October 08, 2014
By Ned Kehde
Throughout the summer of 2014, Mike Poe of Siler City, North Carolina, was confounded time and again by the largemouth bass in the waterways that he religiously plied. Poe spent his summer days afloat primarily employing power-fishing methods rather Midwest finesse tactics, and it wasn't until Sept. 30 that he discovered the errors of his ways.
On Oct. 6 when we published the September edition of the monthly guide to Midwest finesse fishing, we failed to include a brief log that Mike Poe of Siler City, North Carolina, contributed to the Finesse News Network. To rectify that mistake, that log is posted below.
Sept . 30 log
Poe posted the following observations on the Finesse News Network about his Sept. 29 and 30 outings. The first outing was primarily a power-fishing endeavor. The second outing was a Midwest finesse one.
He wrote: "After enduring the worst outing of the century (two largemouth bass in seven hours) on Saturday, I debated about on staying at home Sunday.
"I did every deer stand installation and home-upkeep chore that I could and found myself left with three hours of daylight.
"So I went fishing, committing myself to spinning tackle only.
"Upon making my first four casts with a 1/16-ounce Gopher jig and a 2 1/2-inch Strike King Lure Company's PB&J Zero, I duplicated Saturday's catch. Three hours later I had caught a total of 12 largemouth bass, including a five-pounder, a four-pounder, and a couple of 2 1/2-pounders.
"All of them were caught on the Zero and Gopher. Two of them walloped a steady top-water bulge retrieve that paralleled the willows. The biggest one hit it on a deadstick presentation in six feet of water on some rocks in front of the water willows. The rest were caught around shallow wood or willows. Many of them hit on the initial fall. The lake was full. The surface temperature was 79 degrees. There was about 16 inches on visibility.
"I sang praises all evening about the effectiveness of Midwest finesse fishing. It is so easy and so much fun. I have no clue why it took a total lack of fish to get me to using it again. I haven't thrown the Zero and Gopher for weeks and weeks. But now I will be using it in many trips to come. Many thanks to the Finesse News Network for sharing such a great method."
This is the 2 1/2-inch Strike King Lure Company's PB&J Zero and 1/16-ounce Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head Jig that Mike Poe used on Sept. 30.
