Few gamefish provide as much angling excitement as white bass. The silvery fish
cruise about in schools that may cover several acres. The schools, or packs,
often push baitfish to the surface or into confined areas, and the fish then slash their
prey. If you can fine one of these rampaging schools, you'll probably catch a fish
on every cast. Circling gulls may tip you off to a pack's location.
White bass are easily spooked by a boat, so when you find a school, keep
your distance or the fish will quickly disappear.
Orginally found in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi
River System, white bass have been sucessfully stocked in many other part of
the country, particularly the Southeast and Southwest. Commonly introduced
in new reservoirs, they provide excellent fishing starting 2 or 3 years after
stocking.
White Bass (Morone chrysops,) have silvery sides with unbroken black
stripes above the lateral line. Stripes below the lateral line are faint and often
broken in an irregular pattern. The back varies from bluish gray to dark green.
The dorsal fins, unlike those of its close relative, the yellow bass, are not joined
at the bases. The white bass can be distinguished from its other close relative,
the stripped bass, by its deeper body. It's body length is less than 4 times the
depth.
Often called sand bass, striper or silver bass, the white bass belongs to the
temperate bass family. It has several close relatives including the white perch,
yellow bass and striped bass. In the 1960's, fisheries biologists first crossed
male white bass with female striped bass to produce an agressive, fast-growing
hybrid. Called wipers these fish are being stocked in many waters
throughout the South.
White bass thrive in lakes and reservoirs connected to large river systems. They
prefer relatively clear water with gravel, sand or rock bottoms. But they also
live in murky waters. Unlike sunfish and crappies, white bass rarely seek cover.
Instead, they spend most of their time in open water from 10 to 30 feet deep.
They prefer water temperatures from 65 - 75 degrees F.
White bass rely primarily on eyesight for chasing and catching their prey.
In most waters, they feed almost exclusively on small shad, when they are
available. They also eat emerald shiners and other small fish, in addition
to crayfish, mollusks, worms and insects. White bass gorge themselves
on mayflies during a hatch.
White bass spawn in tributary streams of large lakes and reservoirs, typically
in water from 58 - 64 degrees F. They do not build nests. The female
deposits her eggs in the current, while the male releases milt, fertilizing the
eggs as they sink. The eggs stick to gravel, rocks or vegetation, where they
normally hatch within 24 to 48 hours. A female may deposit more than a
half-million eggs.
Spawning activity usually lasts 4 to 10 days. Parents do not guard the
young, but begin migrating back to the lake. After hatching, the tiny fry
form dense schools, a characteristic that white bass exhibit all of their lives.
The schools move about constantly, some roaming as much as 7 miles a
day. Tagged white bass have been found over 100 miles away from where
they were marked.
In spring, when the water temperature reaches about 55 degrees F., huge
concentrations of white bass build up below big-river dams as spawners
complete their upstream migration. With so many actively feeding fish
packed into such a small area, fly fishermen using most any kind of
minnow-imitating streamer can catch white bass on virtually every cast.
Look for the fish along current seams and in eddies along shore.
Avoid grabbing a white bass across the gill plates. Each plate has a needle-like spine
(note arrow in photo) that can inflict a painful wound. Instead, hold the fish by the
lower lip or grab it firmly across the back.
In waters with large populations of shad, white bass grow quickly. In warm, southern
reservoirs, a fish may reach one pound after just 2 years. White bass seldom live
longer than 6 years. Most fish caught by angling weigh between one and two
pounds. The fly rod world record white bass weighted 3 pounds, 8 ounces and
was caught in Lake Nacimiento, California, in 1981.
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