Terry Lee balks at being called an expert on the Middle Georgia bass fishing venues he frequents.

But there's little doubt that the lifelong Griffin resident knows what he's doing when he launches his aluminum johnboat on such lakes as High Falls, Juliette and Tobesofkee, all small-water hotspots that fit into his bass-fishing wheelhouse.

Not a fan of the sizes and speeds of high-powered bass boats, he prefers smaller impoundments, where pleasure boaters are few and quality bass fishing is abundant. Leave the big reservoirs to others, he says, because his old 10-horsepower outboard gets him where he needs to go.

"I just like the calmer water," Lee said of his attraction to smaller impoundments. "And it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to fish."

Lee, who has directed the Lil' Waters Bassin' johnboat tournament trail since it started 15 years ago, catches bass with regularity on High Falls, Juliette and Tobesofkee throughout the year. That even includes February, when the bass can be as unpredictable as the weather.

But it's the weather that may be the biggest key to your success for this month's fishing in the heart of the state. You'll just as easily find a 70-degree day as one in the 40s this time of year, and that keeps you on your toes.

On warm, sunny days, bass actively search for food in the shallows. For High Falls and Tobesofkee, that means shad; on Juliette, which mostly contains water pumped in from the Ocmulgee River, it could mean a variety of baitfish.

Matching your offerings to the food of choice is the best first step in lure selection.

"That's typically how (bass) make their living that time of year. They make those forays to shallow water to feed on warmer days," said Georgia Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist Steve Schleiger of the Wildlife Resources Division Fort Valley Fisheries office. "The weather is real changeable that time of year. You can have warm, sunny days or it can be windy and cold.

"When those bass are shallow, a good choice would be something that makes a lot of noise and vibration, like crankbaits. But I would probably forgo the plastics."

But when the weather is cold, expect bass to be like they are in most lakes -- concentrated around deep structure, around which vertical-jigging choices, like spoons are good bets.

Good sonar skills are necessary to catch deep, lethargic winter bass.

"One plus of fishing for bass in the winter is that when they're deep they are usually packed tightly," Schleiger said.

No surprise there -- find the concentrations of fish and you could do well.

Terry Lee fishes shallow all year -- although he's not against targeting deep points and creek channels when he has to -- and his first choice is usually a lipless crankbait. He works that bait around shallow wood on warm days and yo-yos it on deep channel ledges when it's colder.

He also might slow-roll a spinnerbait, shake a jigheaded worm, or flip a jig into that shallow wood.

"I feel like I can fish shallow all year 'round," Lee confirmed. "I think I can make them eat a rattle-bait every day, all year."

Here's a look at February fishing at each lake.

High Falls Lake
The WRD's annual fishing prospectus calls High Falls "an untapped resource for bass anglers." That's based on the number and sizes of largemouth bass, and it has relatively low -- depending on whom you talk to, that is -- fishing pressure.