Tell Me About White Bass 2024
Josh Smith reply :
Hi Folks,
I apologize if this is in the wrong section. White bass are bass more than black bass, so I wasn't sure where to put this!
The other day Dad told me that folks were catching a whole lotta white bass in a certain spot. Now, I've never targeted white bass and know next to nothing about them. I read the Wikipedia entry which may or may not be accurate, and before that I only knew that a critter called the white bass exists.
I will, of course, be doing a bit more research after I post this. I'd like to hear from you all, too, what these critters are and what techniques work. From what I gather, my bucketmouth 1/2oz tackle isn't ideal.
Thank you!
Josh
roadwarrior reply :
Little George is all you need. Other options are a Silver Buddy or G ay Blade.
The best live bait is baby craws on a split shot rig. If you are on them you will
get bit on every cast!
Josh Smith reply :
I have some very small spoons I got from a trout fisherman. Some are friggin' tiny.
Would these work?
I don't have a Little George.
Thank you,
Josh
GANGGREEN reply :
I've never specifically targeted them but I've caught lots of them and they're awesome in a certain way. They're pack animals and they like to eat. I'm not sure that they're always on the feed but they can be really aggressive and will eat whatever you throw at them; your bass gear is fine. In my experience, they're more inclined to be an open water fish rather than being tied to cover or structure and they tend to like lures that are fished in the middle of the water column. They also seem to like white, bright and shiny lures. In addition to roadwarrior's suggestion, they'll also hit grubs, crankbaits and most anything else.
I've got a fairly local lake that I rarely fish that has big ones (at least by Pennsylvania standards) and they're a blast to catch when you get into them.
gulfcaptain reply :
When I lived in OK, targeted them on windy points with small 1/8 oz grubs, rooster tails, small 3" swimbaits with spinning gear in the 6-8lb class. Boat ramps also worked well. They school up on humps, drop offs, chase shad. Like to run up rivers or creeks during the spring to spawn. Fight quite well, hit lures head on. Perfect little game fish and great eating. Oh, and I'm sure one of the smaller umbrella rigs would work if you're wanting to use your bass rod as well as offshore jigging with spoons or the Little George's.
Scott F reply :
They are a lot of fun on light spinning tackle. They tend to school up so once you find them, you can often catch them on every cast. Like has already been said, blade baits, smallish crankbaits, spinners or a jig and white twister tail will all catch them. Where I catch them, they are feeding on small shad. Lots of fun!
slonezp reply :
If you plan on eating them, eat the backstraps only. When you filet them, there is a red line in the middle of the filet. You want to discard the red meat and the belly meat. The red meat down has a funky taste.
Josh Smith reply :
Thanks folks!
I don't know about eating them; I guess I'll take a cooler full of ice along and see.
Been trying a couple Booyah Boo rigs this year and I think the spinners would be about perfect.
I also have some ultralight lipless Rattletraps in white.
Thinking I might go this week when I can be alone with them.
Thanks again!
Josh
bassr95 reply :
We got into a big school of white bass at Castle Rock lake this year on vacation. 100+ fish in a few hours was easy. We mostly fished small jigs tipped with part of a night crawler. We filleted and fried them like any other fish, and they tasted great. An ultra-light rod makes catching them even more exciting!
Misfit95 reply :
In my opinion, a White Bass is not really a 'bass' at all; it's actually a species of panfish (although, technically, a bass is actually a species of panfish, but let's not get that in-depth LOL).
I tend to think of white bass almost a crappie, with the main difference being that white bass are a little prettier, and they also will school very aggressively on the surface, similarly to a largemouth bass or smallmouth bass. They will take bigger lures than your average panfish. My dad used to catch them on poppers. My buddy caught one on a Storm Chug Bug in a river one time...I know I've caught them on Worden's Rooster Tails and small crappie spinners...They are a pretty cool fish.
A good setup for fishing for white bass, or at least what I'd use, would be a 6' 6" - 7' light or mediumlight composite rod, loaded with 4 lb test trilene XL. (I'm old school, and like mono for everything. Call me crazy, lol).
aavery2 reply :
Where are all the members of the Sooner State (OK), it is their State Fish. The White Bass or Sand Bass as it is usually referred to in OK is a member of the Bass family, they look a lot like a hybrid wiper and fight just about as hard. They hit your bait like a freight train and you will have no problem knowing when you have a strike. They often school in big numbers and eat baitfish on the top of the water, making it look like it is boiling, We just fillet them, cut the red meat out and cook them like any other fish. Lots of fun to catch, caught over a 100 in an hour on the river at Amistad when it is was too windy to fish the main lake, they were all cooker cutter fish in the 2lb range, it was a blast.
Chris S reply :
we catch them in #'s in Kansas! I use a small lipless shad colored crankbait and a white or green inline spinner, med light 6'6 rod with 6lb line makes for some fun action if you get a 2+ pounder on! We do eat them and like above cut out the blood line and eat the shoulder meat, some soak in Sprite, I soak in milk prior to deep frying them! One of the best fish IMO to take a kid to catch!!
Bluebasser86 reply :
1/2oz shad colored rattle trap catches tons of them for me this time of the year. During the spring there's days you can't catch a smallmouth on a jerkbait because the whites get to them so fast, gets really annoying sometimes. Pretty much anything that looks like a fish will catch white bass. They're a blast when they're schooling on shad and hitting topwaters. A bone colored super spook Jr is a killer when they're chasing shad on top.
J Francho reply :
They're fun on a light flyrod when they are eating bugs on top.
White Bass are temperate bass from the Percichthyid family, which includes striped bass and white perch.
Largemouth and smallmouth (black bass) are Centrarchids, which includes sunfish, crappie, rockies, warmouth, blue gill, and pumpkinseeds.
Yellow perch are part of the perch family, which run the gamut of walleye to little darters.
Chris S reply :
On 9/24/2014 at 8:27 PM, Bluebasser86 said:1/2oz shad colored rattle trap .
good ole Rodney for me 
tholmes reply :
Like others have said, white bass are a blast! When they're chasin' shad, they'll hit anything shiny and moving.
I've always thought that an A-rig with 3" white twister tail grubs would be a blast when the white bass are bustin' shad. 
Tom
Chris S reply :
On 9/25/2014 at 2:00 AM, tholmes said:Like others have said, white bass are a blast! When they're chasin' shad, they'll hit anything shiny and moving.
I've always thought that an A-rig with 3" white twister tail grubs would be a blast when the white bass are bustin' shad.
Tom
Only bad part is that thing is illegal in Kansas only allowed two hooks 
I agree that would be a blast!!!
tholmes reply :
On 9/25/2014 at 3:33 AM, Chris Schauer said:Only bad part is that thing is illegal in Kansas only allowed two hooks
I agree that would be a blast!!!
I used to fish for white bass at Wilson with a double rig using a three-way swivel with a Rapala minnow on the top and a 1/8 oz. white marabou jig on the bottom. Doubling up on a couple of good-sized whites was interesting, to say the least!
tom
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 9/25/2014 at 3:33 AM, Chris Schauer said:Only bad part is that thing is illegal in Kansas only allowed two hooks
I fish a 5 arm with 3 dummy baits rigged on hitchhiker trailer keepers and 2 rigged baits. Usually go with 3 small grubs on the hitchhikers and 2 bigger baits on the hot arms and I try to keep the rigged baits on the middle and bottom arms so they're the first ones the fish run into.
Chris S reply :
On 9/25/2014 at 2:47 PM, Bluebasser86 said:I fish a 5 arm with 3 dummy baits rigged on hitchhiker trailer keepers and 2 rigged baits. Usually go with 3 small grubs on the hitchhikers and 2 bigger baits on the hot arms and I try to keep the rigged baits on the middle and bottom arms so they're the first ones the fish run into.
I have heard of folks also use willow blade as decoys as well
aavery2 reply :
On 9/25/2014 at 3:33 AM, Chris Schauer said:Only bad part is that thing is illegal in Kansas only allowed two hooks
Chris I have been making and using these for several years now. They are fantastic when the Whites or Hybrid Bass school up.
Chris S reply :
On 9/26/2014 at 12:23 AM, aavery2 said:Chris I have been making and using these for several years now. They are fantastic when the Whites or Hybrid Bass school up.
that's sweet I use one but never thought about adding a blade to it!!! Do you sell those?
aavery2 reply :
I never have, just made a bunch over the years for myself and friends. If you make them yourself, the beads at the front are important, they help keep the blade from flipping over the top of the wire.
Josh Smith reply :
Thanks, guys! I have a small urge to break out the fly rod.
I got sort of good with it and tied my own flies, but I never did fish with them. Work got in the way, and it's been years since I had the fly rod out on the water.
Josh
powerduster reply :
There are no white bass in my area, but after reading this, I think I might do some white perch fishing this weekend. Too bad I missed the white perch tournament and fish fry last week.
Chris S reply :
On 9/26/2014 at 12:38 AM, aavery2 said:I never have, just made a bunch over the years for myself and friends. If you make them yourself, the beads at the front are important, they help keep the blade from flipping over the top of the wire.
Here is what I came up with gonna give it shot tonight
Bassun reply :
On 9/24/2014 at 9:42 PM, J Francho said:They're fun on a light flyrod when they are eating bugs on top.
White Bass are temperate bass from the Percichthyid family, which includes striped bass and white perch.
Largemouth and smallmouth (black bass) are Centrarchids, which includes sunfish, crappie, rockies, warmouth, blue gill, and pumpkinseeds.
Yellow perch are part of the perch family, which run the gamut of walleye to little darters.
Thank you for breaking that down... I was about to correct the "bass" confusion and you already did. Just to add a fun fact, Carp - are actually just big minnows 
(Family: Cyprinidae).
Chris S reply :
my fishing buddy and I's best white bass outing to date.
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