White bass?

[Slyster]

I just watched a Lindner's episode which had a segment about "White Bass".. I have never caught one of these, and haven't even HEARD of them... they must not be very common!... do we have these fish in any metro lakes? What lakes have them? Are they fish people keep? Crazy! Can't believe the things I am still learning after fishing seriously for 2 years.

I know (and have caught) Rock Bass.. what other bass family fish do we have? I (as of tonight) count 4!

[MRWALLEYE2005]

Ive caught and ate a few white bass. There fairly good eating. There mostly in the Mississippi River and in the Mankato area lakes. The state record of over 4 pounds came from the Mississippi down there. The Minnesota river also has them in i know.

[markkstanley]

Not in the lakes in the metro but Pool 2 and 4 of the Mississippi and the St Croix have a lot of them. Feisty fish on light tackle and you can catch a bunch of them when they are biting. They school up and are very competitive for food so your lure will get smashed over and over in the same spot. Not bad eating. Just remember to remove the lateral line (the dark meat).

[Bubbadust]

There are a lot of them on Lake Zumbro in SE MN too.

[htgeren]

They are real common in larger river systems, havent come accross them in a lake setting yet outside of some of the reseviors down in Iowa. Usually travel in schools and once you find them you can be in for some fast action. Once they get into a sort of "feeding frenzy" they go bezerk and start nailing everything in sight then all of a sudden they just seem to disappear and its time to target new fish. I agree with the others that they are pretty good eating too.

[mtreno]

they stocked some in spring lake a long time ago. i get one every now and then. i here of some in prior as well so they made it down the creek at some point. never cought more than one in a day. they must have spawned at some point because i think they were stocked in like 92.

[mcbobby]

I have also caught a few on prior. I tried eating one once and it was edible, but not the greatest tasting. They are very fun to catch however as they are fantastic fighters.

[Lunker]

I caught my first one this spring on pool 2. Fat 15 incher or so. Quite fun, fought like a bass. They are pretty common in the rivers, and in the lakes that take riverwater in flood periods(like snelling, etc.) I've never intentionally fished for them though.

[Slyster]

I caught a really big rock bass today on WBL! Really was fun and I didn't know they got that big. Must have been 12+"

So really.. we have 4 bass in our MN borders then?

[DEADhead]

Quote:

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So really.. we have 4 bass in our MN borders then?

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if you consider bass by name only. Rock bass is actually a member of the sunfish family, and technically all bass are cousins of the sunfish. but yes, there are four 'bass' to catch in MN.

[Maashkinoozhe]

Five if you count Yellow Bass (Mississippi backwaters, Lake Pepin southwards.). Caught my first white bass a week ago out of the the channel adjacent to Pike Island. One more to the species list(woohoo!).

Dave

[mnrstrider]

Quote:

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they stocked some in spring lake a long time ago. i get one every now and then. i here of some in prior as well so they made it down the creek at some point. never cought more than one in a day. they must have spawned at some point because i think they were stocked in like 92.

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That explains it, I caught one out on spring the other day that probably went 4 lbs, and I could see another following it, never did catch another.

[Zdaddy76]

I believe I heard that Large Mouth, Small Mouth, and Sunfish are all related. I have heard that the only "TRUE" bass in the state is the White Bass. Don't know about rock bass but they do look a lot like Sunnys.

---Zdaddy

PS BRENT NEEDS TO SIGN UP !!!

[moby1]

Every once in a while we get into them hot and heavy on the mn river. They are a lot of fun if you find them. I know some people that say they are pretty tasty. I dont think the state record is all that big. I am thinking around 22 or 23" butr Im no expert. We have had times on the mn river of 3 hours where every cast was a white bass even after we ran out of minnows and were throwing bare jig heads. We have pulled in a lot around 18-19"

[MRWALLEYE2005]

Actually the new state record fish was caught in 2004 at 4.24 pounds now in pool 5 of the Mississippi and was 18.5 inches with a girth of 15.1. The next time you catch a 19 incher you should weigh it, it could be a state record.

Also a 2 pound rock bass is the state record at a length of 12.6 inches.