Limiting Out On Linesides
Finding White Bass
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.
Anglers will find that white bass are like all fish.
They are se lfish
and self-indulgent creatures that want either the most
food, the most comfort or the most safely. The angler
who finds a region that fills one of these needs or
a combination of all of them will locate the white bass.
Since the white bass is primarily a schooling fish,
oftentimes fishermen can limit out quickly when they
discover a school. But, how does an outdoorsman locate
the schools? The easiest and simplest technique is to
watch for white bass surfacing. Linesides will follow
a school of shad and then run the shad to the surface
suddenly as they furiously feed on the baitfish. When
white bass are on one of these feeding sprees, jigs,
spinners, flies and almost any lure in a tackle  box
will capture them. So, the easiest method of finding
linesides is to watch for feeding action on the surface.
Many times white bass, or stripes as they are called
in some places, will school in the same location at
about the same time of day during most of the spring
and summer. The angler who arrives at a spot where historically
white bass have schooled and finds the fish not surfacing
is not out of luck. Fishermen can trigger a feeding
spree by imitating the top-water slashing and exploding
of feeding fish with a plunking cork (a cork or a wooden
float that has a hollowed-out top so that when it is
retrieved it will splash or throw water). Tie a jig
that resembles the stripe’s natural bait like
minnows or shad 12 to 18 inches below the cork. When
the white bass sees the splashing on the surface and
notices the jig just under the surface, the fish will
attack. This tactic is successful for taking small fish.
And many anglers, like most young linesides, get excited
when the water st arts
boiling. These fishermen take the quick, easy catches
and never set a hook on the trophy white bass, because
the bigger fish are smarter and deeper.
Large white bass like large black bass or smallmouth
bass don’t attain their sizes by throwing caution
to the wind and attacking everything in sight. Old Man
White Bass lets the young fish run to the surface and
do all the killing and maiming. He just eases along
the bottom, taking his time, burning up very little
energy, and gobbles up the wounded and crippled baitfish
that sink to the bottom. Very rarely will anglers catch
on of these trophy white bass by fishing on the surface.
To get down to the big fish, an angler must have a jig
or a tailspinner heavy enough to drop through the schooling
fish and big enough for the schoolers to pass up. By
bottom hopping or retrieving that lure close to the
bottom, the smart sportsman will have his lure in the
strike zone of the big bass longer, which makes his
chances of taking a trophy white greater than the angler
who is fishing on top.
TOMORROW: FINDING AND TAKING
LINESIDES
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