Before we crossed paths withthe Zero and ZinkerZ, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits’  three-inch Senko and YUM Bait three-inch Dinger were our mainstays.

The Zero and ZinkerZ are identical lures, and Z-Man manufactures the Zero for Strike King.

The ZinkerZ on the left is a Junebug one. The second is green-pumpkin. The third is peanut butter and jelly. The fourth is purple haze. We also use a white or pearl one. All of these baits are affixed to a Gopher Tackle's 1/16-ounce Original Mushroom Jig Head.

We always affix them to Gopher Tackle’s Original Mushroom Head Jig with the hook exposed.  We employ three sizes of the Gopher jig: 1/32-, 1/16- and 3/32-ounce.

We  have noted several times in past blogs that the Zero and ZinkerZ become more effective as they  become tattered and torn from bewitching scores of largemouth and smallmouth bass. It is not unusual to catch 100 bass or more on the same Zero or ZinkerZ.  What’s more, as they age, the salt that is impregnated in the Zero and ZinkerZ dissipates, which makes them more buoyant, and that buoyancy seems to make them exceptionally alluring to the largemouth and smallmouth bass. Eventually they become so buoyant that they will float when affixed to a 1/32-ounce jig.  Therefore, we attach the old, tattered and torn ones to either a 1/16- or 3/32-ounce Gopher jig.

During the past five years,  a goodly number of finesse anglers have been introduced to the Zero and ZinkerZ and Gopher, and most of them have become as smitten with it as we have.

In most anglers’ eyes, however, it’s an unattractive and even loathsome bait Consequently, many anglers — especially those anglers who prefer to employ power tactics — are reluctant to use it.

Thus, it is usually interesting to read or listen to anglers reactions and impression of the Zero-and-ZinkerZ-and-Gopher combo after their initial outings  with it.

Brian Waldman, who is a veteran and talented finesse angler from Coatesville, Indiana, was introduced in March to the manifold virtues of the ZinkerZ and Gopher.

On Mar. 19,  Waldman e-mailed me a description of his maiden outing with a
2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ affixed to Gopher Tackle’s 1/16-ounce Mushroom Jig Head.

He wrote: “Just a very brief mention that I gave the mushroom head jig/half ZinkerZ bait a try for the first time tonight after work. Only got to fish for 1 hour at dusk, and that time was relegated to the shoreline at the local marina, but caught 13 largemouth bass on it. See lots of potential and can’t wait to get out and experiment with it more this coming week. Think the “no feel” retrieve won’t be a problem as it reminds me a lot of swimming tubes for open water crappie. Spent more time ‘feeling’ what bites felt like and developing the hook set, as well as watching what my bait was doing as I tried the different retrieves.
‘Swim and glide’ and ‘hop and bounce’ both produced, though I mostly tried to master the former. A couple casts using straight swim retrieves didn’t produce.

Surface water temps here have zoomed into the low 60′s on many waters, plus we’re already seeing algae blooms, so the small hair jig bite is fading fast.

I’ll report more when I get more time with it.”

On Mar. 21, Waldman sent his second ZinkerZ report.

He wrote: “Another quick update. I continue to be impressed with the catching ability of the half ZinkerZ, especially the multispecies nature of it. Have caught multiple crappie using it both trips now, a 12-inch redear, and also picked up a new species on it tonight, this nice walleye.

Do have one quick question for you though. Have never heard you or anyone else mention fishing this little bait at night. Reason I ask is because my trip tonight was from 8:00 -9:30 PM under cover of darkness (sunset 7:58), but the bass continued to eat it up in the dark. Picked up well over 2 dozen more in those 90 minutes from shore again, mostly fishing one little rock spine in 4′-6′ of water using a slightly abbreviated hop and bounce retrieve. Basically tried to imitate a small craw scooting along the rocks, and the bass were feeding on it with a vengeance. Rather fun in the dark when your only sense of detecting a bite is feel, which becomes enhanced in the dark when visual stimuli is shut down. The bait obviously doesn’t put out much vibration, but the fish can easily locate it and eat it, still. Hoping to test it from the boat this weekend if weather permits.”

In regard to Waldman’s question about night fishing with the ZinkerZ and Gopher, we told him that we gave up night fishing back in the 1990s.  But we used to spend a lot time in the 1970s and 1980s, using a 1/16- and 1/8-ounce black marabou jig with a black chenille or yarn body. And we caught a potpourri of species and goodly numbers of them on a black jig. Until we discovered the Senko, Dinger, Zero and ZinkerZ, the marabou jig was an important tool in our finesse repertoire, but nowadays, we rarely use it. In my mind, I suspect that a Junebug or black-blue/blue laminated ZinkerZ on a Gopher would be a more effective bait than our old black marabou jig on most night outings.

As Waldman discovered on his first two outings, it is a effective all-species bait.  For instance, Dave Schmidtein, who is a consummate crappie angler from Topeka, Kansas, used it throughout the summer and autumn of 2011. He also used it on several of his summertime blue and channel catfish outings in 2011.  Moreover, a number of Midwest finesse bass anglers, such as Clyde Holscher of Topeka and Steve Desch of Topeka, call it their potpourri bait. Thus, on the same outing,  Holscher and Desch have been known to allure bluegill, channel catfish, crappie, flathead catfish, freshwater drum,  green sunfish,  largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, walleye, warmouth,  white bass and wipers.

Here’s another ZinkerZ initiation story: A few weeks ago,  Holscher gave young Dalton Brewer a vintage Billy Westmorland fiberglass spinning rod. Holscher taped a reel to the Tennessee handle and filled the spool with some eight-pound-test monofilament.  He also tied a 2 1/2-inch purple-haze ZinkerZ and 1/16-ounce Gopher jig to the line. On Brewer’s first outing, he caught the largemouth bass pictured below.  Brewer caught this bass on the ZinkerZ while walking the shoreline at a 409-acre community reservoir that lies several blocks from his family’s home.

Dalton Brewer of Topeka, Kansas, shows off the largemouth bass that he caught on his first outing with a 2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ and 1/16-ounce Gopher jig. Brewer’s initiation reveals once again that finesse tactics are great tools for introducing new anglers to the art of bass fishing.

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Postscript:  It should be noted that the ZinkerZ will experience periodic  fallow spells throughout a calendar year.  Some Midwest finesse anglers have recently experienced one of those spell. So, instead of dressing their Gopher jigs with a ZinkerZ, they are dressing them with either a Finesse ShadZ or a four-inch Finesse WormZ. But even during these fallow times, these anglers always have a 2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ at the ready and periodically test it on nearly every outing, and we average about 125 outings a year.

For more information about the ZinkerZ and the other soft-plastic bait that Midwest finesse anglers employ see:

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2012/01/23/midwest-finesse-lures/

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2011/10/20/zinkerz-and-zero/

http://zmanfishing.com/cms/squad_detail.php?Midwest-Finesse-With-The-Z-Man-ZinkerZ-For-Pro-Angler-Stacey-King-31

Dalton Brewer shows off his vintage Billy Westmorland outfit and another largemouth bass.

In the last post we mentioned hobo crappies. Yum. Doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it. I create a sauce concocted of the flavors we like from Asian cuisine, combining some peanut sauce, or some curry paste mixed with some homemade curry powder, and we marinate for several hours or overnight with lemongrass segments in the body cavity. But you can certainly do it with any flavors you like. The key is simply adding some kind of liquid so the fish doesn’t dry out in the fire. We like to burn the fire down until we have nothing left but large, hot coals, put a grate over it and let the fish simmer for a total of about 15 to 20 minutes, turning about 4 times. Vegetables stay nice and crunchy after about 10 minutes. We put them in different packets, and only two fish per packet of crappies. Easier to control the outcome. Great during spring and fall, when a fire feels really good. Great spending time watching things unfold, like the bat migration.

When bats follow the Mississippi north from the caves where they hibernate in southern Minnesota, it’s nothing short of awe inspiring. Millions of them dodging trees and each other, filtering through the forest all around you while dense, black clouds of bats come swarming up the river channel, clearing out flying insects for miles. With all the trouble bats are facing, continent-wide these days, I sometimes feel it’s a Last Chance To See scenario—referring, of course, to the BBC series and subsequent book by the famous science-fiction humorist, Douglas Adams—wherein he travels the world in hopes of catching a glimpse of animals on the brink of extinction.

Luckily, crappies won’t be going extinct any time soon. Anglers protect them and, more importantly, we protect their habitat. We pay license fees, which pay for studies on how to improve that habitat. We accept lower limits when they’re necessary and at least 90-percent of us abide by them. We show up to protest when extraction processes, development, and other events threaten them. Just because we eat a few certainly doesn’t mean we advocate munching them into extinction.

Not so many advocates for bats, unfortunately. Not looking forward to the flood of mosquitoes that will ensue if they disappear, as they have in so many areas out East. Makes it difficult to tend the fire, and adds another void to the “great emptiness of spirit” Chief Seattle warned us about almost 300 years ago.

I like this one because she matches my hat. We made one more bluegill-crappie run last night and now we’re gearing up for the Minnesota walleye opener.

What a year. Bass are already spawning in smaller lakes up here, in central Minnesota, even though night-time temperatures dropped into the 40°F range every night over the past week.

We kept four crappies last night. Nobody else was at the ramp. We have a fire burning out back, and I’m whipping up some curry. We marinate the crappies for an hour or two, then wrap them in tinfoil and toss them in the fire. Hobo crappies. Awesome stuff.

Just beyond the flames and down the bluff is the Mississppi. While poking the fire I watch a heron, an eagle, and a great-horned owl go gliding by to the calls of geese, under the tree tops, and under the  radar of people sitting inside, watching TV in the homes nearby.

The walleyes down at the bottom of the bluff will be fair game tomorrow. But I’ll go elsewhere. Some people from this neck of the woods go up to Bemidji, Leech, Cass, or Red. The people south of here come up to Mille Lacs, Whitefish, and Gull. I slip off down the back roads to little lakes time forgot. Not far away, because the traffic is murder around here on opening day. It’s almost a religious thing for some—being on a classic walleye lake on opening day. Ugh. We have family members that set up folding chairs near a local ramp. They pull out a thermos of coffee, pour a steaming cup in the predawn gloom, sit, and watch the circus unfold. Brakes fail, trucks slide into the water, tempers flare, fisticuffs ensue, wreckers come. The Ringling Brothers could throw a tent over it and sell tickets.

One colleague told me today he goes trout fishing on the walleye opener. Good call. Give me a quiet little backwater with a handful of hefty walleyes left in it from stocking efforts that ended a decade ago. And a couple pike protected by the new regulations around here. And a few largemouths with a genetic propensity for obesity.

They say we  can’t fish for largemouths yet, in Minnesota. Not for a couple weeks. But we can fish for the sacred walleye and the mighty northern and pretend we had no idea these crazy largemouths would hit the same suspending baits, presented the same way, in the same places at the same time.

This is my back yard. It’s like the wardrobe in that story about kids, lions, and kingdoms on the other side of the clothing racks. Out the front door I have sidewalks that lead, within a few blocks, to traffic lights, a grocery store, and a pizza joint. Out the back door, the lawn ends along a precipitous bluff leading to the haunts of deer, coyotes, racoons, and grouse. Once upon a time, it was a smallmouth paradise during early summer back there. A quick rappel down the bluff and I was wading through pigs anytime after opening day.

I haven’t eaten a smallmouth in 35 years. When I did it back then it was out of desperation. I was camping, fishing for trout, young, and arrogant. I packed a fry pan, some grease, and not so much as a can of beans. I went hungry the first night, gave up on trout the second day about noon, and drove down lumber trails to an Upper Peninsula stream full of smallmouths. Which are not bad at all. When you’re starving.

A lot of people around here and from surrounding states ate smallmouths, though, until the population in Brainerd all but collapsed. Or I wouldn’t be writing about the fishing beyond the campfire in my back yard. What a waste. Trapped between dams, the genetics no longer able to flow, smallmouths were like sitting ducks when they gathered to winter. People filled their livewells and hauled them away.

Hopefully, most of them will be sitting in line at a boat ramp tomorrow morning while some completely oblivious sort is taking the rods out of his truck. And putting them slowly, carefully—one at a time—into his boat. Which is still on the trailer. On the ramp. While 300 guys in 150 trucks watch. And wait. And steam. And my relatives laugh.

I typically caught-and-released about 80 smallmouths, on the average, for every 5 hours fished down the bluff. Fifteen years ago. Now I generally get skunked.

Minnesota protects smallmouths with catch-and-release regulations from early September on through winter now. A spectacular idea. One I wholeheartedly endorse. It just came along a little late for the fish in the wardrobe.

Every silver lining has a dark side. So I put that bluegill back and forgot where I caught her.

Even though he is able to fish it only about 30 days a year, thoughts and dreams about plying its waters and catching its denizens captivate many of his nights and days when he isn’t afloat.

Reeves is 39 years old and resides in Lansing, Kansas. During the last  several years, he has gradually become  a devotee to Midwest finesse fishing.

Nowadays, his two children also wield Midwest finesse tackle as they learn about the art of fishing for largemouth bass in the waterways that grace northeastern Kansas and nearby northwestern Missouri.

What’s more,  his entire family  successfully used these tactics  during their summer vacation to Table Rock in 2011.

His most recent skirmish with Table Rock’s largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass occurred from April 16 to April 30.  During these 15 days, he sent several reports and commentaries to Ozark Anglers. com and the Finesse News Network about his Midwest finesse endeavors.

Upon his return home, he continued to reflect and write about Midwest finesse lures and tactics.

On May 6, he sent me an insightful essay about how he uses Midwest finesse tactics at Table Rock.

Here is what Reeves wrote:

Midwest finesse at Table Rock

Table Rock Lake in southwest Missouri is famous for clear, deep water, and its largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass. Those fish are equally famous for being difficult to catch under bright skies and in shallow water. Traditionally, high wind, clouds, and passing fronts have been the keys to catching bass in shallow water  at Table Rock.

The Gear

At its most basic, the Midwest finesse rig is a 1/16-ounce jig head dressed with a soft plastic body. For Table Rock, the most productive version day in and day out is a 1/16-ounce button or mushroom head jig with one half of an ElaZtech soft stick bait rigged on the jig.

The two baits in this category are the Strike King Lure Company’s Zero and Z-Man Fishing Products’ ZinkerZ. Other baits that also work are cut down Z-Man Finesse WormZs or Zoom Trick Worms, mini-creature baits like the Zoom Bait Company’s Tiny Brush Hog, and three-inch Bass Pro Shops’ Stik-O’s or Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits’ Senkos. Even half of a Zoom’s Fish Doctor will make the rig go.

Jig heads from Gopher Tackle, Outkast, and a variety of generic or homemade heads work well. Plain ball heads and even small football heads in the appropriate weights will work, too. Hooks should range in size from a No. 4 to No. 1. Overall length of a typical bait is 2 1/2 to four inches long, which is well under the size most anglers consider to be finesse tackle. Table Rock’s prevailing winds rarely allow the use of jig heads smaller than a 1/16-ouncer, which works well into depths of 10 to 15 feet.

Exposed hooks are effective on most gravel and chunk-rock areas, but a head with a single wire or cable brush guard will work better in and around brush, trees and dock cables. It should be noted that the smaller hooks hang up less when anglers are using a jig without a brush guard, and the small hooks seem to hook bass about as well as the bigger hooks do.

Several of the 1/16-ounce jigs that Reeves employs.

Six-pound-test fluorocarbon line works well with these rigs at Table Rock. Even with a quality fluorocarbon leader, braided line has not been as productive. A reel with a larger spool, such as a 3000-size (slightly larger than most standard medium reels) spinning reel, will help keep line twist down. The big reel causes a little imbalance with the rod, but at the same time, it enhances the light-line experience. Medium-light spinning rods in the 6 1/2 to seven-foot range are ideal. In fact, a rod that would is suitable for drop shot or walleye fishing is about right.

 

Day after day, PB&J has been the best plastic color at Table Rock followed by any of the watermelon or green pumpkin colors. Even when fish are keying on shad, those colors seem to out-produce the smoke or pearl colors. The color of the jig seems to matter less than it does farther north. Plain brown, black, green pumpkin, or raw lead heads all work about equally well. Bright heads, like red and chartreuse, seem to be a negative.

A well-used ElaZtech bait, such as a 2 1/2-inch ZinkerZ, works decidedly better than a bait fresh from the bag. Roughing a bait up in your hands, or even soaking it in water overnight is a good plan. Super glue is needed to keep baits up on the heads, if that look is desired. The gel glue from Loc-Tite is excellent for this. Allowing the bait to hang loose and flop freely may elicit a few more bites, but it causes more line twist,  and it simulates the “pressure” bites common to fishing the Midwest rig on Table Rock, which can be disconcerting at times.

A well-worn ZinkerZ.

Where Does It Work?

Perhaps the most important factor is that it works in shallow water. Sometimes in surprisingly shallow water, especially for Table Rock Lake anglers who are used to chasing bass around the main lake. The primary depth is from the bank out to about 15 feet. There is something of a “sweet spot” on most banks that begins around three feet and runs to eight feet. This is the same depth where, given normal water clarity, the rocks that extend off the bank become less visible. This is also a key depth for locating any larger rocks, which range in size from big chunk rock to boulders, and if these big rocks and boulders are scattered upon a predominantly gravel bank, it often is an exceedingly fruitful area at which to employ one of the Midwest finesse rigs.

A typical mixed-rock shoreline where Midwest finesse tactics shine at Table Rock

Some of the most productive areas for wielding a Midwest finesse rig on Table Rock are stretches of nothing-looking banks. These may be in coves and creeks, sides of points at the mouths of major creeks or “dips” in the main lake, or even out on the main lake gravel areas. Most of these will have gravel or mixes of gravel and smaller chunk rock. Many of the stretches between boat docks have this rock mix. The back half of small coves, including any subtle points or transition banks located there, are key spots. Tiny features such as a runoff path in the back of a cove, or one creating a narrow and shallow ditch across a flat, may hold several fish in a small area.

Wood and brush are not necessary ingredients, but they may group fish on an area. Boat docks, especially corners and walkways, are productive. Dock cables that extend well out from the docks will hold fish, especially suspended spotted bass. Resort or community ramps, and the prop wash holes at the ends of them, are prime targets in coves.

On shallow gravel areas, whether on the main lake, or back in the creeks, the Midwest finesse rigs will produce smallmouth. This holds true lake wide, especially from the Baxter area to the dam.

The larger creeks from Kimberling City to the dam provide many areas where shallow-finesse tactics have proven to be effective. One of these shallow areas consist of rounded and flat points that lead into and out of spawn coves. Another one is a 45-degree bank or shoreline that is enhanced with rock transitions or changes from boulders to chuck rocks to gravel. A third area is a small pocket cove. These three features can be found in Fisher, Schooner, White’s Branch, and the Cow creeks.

In many cases, it comes down to fishing ugly or bypassed water. In essence, these are the places where most anglers dial the speed up on the trolling motor and get on to the next place they have confidence in.

When Does It Work?

It will catch bass whenever they are shallow on Table Rock, which turns out to be more often than we expect. The basic premise of the system is that catchable bass remain shallow throughout all seasons, in all lakes. Table Rock is a real test of that idea, but the fish are definitely up there to be caught. These may not be the largest or most catchable bass at a given time, but they are available to anglers. Certainly some months have more fish shallow, particularly March through May, but the system works in the summer and fall.

Often there will be other ways to catch fish, even more fish or larger ones. The unique thing about this system is it will almost always produce some fish. Swimming a grub, grinding a Wiggle Wart, or dragging a split-shot rig may be the primary bite at a given time, but Midwest finesse rigs will still catch some fish on the same day. That makes it a potential trip saver for recreational anglers. It is also the ideal bait for that 2 p.m. “just-need-one-more-keeper” stop on the way back to a weigh in for tournament anglers.

It is an excellent bait for taking a second spin through a productive stretch of water, or through an area that should have been productive but was not with a traditional Table Rock bait and method. The little rig will catch fish behind other anglers, including those also fishing more traditional finesse rigs such as grubs and split-shot rigs. It is also a serious tool for anyone fishing from the backseat. Similarly, it will produce fish when they are under increased pressure from tournaments and the fair weather crowds.

The beauty of this rig and system is its ability to catch fish from shallow water on bluebird days, which is a real challenge on any clear, highland reservoir. The absolute best days to fish it are cloudless ones and with very little wind, especially in the afternoon.

How To Fish It At The Rock

A variety of retrieves work when fishing a Midwest finesse rig. Most retrieves involve a good bit of shaking of the rod tip. Deadsticking, swimming, and a drag-and-shake retrieve are all productive at Table Rock. Throw it at the bank and get it headed to the bottom. Shake it while it is getting there. Keep it slow. Keep it close to or on the bottom. Keep it simple. Then make yourself slow down some more. Try not to get caught up worrying about throwing it to cover. Cover is fine when present, but not critical to making the little bait work.

It does fish better on a slack line, including when shaking the bait. Just shake the slack in the line without moving the bait any great distance. If the wind is up, keep your tip close to the water, as when scrubbing a grub, to minimize the slack line exposed to the wind.

Short perpendicular casts allow better presentation and hook sets at some other waterways, but they may not be practical at Table Rock due to water clarity. More often a medium-length quartering cast is best.

When probing a dock, one must use a combination of the rod tip and trolling motor to guide it under the dock corner, presenting a bait in difficult to reach areas. The jig and ZinkerZ also skips very easily, which makes it a dandy combo to employ around docks.

In addition, the jig and ZinkerZ, as well as a jig dressed with Z-Man’s 3.75-inch StreakZ, is an effective rig for targeting suspended bass, especially around large docks in the summer and fall, as well as around bridge pilings. If the dock bass will not bite when pitched at with a jig or spoon, they will frequently eat the slower falling and subtly shaking Midwest finesse rig. The typical Table Rock baits that are used around bridge pilings are drop-shot rigs , spoons, pony head jigs, and tubes, but the jig and ZinkerZ or StreakZ can be a potent alternative. In either case, allowing the rig to slowly fall on a slack line with subtle shaking seems to be the most effective presentation. These are situations where the lighter 1/32-ounce heads may come into play in order to slow the fall rate of the bait.

What Can Be Expected?

Fish, and lots of them. Note, that is fish, not just bass. If you do not enjoy catching fish, this is not the technique for you. The Midwest finesse rig is a phenomenal way to catch shallow-water smallmouth, and a  very good tactic for catching the other bass, but it will catch everything that swims in the lake. On a recent trip to Table Rock, the little rig produced channel catfish, goggle-eye, crappie, a variety of sunfish and all three bass species.

This Table Rock Lake channel catfish was enticed by a PB&J ZinkerZ.

It does, on some days, produce large quantities of short fish along with some keeper-size bass. This makes it great for kids and folks who don’t fish frequently. It should be fun for anyone who likes to catch bass, but some tournament anglers see catching short fish as a negative. That is sad in more than one way.

If you are using regular plastisol baits on a jig, short fish can quickly decimate an angler’s supply of baits, which can be a tad expensive, too. But when an angler uses ElaZtech baits, expense and supply are less of a concern. In fact, ElaZtech lures can withstand the abuse rendered by scores of fish before they need to be replaced. And when they are glued to the jig, they do not need a lot of rerigging throughout a day’s fishing. The one attached to the catfish in the photograph above came at the close of a recent outing at Table Rock, and that ZinkerZ was retired with dignity when rerigging in the evening.

Bites tend to be similar to a grub bite or standard finesse pick-up (shakey head, mojo rig). Some fish will swim off with the bait, some will tap it (especially if deadsticking on the bottom), most will simply “load up” or “get heavy” in the classic sense of a pressure bite.

A Little Fish Bait?

The Midwest finesse rig just flat catches keepers at Table Rock. Frequently it does it in water and under conditions that provoke dumb and doubtful looks from other anglers. It catches them in the morning, the mid-day, and in the heat of the afternoon, and it does it in water usually less than 10 feet deep.

A typical Table Rock Lake smallmouth bass that was caught on jig and ZinkerZ.

Across 16 years of fishing Table Rock, averaging 20 to 30 days per year since 2000, catching keepers in shallow water, especially without wind or clouds has always been a challenge. Conventional wisdom and experience state it is just not that kind of lake. We fish deep here for a reason. Thus, this system provides an alternative approach, at least for several months of the year.

It will occasionally produce a big fish, but most keepers caught will be 16 to 18 inches long. A truly big fish is difficult to deal with on light tackle, small hooks, and without much water under them. And while the hardcore tournament crowd scoffs at little keepers, anyone who has ever weighed only four keepers on a Saturday afternoon knows why weighing five is always better.

And yes, as previously noted, it does on occasion produce vast numbers of short fish along with the keepers.

Why Does it Work?

As a bit of speculation, it is similar to a human snacking in the evening. After a big meal, another steak dinner with all the sides may not be at all appetizing. However, a bowl of peanuts or snack mix can cause a feeding frenzy.

This rig seems to work like that bowl of snacks. It is a size that is easy for a fish to eat without expending much energy. It is not threatening or shocking to the fish. It moves along naturally, vaguely representing several different types of forage simultaneously, without looking specifically like any one thing.

It also forces you to slow down. Way down. On Table Rock it is generally much easier to fish too fast than too slowly. It keeps the big motor shut off, the trolling motor down, and your bait wet.

Final Analysis

It works. It looks a little goofy. If you show it to someone else, it looks more than a little goofy. But so does flipping a jig spoon in boat slips, or heaving the wad of wire and swimbaits that makes up an umbrella rig. Ever throw a bubblegum float worm or Fluke? All of those techniques produce keeper bites at Table Rock in spite of looking and feeling strange initially.

It is adaptable. Make it fit what you like to do. Fish a crankbait all day, then use a Midwest finesse rig to finish a limit. Use it close to the ramp early in the day to try for a quick limit, then chase better bites with a football jig. Throw it on a tough day just to stay out of the zero column. Like any other technique, don’t force it.

Use it to put your family on easy fish at Table Rock. Kids and spouses don’t necessarily care about fishing all day for one five- pound bass. They like bites, action, and easy fishing. Instead of dragging them out in pleasure boat wakes on the main lake during the summer to drop shot or swim a grub, take them into a quiet pocket and let them play with some brown bass. They will want to do it again.

 

 

 

 

John Kehde with one of the wipers that he and Steve Bloess caught on a deep hump on May 1. Kehde used a 1/4-ounce silver marabou jig on a spinning outfit to inveigle this brute.

When it comes to catching temperate bass with finesse tackle, Roger Kehde of Sedalia, Missouri, has few peers.

For several decades, Roger Kehde and his father, John, of Sedalia, Missouri, have given chase to the white bass and wipers that inhabit some of the northern Ozark reservoirs, and during their many days afloat, they have caught and released an untold number of them and tangled with as many as 200 on scores of outings.

In essence, the pursuit of white bass lies at the core of their piscatorial passion, and at times, they supplement this passion by tangling with some wipers. For a few years, they spent a lot of time focusing on wipers, but the wipers’ pelagic nature and limited numbers   (which revolves around how many wipers are stocked and the survival rate of the ones that are stocked) can make for some confounding outings on reservoirs that contain 55,000 to 56,000 surfaces of water and 958 to 1,150 miles of shorelines.

Here is a short description on how and where they pursue their quarry on many outings in the spring and into the summer.

In the spring, usually in May and early June, when the reservoir is several feet above its normal level and a significant flow of water gushes through the dam’s turbines,  a white-bass nirvana will occasionally erupt for the Kehdes along portions of the dam, and for a mile or two upstream from the dam.

According to the Kehdes, the current created by the water flowing through the dam attracts oodles of gizzard shad fry, and vast numbers of white bass arrive to forage on the shad.

At times, an aggregation of shad fry along the concrete portions of the dam can be  the size of a football field. The fry slowly mill about on the surface amongst the foam and seams in the current, and beneath them is 45 to100 feet of water. Occasionally a portion of the school of shad fry wanders from the dam’s concrete wall to a steep point on the riprap portion of the dam.

Accompanying the shad are oodles of white bass, as well as a hodgepodge of adult gizzard shad, herring, carp, drum, bluegill, crappie, wipers, spotted bass, channel catfish, and largemouth bass. (At times walleye will  join this assemblage.)  Many of these denizens forage on the shad fry, which are extremely minute and immature.  Because the fry are immature, they can’t  move quickly and are virtually at the mercy of the current and predators. As the white bass and other foragers leisurely slurp the tiny and languid fry off the surface, it looks like a slow-motion feeding frenzy.  In fact, the entire phenomenon can be so unhurried that the massive concentration of feeding fish can stay intact throughout the afternoon and evening hours.  To the Kehdes’ delight, they have been the only anglers across the years who have been privy to this phenomenon.

The Kehdes fish this area by wielding medium-action spinning outfits that are spooled with either six or eight-pound-test monofilament or braided line. These outfits sport quarter-ounce marabou jigs in a silver hue. They execute 20- to 30- foot casts, aiming them so that the jig would land about 10 feet from the edge of the massive school of suspended shad fry.  To elicit the attention of the white bass, they retrieve the jig at a rapid pace so that it travels six inches under the surface. If the Kehdes didn’t employ that rapid retrieve,  the jig would  drop too far under the surface and be carried with the current, and  they would catch species other than white bass.

Occasionally one of them will cast a P-60 Rebel Pop-R to elicit strikes from fish that are flush to the dam’s concrete wall.

When this phenomenon is at its apex, they rarely make a cast without eliciting a strike, and by the time that they wield their last casts, the Kehdes will often catch catch and release hundreds of white bass. And it can be a multispecies bonanza to boot;  they can tangle with surprising numbers of big crappie and a goodly number of spotted bass, as well as a few carp, catfish, bluegill, drum, herring,  wipers, and an occasional largemouth bass.  About every fish that the Kehdes lift  over the gunnels of their boat regurgitates scores of tiny shad.

One of their most fruitful days occurred on June 3, 2008, when one of the Ozark reservoirs they fished was 7 ½ feet higher than normal, 39,000 cubic feet per second of water was flowing into it, and 29,000 cfs was flowing out of the dam. The water clarity measured more than five feet.  And they caught an incalculable number of white bass and other species.

There have been, however, many early June afternoons across the years when the current was extremely slack along the face of the dam, and it was devoid of shad fry and foraging white bass. On those afternoons, the Kehdes search for schools of young shad that are haplessly moseying about on the surface at several main-lake flats that lie from a mile to four miles upstream from the dam. Early in the afternoon, the Kehdes will scout for feeding white bass over the deeper sections of the flats; some times their boat will be floating in 70 feet of water.

Once they find white bass slurping tiny shad, the Kehdes employ the same spinning outfits that they used at the dam, but instead of the quarter-ounce jig, they opt for a quarter-ounce Worden’s Rooster Tail in a chartreuse hue.  They cast the Rooster Tail across and around the schools of shad and foraging white bass, and they retrieve it so that it creates a minor wake on the surface.

When the shad are tiny and relatively listless, they can’t escape from the ravenous white bass.  This allows the feeding activity to be a long-winded affair, allowing the Kehdes to catch scores of white bass.

As the evening hours materialize, the shad and white bass gradually move to shallower portions of the flats, and by nightfall, they often will be cruising along some of the shorelines of the flats, which are covered with one to two feet of water. The Kehdes find that their white bass catches often become a hand-over-fist affair as the last ghost light of the setting sun graces the western horizon; this evening movement along the shorelines of the flats normally begins around Father’s Day and persists until about Labor Day.

The Kehdes also note that there are occasions in June and even throughout the heat of mid-summer when the white bass can be found foraging on shad along the shallow shorelines of the flats during the middle of the afternoon.  Thus, they find that it’s necessary to periodically check the shallows when the sun is still high in the sky.

When the white bass forage in the shallows, the Kehdes use their spinning outfits and a 1/16-ounce jig that consists of a white head, baby-blue yarn body and white marabou tail. They retrieve the jig by either slowly swimming it with a do-nothing motif or slowly bouncing across the bottom.

In July, the Kehdes stop pursuing white bass that are feeding upon shad on the surface.  The reason for that is the shad have become mature and facile enough to hightail it when a school of white bass attacks them.  Therefore, this surface activity is short-lived, lasting merely 30 seconds or less.  Instead, the Kehdes spend the afternoon hours plying main-lake humps that are associated with the flats. The depth of the humps range from 15 to 25 feet of water.

The most fruitful humps are located near the areas where the white bass can be seen foraging for a few seconds on the surface, or where other anglers catch one while trolling pell-mell across a massive flat. When the Kehdes spot some surfacing white bass or a troller catches one, they will examine a nearby hump.

When they are searching for a concentration of white bass on these humps, the Kehdes sometimes employ casting tackle and a half-ounce spoon. They make a long cast with the spoon and allow it to descend to the bottom. Once it reaches the bottom, they retrieve it by hopping and dragging it across the humps.  Once they locate a concentration of white bass, they use their spinning outfits that sport either a quarter-ounce jig or a quarter-ounce spoon, and they cast and slowly hop, drag and bounce the jig and spoon across the bottom. Occasionally they will shake their rods during the retrieve. Unless a deep-water hump is snag infested, the Kehdes normally shun a vertical presentation with their jig or spoon. From their vast experiences, casting and retrieving a spoon or jig elicits more strikes than a vertical motif.

Although the Kehdes enjoy pursuing white bass across the flats, on the humps and along the shallow shorelines, their favorite summertime fishing occurs when the dam begins generating electricity early in the afternoon.   If that happens when the lake is relative calm, the Kehdes have watched the shad and white bass migrate towards the dam, and for a couple miles above the dam the lake’s surface will be periodically pock-marked with schools of  white bass feeding upon shad.  Eventually, the white bass and shad will arrive at the dam, and the Kehdes will employ the same tackle and tactics that they did in the spring.   If the current isn’t too intense, the Kehdes will add another twist to their dam repertoire by probing a long hump that lies about a hundred yards above the dam. Here they cast either a quarter-ounce jig or spoon to the up-current side of the hump. As it falls  towards the bottom, the current carries the jig or spoon across the hump, and they allow it to sporadically graze the bottom, and they regularly tangle with scores of white bass, as well as some hefty wipers.

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Postscript: The odd spring of 2012.

The winter was and this  spring has been unusually warm and windy in central Missouri.  The first four months of 2012 were also intermixed with some extreme weather fluctuations, ranging from very warm to very cool.

Consequently water temperatures were unseasonably warm, but there was about a two week spell in April when the water temperatures plummeted about five degrees, dropping from the high 60s to the low 60s.

In March, John Kehde and his friend Steve Bloess of Sedalia, Missouri, enjoy some extremely fruitful white bass and wiper fishing during an exceedingly early-in-the-year  spawning run at the headwaters of one of the big reservoirs they traditionally fish. According to the Kehdes, this spawning run occurred several weeks before it normally unfolds.  For instance on Mar. 21, John Kehde  and Steve Bloess  caught 80 very, very big white bass at the Lake of the Ozarks in a couple of hours while fishing in the rain. They also tangled with some crappie, spotted bass, largemouth bass and one big walleye.

What’s more, their main-lake endeavors unfolded many weeks before normal.  And they caught white bass and wipers in April where the Kehdes and Bloess had never caught them before.

For instance, Bloess caught 33 wipers and more than 100 white bass in one to three feet of water on April 22. During this outing, the reservoir was 1.99 feet above normal, and the  white bass and wipers were caught around patches flooded terrestrial grasses on a massive main-lake flat and point.  Bloess was using an 1/8-ounce marabou jig attached to a jig spinner.  One of Bloess’ wipers weighed 15 pounds.  The area that he plied was being slapped by the wind and waves.

Then Bloess, John Kehde and Allen Kehde caught 50 wipers, 50 white bass and four walleye on April 26. The reservoir was 1.5 feet above normal, and this trio caught their fish on a massive wind-blow flat point that was enhanced with patches of flooded terrestrial grasses.  During this outing Bloess and the Kehdes could see and hear fish gamboling about in and around the patches of grasses.

Traditionally, the two spots where Bloess and the Kehdes caught their white bass and wipers are where they catch them during the summer from about Father’s Day to Labor Day. Then it is usually an evening affair.

In 2010, the Kehdes enjoyed one of the most bountiful white years of their lifetime, catching thousands of  white bass of all ages and sizes.  And they thought that 2011 would be even more fruitful than 2010. But to their dismay, 2011 was the worst year that they remember enduring. Thus the Kehdes and Bloess  are keeping their fingers crossed in hopes that 2012 isn’t a repeat of 2011. So far, it has been more fruitful than 2011.

This is one of the wipers that Roger Kehde and Steve Bloess caught  and released on April 16 using a 1/4-ounce Leroy’s silver marabou jig to ply a deep-water hump. Kehde caught this wiper at one of the traditional spots that he normally catches white bass and wipers in late April and well into May. But so far this year this locale yielded only a few fish. Kehde was puzzled by the trying fishing. He thought two of the problems might have been the harsh winds that often battered this locale and the amount of current that was being generated at the dam. He also suspected that the unusually warm weather and water temperatures might have had an effect on the whereabouts of the wipers and white bass.

Steve Bloess of Sedalia, Missouri, shows off one of the wipers that he and Roger Kehde caught on April 16.

In spring, we always hook into a few largemouths while hunting for bull bluegills. They come shallow about the same time, they use the same kinds of habitat, they get active in the same situations, and they apparently forage on similar things. We catch some of our biggest bass of the year every spring on 4-pound lines attached to 1/80- to 1/32-ounce jigs. As you might imagine, it can be real carnival ride pulling them within reach.

The water was still cold—hovering near 50°F in the warmest spots last week—when Mary brought this one in. It inhaled a 1/64-ounce TC Tackle ball-head jig (406/683-5485) baited with a panfish leech. Happens a lot. And not just in spring. We can target and catch bass in the 5- and 6-pound range right through winter—under the ice—with tackle designed for bluegills.

Maybe it’s because Leopomis macrochirus—the bluegill—and micropterus salmoides—the bass—are from the same family of fishes—centrarchidae. That family, which also includes the crappie, is composed of 30 species in 10 genera. They’re generally called, simply, “the sunfishes,” which came into being during the Miocene epoch (5 to 23 million years ago).

Maybe it’s because bigger forage items take too long for bass to digest in cold water. The metabolism of the bass clan is decidedly different from that of the salmons and chars, which commonly seek larger prey in water temperatures descending below 40°.

Whatever the reason, we like it. Big bass on light tackle classifies as an extreme sport in my book. Our tackle has evolved to incorporate these bonus bruisers into the game plan—part of the reason we went to 4-pound Berkley FireLine on all our panfish rods. When lunkers bury themselves in the weeds, we can get them out without breaking lines. If you can move the rod tip toward you with that low-stretch braided line, you’re moving the fish. Even with ultralight rods, like the 7-foot St. Croix Avids we’re so fond of, FireLine rips through weeds and hauls big bass out.

The development of fluorocarbon line also allows us to both target and land the biggest bluegills and bass in the systems we fish. Where bluegills (which have excellent vision extending into the microscopic range) might balk at biting a tiny jig dangling on 6-pound mono, 8-pound flourocarbon doesn’t seem to bother them. We’ve been using Toray Superhard, and even after landing behemoths that take us into the wood, we can’t find a single nick on the line.

Other advantages to using FireLine with swivels and fluorocarbon leaders: No line twist and the line never breaks down. You can put a Rainbow Plastics A-Just-A-Bubble on the line and leave it there forever (even after the surgical tubing hardens inside the float). Mary can leave that slip float on her line until next year, too. We can put our rods away in spring and pull them out next fall—or a year later—and not worry about the line going bad. Not having to replace fishing line every few months (or every few weeks with some of these lines designed with planned obsolescence in mind) is a great boon to fishing kind.

Great when design, purpose, function, and utility all come together to save you time and money. Better when it all combines to bring fish like this into the boat for a quick photo. The way the weather looks (70°F today), that bass could be spawning as I write this.

In that blog, we noted that it was likely that we would continue to herald the durability and seductive nature of the Finesse WormZ and Gopher jig in some blogs to come. And this is one of those blogs that trumpets the manifold virtues of this combo.

Here’s what this combo accomplished on April 26, 28, 29, 30 and May 1:

On April 26, I fished with a friend from Overland Park, Kansas, at a 100-acre community reservoir in suburban Kansas City.

We fished from 11:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Our many spinning outfits were rigged with a 2 1/2-inch purple-haze ZinkerZ affixed to a 1/16-ounce jig, PB&J Rain MinnowZ on a 1/16-ounce jig, a green-pumpkin four-inch Finesse WormZ on a 1/16-ounce wacky jig, and a Junebug four-inch Finesse WormZ on a 1/16-ounce jig.

My friend’s jigs were generic ball or round-head jigs.

Except for the wacky rigged WormZ, my baits were dressed on  Gopher Tackle Company’s  Original Mushroom Head Jig with a No. 4 Mustad hook. My wacky jig was a Zappu Inchy Wacky Jig.

We caught 75 largemouth bass, three saugeye, one crappie and one channel catfish, as well as a goodly number of bluegill, green sunfish and warmouth. None of the fish were lunkers.  Both of us caught about the same number of fish.

Our most fruitful bait was the Junebug Finesse WormZ.  We presented it  to the largemouth bass by doing some deadsticking, as well as a lot of dragging and some shaking.

Most of the fish were extracted from rocky environs, and several of those rocky lairs were exceedingly snaggy.

During this outing,  my friend lost four Finesse WormZs. Three were pulled off the jig by fish. One became snagged in the rocks,  and he lost his jig and WormZ on this snag.  I didn’t lose any baits that were rigged to the Gopher jig, nor did I get that combo snagged. But I did lose one Finesse WormZ that adorned the Zappu Inchy Wacky Jig, which is not unusual.

Throughout an entire year, which encompasses about 125 outings,  I rarely lose a Finesse WormZ or any of the Z-Man soft-plastic finesse baits that I routinely use on a Gopher Mushroom Head Jig.  One reason why I seldom lose a WormZ is the double barbs on the collar of the Gopher jig keep the WormZ securely affixed to the collar. Another reason is that the flat head of the jig and the small hook makes it extremely snag-free even though the hook is exposed. From my experience, the  primary reason why  my friend lost those four baits was that he was not using a Gopher jig.

( It needs to be noted that some of my friends, who don’t use a Gopher Mushroom Head Jig,  use  super glue to affix the WormZ or ZinkerZ or Rain MinnowZ to the jig. The glue prevents a fish from liberating the Z-Man baits from the jig, but if anglers opt  for a Gopher jig, they don’t have to mess around with glue.  What’s more,  without the glue, the collars of the jigs  don’t get gunked up with glue and ElaZtech, and if the baits aren’t glued, anglers can readily change soft-plastic baits on the jig.)

During this outing April 26,  I caught 31 largemouth bass on the Junebug Finesse WormZ  and blue 1/16-ounce Gopher jig.  This combo had been used on several outings before this one.

On April 28, I fished from 11:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. at a 140-acre state reservoir, wielding the same four-inch Junebug Finesse WormZ and blue 1/16-ounce Gopher jig that I used on April 26.   By employing a drag-and-shake retrieve, the WormZ and Gopher combo tangled with 51 largemouth bass and several panfish.  One of the bass weighed four pounds, five ounces, but the rest of the largemouth bass were small. Most of these fish were caught around rock-laden lairs on a drag-and-shake retrieve.

Thus, over a course of  two outings, which encompassed eight hours and 15 minutes of fishing, this super worm and jig allured 82 bass, as well as a few other specimens.

On April 29, it rained until 2:30 p.m. After it stopped raining,  I hightailed it to a 195-acre community reservoir, where I fished the dam and an adjacent shoreline from 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., using the same WormZ and blue Gopher jig that had caught 31 largemouth bass on April 26 and 51 on April 28.

During this outing it was cloudy, and it sprinkled occasionally.  The wind was nearly nil. The water was clear, and the surface temperature was 65 degrees.

The bass were exceptionally active and preferred the WormZ and Gopher to be presented with a swim-glide-and-shake retrieve, and they wanted a lot of shaking. In fact, I can’t ever recall shaking my rod as much as I did on this outing.  By the time that I had executed my last shake, 53 largemouth bass, as well as some bluegill and green sunfish, had been bewitched by the WormZ and Gopher.

So, after three outings and 10 hours and 15 minutes of fishing, the WormZ and Gopher had tangled with 135 largemouth bass, and this combo looked as if it still had the wherewithal to shake and allure more largemouth bass on April 30.

On April 30, I took the Junebug Finesse WormZ and blue 1/16-ounce Gopher jig to a 55-acre community reservoir. From 11:20 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., I worked this combo incessantly along rock-laden shorelines and some patches of American water willows.

For the first two and a half hours, the largemouth bass exhibited a hankering for the WormZ and Gopher jig to be retrieved with the swim-glide-and-shake motif, and they wanted the bait to perpetually shake and quiver. Thus I was constantly shaking the rod.

The wind was nil. It was cloudy and slightly misty until 1:45 p.m.  Then as the sun began to appear,  the largemouth bass became more and more difficult to allure.

From 11:29 a.m. to  1:45 p.m., this combo allured 36 largemouth bass and about a dozen bluegill and green sunfish. From 1:45 p.m. to 3:15, it inveigled only eight largemouth bass and a couple bluegill and green sunfish.

At 2:15 p.m., I decided that I should see if the bass would be enticed by another bait.  On the first two casts with a green-pumpkin Finesse ShadZ affixed to a chartreuse Gopher jig, I caught two largemouth bass. For the next hour, I worked with both lures.  The ShadZ caught  only two largemouth bass, and WormZ caught four.

Thus  across four outings and 14 hours and 10 minutes of fishing, this combo had tangled with 179 largemouth bass and a sundry of other specimens .

During this quest of seeing how many bass this WormZ and Gopher jig could catch, I developed a minor fraternal and even familial bond  with these two items. I even felt a tad remorseful when I began using the Finesse ShadZ on another Gopher jig at 2:15 p.m. on April 30.

As I removed the WormZ from the Gopher jig to store in its original package at the end of the outing on April 30, I was a touch disheartened to see how tattered and torn it had become.  In addition, the jig’s hook exhibited a minor S-curve that a channel catfish dished out on April 26, and there was a touch of rust around the area where I used a pair of pliers to try to straighten the S-curve.  I thought about retiring them forever, but as the ghost light of dawn on May Day graced the eastern horizon, I decided that the first day of May would be appropriate to keep on testing the wherewithal of these super finesse baits.

On May 1, I fished with another friend from Overland Park, Kansas, at that same 100-acre community lake in suburban Kansas City that I began the test to see how many bass that a four-inch Finesse WormZ and 1/16-ounce Gopher Mushroom Head Jig could catch. Straightaway at the first offshore rock pile that we fished, this combo caught two bass.  But as the second bass jumped, executing an acrobatic twist,  an inch-and-a-half segment of the tail of the WormZ became detached. Thus,  after I unhooked the bass and released it, I removed the WormZ from the Gopher jig and put it in a safe place so that it could be photographed  for archival reasons.

By the way, the Gopher jig is still working. In fact,  it helped catch several of the 55 largemouth bass, as well as some saugeye, bluegill, green sunfish and warmouth that we caught between 11: 10 a.m. and 4:10 p.m.

This what the four-inch Junebug Finesse WormZ and blue 1/16-ounce Gopher Mushroom Head Jig looked like after they tangled with 181 largemouth bass. As of May 2, the Gopher jig is still catching fish even though its hook shank is slightly bent. The WormZ, however, has been retired and is hanging on a wall like a trophy.