White Bass on Light Tackle

[Scott]

This weekend I would like to try to target white bass on really light spinning tackle. I am only using 4 lb. Test. I am fishing a pretty big reservoir? The bass are fairly close to shore. Remember these are small bass. the state record is only four pounds 1 ounce. Thanks

[Bassin_Dude]

ok. that is good.

[Scott]

Any tips on what to use though?

I would like to use live bait, but any other artificials. I need ideas.

[Rich]

Try a silver spoon. Â*Cast it out and crank it back through them. Â*I've had 200 fish days doing that. Â*We found a big school ch ashing shad and just followed then around all day. Â*Dang that was a lot of fun ;D!

[Bassin_Dude]

oo, now that you put a question in there i can answer something. but i cant help you, i have never fished for them.

[bassfisher14]

I used to fish for white bass when I was a kid. We would go and anchor off in a river channel and sit all night. Then we would go after shad jumps when daylight was starting to break. I can remember many days that we brought home over 200 of them.

I would love to get into it now, but I was never shown what to look for when they are running and my stepdad that always took me has passed away and I can't ask him.

[zman]

1. White bass like current and often migrate upstream or up feeder creeks to find it.

2. They will bunch up and you can catch a million of em in a day.

3. Shiny fast moving small lures are the ticket. I use normally a manns little george or a strike king rocket shad, but both those lures have a lot of lead and are heavy for the rod you are using - so a mepps spinner or a small spoon as rebb said are probably the ticket.

4. Keep moving for them, search out prosepctive areas pretty quickly. I think they are not a fish you should work a small stretch of water hard for, you need to cover water and if they are there they normally will bite.

[Bassin_Dude]

do they inhabit florida? they sound like they would be fun to catch.

[Scott]

Will a small spinnerbait work just as good. I mean really small like 1/8 or 1/16 oz. ???

[zman]

A small spinnerbait should work. The rocket shad I mentioned is a spinnerbait, it just happens to be about 1/2 oz and have a double hook.

02, they might be in north florida to an extent. I know you guys have some sort of stripers, white bass are very similar.

[Bassin_Dude]

we have some stripers in the oklawahau and up where the st johns begins to mix with saltwater. nothing big tho. i have been trying to catch striper for some time now, one day......

[zman]

They put up an incredible fight. I caught a 6 pounder out of heavy current at pickwick last week, the thing actually striped line off of my light baitcaster for 6 or 7 seconds before I turned it. They tend to stay down more and use muscle, but not like a cat - they are very fast moving with lots of shakes and underwater manuevers.

[bennersj]

White bass are loads of fun on light tackle. I like to use a 1/8 oz. chrome/blue rattletrap and 1/16 oz. (depending on the depth) chartruese or white road runners. My buddy swears by a Mr. Champ, a flat piece of metal like a spoon that is beveled on both ends and chrome colored.

Good Luck ;D

[mike0062466]

I used to fish for them occasionally with four-pound line. I used 1/16 jigheads with a small grub, but I suspect they'll take a wide variety of small lures. They hit like a ton of bricks and are a lot of fun.