads of filamentous algae.

These patches embellish an area that looks to be about the size of four football fields, and ultimately, we found five patches that yielded one crappie and 25 largemouth bass.

These patches were situated in six to eight feet of water. The patch in eight feet of water was the most bountiful one; it yielded 10 largemouth bass.

One of the largemouth bass was caught on a slightly shortened Z-Man's Junebug TRD MinnowZ affixed to a chartreuse 1/32 Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. One was caught on a Z-Man's space guppy Tiny TicklerZ affixed to a baby-blue 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Micro Finesse ShroomZ jighead. Nine were caught on a Z-Man's PB&J Micro TRD affixed to a baby-blue 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Micro Finesse ShroomZ jighead. Fourteen were caught on a 2 ½-inch Z-Man's green-pumpkin-goby ZinkerZ affixed to a red 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead.

The PB&J Micro TRD and baby-blue Micro Finesse ShroomZ.

The anterior end of this 2 1/2-inch green-pumpkin-goby ZinkerZ was well-worn, which is why we affixed the tip of the tail or the anus of the posterior end to the 1 /32-ounce red OG Mushroom Jighead.

Three of the largemouth bass were caught on the initial drop of our rigs. The others were caught on a drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation.

It has been a chore for us geriatric anglers to get afloat this winter. Often it is too windy or too cold or the water is covered with too much ice. Except for about a 20-minute eruption of a brisk northwest wind, Feb. 20 was a delightful wintertime outing. But the weather forecasters are predicting that Mother Nature's windy, wet, and cold temperatures will keep us old codgers at bay on Feb. 22, 23, and 24.

Feb. 21

Ned Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about his Feb. 21 outing at one of northeastern Kansas' state reservoirs with Pok-Chi Lau of Lawrence, Kansas.

Here is an unedited version of their log.

The National Weather Service reported that the morning's low temperature was 26 degrees, and the afternoon's high temperature was 63 degrees. The wind angled out of the north, northeast, east, southeast, and south at 3 to 26 mph. The sky was fair. The barometric pressure was 29.85 at 12:52 a.m., 29.81 at 5:52 a.m., 29.72 at 11:52 a.m., and 29.48 at 3:52 p.m.

The water level looked to be nearly normal. The water exhibited six feet of visibility. The surface temperature ranged from 40 to 43 degrees.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar noted that the best fishing would take place from 10:50 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., 11:20 p.m. to 1:20 a.m., and 5:07 a.m. to 7:07 a.m.

We were hoping to thoroughly dissect the shallow-water flats in the back portions of two major feeder-creek arms. Both of these flats are endowed with significant patches of coontail and curly-leaf pondweeds. But a brisk south and southeast wind confined us to fishing only one of the flats.

We made our first casts at 12:29 p.m. and our last ones at 3:51 p.m.

The entire shallow-water flat is about the size of four or five football fields. The shallowest areas are about three feet deep, and the deepest portions are about 10 feet deep. It is endowed with a small island. A narrow and silt-laden submerged creek channel meanders across portions of this flat. Manmade piles of eastern red cedar trees clutter the underwater topography. During the winter, burgeoning patches of curly-leaf pondweeds and winter-wilted patches of coontail enhance segments of the underwater terrain, and at times significant numbers of largemouth bass abide around this submerged vegetation.

For about 197 minutes, we slowly and methodically dissected an area about the size of two football fields, and we struggled to catch 26 largemouth bass. Eventually, we found one area that is the size of about three tennis courts that yielded 22 of the 26 largemouth bass that we caught. The other four largemouth bass were caught hither and yon.

Our most effective Midwest finesse rig was a Z-Man's Drew's craw TRD TicklerZ that was affixed to a baby-blue 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. Three of the largemouth bass were caught on a Z-Man's PB&J Micro TRD affixed to a baby-blue 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Micro Finesse ShroomZ jig. Four were caught on a Z-Man's green-pumpkin-goby Finesse TRD affixed to a red 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead.

This is the Drew's craw TicklerZ on a 1/32-ounce baby-blue OG Mushroom Jighead. We found that the 1/32-ounce jighead was more effective than either a 1/16-ounce or 1/15-ounce jighead in and around the thick patches of curly-leaf pondweeds that graced the shallow-water flat that we fished on this outing.

The 26 largemouth bass were caught in seven to nine feet of water as we employed a drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation.

After we executed our last casts and retrieves, Pok-Chi noted that the highlight of this outing was using the field-testing model of Z-Man's five-foot, four-inch Drew's Ultimate Ned Rig Rod. He was amazed and enthralled with its lightness and sensitivity. It was delightful to cast. Even though our catch rate was subpar, the rod added an element of fun to fishing that he had never experienced in the many decades that he has fished nearly all over the world.

Feb. 21

Steve Reideler of Denton, Texas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about his Feb. 21 outing.

Here is an edited version of his log.

The weather in north-central Texas has been chilly, wet, and windy for most of February, but we are beginning to enjoy a nice warming trend that is forecast to continue for the next 10 days.

Feb. 21 was sunny and extremely warm for February. The morning's low temperature was 60 degrees, and the afternoon's high soared to 87 degrees. What's more, it was the first time I sweated while fishing in 2023. The wind blew out of the south and southeast at 10 to 20 mph. The barometric pressure fluctuated from 29.75 at 10:00 a.m. to 29.68 at 2:00 p.m.

According to In-Fisherman's solunar calendar, the optimum fishing periods would take place from 5:14 a.m. to 7:14 a.m., 11:02 a.m. to 1:02 p.m., and 11:27 p.m. to 1:27 a.m. It also noted that the fishing would be average.

While walking around the shorelines of one community reservoir and one of several U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' hill-land reservoirs in north-central Texas, I fished from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with mixed results.

I stopped at the community reservoir first, and upon my arrival, I was surprised to find that the water was murkier than usual with 10 to 12 inches of visibility. The water temperature was 55 degrees. The water level was a tad high, and a small trickle of water was flowing over the top of the concrete spillway that is located on the south end of this impoundment.

I started fishing around the rock dam and concrete spillway on the south end of the reservoir. The bottom terrain along the base of the dam is covered with softball-size rocks, some clay, and some small gravel. I slowly dissected this area with several of Z-Man's Midwest finesse offerings, but I failed to garner any strikes.

Next, I fished my way northward along the east shoreline, and it relinquished five largemouth bass and one large bluegill. This shoreline has a 15- to 25-degree slope. It is endowed with two primary points, three tertiary points, and a shallow gravel-and-clay ledge. These five largemouth bass and the one large bluegill were caught in five to eight feet of water and about 10 to 20 feet away from the deep-water side of the ledge. Two of them were caught with a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick retrieve with a Z-Man's Junebug TRD TicklerZ rigged on a chartreuse 1/16-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. The other three were caught on a Z-Man's Bama Bug TRD BugZ matched with a chartreuse 1/16-ounce OG Mushroom Jighead. This combo was also employed with a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation. (The deadstick portion of the retrieve varied from five to seven seconds.)

I failed to elicit any strikes across a shallow mud flat that occupies most of the northern shoreline.

In a small pool situated in the lower end of a small feeder creek that enters the northwest corner of this reservoir, I caught two largemouth bass in three feet of water. Both of them were caught on the Bama Bug TRD BugZ rig and a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation.

I caught five more largemouth bass along the reservoir's west shoreline, which features three medium-sized patches of winter-dead water lilies, a shallow 30-yard-long clay-and-gravel ledge, two primary points, and three tertiary points. All five of these largemouth bass were abiding in five to seven feet of water and 10 to 20 feet from the deep-water side of the shallow gravel-and-clay ledge. They were caught on a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick retrieve with the Bama Bug TRD BugZ rig.

After I finished fishing at the community reservoir, I drove a short distance to a state park situated along the shore of a major feeder-creek arm on the north end of a problematic U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' hill-land reservoir. Typically, we wait until late March or early April before we make our first jaunt to this reservoir each year because it has a terrible reputation for being extremely stingy with its Florida-strain largemouth bass and spotted bass during the winter months, and this outing was no different.

The water exhibited about 1 1/2 feet of visibility. At the mouth of the feeder-creek arm, the water temperature was 53 degrees. But halfway back inside this creek arm, I found 63-degree water inside one of the larger coves and along an adjacent steep and rocky channel bank on the east side of the creek arm.

I slowly dissected several clay-and-gravel secondary points, a dock, and a steep gravel-and-chunk-rock shoreline in the lower section of the cove, and a 60-yard boulder-laden section of the steep channel bank just north of the cove, but I was unable to generate any strikes.

While I was putting my gear back in my truck and preparing to leave, I had the opportunity to speak with a bass angler who was trailering his boat, and a crappie angler who was fishing nearby from the bank. The crappie angler reported that he had caught only one small crappie on a live-minnow rig in three hours, and the bass angler reported that he had failed to garner a single strike during his six-hour outing. Neither one of them was surprised when I informed them that I failed to elicit any strikes in the two warm-water areas of the feeder-creek arm that I had found.

In closing, I caught 12 largemouth bass at the community reservoir, and I failed to garner a strike at the Corps' reservoir. I wielded a total of thirteen Z-Man Midwest finesse baits affixed on an array of colors and sizes of Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jigheads, and two of these combos were effective. Ten largemouth bass were allured by a Z-Man's Bama Bug TRD BugZ affixed on a chartreuse 1/16-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, and the other two largemouth bass engulfed a Z-Man's Junebug TRD TicklerZ rigged on a chartreuse 1/16-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead.

I experimented with several of the standard Midwest-finesse presentations such as the drag-and-shake, drag-shake-and-deadstick, swim-glide-and-shake, steady swim, and the hop-and-bounce retrieves, and the only effective one was the slow drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation.

In our eyes, catching 12 Florida-strain largemouth bass in water temperatures that are 55 degrees or colder is considered a pretty decent outing in north-central Texas. In contrast, many bass anglers in north-central Texas will fish for six to eight hours in hopes of garnering two or three strikes in water this cold, and many times, they return empty-handed.

Feb. 28

Ned and Pat Kehde of Lawrence, Kansas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about their Feb. 28 outing at one of northeastern Kansas' state reservoirs.

Here is an edited version of their log.

The National Weather Service reported that the morning's low temperature was 30 degrees, and the afternoon's high temperature was 65 degrees. The wind fluctuated from being calm to variable to angling out of the north, southeast, northeast, east, and southeast at 3 to 21 mph. The sky was fair, but there were a few clouds around 3:52 p.m. The barometric pressure was 29.84 at 12:52 a.m., 29.82 at 5:52 a.m., 29.58 at 11:52 a.m., and 29.55 at 3:52 p.m.

The water level looked to be about normal. Our secchi stick indicated that the water exhibited almost six feet of visibility. The surface temperature fluctuated from 44 to 45 degrees.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar noted that the best fishing would take place from 5:03 a.m. to 7:03 a.m., 5;29 p.m. to 7:29 p.m., and 11:16 p.m. to 1:16 a.m.

We made our first casts at 1:05 p.m. and our last ones at 3:10 p.m.

We spent the bulk of this outing dissecting about a 200-yard section of a massive shallow-water flat in the back of a large feeder-creek arm. We searched for largemouth bass abiding around winter-wilted patches of sago pondweeds and coontail. More than a dozen manmade piles of eastern red cedar trees litter this flat, and some of them are intertwined with the patches of coontail.

At 2:18 p.m., Patty caught largemouth bass number 25. Largemouth bass number 26 was caught about nine minutes later. During this 82-minute endeavor on this massive shallow-water flat, we also caught five crappie.

One of the 26 largemouth bass was caught on a Z-Man's PB&J Finesse TRD affixed to a baby-blue 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. Five were caught on a Z-Man's Drew's craw TRD TicklerZ affixed to a baby-blue 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. Twenty were caught on a Z-Man's PB&J Micro TRD affixed to a baby-blue 1/15-ounce Z-Man's Micro Finesse ShroomZ jig.

Two of the 26 largemouth bass were caught on the initial drop of our rigs. The rest were caught while we were executing a drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation. They were caught in six to eight feet of water around significant patches of winter-wilted coontail and sago pondweeds.

We elicited eight strikes that we failed to hook, and we hooked six fish that liberated themselves before we got them to the boat.

From 2:31 p.m. to 3:10 p.m., we quickly fished across two small shallow-water flats inside two feeder-creek arms.

One of these flats was virtually devoid of any variety of submerged aquatic vegetation, and we failed to elicit a strike.

The other shallow-water flat was embellished with a few patches of winter-wilted coontail and one manmade pile of eastern red cedar trees, which is surrounded and entwined with coontail. The patch of coontail adjacent to the pile of eastern red cedar trees yielded two largemouth bass. They were caught on the initial drop of the Z-Man's PB&J Micro TRD rig in three to four feet of water. We hooked another fish that quickly liberated itself.

In summary, we must note that Mother Nature's disparate weather patterns have allowed us to get afloat only seven times from Dec. 18, 2022, to Feb. 28, 2023. And two of those times were in January, and they were very short and disheartening affairs because too much ice covered the reservoirs that we were trying to fish. Another one occurred in February, and the community reservoir that we were trying to fish was afflicted with an ugly and very disconcerting algal bloom; thus, we fished for only a few minutes and caught one largemouth bass. Consequently, we fished four times at two state reservoirs. We fished for a total of 11 hours and 45 minutes and caught 105 largemouth bass, which is an average of 8.9 largemouth bass an hour.

It is also interesting to mention that we experienced a renaissance of the PB&J hue. It occurred on Feb. 21 and 28. About a decade ago, it was our most effective hue, and then it gradually went into limbo. For us old codgers, it was delightful to witness its re-emergence while we were using our Z-Man's PB&J Micro TRD rigs on those two outings.

Feb. 28

Steve Reideler of Denton, Texas, posted a log on the Finesse News Network about his Feb. 28 outing with Todd Judy of Denton.

Here is an edited version of his log.

The last day of February was delightful in north-central Texas. It was sunny, and about 30 percent of the sky was adorned with thin wispy clouds. The morning's low temperature was 43 degrees. The afternoon's high temperature climbed to 82 degrees. The wind was mild-mannered and blew out of the south and southwest at 5 to 10 mph. The barometric pressure measured 29.84 at 9:00 a.m. and 29.73 at 3:00 p.m.

With the black-bass fishing in such an awful state at the federal and state reservoirs, Todd Judy joined me for a four-hour bank-walking excursion at three community reservoirs in north-central Texas.

This was Todd's maiden black bass and Midwest finesse outing. He was an avid crappie fisherman, but he has not fished in the last nine years or so. Therefore, this outing started with a brief tutorial highlighting the many advantages of utilizing light tackle, Midwest finesse tactics, and Z-Man's Elaztech baits and their finesse jig heads. Todd acclimated to this style of finesse fishing very quickly. In fact, he caught the first three largemouth bass of this outing.

In-Fisherman's solunar calendar indicated that the best fishing periods would occur from 5:11 a.m. to 7:11 a.m., 5:36 p.m. to 7:36 p.m., and 11:23 p.m. to 1:23 a.m. It also indicated that the fishing would be poor.

We fished at the first two community reservoirs from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., then we took a lunch break before driving to the third community reservoir. We plied the third community reservoir from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. We chose these three community reservoirs specifically because they gave Todd the best chance of garnering multiple strikes, which was the main focus of this outing.

The underwater terrains of these three impoundments are similar. They are primarily composed of red clay, small gravel, and some sand. There are numerous bald-cypress trees, bald-cypress roots, broken tree limbs, and other wood debris that clutter the shorelines and shallow-water areas. They are also embellished with shallow ledges that extend from three to five feet from their waters' edges. The slopes of the shorelines vary from 10 to 45 degrees. The second impoundment possesses a couple of patches of green hydrilla along its north shoreline. The other two impoundments are devoid of any aquatic vegetation.

At the first community reservoir, the water temperature was 52 degrees. The water exhibited about 12 to 14 inches of clarity. The water level appeared to be normal.

The black-bass bite was slow, but we managed to catch six largemouth bass. They were caught along the bottom in six to eight feet of water and from 15 to 20 feet from the deep-water side of a long and shallow ledge that runs parallel to the steep north and west shorelines. Three of them were caught on a Z-Man's Junebug TRD TicklerZ rigged on a chartreuse 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead and a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation. The other three largemouth bass were caught on a 2 3/4-inch Z-Man's green-pumpkin TRD TubeZ affixed on a blue 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead. This rig was also employed with a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick retrieve. The deadstick portion of the presentation consisted of a 5-second pause between drags. All of the strikes occurred while the lures were paused during the retrieve.

We failed to entice any strikes along the flatter east and south shorelines.

The second reservoir was warmer than the first one with a 59-degree water temperature. The water level appeared to be normal. The water exhibited about 18 inches of visibility. We slowly dissected the most promising features of this reservoir, which included a shallow clay-and-gravel ledge and a ditch along the west shoreline, and a couple of flourishing patches of hydrilla near the north shoreline, and we were surprised that we could not generate any strikes.

The third community reservoir was the most fruitful. We shared it with another angler, who was employing what appeared to be a four-inch swimbait on baitcasting tackle. We spoke with him briefly, and he reported that he caught a 2 1/2-pound largemouth bass from a point on the west shoreline of this reservoir with the same swimbait on Feb. 27, but he failed to catch any bass this time.

We fished areas behind this angler, and we hooked 10 largemouth bass and landed nine of them. Two of them were caught simultaneously. None of them were large, but they were all keeper-size with the bulk of them around 14 inches. All of them were caught in three to six feet of water near the deep-water sides of the ledges along the midsections of the east and west shorelines.

We failed to generate any strikes from the south end of the reservoir, which encompasses a decorative rock dam and an adjoining concrete spillway, a clay-and-gravel flat along the north shoreline, and the lower section of a small feeder-creek arm that is adjacent to the clay-and-gravel flat.

All 10 of these largemouth bass were enticed by a Z-Man's Canada-craw TRD HogZ rigged on a chartreuse 1/32-ounce Z-Man's OG Mushroom Jighead, and this rig was employed with a slow drag-shake-and-deadstick presentation.

Overall, it was a good outing by north-central Texas standards. We hooked 16 largemouth bass and landed 15 of them in four hours. Six were caught from the first community reservoir, and nine were caught from the third one. We failed to elicit any strikes from the second impoundment. But by the time this outing came to a close, Todd had a good understanding of Midwest finesse tactics and was capable of detecting and hooking the most subtle strikes.