I have become “woke” to the prospects of winter month bass fishing in the twilight of my career. That it took so long to happen relates to my upbringing and the examples I grew up emulating.

Our village of Springdale, like most rural communities set along major creeks and great rivers, had a strong outdoor tradition. Boys grew up to be hunters, fishermen, and sometimes trappers. But there was no fishing activity after November. Rabbits, quail, and beginning in the 1960’s, grouse, took the focus away from fish. Those who were river men hunted ducks and trapped muskrats. No one thought of fishing until spring, not even for the “jack salmon” (sauger) that inhabited the river, and they are mostly a winter species.

Mt awakening began in the late fall of ’15 when I became interested in fishing for the stocked trout at Washington and would occasionally catch small bass, but it was not until the winter of ’16-’17 that I made any real effort to target bass. I gained access to a private two-acre lake that September and consistently caught 15-17 inch largemouths from it through November. Then my old habits had kicked in and I hung up my bass tackle to hunt and occasionally fish for trout. But on some mild February days I fished the two-acre lake using a soft plastic minnow swim lure and caught a few quality size bass. But in the winter of 17’-18’ I did not fish because of weather.

2018 was a watershed year for my fishing. I began catching bass in March. I was able to add places to fish to my schedule. In December I had a five-fish day at the two-acre lake, which is spring fed, and even managed to snag three from it in January of ’19. These were my first ever December and January bass. I got only a lone 17” bigmouth in February. March was very productive, which is nothing unusual. For the first time in a fishing career of over 60 years, I had caught bass every month for an entire year!

This season of 2019-‘20, which is ongoing, has been the greatest fishing year of my lifetime, both for quantity and quality of bass. I caught a new personal best bigmouth and a Trophy Fish Redear that qualified me as a Master Angler. But December was disappointing in the trout effort, for me and for many others, and after November I lost my grip on bass, though I kept my streak going with a small bass that grabbed a crankbait at Washington. Though I tried several times, my two-acre honey hole did not give me an upgrade to the December Washington dink.

On the afternoon of January 5 Washington showed me its largesse with a trout limit and a very small bass, which I posted jokingly on Facebook as being my January bass to preserve my streak. But I really needed an upgrade!

January 10 was a mild day with some wind, which I believe is a must for good bass fishing. I had fished the two-acre lake several times since November without a strike. On the 10th, using a new bait casting setup I had gotten for Christmas, I was running a Storm Minnow swimbait when a bas ate it. That fish was 20 inches and built like a weight lifter. Four pounds was affair estimation. It certainly upgraded my January 5th Washington dink!

Saturday the 11th brought a temperature of over 70, the warmest on the day since 1993. It also brought high wind and a storm that uprooted a few trees, and to the consternation of UK fans, interrupted TV service during a game. At 11:30—the beginning of a major Solunar Period— I was at a small impoundment I had never fished before after November. This little lake had on Good Friday of 2014 given me the 22” bass that stood as my personal best until last summer. On the first cast a nice bass chased and missed the swimbait minnow at the bank. Two casts later the lure and the 17” bigmouth caught each other. Nine additional bass ranging from 13-16 inches added their images to my phone camera album. Most hit a Red Eyed Shad in East Texas Special color, a blue-over-chrome with black scale patterning.

I had moved far from my Washington dink of January 5.

On the 16th in a chilly wind and temperatures much more January-like, I hit that little lake again during a Solunar Period that began at 3:00 pm. A Red Eyed Shad in Natural Bream snagged seven bass and a Berkley KVS Square Bill in Bluegill color three, also ranging 13-17 inches. A three-pound fish broke my heart when it pulled loose from the Red Eye at the bank because the long rod tip caught in bankside willows. Shoreline brush and willows make most of this hole impossible to fish.

These January bass were a nice dessert to a great year. With winter asserting itself this weekend, these good days on the water will be fine—though strange—to contemplate. The coming cold will likely leave at least a skein of ice on the ponds and lakes, even Washington. Hopefully the weather will moderate enough to open the waters and make conditions suitable for catching a February bass!

Sam Bevard
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_Sam-Bevard_2-2.jpgSam Bevard

Sam Bevard