For Week Ending Sunday, March 5, 2017

There's no featurette available this week. However, I did notice a February 28 post on Bob's website that said Kevin Mills, the focal point of my featurette last week, had returned to the Northwest River again last Sunday, Feb. 26, "to see (in the words of Dennis) if the big girls still were playing." According to that post, Kevin ended the day with a 17.50-lb. best-five sack, anchored by a bass weighing 6.50 lbs.

Monday, Feb. 27, 2017...It was another evening of trolling around for Ron A. Between 4:20 and 6 p.m., he caught the 2-4 fatty bass (left side of combo photo), along with a dink, couple of chain pickerel (the biggest measuring 22.5 inches), and a decent yellow perch (measuring 11.5 inches), which is at the right side of the combo photo. What Ron termed as the "heart break" of the evening came when he hooked but lost a huge crappie that he estimated at more than 15 or 16 inches. Unfortunately, he followed that up by losing another big one yak-side. "Makes me rethink getting a net," he said.

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017...The lesson I relearned during today's trip to Albright's was never to get overconfident about how the day is going to go, based only on the first 30 minutes of fishing. In that amount of time, I boated two dink bass on a topwater and figured I was in for a super day. However, I couldn't have been more wrong. I then went until 1:30 without even seeing any sign of another fish. Then between 1:30 and 2:15, at which time I quit, I had four blowups (without a hookup) on a wakebait. One of those blowups scared the crap out of me, because this good-sized bass came out of the water after the bait right beside the boat. He missed on the way up but, without my knowledge, got it on the way down. It wasn't until I noticed some mushiness that I finally set the hook, and at that point, all I saw was a swirl in the water as the fish turned loose of the bait. I met up with Ray S. again today when I got in and learned that he had started his day in Nanney Creek, but muddy water drove him back to West Neck. On his first cast in West Neck, he boated a 1-7 bass on a lure I told him about last week. He added about a half-dozen white perch before the day was over.

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017...The month of February closed with a nice bowfin that measured 24 inches and weighed 4-14. "Fought like a champ and was very healthy," said Ron A. He caught the fish while trolling the XTS Minnow mid-creek in Milldam. In addition, Ron also landed a 1-5 bass on the whopper plopper after several short strikes. Rounding out his day's tally was an 11-inch white perch, also caught on the XTS. In closing tonight's email, Ron took note of the fact that, in 45 trips thus far in 2017, he has caught a total of 83 bass. "Not the best ratio," he said, "but the bite should pick up."

Thursday, March 2, 2017...After taking yesterday off, Ron A. decided to try the upper North Landing today. He and a buddy launched at the Mennonites, and the buddy scored right off the bat with a nice 4-1 bass that measured 21 inches. "I thought it would be a good day and was hoping to find some bowfin," said Ron. "After two hours, though, I only had managed an 8-inch crappie. Oh well..."

Friday, March 3, 2017...Tonight's note from Ron A. said that he trolled around Tecumseh this evening. He described the water as "very murky" and said "the wind made for some rough conditions." His catch included two bass: a nice 2-9 and a 3-2 (see accompanying photo) before the cold and the wind drove him away. Both fish fell to the XTS Minnow. His only regret about the trip was that he couldn't find any panfish. "With the chilly temps and WV getting snow, I'm heading off to the slopes to slide down the mountains (for the weekend, I reckon)," he concluded.