Limiting Out On Linesides
Hunting Island Whites
Editor’s Note: Catching white bass
is relatively simple because the fish are extremely
aggressive – eating many types of smaller fish,
including perch, bluegills, crappie and gizzard shad
besides feeding on insects and crustaceans – and
will hit a wide variety of baits. The biggest problem
involved in catching white bass is finding the fish
so anglers have a target for their casting. Since populations
of white bass fluctuate from year to year because of
the fragility of the eggs and the requirement of nearly-perfect
weather conditions for hatching, the fishing is hot
and cold. Although the white bass can be harvested heavily
without harming the fishery, the fish successfully reproduce
only
every three to four years in most areas.
Hunting island whites requires expertise and equipment.
In some parts of the country, fishermen load their boats
with linesides in the middles of lakes or rivers. There
will be no gulls to point the way and no current to
bet on or fish thrashing on the surface. But what these
outdoorsmen know is that there is a sunken island or
ridge coming up from the bottom where the white bass
are schooling. Trolling back and forth across one of
these submerged honey holes will help the angler locate
and pinpoint the schools of white bass. The best technique
to catch these fish is to
buoy off the area where the stripes are being caught
by trolling. Then cast to the fish with tailspinners
like the Little George, jigs or small deep-diving crankbaits
such as the Deep Wee R and the Model A Bomber. When
the fish fail to strike, then begin to troll again,
locate and mark the school, and resume fishing.
During the early spring, white bass oftentimes will
try to move up creeks and branches to spawn. Trolling
theses creeks or angling for surfacing
fish can be very productive at this time of the year.
However, when anglers can no longer find the fish close
to the surface, they may assume that the bass have left
the region, which may or may not be the case. Sometimes
the white bass will be lying close to the bottom at
the heads of the creeks. They will no longer be thrashing
the surface but will be staying close to the bottom.
There are two ways to know for sure that the fish are
there. You can cast blindly all over the creek and bottom
hop your lures. Or, you can rely on your depth finder
to show the fish’s exact location along the bottom.
Most white bassers prefer the later system. The depth
finder is one of the most-useful, overlooked tools that
can be utilized by the white bass angler. The depth
finder can not only show the fishermen bottom huggers
but also the white bass in open water when they may
be suspended at 20- to 30 feet with a bottom at 60-
to 70 feet.
TOMORROW: NIGHT BASS FISHING
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