Augusts of the Pasts

Since 2011, we have written and published 100,877 words about how, when, and where Midwest finesse anglers caught largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass in Augusts of the past in Arkansas, Canada, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.

Below are eight Internet links to those words, as well as some photographs of Midwest finesse anglers and the black bass that they caught in Augusts of the past.

(1) In August of 2012, I fished 14 outings for a total of 47 hours. During these 14 outings, I and several of my partners were able to catch a combination of 469 largemouth and smallmouth bass, and that equals an average of 33 largemouth and smallmouth bass an outing and 9.9 an hour. These figures do not include the hours we fished and the largemouth and smallmouth bass that we caught in Minnesota on our family vacation, but a description of those Minnesota days is the first log in this series. This guide contains 10,673 words, which also focuses on the logs and observations of Bill Reichert of Lincolnshire, Illinois, Brent Frazee of Parkville, Missouri, Mike Poe of Siler City, North Carolina, and Terry Claudell of Overland Park, Kansas. This is the link to those logs: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/an-addendum-to-the-month-by-month-guide-to-midwest-finesse-august/#ixzz3gAPh6bmb.

(2)  We often contend that the dog days of summer are not fruitless times to be afloat in chase of largemouth bass and smallmouth bass in northeastern Kansas. In fact, August can often be one of our most fruitful months — especially for smallmouth bass at a few of our flatland reservoirs. But August of 2013 was a trying and puzzling 31 days for the Midwest finesse anglers who plied the flatland reservoirs in northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri for largemouth bass. Our laments and bewilderments are laced throughout several of our August of 2013 logs.

It is interesting to note that I caught 345 largemouth bass in August of 2011 and 469 during August of 2012. Then in August of 2013, I fished 11 times for largemouth bass for a total of 30 hours and 30 minutes and caught only 261 largemouth bass. That was an average of 8.5 largemouth bass per hour. On one of those outings, my cousin Rick Hebenstreit of Shawnee, Kansas, helped me catch some of those largemouth bass.

But by Aug. 17, the smallmouth bass at two northeastern Kansas' reservoirs became easy to catch. For example, Clyde Holscher of Topeka, Kansas, and I caught 72 smallmouth bass on Aug. 27 in four hours. On two other outings, I caught eight smallmouth bass while pursuing largemouth bass. So, the total catch for August of 2013 was 341 largemouth and smallmouth bass, which was an average of 9.8 black bass per hour.

This guide contains 11,952 words, and here is the link to it: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/midwest-finesse-fishing-august-2013/.

(3) In August of 2014, my partners and I caught 114 largemouth bass, 67 smallmouth bass, and two spotted bass. They were caught across seven outings that encompassed 25 hours of fishing, which is an average of 25 bass an outing and 7.32 bass an hour.

This guide contains 21,969 words. Beside my logs about Midwest finesse fishing in northeastern Kansas, it features the words and insights of Don Baldridge of Springfield, Missouri; Burton Bosley of Sutton, West Virginia; Terry Claudell of Overland Park, Kansas; Paul Finn of Olathe, Kansas; Brent Frazee of Parkville, Missouri; Bob Gum of Kansas City, Kansas; Rick Hebenstreit of Shawnee, Kansas; Clyde Holscher of Topeka, Kansas; Pok-Chi Lau of Lawrence, Kansas; Ralph Manns of Rockwall, Texas; John McKean of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Steve Reideler of Lewisville, Texas. Here is the link to that guide:http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-august-2014/.

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(4) The monthly guide to August of 2015 features 24 logs and 19,871 words that focus on the piscatorial endeavors and observations of Midwest finesse anglers in Kansas, North Carolina, Ontario, Texas, and West Virginia.

Seven of those logs feature my outings in northeastern Kansas. I accompanied one of our grandsons on three short outings, each one consisted of 60 minutes, and he tangled with 16 smallmouth bass and one largemouth bass. I fished six times that encompassed 18 hours and 45 minutes of fishing. On one of those outings, Rick Hebenstreit joined me.  On another one, I fished with Steve Desch of Topeka, Kansas. Across those six outings, 170 largemouth bass and 59 smallmouth bass were caught. That is a catch rate of 38 black bass an outing, and an average of 12.4 per hour. Here is the link to that monthly guide: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-august-2015/.

(5) The monthly guide to August of 2016 contains 32 logs and 33,395 words that describe how, when, and where Midwest finesse anglers fished. It features the endeavors of Rick Allen of Dallas; Norman Brown of Lewisville, Texas; Steve Desch of Topeka, Kansas;  Roger Farish of Highland Village, Texas;  Bob Gum of Kansas City, Kansas; Rick Hebenstreit of Shawnee, Kansas; Clyde Holscher of Topeka, Kansas; Pok-Chi Lau of Lawrence, Kansas; Travis Myers of Paw Paw, West Virginia; Dave Petro of Lecompton, Kansas; Steve Reideler of Denton, Texas; Walt Tegtmeier of  Leawood, Kansas; John Thomas of Denton, Texas; Andrew Trembath of Kansas City, Missouri; as well as my northeastern Kansas logs.

I fished eight times, which encompassed 32 1/4 hours. Dave Petro joined me on the most bountiful outing, and we tangled with 111 smallmouth bass in four hours on Aug. 9. I joined Bob Gum and Brent Frazee on Aug. 26 for a seven-hour endeavor, and we tangled with 39 smallmouth bass and 69 largemouth bass. In total, 185 smallmouth bass and 207 largemouth bass were caught during those eight outings for an average of 12 black bass an hour.

Walt Tegtmeier ventured from Kansas to the Boundary Waters, which straddle the Canada-United States border between Ontario and Minnesota.  And his log features his pursuit of smallmouth bass in the Quetico Provincial Park.  The rest of the anglers pursued the black bass at their home waterways.

What's more, Reideler and his cohorts set a Midwest finesse record in north-central Texas this August by catching 695 black bass in 47 hours of fishing and 12 outings. His 12 logs are chockfull of rich details about how they accomplished this feat.

Here is the link to this guide:  http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-august-2016/.

(6) Here is the link to "A Month-by-Month Guide to Midwest Finesse for Bass:" http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/a-month-by-month-guide-to-midwest-finesse-for-bass/. It features 436 words about how, when, and where we caught largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass in August in the years before 2012.

(7)  The "Augusts of the Past" column published in 2015 contained 1,652 words and a short feature on the effectiveness of a slightly shortened Z-Man Fishing Products' Finesse WormZ affixed to either a 1/32- or 1/16-ounce Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head jig during the 31 days of August. Here is the link to that column: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/augusts-of-the-past/.

(8) Here is a link to a column that describes some our late July and early August 2014 outings in Minnesota: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/vacationing-northwoods-minnesota-2014/.

Here are some photographs of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass that Midwest finesse anglers have caught in Augusts of the past: