Augusts of the Past

Since 2011, we have written and published 66,553 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 six 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 only 47 hours. During these 14 outings, I and several of my partners were able to inveigle 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 focus 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) Even though we often contend that the dog days of summer are not fruitless times to be afloat in chase of largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, 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 in several of the 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 of them. 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 surprisingly easy to inveigle. 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 log contains 21,969 words. Beside my logs about Midwest fishing in northeastern Kansas, it features the logs 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; 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) 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.

(6) Last year's column on "Augusts of the Past" contained 1,652 words. It contained 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/.

Photographs of largemouth bass and smallmoputh bass that Midwest finesse anglers have caught in Augusts of the past