White Bass Assault Continues...

[hanson]

I now have another unpopular fish that I love to fish for - White Bass.

Dtro & I teamed up at an undisclosed location on the Minnesota River in search of the aggressive and fiesty White Bass. And oh boy, did we find them.

Water temperatures are up approximately 14 degrees from the last time I fished whites and so was their aggressiveness. We were reading temps in the 64 degree range (note... Flathead time!).

Once we located a school of these critters, it was fish after fish after fish on consecutive casts. I landed 5 fish consecutively as fast as I could get my bait in the water at which time Darren decides he would rather run a video camera than catch fish. Fine with me. But the video camera was enough to end my hot streak. It took 3 more casts to land another one.

Average size of the whites we were catching was 14-15". There were a few larger ones caught, a couple 16s and this 17" by yours truly.

Tactics remained the same- simple white jighead with a white plastic twister tail body. I was using plastics from Mister Twister & Exude while Darren had a Northland plastic on. With the higher water temps and higher activity level, the whites were really willing to chase and attack a fast moving bait. At times, we were burning the baits as fast as we could and getting hit. But it really became apparent that an erratic and varied retrieve was our best bet. Most of the time the bass were hitting on the pause as you'd expect.

When all was said and done, a conservative estimate would be 50 whites the boat in about a 3 hour period. Unbelievable action! Besides whites, a few pesky walleyes found our baits and a small northern pike as well.

As fun as these things are, I think its just about catfish time. Before we left, we anchored at a creek mouth and tossed out some cutbait. It took a little while but I had a small channel cat in the boat after about a half hour. It was fun and refreshing to watch that 8' Reflex getting doubled over in the rod holder when that kitty hit.

Darren has some more photos he'll probably share and a video as well if he gets his lawnwork done tonight.

Thanks man, was a blast as always!

[SupaMan]

Quote:

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I now have another unpopular fish that I love to fish for - White Bass.

Dtro & I teamed up at an undisclosed location on the Minnesota River in search of the aggressive and fiesty White Bass. And oh boy, did we find them.

Water temperatures are up approximately 14 degrees from the last time I fished whites and so was their aggressiveness. We were reading temps in the 64 degree range (note... Flathead time!).

Once we located a school of these critters, it was fish after fish after fish on consecutive casts. I landed 5 fish consecutively as fast as I could get my bait in the water at which time Darren decides he would rather run a video camera than catch fish. Fine with me. But the video camera was enough to end my hot streak. It took 3 more casts to land another one.

Average size of the whites we were catching was 14-15". There were a few larger ones caught, a couple 16s and this 17" by yours truly.

Tactics remained the same- simple white jighead with a white plastic twister tail body. I was using plastics from Mister Twister & Exude while Darren had a Northland plastic on. With the higher water temps and higher activity level, the whites were really willing to chase and attack a fast moving bait. At times, we were burning the baits as fast as we could and getting hit. But it really became apparent that an erratic and varied retrieve was our best bet. Most of the time the bass were hitting on the pause as you'd expect.

When all was said and done, a conservative estimate would be 50 whites the boat in about a 3 hour period. Unbelievable action! Besides whites, a few pesky walleyes found our baits and a small northern pike as well.

As fun as these things are, I think its just about catfish time. Before we left, we anchored at a creek mouth and tossed out some cutbait. It took a little while but I had a small channel cat in the boat after about a half hour. It was fun and refreshing to watch that 8' Reflex getting doubled over in the rod holder when that kitty hit.

Darren has some more photos he'll probably share and a video as well if he gets his lawnwork done tonight.

Thanks man, was a blast as always!

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Whitebass may be unpopular for you, but it is extremely popular for the Hmong people.