Well I wanted to see if I could do it...Do what?  Catch a Largemouth in February in Western Washington.  I have never fished for Largemouth before in the dead of winter because I've heard the fish are very dormant and virtually impossible to catch.  So I set out at a local lake near my house to see if it could be done.

After taking forever to put my gear together, I finally hit the lake around 12:30 today.  I  figured this might be the best time to go because the water would be at its warmest.  I checked the water temperature-
it was 40 degrees.  OOOH that's cold water! I started throwing a spinnerbait out of the gate for starters in about 8-10 feet of water for about 20-25 minutes thinking I might be able to get some sort of reaction strike- no luck.  The lake at it's deepest is 20 feet so I figured the fish had to be somewhere so I started dragging a brush hog in about 15 feet of water for another 15-20 minutes- no luck. 

Suttely doubt was starting to fill my mind.  I started saying things to myself such as: "What bass in his right mind is going to be moving around looking for a meal in 40 degree water."  I hung in there despite my negative thoughts and tried other lures...a deep diving crankbait, senko, tube....still nothing!  By now it is around 3:00.  I had mainly been targeting deeper structure to this point and decided I had nothing to lose so I decided to ease towards the shallows to this one particular dock where I've really had good luck in the Spring and Summer.   I decided to take out my senko and skip it a few times  around the dock-  No luck as usual.  So I decided to throw under the dock and that's when I felt this little tick hit my line.  My line started tightening up and started to go sideways just a touch.  I knew it was now or never so I set the hook and to my surprise there was a largemouth attached to the other end.  She jumped a couple of times, nothing spectactular, and after about 15 seconds or so, I had her in the boat.  She weighed 1lb 12oz.  Not a monster, but it sure felt great to accomplish something you thought couldn't be done.  I quickly took a picture of her and then released her.  I then proceeded to continue fishing for another hour without another strike.

I hope my little fishing trip might inspire some of you to to give February Largemouth fishing a shot.  Heck, if I can catch one in February, you can too!!  Good luck to all of you.  Who knows, you just might catch the biggest bass of your life during this time of year. 

Tight lines to all!

Pays2no

Well.....here it goes...like I said in another post.."Do you want to be the guy telling people you got fish shallow or be the one hearing about it?"  You Broke the ice big time Bob....now I wish I did not work overtime! Good job!

Bob,

If you ever get the chance, go to Silver lake Cowlitz county. When I fished year around, that was before kids ya know I used to hit Silver anytime of the year. And February especially you can catch a 5-6lber by flippin. I used to get one about every 2-3rd time out. It is also ggod in late feb with spinner baits on the flats.
Russ