Winter bass are notoriously reticent, one reason fishing pressure hits its nadir from November through January. I’m not one to be housebound, though, when there are bass to be caught. I try to fish 4 or 5 times a week, year-round, generally for 4 hours in mid-day.

Our long-standing goal is 101 bass a day, a total considered daunting, even at the hottest bass lakes in Mexico. Yet we occasionally achieve that total, even in the dead of winter. Our key is using finesse tactics beyond the realm of what most anglers normally try when the bite gets tough. Meanwhile, standard tactics can be nearly fruitless. Here’s an example of what I mean:

Last November, 55 international and state champions competed in the BASS Federation Nation Championship at Milford Lake in Kansas. During two days of competition that featured blistering winds, they boated but 41 bass. Most participants confessed it was the most difficult event they’d ever fished; some called it a nightmare. Most failed to weigh a bass.

One problem for tournament anglers is that they’re wedded to power tactics. Even though many top anglers such as Rick Clunn and Kevin VanDam note that power tactics win most tournaments, they’re not best for recreational anglers on confined waterways like those in Kansas. And they’re not optimal for many waterways across the country when the bite is tough.

That said, these waters are fine for recreational anglers using finesse methods to catch an astonishing number of bass and occasional lunkers. I suspect finesse is so fruitful here because these small waters have been fished intensely for decades, especially those along the I-70 corridor from Kansas City to Junction City. Except for the stained water we often fish, the situation resembles Japan and Southern California, where finesse tactics reign. Moreover, finesse proves effective on any hard-fished waterways or when adverse weather conditions give bass “lock-jaw.”

The effectiveness of finesse was demonstrated as Steve Desch of Topeka, **** Bessey of Lawrence, and I fished eight times for a total of 32 hours in November of last year. We fished reservoirs similar to Milford, enduring the same trying weather conditions that bewildered the tournament anglers. During those trips, we caught 172 largemouth bass, 16 smallmouth bass, 170 white bass and wipers, 17 freshwater drum, 6 rainbow trout, 5 crappies, and 2 channel catfish. The 11 largest smallmouths weighed from 2 to 5 pounds while 34 largemouths measured 15 inches or more, up to 33⁄4 pounds.

Finesse Tackle

We caught those 388 fish using 6-foot medium-action spinning rods and medium-sized reels. Desch spooled with 4- and 6-pound Bass Pro Shops Excel monofilament while Bessey and I used 8-pound-test Stren Microfuse or Stren Super Braid with a 5-foot leader of 8-pound-test Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon.

Our primary lures were the Strike King Zero, Strike King 4-inch Finesse Worm, 2-inch YUM Wooly Beavertail, 4-inch YUM Muy Grub, 2¾-inch generic tube, 3-inch YUM Dinger, 4-inch generic turbo-tailed grub, and 1/16-ounce silver and olive marabou jigs made by Steve Desch. We cut 5-inch Zeros in half to make two 2½-inch baits, sometimes soaked in Gulp! Alive! Nightcrawler attractant.

The Elaztech material of the Strike King and Z-man baits provides remarkable longevity. We affix either end forward, switching after dozens of catches. The Gulp! formula seems to repair the torn material as we soak them overnight, or as we fish another. We’ve tallied up to 185 bass on a single half-Zero. If, after some use, the lure won’t snug up on the collar, don’t be concerned. As long as it’s hanging on, bass eat it. While some anglers affix Zeros to the head with super glue, the salt in Elaztech rusts bronze hooks overnight. Green pumpkin and watermelon-red flake have been our most effective colors for softbaits, though a pearl Zero often proves deadly.

We rig Dingers, Finesse Worms, Wooly Beavertails, Zeroes and turbo-tails on red 1/16-ounce Gopher Mushroom Head Jigs and YUM Grubs on red 3/32-ounce heads. Homemade 1/16-ounce insert jigs match the little tube. Although the hooks are exposed, they rarely snag. We don’t cast into brushpiles, laydowns, or flooded timber, but fish over or adjacent to wood cover.

Day in and day out, 1/32- and 1/16-ounce heads draw more strikes than 3/32- and 1/8-ounce ones but wind sometimes mandates heavier jigs. Smaller hooks stick more easily and stay in place better than large ones. I favor #6 for most situations.

Dealing with Wind

We try to fish three to four times a week, year-round. While the wind doesn’t howl every day, it’s a common curse. As a result, wind direction is a primary consideration in selecting a lake. It rarely blows as ferociously as it did during the BASS Championship when the practice day and two competition days were canceled. But there are many days when it blows 15 to 20 mph with higher gusts, often compounded by changing directions.

In the bass-fishing world, it’s fashionable to maneuver the boat into the wind while fishing a bank. We’ve discovered, however, that a drift sock allows our finesse tactics to be more efficient when moving with the wind, even a strong one. We use the trolling motor to control direction and speed. If we’re casting from the starboard side, the drift sock hangs off the port side of the transom, and vice versa. By moving with the wind, casts are more accurate, the bow in our lines lessened, and retrieves are better controlled.

Battling high winds isn’t a delightful way to fish so we relish the rare calm days. Yet the only time we’ve found it essential to slow the boat to a snail’s pace is in winter when the surface temperature ranges from 38°F to 44°F. Then it’s best to fish protected banks or on relatively windless days.

Location and Forage Factors

At the two larger reservoirs, the winds that plagued the Federation anglers limited us to riprap causeways, jetties, and dams that offered respite. Surface temperature fell from 57°F on November 6 to 53°F on the 10th. The water was stained with visibility about a foot. All our fish were in 2 to 5 feet of water.

At the four small reservoirs, water was clear—at least 3 to 4 feet visibility, and in the same temperature range. All bass were in 3 to 6 feet of water except for a 5-pound smallmouth that was in 11 feet along a rocky bluff. We found some bass in rocky environs, others in a combination of rock and thick patches of dead American waterwillow, where bass positioned along the outside grass edge. Beds of coontail and curlyleaf pondweed also held fish. Some were eating gizzard shad and tiny bluegills, others a variety of invertebrates.

Presentation

We almost exclusively use four presentations that imitate shad, bluegills, and invertebrates: the swim and glide; hop and bounce; drag and deadstick; and straight swim. We rarely fish deeper than 12 feet, and generally do best in depths of 1 to 8 feet, even in mid-winter.

Because our finesse tactics are based on a lightweight jig, newcomers to the technique often complain that they can’t feel what the lure’s doing and can’t tell where it is, especially on windy days. No-feel fishing becomes so disconcerting that many give up before they comprehend its many virtues.

We didn’t pioneer these techniques. Origins go back decades to the handiwork of finesse masters Guido Hibdon of Missouri, Charlie Brewer of Tennessee, and Chuck Wood of Kansas City. Back in the 1960s, Hibdon and Wood learned to retrieve a small black marabou jig so delicately it seemed hover in a state of suspense. The presentation was extremely subtle and lacked any sense of feel.