Novembers of the Past

Since 2011, we have published 81,792 words about how, when, and where Midwest finesse anglers fished in November.

Many of these words were graced by the insights and logs of Rick Allen of Dallas, Texas; Terry Bivins of Lebo, Kansas; Norman Brown of Lewisville, Texas; Terry Claudell of Overland Park, Kansas; Steve Desch of Topeka, Kansas; Brent Frazee of Parkville, Missouri; Merit Goodman of Eudora, Kansas; Bob Gum of Kansas City, Kansas; Clyde Holscher of Topeka; Casey Kidder of Topeka; Pok-Chi Lau of Lawrence, Kansas; Ralph Manns of Rockwall, Texas;  Greg Monahan of Lee's Summit, Missouri; Travis Myers of Paw Paw, West Virginia; Preston Parks of Pittsboro, North Carolina; Mike Poe of Siler City, North Carolina; Marley Price of Ripley, Ohio; Steve Reideler of Denton, Texas; Chris Rohr of Overland Park; Walt Tegtmeier of Leawood, Kansas; John Thomas of Denton, Texas; Brian Waldman of Coatesville, Indiana; Brian Watson of Papillion, Nebraska; Dave Weroha of Kansas City, Kansas; and Josh White of Silk Hope, North Carolina. Some of these words were extracted from my logs about fishing in Kansas and Missouri that I began compiling in 2003.

These words primarily focus on the pursuit of largemouth bass, and that is because the shallow-water smallmouth bass fishing peters out in November across northeastern Kansas. The only exception to that occurs at one of northeastern Kansas' power-plant reservoirs. Nevertheless, there are some informative and enlightening insights about pursuing smallmouth bass — as well as a few words about how, when, and where Midwest finesse anglers tangled with spotted bass.

Before 2011, we used to spend a lot of time simultaneously fishing for largemouth bass and temperate bass in northeastern Kansas and central Missouri during November, but the white bass population has declined so dramatically during the past five to seven years that we rarely pursue them.

But at several northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri reservoirs, we do spend some time doing what we call bass fishing for trout. When we pursued trout, we primarily employed a 2 1/2-inch Z-Man's ZinkerZ affixed to a 1/15-ounce, a 1/16-ounce, a 1/20-ounce, or a 1/32-ounce mushroom-style jig.  We used a variety of colors of the ZinkerZ: bubble gum, green pumpkin, Junebug, PB&J, and pearl. The jig was usually painted red.

Winter is in the offing in northeastern Kansas. We will be confounded by spells of freezing rain, sleet and snow, which can make conditions insurmountable even for the most ardent largemouth bass anglers.

In our column entitled "A Month-by-Month Guide to Midwest Finesse for Bass," we noted that the surface temperature at our northeastern Kansas reservoirs on November 1 is 56 degrees. It drops to about 50 degrees during the middle of the month. It is around 46 degrees at month's end.

On average, northeastern Kansas has about an inch of precipitation in November. The average temperature is 43 degrees, but it can be as cold as nine degrees and as warm as 84 degrees.

The average low temperature on Nov. 1 in north-central Texas is 48 degrees, and the average high temperature is 67 degrees.  On Nov. 15, the average low temperature is 43 degrees, and the average high temperature is 63 degrees. By Nov. 30, the average low temperature is 38 degrees and the average high temperature is 59 degrees.

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In northeastern West Virginia, the average low temperature on Nov. 1 is 38 degrees, and the average high temperature is 60 degrees. The average low temperature is 34 degrees on Nov. 15, and the average high temperature is 55 degrees. On Nov. 30, the average low temperature is 30 degrees, and the average high temperature is 48 degrees.

At the reservoirs of north-central Texas, Steve Reideler has recorded the surface temperatures in early November hovering around 65 to 68 degrees.  By the middle of November, the surface temperatures are in the low 60s and high 50s, and they are in the low 50s at the end of the month.

Burton Bosley notes that the surface temperature at one of the West Virginia reservoirs that he fished was 48 degrees on Nov. 30, 2014. The water temperatures in the rivers that Travis Myers of Paw Paw, West Virginia, fishes are in the low 50s in early November, in the mid-40s around Nov. 15, and in the low 40s on Nov. 30.

Below are eight Internet links to the 81,792 words that we have published. It is a link to our  history that will remind us and teach us how, when, and where Midwest finesse anglers caught and failed to catch  black bass during Novembers of the past in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia.

(1) http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/a-month-by-month-guide-to-midwest-finesse-for-bass/.

(2) http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/an-addendum-to-the-month-by-month-guide-to-midwest-finesse-november/.  (This is the November of 2012's  monthly guide to Midwest finesse fishing.)

(3) http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/midwest-finesse-fishing-november-2013/.

(4) http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-november-2014/.

(5) http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-november-2015/.

(6) http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/midwest-finesse-fishing-november-2016/.

(7)  http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/novembers-of-the-past. 

(8)  http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/novembers-of-the-past-3/.

Photographs for Novembers of the past: